SharingGianna Read Online Free PDF

done.
    “Well, that was a possibility,” Jessie admitted. Her friend
had always been too brave for her own good.
    Salvatore just smiled. “I’ve missed you, Jessie. You should
stop by the house. It’s been too long since we’ve seen your face.”
    “Ten years.”
    Gianna was startled. Had her friend avoided her family since
she’d been gone? Why would Jessie do that?
    “I remember you sniffing around Stephano when you were
younger. Still got a thing for my boy?”
    Gianna watched her friend blush again but Jessie answered,
“No, sir. The heart can only take so much rejection. Besides, hard to respect a
man who lets family walk away without pushing to know why.”
    The dig was deep and Gianna caught her breath. She couldn’t
believe that even Jessie would have the balls to say something like that.
    Salvatore just nodded. “I like you. You’ve got gumption,
Jessie Markle. Is it still Markle?”
    “Yes.”
    “Any of my remaining three sons would be lucky to find a
woman like you.”
    “Yes, they would.”
    Salvatore chuckled and giving Gianna another kiss on her
head, he pushed her from his arms toward the door. “Go see your brothers,
Gianna. No more running.”
    Gianna nodded. Maybe she’d been wrong about things. Maybe it
wouldn’t be as bad as she feared. She took the hand Jessie held out to her and
stepped outside the door.
    “What are you doing here? Family only in these rooms.”
    The cold words of her mother greeted her as she entered the
hall. This is what she’d feared. This is what she’d expected. She felt her
heart shrink. Her dad had given her hope that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, that
maybe she and her mother could mend fences. But who was she kidding? Her mother
would never forgive her for what she thought Gianna had done. And Gianna had
too much of that Marquetti pride to beg her mom to listen to the truth.
    “Gianna is family, Mrs. Marquetti,” Jessie spoke up at her
side.
    Her mother just glared at the two of them. Gianna never got
the chance to hear what her mother’s reply was. Her father stuck his head out
the door just then.
    “Belinda, leave it be.”
    Her mother opened her mouth.
    “No more, Belinda. We have one child fighting for his life
and you still wish to treat our daughter like this?”
    Her mother turned to her father and began a torrent of rapid
Italian. Obviously her emotions were getting the best of her right now.
    “Enough,” her father said and this time his hand sliced
through the air between them, a sure sign he was done. “We will discuss this
later. Gianna, go see your brothers. I will expect to see you later this
evening. Don’t make me send one of your brothers after you.”
    He took her mother’s arm and pulled her into Stephano’s
room, letting the door shut behind them.
    “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Jessie murmured and Gianna just
looked at her friend.
    “Compared to what?”
    “Well, neither one of you spontaneously combusted.” Jessie
made a big deal of looking Gianna up and down. “No broken bones or even a drop
of spilled blood.”
    “There’s that.”
    “I’m off in another hour. Wait for me and we’ll grab some
breakfast? Fill each other in on what’s been going on?”
    “Sounds good.” Gianna smiled. “I’m really glad I ran into
you.”
    “We’re blood sisters. It was inevitable.” Jessie grinned.
“Now go see your brothers and remember that you’re in a hospital so no
yelling.”
    Gianna shook her head. She was making no promises. So far
she was one and one. Her father was demanding she return to the fold while her
mother was still determined to think the worst of her. She knew Cris was on her
side. But what about Dante and Angelo? What about Nico? And what must her
little sister Isabella think of her?
    She heard the voices before she got to the waiting-room
doors. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and stepped into the
chaos. Time to face the music.

Chapter Four
     
    Gianna was ready to pull her hair