She had insisted on only marrying someone who was in the United States, just as he insisted his bride had to be willing to live in the United States. Brielle hadn’t known he lived there. She hadn’t kept up with him and that annoyed him. Seeing him, she had been more adamant than ever that she wasn’t going to marry him. Why?
That nervous plucking at her dress was going to drive him insane. He couldn’t help himself. Elie placed his much larger hand over hers to still her fingers. He didn’t look at her expression, but he did close his fingers around hers to warn her not to fight him. Beside him, Brielle tensed, but she didn’t attempt to pull her hand away. She did something amazing to his heart each time he touched her, or even looked at her, let alone breathed her in. Spending so much time with Stefano Ferraro these last few years had been good for him when it came to understanding relationships, but it had also honed him into a man willing to protect his loved ones at any cost. He realized he had an emotional connection to Brielle as well as a physical one. Perhaps it was all the time he spent on thinking about her, wishing he hadn’t screwed up and wondering why she wouldn’t give him a second chance.
The limousine pulled up to the entrance of the Ferraro, the luxury hotel owned by the Ferraro family. The door was opened and Elie slid out and held out his hand to Brielle. She hesitated. He waited, knowing she was gathering her courage. She had a great deal of pride and it wasn’t as if she wanted to be pried out of the limousine and carried in over his shoulder. She would be terrified he might just do that—which he would.
“I’ll get you through this and then you can present your case to Stefano,” he assured, speaking low. “He’s a fair man and will hear you out.” He didn’t tell her he had no intention of allowing her out of the marriage and would block every argument she presented.
Elie had dozens of questions he wanted answered in front of Stefano, because Stefano really was fair. He was also head of the riders in Chicago and Brielle fell under his leadership now. She had no choice but to obey him. Riders adhered to a very strict order of rules and there was no way around them, not unless Brielle wanted to be banished from the entire worldwide society of shadow riders in all capacities.
Brielle placed her hand in his and stepped out of the limousine, allowing him to pull her close to him. Elie wasn’t too surprised to see Emilio Gallo there, accompanied by Elie’s two dedicated bodyguards and two others he didn’t recognize. Emilio, as head bodyguard for the Ferraro family, had insisted that not only would Elie be guarded as all riders were, but his bride as well. Emilio had assigned two brothers to him three years earlier and he had gotten used to their presence. Like all riders, he didn’t have to like it, but he tolerated it because it was mandatory. The two personal bodyguards, Ruggero and Lorenzo Forni, were quiet, alert and trained personally by Emilio. The newcomers, two young men, Elie didn’t know, which would have made him very unhappy, except that Emilio’s presence meant he personally vouched for them.
Elie, when he’d first gotten out of the military, had applied to be a bodyguard. He had thought to stop being a rider for the Archambault family. He’d been forced to disclose his background to Emilio. Once Emilio turned the information over to Stefano, Stefano asked him to become a rider for Chicago. That was how he had made his way into the Ferraro family. He knew from firsthand experience that neither Emilio nor Stefano tolerated slackers in any of their businesses.
The four bodyguards closed around Elie and Brielle as they walked up to the doors of the hotel.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have time to allow for you to interview the new bodyguards for your bride, Elie. We can do that when she’s had a few days to settle in. She can sit in on the interview as well.” Emilio attempted a smile, which didn’t quite make it to his dark eyes. He was a very serious man as a rule, although quite capable of joking with those he felt very comfortable with. It was clear he knew someone had put out a contract on Elie’s life. Emilio would take that very seriously.
“Thanks, Emilio. This is Brielle. Brielle, Emilio, the Ferraro family head of security. Any order he gives, we all obey. Even Stefano.”
Emilio uttered a low sound that could have been either a throat clearing or a growl. Elie shot him a quick glance of reprimand. He was trying to get it across to his new wife that certain rules had to be obeyed, and one was having bodyguards. If she had recently really become a rider, then she had only just had them assigned to her, but more than likely, she wasn’t used to them and would ignore her need for them.