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An hour into the party, the De Lucas settled into their own tables, chatting about random stuff and the things they planned to do while turning a new leaf. Sitting in the biggest booth with Alessandro, Giovanni, and Gael in the corner were two Capos who got up and left the table to join the others.

Shortly after, Giovanni waved to someone from the crowd, and a woman in a pink wrap-around dress with blond hair walked towards the booth. He presented the woman to his nephew. "Gael, I\'d like you to meet Patricia."

Patricia extended a hand and drew a big smile on her face, looking slightly nervous and giddy at the same time. She subtly stuck her chest out. "Hello, Mr. De Luca. It\'s nice to meet you." 

Gael looked at her face and then glanced at her waiting hand before looking away and focusing his gaze on the patrons dancing below them. "And you are?"

"My gift," Giovanni answered. "I heard your office is ready soon. I thought I\'d save you the trouble interviewing candidates for the secretarial position. Patricia here is an undergrad of NYU and currently pursuing grad studies. Given you\'re both alumni, it would be beneficial to work together."

Patricia lowered her hand when she realized that Gael didn\'t look at her again and wasn\'t interested in meeting her.

Keeping his gaze away, Gael let out a sigh. He didn\'t want someone who looks like Barbie to work for him, so he let her down gently. "My apologies. I\'m sure you\'re very skilled, but I\'m not looking into filling that position anytime soon. You can leave your contact information and bank account to the guard. I\'ll send compensation for the trouble."

Patricia looked embarrassed when she met Giovanni\'s eyes. Not taking the rejection to heart, Giovanni shrugged. "Well, if you don\'t like her, then I\'ll take her."

Alessandro chuckled, shaking his head. "What would you even need a secretary for?"

Giovanni got to his feet and buttoned his coat as he answered casually, "Come on. Of course, I need a secretary. Gael\'s giving me a corner office with a view of Central Park. What better way to top the beautiful scenery than a beautiful secretary right outside my glass door. I\'d be inspired to work every damn day even when I\'m distracted, not knowing where to look." He winked at the woman and placed a hand on her back. "Gentleman, please excuse me. I need to find some quiet place to discuss company benefits with my new secretary. Patricia, how would you like to see my package?" He grinned over his shoulder, and Gael chuckled at the other\'s innuendo.

Alessandro shook his head, mirth dancing in his eyes as he and Gael watched Giovanni bring the woman towards another table at the far end corner of the floor. His brother was a gentleman as much as he was a ladies\' man.

"You didn\'t even give her a second look." Alessandro leaned against the backrest of the couch, keeping his gaze straight and looking nowhere in particular.

Knowing that his father was referring to the woman who Giovanni just introduced, Gael responded, "I don\'t need to."

"I know."

"Then why say it?"

"I\'m just saying… You\'re serious with Angela, and I know you\'re trying to avoid any problems in the future by not hiring a secretary that looks like that."

\'Looks like that,\' Gael scoffed in his head. The woman just now, though he already forgot her face, was like a carbon copy of women he\'d met over the years—long hair with body-hugging dresses whose instant reaction was to catch his attention by sticking their breasts out as if they were their prized possession. "I\'m not going to give Angela any reason even though I know she wouldn\'t get jealous over petty things like having a female secretary."

"I know that too."

"Then why are we even talking about this? What\'s your point?" Gael was now a little annoyed about the conversation. He had checked his phone from time to time and hadn\'t received a message from Angela since they left Nonna\'s earlier. He knew she was safe there but being away just made him constantly think about her.

"My point is… You haven\'t answered my question."

Gael turned his head to his father and asked, "What question?"

"Is she worth it? I asked you that a week ago, and you haven\'t said anything."

"I don\'t need to answer that."

"You don\'t need to, or you don\'t want to?"

"Same thing. I don\'t need to because it doesn\'t matter. She\'s here now."

Alessandro leaned forward and poured a finger of whiskey into his glass, and then refilled Gael\'s. "She\'s here because you asked her to come with you, even after knowing what\'s about to happen with the other family. From what I can see, she\'s showing you she doesn\'t care. She still wants to be with you."

Gael ran a hand down his face. He didn\'t like having to talk about this with his father—or anyone for that matter. "Where exactly are you getting at?"

"Have you told her?"

"Told her what?" He lifted the glass to his lips

"That you love her."

His hand froze mid-air, an inch away from his lips, for a few seconds before he tossed his drink back. His jaw ticked as he lowered the glass and stared at the skull-shaped ice in it. He was unable to say anything.

"Look, son. This family has been through a lot. \'You\' have been through a lot. But you also deserve to be happy. What\'s holding you back?" Alessandro probed, and when his son remained quiet, he pressed on, "Why haven\'t you told her yet?"

Closing his eyes, Gael exhaled a heavy sigh. It was rare to have conversations like this with his father. Talking about women was never the topic of their discussions. Over the years, he had a feeling that his father didn\'t have to worry about him getting involved with someone. So meeting Angela must have made him think she\'s different.

He fluttered his eyes open and said, "Because I don\'t want to tell her that and hear her tell me the same thing only because I told her first. If she feels the same way..."

"You know she does."

Gael looked at his father in the eyes. "IF she feels the same way, I want her to tell me not because me telling her pressured her to say it back, but because she wants to. That she stays with me because it\'s her decision, not because I\'m making her."

A few beats of silence passed as Alessandro matched his son\'s gaze—as if Gael was trying to make his father understand what he meant by letting the other read his serious expression. Gael knew too well how his father measured people like that, by reading them—a skill and a habit he picked up from him over the years.

"How do you know she\'s not doing the same thing—waiting for you to say it first, I mean? She\'s here spending the New Year with our family instead of hers. How much more proof do you want until you believe that she\'s not leaving?"

It was only then that Gael averted his gaze. Goddamnit. His father always knew what to say even though Gael had never said those things out loud. "They all do. One minute they say they\'re here to stay, but as soon as things get ugly, they\'re the first ones to leave."

Alessandro huffed, a small smile creeping on his lips. "Things are ugly right now, yet she\'s still here, isn\'t she?"

Gael\'s gaze shifted towards the watch on his wrist—the one Angela gave him. It reminded him of the necklace he gave her before he left Esmea—the one she was supposed to wear if she was ready to trust him already. After flying back to Mayne, seeing her again, and bringing her with him to New York, he had never seen her wear the jewelry.

Angela might have already known about his family, but she hadn\'t seen anything yet, so the sword of uncertainty was still dangerously dangling above his head. "Yeah, well, that\'s not enough."