Chapter 14

Daisy Blake is mine. I wonder if it's too much to hire a skywriter to scrawl that all over the Melbourne skyline. Somehow, I don't think she'd approve of the gesture. I've never felt the need to make everyone aware that a woman belongs to me before.

I've had girlfriends, longish-term relationships, but I've never felt this need to possess someone else. To own them and protect them from the harsh realities of my world.

I've had John following her around whenever I haven't been with her. Gio has Dan and James tailing Eloise everywhere too. The only difference? El knows they're there. Daisy has no idea she has a permanent shadow. That's not a fight I want to have anytime soon.

I had to come out to the distillery with Santo today. Being so far out of town, so far away from her makes me nervous, and I'm itching to get back to her. I've planned our first date. Tonight. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I want Daisy to look at me like I'm more than just a mobster.

I want her to know the real me, the one no one else knows. The one I keep locked down tight. I wonder what she'd think if she knew I hated the life. If she knew I'd get out if I had a choice…

When you grow up a De Bellis, it's always a question if a girl likes you because of you, or because of who you are and the wealth and connections that come with it. If it weren't for my brothers, I'd walk away from it all. Change my identity, give up the money, and become an ordinary working-class kind of guy. I'd have a wife, children. Maybe even a dog and a bloody white picket fence. But I know that the simple life was never on the cards for me.

If things were different, would Daisy want the simple life? Or does she crave the thrill of being with a mafia prince? Someone who can and will kill for you without blinking an eye?

The thing about killing, once you get your first out of the way, the rest become easy. I've learnt how to detach myself from the situation. I don't lose sleep over the lives I've taken. Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy it like Santo does. It's more of a means to an end than recreational. You know, whatever it takes to protect the family.

I go in search of Santo. I need to get out of here, but I don't want him heading home just yet. When he woke up the day after Gio's wedding, he didn't mention a word of what's transpired. Which means either he doesn't remember, or doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that he's struggling with his grief to the point he's seeing and talking to ghosts.

I find him in the barrel house. "Hey, man. I need to head out. Gio wants you to go and check in on Jupiter," I tell him. It's one of our restaurants in the city. Our family owns heaps of them, as well as bars and various other businesses. It's the best way to clean all the dirty money we have lying around.

"What for?" Santo asks.

"No idea. He just said we need a presence there tonight," I tell him. "You good?"

"Yeah. I'll catch you later," Santo says and turns back to the paperwork attached to the clipboard in his hand.

I stand here for a moment before I walk off. I hate leaving him alone right now, but Gio insists the guy doesn't need a babysitter round the clock anymore. He also doesn't know how bad Santo got on the night of his wedding.

Two and a half hours later, I'm pulling up out front of Daisy's apartment block after having stopped at home to shower the stench of the distillery off me and change into a new suit.

She's waiting just outside the door of her building. "Why are you out here?" I ask as I make my way around the front of the car.

Daisy walks towards me, meeting me at the passenger side. "I was nervous or excited. Honestly, I can't tell which," she says.

"About what?" I ask her. I look up to the third-story window that I know belongs to her living room.

"This. You taking me out on a date," she whispers that last word.

"I make you nervous?" I grin before leaning down to kiss the middle of her forehead.

"Not you personally, but this. Dating makes me nervous."

"There is no need for you to be nervous. I mean, you already know I'm a sure thing." My grin widens into a full-on smirk as I open the car door for her.

"Then why don't we just skip the date, so I can take your sure-thing ass upstairs and screw you senseless?" Daisy counters.

"As tempting as that is, I've been waiting far too long for this. Get in." I nod my head towards the passenger seat.

"Well, don't say I didn't offer," she mumbles before climbing into the car.

I jog around the front and look up and down the street before getting in. Call it an occupational habit, to constantly be on alert, seeking out any threat that's lurking nearby.

"Where are you taking me?" Daisy asks as I pull the car out into traffic.

"A restaurant," I tell her.

"Well, that's descriptive. Which one? How can you be sure no one will see us?"

"No one will see us," I assure her.

It only takes ten minutes before I'm pulling into the back lane and parking the car. I watch as Daisy looks around. "Did you bring me here to kill me?" she questions.

"I wouldn't kill you in an alley, baby. There are too many risks doing shit like that in public places." I wink and open my door.

