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Falynn
PLAYLIST: ? I STILL LOVE YOU - BANKS ?
I wasn’ttryingto find the engagement ring. It was an honest accident. I’d woken up to Gio gone. He’d left me a message he’d return in a few hours so we could spend the evening and nighttime together again.
After a shower and some lounging around, I decided to work out downstairs in the resort’s gym. The ring box fell out of the pocket of one of Gio’s pants. I’d picked it up and almost crammed it back inside without looking.
But it’s true what they say. Curiosity kills the cat…and nosy girlfriends who can’t resist temptation. I’d snuck a peek. If you’d asked me my reaction to discovering Gio’s planning on proposing, I would’ve told you I’d be overjoyed. I’d smile and laugh out of pure happiness and freak out like a giddy schoolgirl.
Instead, I threw up. Not on the spot, but the urge rose so suddenly, I dashed for the bathroom. Minutes later, still on my knees on the bathroom tile, I’d thought it was a fluke. I’d become overwhelmed, and my body responded by purging the contents of my stomach.
When I pushed myself up to my feet, it happened again. Another wave of nausea hit me, and I’d struggled to keep from throwing up a second time. The rest of the afternoon was spent with me strangely and suddenly, in tune with my body.
I skipped out on the gym and thought about the past couple of months. Everything had been so hectic and chaotic, I hadn’t been myself. From grieving Gio to being held captive by his brother, I hadn’t been taking care of myself like I normally would. I’d missed days on my birth control. I’d overslept and underslept. Some days I ate, others I didn’t. Grief didn’t just occupy my heart, but my whole body. Aches and pains and endless fatigue.
Even when Gio returned, things had still been in disarray. We’d reconnected at his compound and then lost our way when he found out the truth about what had happened in his absence. I’d hit new lows in the aftermath of his confrontation with his brother. I’d run off in need of space, still not feeling like myself.
Tasha and I spent days in a hotel suite, but I barely ate no matter how much I tried. Exhaustion still left me not even wanting to get out of bed some days. I’d assumed it was due to heartbreak. The very real chance I was leaving Gio for good.
The more I thought about recent times, the more my stomach roiled. The more other possibilities for how I’d been feeling. My hand on my stomach, I’d begun to accept that my intuition was leading me toward what was really going on.
I asked the guy serving as my security detail for the day to escort me to the drugstore. He looked the other way and pretended he didn’t notice I was purchasing half the store’s stock of pregnancy tests. I’d returned to the penthouse and spent hours peeing on the different sticks, inspecting the results closely.
Positive after positive after positive.
My heart stopped beating. My eyes itched and an emotion I couldn’t place welled up in my chest. I stared at the positive signs and double lines and almost refused to believe the truth.
I’m pregnant.
The words leave my lips as I sit beside Gio and nervously await his reaction. You’d think I’d be just as thrilled to find out I’m having his baby as I’m supposed to be he’s thinking about proposing.
If only our lives were that simple.
A ghost haunts me. A cruel, twisted ghost that whispers in my ear and tells me his brother will never accept a child that might not be his.
I can still hear Giancarlo’s voice, as deep as Gio’s, but lifeless and monotone. Even in his death, I’m at his mercy. I have no memory of that night, whatreallyhappened between us, though in the pit of my stomach, it doesn’t feel like it was anything good. What if?
More tears slip down my cheeks as Gio says nothing. I can feel him stiffen beside me, the shock of my news overtaking him. It’s not like I can blame him if he doesn’t want anything to do with my pregnancy. What man would want to father a baby that might be his brother’s?
The brother who was his arch-nemesis? The same brother who hekilled?
“It’s okay,” I say, standing up with the pregnancy test in hand. “You don’t have to take on any responsibility. I…I haven’t even decided if I’m keeping it. Maybe it’s best I…don’t.”
Gio’s large hand snaps shut on my wrist, his pull too strong to resist. He brings me back down beside him on the bed and threads his fingers with mine.
“You’re keeping it,” he says simply, his tone firm. “That’s our child.”
Unease ripples in my stomach. “You don’t know that, Gio. Not for sure. Your brother—”
“It doesn’t matter,” he says again, over me. He shifts on the bed and takes my face into his hands, his thumbs wiping tears. “It’s ours.”
“We should take some time. I just found out. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“There is no pressure. The child’s mine. It has my DNA. It has my blood. It’s mine, and so are you.”
He kisses me, a saltiness present due to my tears, but he doesn’t care. He dries more of them and pulls away to study my face.
“We’re in this together. You saw the ring. There’s no going back, Honey. We’re for life, and that includes this child.”
I swallow against the soreness in my throat. A hopeful seed blooms in my chest at his declaration. He’s serious—we’re bonded and the child growing inside of me is ours regardless of what dark origin he may or may not have.
It’s like Gio said.We’re for life.
