Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Letting Go

“I’ll be right outside,” Giovanni said before kissing the top of my head and leaving the room.

“How cute,” Johnathan teased.

I ignored him as I looked around the room. There were absolutely no windows in sight. There was a bed in the corner of the room, but at the moment Johnathan was strapped to a chair.

I had no doubt in my mind he was never given the pleasure of lying on the bed.

I sat down on the corner of the bed and took a deep breath. I made sure to keep my eyes down as I started.

“Ever since we started dating, I didn’t want to be anything less than the perfect girlfriend for you. I saw how the other girls looked at you, but you didn’t even bat an eye in their direction.

“I had nothing on them, but you refused to even breathe in their direction.” I stopped talking and rubbed my hands on my jeans as I released a shaky breath.

I looked up into his eyes and my words caught in my throat. “I can’t do this,” I whispered, standing up and walking toward the door.

“Why, petal?” Johnathan teased.

“Are you enjoying this?” I asked, leaning my forehead against the door.

“What makes you say that?” he asked, the smirk evident in his voice.

“You told me you loved me, but it seemed like from day one you made it your mission to punish me,” I said, slowly turning around.

“I have ~never~ punished you. I’ve only trained you to be a better girlfriend,” he said harshly.

“That’s bullshit and you know it. I was an ~amazing~ girlfriend to you. I stayed by your side no matter how badly you treated me. I didn’t put ~anybody~ above you.

“I spent every minute of every day trying to make ~you~ happy,” I spat.

He smirked and I could feel my blood beginning to boil.

“Is that why you came? To find out why I hit you?” he asked, studying me.

“If you were to ask me that a week ago, I would’ve said I came because I wanted to know where I went wrong—where I had let you down. But that was when I thought you broke me,” I said softly.

“And now?” he asked.

“Now? Now I’m here to say thank you—thank you for trying to break me because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here with Giovanni.

“I wouldn’t know that how you were treating me wasn’t love, it was abuse. I want to thank you for being such an insecure little bitch that you had to take all your anger out on me.

“I want to thank you for giving me Leo because that little boy is my life, and in all the years of us being together, he is the first thing you have given me that has made me happy,” I said.

I took a deep breath. “But I also want to say fuck you. Fuck you for ~ever~ making me doubt myself and my worth no matter how long the thought lasted in my head.

“Fuck you for taking the one thing from me that you knew you had no business taking.

“Fuck you for making me want to miss out on that amazing human being out there—for making me feel like I wasn’t worthy of his love.

“For making me hesitate when he asked me to marry him because I was scared that one day he’d wake up and look at me and when I looked back at him, I’d see you in his eyes.

“~Fuck you~. When I walked in here, I had every intent of getting a baseball bat and beating the shit out of you with it, just to see how you liked it.

“But I’m starting to realize you aren’t worth the effort,” I said as hot tears streamed down my cheeks.

His eyes dropped down to my hand and he clenched his jaw as his eyes landed on the ring Giovanni gave me. “Are you marrying him?” he growled slowly.

The door closed and I looked over my shoulder to see Giovanni leaning against the door.

“Yeah, she is,” he said coolly.

I turned around to look at Johnathan just as he ripped out of the seat. He pushed me to the side, making me hit my head on the wall. I whimpered in pain as my body made contact with the ground.

I slowly brought my hand to my head and pulled it back to see blood coated on it. I looked up at Giovanni and Johnathan to see them throwing punches at each other.

I watched in terror as Johnathan gained the upper hand and climbed on top of Giovanni before throwing punches repeatedly in his face.

“Stop,” I pleaded as tears started to run down my cheeks again. Whether Johnathan heard me or not, he ignored me as he continued to throw punches at Giovanni.

“Johnathan, please,” I begged, trying to stand up.

My legs gave up from under me and I sank back onto the floor. A gunshot went off and I screamed as I jumped. Neither of the boys moved and I couldn’t tell who got shot.

I crawled over to the two of them and weakly pushed Johnathan off Giovanni. I took his face in my hands as I sobbed, pleading for him to open his eyes.

I ran my hands down his body, trying to find a gunshot wound, and my breath hitched in my throat as I noticed a blood spot on his stomach.

I put my head on his chest as I let my sobs fill the room.

“I’m okay,” Giovanni croaked weakly, wrapping his arms around me.

My breathing stopped once again and I sobbed louder. “I-I thought he killed you,” I sobbed loudly.

“You aren’t getting rid of me that easily,” Giovanni joked weakly.

I helped him stand up as I swallowed down my own pain. “Please don’t scare me like that again,” I whimpered.

“Never again,” he promised softly.

My eyes found Johnathan’s lifeless body and immediately met his cold, empty eyes. My eyes stayed locked on his despite my attempts to look away.

Giovanni turned my head so it was buried in his chest and walked us out of the room.

“Boss,” some guards said, running up to us.

“He’s dead,” I said, gesturing toward the room we just walked out of.

They bowed their heads before running into the room.

Giovanni groaned as I helped him up the stairs and back the way we came, obviously in a lot of pain.

“~Merda~,” Luciano mumbled as he and the others ran up to us. They took Giovanni from me and carried him to the SUV.

Dante lifted me up effortlessly and I looked up at him in confusion.

“What are you doing?” I mumbled as he walked toward the SUV.

“Your head is bleeding,” he said, putting me in the back seat.

Giovanni was asleep in the seat in front of me and Dante sat down beside me.

“What about the other cars?” I asked, leaning my head against the cool glass.

“We’ll have some guards bring them to the house later,” he said, keeping his eyes on me.

“Why are you staring at me?” I asked, blinking heavily.

He pinched me and I sat up straight before glaring at him.

“I can’t let you fall asleep. You might have a concussion,” he said, shrugging innocently.

The whole ride consisted of him keeping me awake either by pinching me or moving close to my ear and making noises in it. He picked me up again, making me groan inwardly.

“I can walk,” I said, watching as Luciano and Antonio picked up Giovanni.

They struggled with him for a while before they got a firm grip on him and I watched as they started to lead him inside.

“No, you can’t,” Dante mumbled.

I sighed deeply but kept my mouth shut as he led me inside, following after Luciano and Antonio.

Dante split from the boys and put me in a room beside Giovanni’s before a doctor walked in. She looked over the wound and wiped the blood away before putting a bandage on it.

She gave me two pills and I took them before chasing them down with water. She smiled warmly at me and handed me an ice pack, letting me rest it on the wound.

I stayed in the bed for ten minutes before throwing the ice pack away and leaving the room. I walked up to Giovanni’s bedroom before taking a shower.

I threw on one of Giovanni’s hoodies and a pair of shorts. I slowly slid the wedding ring off my finger and put it into the sweater pocket.

I left the bedroom before going into the living room to find my parents sitting down with Leo and Alex. The room quieted down as they turned their attention to me.

“Mom,” Leo said, smiling brightly. He ran into my arms and I picked him up before kissing his cheek.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, turning my attention to my parents.

Alex stood up and took Leo from me before leaving the room.

“You gave him an Italian name?” my mother asked softly.

I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes, knowing this was her weak way of making small talk.

“Yes, I did,” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Sit,” my father said, gesturing toward the seat across from him.

I frowned but did as I was asked as I looked between the two of them, waiting for somebody to speak up.

“We did some digging and we found something out,” my mother said as my father opened his briefcase and pulled out a manila envelope.

He handed it to me and I looked between the two of them cautiously before opening it up.

I frowned as I pulled out pictures of Giovanni wearing dark clothes and his leather jacket. I felt the couch dip beside me and I looked up to see Giovanni sitting next to me.

He smiled weakly at me before letting his eyes trail down to the pictures in my hand. He frowned as he looked them over but didn’t say a word.

“You had him followed?” I asked, looking up at my parents. They took their eyes off Giovanni and locked them with mine.

“Yes,” my father said bluntly.

“Why?” I asked, putting the photos back into the envelope.

“We couldn’t let what happened with Johnathan happen to you again,” my mother said, shaking her head.

