Chapter 277: In Which Their Hearts Are Beautiful But Life Is Complicated

Angela looked at Gael as if he'd grown two giant heads. She backed away, and he let his hand fall to his lap, feeling the slight rejection prick at his chest. He must have sounded crazy with what he just told her. It wasn't as if draining someone's wealth was as easy as taking a child's candy. But this was why it was taking the time to do so.

She shook her head, looking more confused than ever. "What are you talking about? What do you mean drain all their resources?"

How could he explain it to her without him sounding like a villain? Though that didn't matter as she'd already known that from the start. He wasn't a good man. Furthermore, there were a lot of things he couldn't tell her; for his family's sake and especially for her own sake. Rubbing the back of his neck, he let out a sigh, finding this conversation one of the hardest he'd ever had. Then he said, "It sounds ridiculous, I know. Not as easy as it sounds either. But essentially, that's what we've been trying to do."

Gael examined her face, and he knew she was still confused. He grabbed her hands, both because he thought it was a way for him to make her believe him and also because he just couldn't keep away from her—he had to hold her somehow. "Look, the only reason why the Morellis are forcing the marriage between the two families is because they're desperate."

She didn't retract her hands away, which was a good sign. But her brows furrowed as she matched his gaze. Angela was trying to understand what he's saying, but the more he spoke, the more she looked confused. "Desperate how?" she asked.

"The Morellis are losing money. They're...drowning in debt and favors. We're still trying to investigate what happened to them exactly… All we know is that they owe someone a huge sum of money. They want this marriage between our families to save their asses. They think being 'allies' again—whatever the fûck that means to them after all the shît they've done to my family—would save them from drowning."

Her eyes flickered to the side as though trying to piece everything together. For someone like her who wasn't born and didn't grow up in his world, this whole thing would sound so messed up. Family feuds, wars, or dysfunctional families seemed to happen only on television dramas, and here he was, being the devil in her innocent world. He hated that he was getting her involved in this. He was supposed to protect her, not bring her danger.

"But I thought the...leaders were the ones who gave the order? Why are you saying it's the Morellis who are the ones forcing it?" she questioned.

Gael hung his head, wishing it was easier to explain everything. Oh, how he wished they weren't in this situation at all. He felt like every single one of his decisions before came back to bite him in the ass.

As much as he could, he tried explaining it to her carefully, "It's complicated. There's a group of people, the leaders who are representatives from each of the families—like a union. This group exists to make our businesses balanced all over the country. As much as possible, whatever happens in one family stays in the family without having to involve the union. In recent years, I've been trying to convert our businesses' legitimacy. When the Morellis knew about it, they told another family who informed another family who's in business with us—specifically in the oil business. We operate separately, most of the time. But that family—let's just call them the Smiths..." 

Jeez. This was getting harder to explain as he had to keep the identities of everyone involved confidential. Another sigh came out of him. "The Smiths didn't like what they heard from the grapevine. We're a big contributor to their business among the other families who are also benefiting each other. If our family leaves… The Smiths will lose money. Do you see where I'm going here?"

Angela briefly squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to comprehend what she just heard from him. "Let me get this straight… There's a political union that's composed of leaders from your families?"

Gael squinted as he tilted his head. "Something like that."

"And your family—the De Lucas have a partnership with the Smiths."

"That's right." He nodded. "We have a feeling that they're working with the Morellis in one way or another as they've both put pressure on us. Having the marriage between our families would keep the Morellis afloat and the Smiths confident. They need us to stay in the circle."

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His hands slid down to her wrists when she brought her hands up to her face. She groaned, hugging the pillow again. "I think I'm going to have a headache after this. So basically, you can't leave? You're not only fighting the Morellis, but you're also going to have to deal with the Smiths."

"Pretty much, yeah. But we're not worried about the Smiths. We can handle them. We've been working together for a long time, and they'll be taken care of without having to resort to unfortunate methods. It's just the Morellis that we have to bring down so they won't cause us trouble anymore."

"But the union still ordered the marriage to happen. Which means the Smiths don't know about your plan?" Angela wondered, and he nodded.

"Our moves are risky. We need everyone to think we're complying to avoid more bloodshed. It's hard to trust anyone outside of our family, so until then, we have to nod our heads."

The air was quiet for a few minutes as Gael gave her some time to absorb everything. She looked at her fingers and fidgeted. He felt terrible that they had to talk about this on Christmas eve, but they had to start talking about it before leaving.

She glanced up at him before settling to look at his steepled hands instead. "This is all too much for me, Gael. I don't know what to say or think. Your world...is so different than mine."

He pressed his lips into a thin line. 'It's not entirely true, Angel,' he thought. He also thought the same until a while ago, but he slowly realized that the crime family is just a part of his identity. The more he's with her, the more he saw that she's becoming his world now. All of a sudden, everything was about her. But it would be selfish and irresponsible of him to tell her that when they're still in this situation. He didn't want to put pressure more pressure on her than he already did.

Sliding his hand on the side of her face, Gael stroked her cheek, and in a low voice, he told her, "I'm sorry for bringing you into this mess. I really didn't mean to hurt you, Angel."

Angela shook her head and swallowed. "I knew what I was getting into when I decided to get myself involved with you. I just didn't know it would be this hard."

He lifted her chin, wanting to see her eyes clearly. His gaze lowered to her lips, and he fought the urge to kiss her again. He felt like an anchor was sitting on his chest when he asked her, "Do you regret being with me?"

She blinked, and a tear rolled out of the corner of her right eye. It fell on his thumb, and it was like acid on his skin. The harmless drop of tear was filled with all the pain that she'd been keeping inside her. He hated himself for making her so vulnerable when he knew very well that she always tried so hard to stay strong in front of him. He wiped the wetness on her cheek, and she pulled back, brushing the back of her hand on her eye. 

"I don't know," she answered. "But I regret not being strong enough."

Gael's jaw tightened. He held out his arms towards her and beckoned, "Come here."

Angela looked at him, and for a second, he thought she'd withdraw. Then she shifted in her seat, moved the pillow to the side, and leaned towards him. His arms instantly went around her frame, pulling her closer and tucking her under his chin. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, and yet none of them seemed to be enough to comfort her. All he could do was tighten his embrace while she buried her face against his chest. 

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