"Well, that's reassuring," I hear Daisy mutter. I lead her to the back of the restaurant, pull out the key, and unlock the door. "What is this place?" she asks me.

"It's a restaurant. We're just using the back entrance because you're still ashamed to be seen with me in public. This way. No one will see us come or go," I tell her.

"I'm not ashamed. I just don't want to hurt my friend." She sighs.

"I know. I'm just messing with you. Come on." I reach for her hand and walk her through the kitchen, stopping to greet the chef momentarily before leading her up to the private dining room.

Daisy wiggles free of my hold and walks straight over to the floor-to-ceiling glass wall that overlooks the rest of the restaurant. "Oh my god! Gabe, this is Lulu's. How on earth are we here? This place has a four-month wait list." Daisy turns around with a big, beaming smile on her face.

"They do. Come sit down." I hold out a chair for her.

"How'd you get us a booking?" she asks as she lowers herself onto her seat.

"We own the place. This dining room is only used by the family. That glass." I point to the wall. "It's one-way. We can see them but they can't see us."

Daisy's eyes bug out of her head. "You own this place. As in, you own Lulu's?"

"Among other places, yes." I walk around the table and sit opposite her.

"This is really beautiful, all of this," Daisy says while her eyes continue to bounce around the small room. The space is lit by candlelight. There are fresh flowers and greenery spread out on various surfaces. The square table is covered with black-and-white linen, and there's a small centre piece with a single pink rose positioned in the middle.

"You deserve the best," I tell her.

"How did I not know you owned this place?" she asks. "Or that you were such a romantic at heart?"

"We haven't exactly done a whole lot of conversing," I remind her.

"Well, Mr De Bellis, you have me here now. So converse away. What do you want to know?"

"Everything. But first, how do you feel about skywriters?" I ask. A small knock sounds at the door before a waiter is walking through with our entrees. "Thank you." I nod at the guy when he places the plates in front of us.

He walks out again without saying a single word. This is how the staff has been trained to serve us. It was one of our father's rules. Guess no one's gotten the memo that the man's dead and his rules don't apply anymore. I make a mental note to remind them.

Daisy peers down at the plate of three little white serving spoons, each perfectly portioned with a pesto prawn. "Um… I guess I probably should have told you that I'm allergic to shellfish."

My eyes widen. "What?" I ask, even though I heard her. It's just taking me a minute to process what she's telling me.

"I can't eat them. As much as I want to, because they look divine. I'm so sorry."

My arm swoops out and knocks the plates off the table. Daisy shrieks and jumps back, fear written all over her face. Fuck! I didn't mean to scare her.

"Sorry… I just don't want anything near you that could kill you. Fuck, I should have known that. There was nothing about an allergy in the dossier," I say without meaning to do that either. There's just something about this girl… I really don't want to lie to her.

"The what now? Dossier?"

"It's a collection of information," I explain.

"I know what it is, but why would you have one on me? I'm assuming that's what you're referring to, right?"

"I have one on everyone with any kind of connection to my family, Daisy. It's not personal."

"On the contrary, it's very personal. What exactly does it say? What kind of deep, dark secrets of mine did you dig up?" she says while batting her lashes at me.

"Let's get out of here. You need to get away from these prawns," I tell her.

"We can't just leave this mess for someone else to clean up." Daisy stands and kneels on the floor as she starts picking up the plates and spilled food.

"Don't fucking touch them. They have the potential to kill you. Fuck, Daisy." I snatch her hand before she can make contact with the prawn she's about to pick up.

"It's not that bad. I just break out in hives if I eat them. I'm not going to die, Gabe."

"I'm not taking that chance. Let's go."

"What did you order for the main?" she asks.

"Pasta."

"Any shellfish?"

"No."

"Then let's stay and wait for that," she says. "We're not ruining our first date, Gabrielle. ?Cause you know, after a bad first date, there usually isn't a second one."

"There will be a second, and third, and fourth. There will be plenty more dates, Daisy. Too many to count." I cup her cheek. "I'm sorry I freaked out, but the thought of these little fuckers killing you… I… I just don't want anything to happen to you," I admit.

"It's okay. Maybe try to take a few deep breaths next time. Count to ten in your head before you just clear the table."

"I'll try." I lean in and meld my lips to hers. "But I will always put your safety above anything else."