For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 18

I feel my phone vibrate and let go of my Uncle. "It's probably Annalisa, telling me she's here," I tell him as I pull out my phone and read her message.

My Uncle grabs my bag. "I'll walk you out; the men were heading down when I was walking over here. Tobias is going over the arrangements for your security detail." He informs me as I close my door and walk quickly, to catch up to him with his long stride.

"Tobias is coming?" I ask, surprised.

"Yes, he will be going to make sure everyone follows the protocol since it'll be outside the normal routine and our usual way of running things. Not to mention, John Paul, Joey, and Damian are going more as part of the group rather than being on work detail."

My heart rate picks up at the mention of JP. I suddenly become anxious to see him as I chew on the inside of my cheek. He's probably still angry at me, and I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to stay home, but I really hope he comes.

We walk out of the house, and Annalisa gets out of her car, walking over to me. "Hey, girl! Are you ready for a wild, crazy weekend?"

My Uncle clears his throat.

"Within reason, of course." Annalisa amends, winking at my Uncle.

He walks away, shaking his head, but then turns back around. "Remember, be safe. Be smart." As he walks back to the house, I see John Paul and Joey walk out; my Uncle stops to talk to them briefly and shakes both of their hands.

I let Annalisa know that I need to talk to JP. She smiles at me, taking my bag from my hand, and heads back to her car to grab her luggage to load up the SUV. 

I walk up behind JP and Joey, loading one of the SUVs with their bags. I clear my throat, but only Joey turns around.

So we're doing this cold shoulder thing again, fantastic.

I grab JP's arm and pull him towards me. He looks down at my hand on his arm before looking at me.

"Can I talk to you? Please?"

Joey stands there watching us like we're some freaking sideshow.

"Alone?"

JP looks at Joey, which makes him walk away from us.

"What is it?" JP's voice is calm yet detached. He's not going to make this easy for me. I sigh and pull him further away from the SUV, knowing some men are trying to act like they're not listening but can hear everything. I turn around to face him.

"I'm sorry I slapped you, JP."

He doesn't say anything; he's not even looking at me. "Please look at me, John Paul." He turns his gaze towards me. "I shouldn't have gone off on you, I was upset about something I just found out, and I took it out on you. I was wrong."

"What did you find out?"

"I...my dad...he told me, my mom, Serena, isn't my birth mom," I say quietly, still having a hard time believing it's true. I expect JP to say something or look surprised, but he doesn't.

He must be really pissed at me.

I go on to tell him what my dad said at lunch and how I couldn't think clearly, and that's why I was so upset, and then with how weird things were between us, I couldn't bring myself to talk to him.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way, Charmaine. You know you can always come to me. For anything," JP tells me.

I reach up on my toes to hug him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. He wraps his arms around me, hugging me tightly as he lifts me off the ground. He moves his face down towards my neck and takes a deep breath.