He Took My Love 99 Times. The 100th Time, He Lost Me Forever. novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: The Board of Families
Fabrizio was already in the aisle, with the form in his hand.
He came down the carpet.
"Gemma," he said. "Sign, and we'll go home."
Eleven hundred people had their phones up.
"You signed it for me," I said, loud enough for the back rows. "Paola watched you do it."
"Paola's unwell."
"Show everyone my signature."
He didn't move.
Leone stepped into the aisle beside me, and the baker stepped in beside him, hat first.
"You'll want to put that away, son," the baker said. "There's a lot of cameras."
Fabrizio looked at the rows of lit screens, and his face went smooth.
He folded the form once and slid it into his breast pocket.
"At the hearing, then," he said gently.
"At the hearing."
He turned and walked back up the aisle, and the phones followed him all the way to the doors.
The Board of Families met in a hall on Pell Street that had been built when the families still carried their own guns.
It had a long oak table, a painted ceiling and sixty chairs in rows, and every chair had somebody in it.
I knew them all.
I had pinned their wives, and hemmed their daughters' dresses, and sat across from them at forty Sunday dinners.
None of them would look at me.
The chairman was an old man with a white moustache and a gavel so worn it had no paint left.
Two other members sat at his side.
Donata wasn't at the table.
"Donata Montanari holds a seat," the chairman said. "She is also the respondent's mother. She will sit with the families, and she will not speak unless asked."
Donata sat in the front row in black, with her hands folded and her pearls on.
She looked at me.
Fabrizio sat beside her.
Keep reading free with an account. Start He Took My Love 99 Times. The 100th Time, He Lost Me Forever. from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend