Helping Mr Gang Leader .Chapter 59: less than loyal source.Gianna said, “I must have reminded him of her.”Their mother.Giovanni’s fingers tightened from where they were gripping Gianna’s blanket. “That’s no excuse.”“Maybe. Maybe not.”The steady beats of Gianna’s heart weren’t nearly reassuring as Giovanni’s presence next to her.“I have to tell you something,” Gianna said finally, unable to hold back anymore. “But you’ll be upset with me.”“Unlikely,” Giovanni scoffed out.Gianna nodded seriously. “I used to see you, even up until a few days ago, as my innocent kid brother. I knew, realistically, you weren’t. How could you be at eighteen? But to me, you were this cheery, sometimes obnoxious, but good willed kid that I raised to be a pretty good example for others to look towards.”Giovanni laughed, “Not to be prideful or anything.”“I am proud,” Gianna insisted. “I’m proud of who you are, who you’ve become, and the things you’re going to do with your life. But in that store …

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 61: are you bitter ... or jealous? .“So,” Gianna tried, “you rile me up, poke fun at me, and are a jerk at times because you like that I snap back at you? How does that make any sense?”.Rio didn’t answer, instead he hid a smile of some sort behind a hand.Eventually, Rio confessed in a strangled way, “It wasn’t a big deal for me to be there with you at the flower shop. I didn’t have anything else to do that day, and the truth is, you are one of us. You’re one of Mariposa, even if it isn’t official or anything. You take care of us, you patch us up, you cook for us and hang out with us and you’re our friend. So, me watching after you wasn’t even something that Cypher needed to ask me to do. I just put up a fuss because you were paying more attention to the flowers than me.”Gianna gave him an incredulous look. “Please tell me you’re not saying you were jealous of the flowers I was buying for the graves of my mother and sister.”Rio looked horrified.

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 63: Ferrari Dante is in love .*GIANNA* “But please, I’m begging you. Don’t let Giovanni be the one to end his life when the time comes. Don’t let it be my brother. Please.”Dante’s hands were big and warm at Gianna’s waist, the heat from his fingers cutting through the pajamas she wore.Dante told her, “Giovanni already asked to be the one to do it. He’s taking this more seriously than you think. He realizes now how close he came to losing you, and how it could happen again if we don’t do this now.”“Please,” Gianna begged. “Please, don’t let him. He thinks he wants it, maybe he does, but I don’t know if his soul is ready.”Dante hugged her tighter, probably as tightly as she dared. “Okay. I’ll have Sal take care of it, or I’ll do it myself. After we have all the information we need.”Uncertain, Gianna pulled back to ask, “A confession?”Dante guided her back to the bed and corrected, “I’d rather know why. Mariposa is a family. We don’t let people

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 65: a proper rhythm.With Gianna’s hospital bag already sent ahead to her apartment, she was free to stroll from the hospital room without having to carry anything with her.The moment she was through the door, Giovanni pulling ahead to chat about wanting to go to the nearby amusement part that would only be open for another week or so, Gianna felt a serious weight lift from her. She was out of the hospital finally, almost fully recovered, and she’d dodged a bullet. She had beaten the odds and it felt great. Sure, her ribs would need some time to heal completely, but she was breathing almost normally, and everything else was manageable.”“You two look good,” Dante commented when he met them in front of the hospital in the loading zone. He had the car idling behind him and was leaning against it causally. More importantly Gianna could see that he was dressed nicely in a pair of dress black slacks that had been pressed recently, and a collared, de

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 67: loving a gang leader .Slowly, Gianna asked, “Someone shot at my brother because they were … jealous of him?”“Because,” Dante admitted slowly, “this person thought that Giovanni had been unfairly promoted. The shooting happened because he thought Giovanni was doing something to influence his promotion, and needed to be eliminated for the sake of Mariposa’s future.”Gianna closed her eyes. “So Giovanni knows?”“Yes,” Dante responded.“Did this person work alone?” Gianna, filled with fear. “I mean to ask, is it safe for Giovanni to be out there with you? Are there others who share this ridiculous sentiment?”“I think,” Dante said evenly and with a careful tone, “that it was just the one person and his accomplice. I’ve been very dedicated in rooting out anyone else, and I’ve come up with nothing. I’m keeping an extra eye on Giovanni for a while now, just to be safe, but I think this was a one-time incident. And I handled it.”Dante brought the bla