“How long have you had these?” I asked softly.

“Since he first came to the house. We just never opened them until today, when you guys came to visit,” my father said, leaning back in his seat.

“I’m sorry, how is that helpful to ~anybody~? What if he ~was~ like Johnathan?

“You waited until ~today~ when I came to tell you guys I had a son before opening it?” I asked, slowly beginning to lose my patience.

Giovanni tensed beside me as I compared him to Johnathan.

“I’m sorry we waited so long, but turns out we weren’t wrong. He’s a ~killer~, Luna. He’s not just in the Mafia; he runs it,” my mother said, glaring at Giovanni.

Johnathan’s lifeless eyes popped into my head and I shut my eyes tightly before releasing a shaky breath.

“Get out,” I said, standing up. Both my parents looked at me wide-eyed and I could feel myself losing my cool.

“I won’t say it again. Get. Out,” I said coldly.

My mother scoffed before she and my father grabbed their things and started heading to the front door with me following closely behind them.

“Your son, Leo, is lovely,” my mother said softly before walking out after my father.

“Luna,” Giovanni said, gently resting his hand on my shoulder. I jerked away from him before stepping outside and sitting on the stairs.

“I just need some air. I need to breathe,” I whispered.

“Okay,” he said softly.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I listened to his retreating footsteps. I slowly opened my eyes and jumped as they made contact with Alex’s.

“Sorry,” he said, chuckling and taking a seat beside me.

“Giovanni filled me in on why Mom and Dad were here,” he said, gently bumping his shoulder with mine.

“So what’s got you so freaked out? You knew he was in the Mafia, you knew he was the Don, and you should’ve guessed that killing people was in the job description,” Alex said softly.

“What?” I asked, realizing he was talking to me.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” he asked, frowning.

“I—” I stopped as tears filled my eyes and a lump formed in my throat, making it hard to speak.

Alex wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, letting me sob on his chest.

“I thought I lost him,” I sobbed, saying the thought that had been haunting my mind out loud.

“So, you taking off your wedding ring—all of this has nothing to do with what Mom and Dad said?” he asked, looking down at me.

“No,” I croaked, shaking my head.

“Luna, he loves you too much to leave you in a world without him,” he whispered.

“I-I know, it’s just—he was just lying there and I couldn’t do ~anything~. I-I thought he was gone. Alex, it was like losing you all over again. I-I felt so helpless,” I sobbed.

He sighed sadly and looked up before taking his arms from around me. He stood up, taking me with him, and led me inside to where Giovanni was waiting.

As soon as Giovanni saw me, he frowned and immediately stood up. He gingerly walked up to me like he was afraid I didn’t want him to touch me.

He stopped an inch away from me and I threw my arms around his neck as I sobbed on his chest.

“Please don’t leave me. I won’t be able to handle it,” I whimpered.

He lifted me up, letting me wrap my legs around his waist. “I won’t,” he promised, rubbing my back soothingly.

We stayed like that until my sobs had calmed down and he carried me to his room before gently putting me on the bed and cuddling into me.

I slid the ring back on my finger and smiled as I looked at it. “I love you, Giovanni,” I said seriously as I looked up into his eyes.

“I love you too, baby,” he said, smiling at me.

“Always and forever.”

“I know it’s early, but I got you a pregnancy test,” Giovanni mumbled, watching me intently.

I smiled and gently kissed his lips.

He stood up and gently lifted me up out of the bed before walking me into the bathroom and handing me the test.

I peed on the stick before leaving it on the box.

Giovanni sat down on the rim of the bathtub before setting a timer and I sat down beside him before resting my head on his shoulder.

He played with my hand while we sat in silence, waiting for the results to come back. I chewed my lip nervously as Giovanni’s phone started to beep, indicating the end of the timer.

I took a deep breath as we walked up to it. Giovanni picked it up and stared at it for two seconds before a huge smile broke onto his face.

“We’re pregnant,” he said before capturing my lips in a passionate kiss.

He showed me just how happy he was for the rest of the night—wink, wink—and right on cue, the morning sickness began the next day.