Gian (Trassato Crime Family #1)(63)

“Enough!” Evie jumped out of her chair, her eyes wide with panic and her hand clutching the sleeve of my suit. “Gian, can I talk to you alone for a second?”

I released Dominick and dragged her by the arm to the kitchen. The staff froze mid-task. “Get the f*ck out of here!” I yelled.

Knives, plates, and pans clattered to the floor.

“Move!” I repeated, my eye twitching like a f*cking lunatic.

Three men in white shirts and black pants scurried out the back door with their eyes glued to the floor.

“We can’t be together anymore,” she said, her lips quivering.

An adrenaline-laced tremble shot down my spine. “We’ll find a way to make this work.”

“Maybe, but at what cost, Gian? What will you have to give up? And at what point will you start resenting me? Resenting us? I can’t let you do this.” Her voice wavered, her gaze dancing around the room.

“Let me take care of this, sweetheart.”

“What happens if you have to walk away from everything—your family, your friends your life—to be with me? Are you okay with that? Is that even possible?”

“It won’t come to that.”

“You don’t know that. They could kill you. Your family could disown you.”

I shrugged. “Some things are worth fighting for.”

She wiped her hands down the sides of her thighs. “I don’t want to fight.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t like what you do. I don’t like what my so-called family does.” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth. “I don’t want to be a part of that life. I want to dance, act, and sing, without worrying if someone will take a shot at me when I’m driving down the street, or worse.”

My heart stuttered. “Yesterday you told me you loved me, and now, all of a sudden, you have a problem with what I do? I don’t buy it. Not for a second, Evie. Don’t push me away again because you’re scared.”

She lifted her head, looking straight at me. “Gian, take a step back and think about this. Our relationship has been a colossal disaster from the start. I never wanted this. You never wanted this. We were forced into this situation. It was supposed to be temporary until we could bow out unscathed. Now I have the chance. We both do, and we need to take it.”

I captured her chin, forcing her to look at me. “That’s what you want? You want to bail on us without trying?”

We locked gazes. I refused to look away first. Her eyes glistened. I bent my head, pressing my lips against hers, my grip still firm on her chin. Even though she didn’t kiss me back, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting her.

I tasted her salty tears, felt her sorrow. I smelled her delicate jasmine scent.

A half-gasp, half-whimper escaped her lips, and she pulled back. When she looked up at me, she swallowed, her eyebrows pinching together.

“I don’t want to try. It’s not worth it. We’re not compatible…not for the long run. We have different goals and dreams, and now’s the time to pursue mine. I have to put myself first, and that means walking away from you and this whole mess before it destroys me.” Her words came out ragged and grief-stricken.

“Give me a little more time.”

“No. I’m walking out the door now, and I don’t want to see you again. Don’t try to contact me. Don’t try to find me. Just let me go. It’s for the best. You know it, and I know it.”

I slammed my fist into the wall next to her head. She flinched, clutching her heart.

“You’re not f*cking going anywhere.” I punched the wall over and over. Drywall showered her head like pixie dust. My knuckles cracked open. Blood dripped from my hand. “You’re mine. I won’t let you go.”

She covered her tear-streaked face. “I’m not yours, and you’re not mine. We had fun, but it’s over now. I don’t want you, and you don’t want me. Not really.”

This isn’t happening. She wouldn’t give up on us so easily.

My heart squeezed. Pain sliced through me with more misery than I thought possible. My hands curled into her shoulders, and I tugged her against my chest, clawing at her like a f*cking animal. “Don’t lie to me.”

Tony’s arms closed around my waist, hauling me backward. “Let her go, Gian. It’s done.”

I struggled against him, kicking and yelling. “Fuck you, Tony. You don’t know anything.”

“This is the way it has to be,” Evie whispered as Tony dragged me out the back door of the restaurant.

The minute the door slammed behind us, Tony released me.

“Get a hold of yourself, man. You’re acting like a f*cking *.”

I buried my face in my hands. My shoulders jerked up and down, and my eyes stung. I couldn’t believe I was about to burst into tears for the first time in twenty years. My life was spinning out of control. Despair and rage wrapped around me like a straightjacket, and I wanted to storm back into the restaurant and kill Alix and Dominick and set the place on fire.

Instead, I walked away with every inch of me still aching for her.





CHAPTER





THIRTY-FIVE


Evangeline


The moment the door closed behind me, I wanted to die. I’d torn Gian’s heart out, but I might as well have torn out my own. I ruined us. I had pushed away the only person who ever wanted to fight for me.