I considered talking to my parents first before heading into battle, but I pussed out. There was still a large part of me that had been so ingrained to stay away from the La Bellas that any pushback from my dad would have had me reconsidering my actions. I needed to do this while I still believed it was my only option.

Knocking hard on the La Bellas’ front door, which I somehow knew had been handcrafted and flown in from Italy over a hundred years ago, I held my breath and waited. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I probably should have told Dane that I was coming over here. That way, if my body went missing, they’d at least know where to start looking.

The door slowly pulled open—for dramatics or because of the sheer weight of it, I couldn’t be sure. Behind it stood Mr. La Bella. His expression always looked like he’d bitten into a sour grape, and it turned even more sour upon seeing my face.

“What the hell do you want, boy? Your daddy send you over here to steal something?”

I was shocked into silence before I found my resolve. I would no longer be intimidated by this terrifying man. “I wanted to talk to you, sir.”

He spat out a disgusted laugh. “I don’t talk to Russos.”

He moved to close the door, but I pressed my hand against it, stopping it cold.

“Mr. La Bella, please. I want to talk about Julia.”

The door flew wide open as he stepped out, forcing me to take two awkward steps back. “Stay the hell away from my daughter!”

“With all due respect, sir, you did kick her out. I don’t have to stay away from her now.” I knew I was pushing the envelope, but it seemed like the only way to get through to the man or at least get him to see the reality of what he was doing.

“I kicked her out to teach her a lesson,” he growled, closing the space between us.

I met his glaring, hard eyes with my own, refusing to back down. Not even when I heard Julia’s mom gasp in shock so loud that it almost made me want to stop fighting. Clearly, she hadn’t known what her husband had done to their only daughter, but putting an end to this feud mattered too much to me to stop now.