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“When were you going to tell me?” Nico demands, standing up from the bed and starting to pace the room.
“Tell you what?” I ask, because as I start to get my bearings, I realize he could be talking about the baby or he could be talking about the fact the man I thought was my father is not actually my father.
“Bambolina…” he growls, locking me in place with his eyes.
I sigh. “Nico, I just found out about the baby only a few days ago. I was planning to tell you when I got home from the cemetery… I just wanted to tell my mom first,” I say honestly, and he stops pacing and comes back to sit on the bed.
“I shouldn’t have let you go to cemetery alone.” Deep regret etches onto his face.
“Like you could have stopped me.”
“You were nearly killed, Emilia! I didn’t protect you like I should have.” His anguish at not protecting me hits me like a truck.
“Nico, it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” I say gently, but I can tell my words fall on deaf ears.
“I should kill Hugo for touching you,” he grits out.
“I can’t believe I have another brother…” I say in a whispered tone, my mind racing at everything I recall from this afternoon.
“When did you realize Brian Cole wasn’t your biological father?” Nico asks, looking at me inquisitively.
“I didn’t until I saw Lucas. As soon as he walked into the room, I just knew. I can’t explain it,” I say, trying to pull my thoughts together, but still feeling jumbled.
“Lucas wants to speak with you. I told him you need time.” I nod. I do. I need time to process.
“What happens now?” I ask Nico, knowing he and Sebastian already have a plan.
“Sebastian has spoken with Lucas, and although tensions are still high over what Hugo did, Lucas and Sebastian remain allies. As soon as you feel up to it, we have a car downstairs waiting to take us to the airport, and we will fly to our compound in Sicily to gather our thoughts and rest,” Nico says, reaching up to run his hands through my hair.
“Okay.” I say, absentmindedly rubbing my stomach with my hand.
“Are we really having a baby, bambolina?” he asks, vulnerability taking over his features as his hand covers mine and rests on my stomach.
“Well, I am. With or without you, this baby is happening,” I state, because the last thing I want to hear from Nico is our options. There are no options. Only one.
“Like hell you are doing it alone. We made this baby together,” Nico growls, and my heart melts a little.
“I’ve been so sick, so tired, then I had to go and get kidnapped and thrown on a plane.” I pause, a terrifying thought hitting me. “Oh my God, Nico, is little bean all right? Do you think it’s hurt? I can’t feel any pain, but do you think that happens when they are this small?” Maybe I need to be checked by a medical professional to ensure something hasn’t happened to the new life growing in my belly.
“Little bean?” he asks as his lips turn up a little at the ends.
“It’s the size of a little coffee bean,” I say quietly, wondering if he thinks I am stupid for calling our child a bean, even though coffee was what first joined us together months ago.
“A good Italian bean,” Nico says with pride.
“Or maybe French…” I say, putting out there that I am, in fact, French by blood. French mafia, no less.
“I can’t believe your brother nearly killed you. He is such a fucking idiot.” Nico shakes his head, rubbing his temples.
“I can’t believe my dad isn’t my dad...”
“Brian Cole is now in the hands of Lucas. Apparently, they are well acquainted from decades ago. I’m not sure what happened with your mom, but Lucas wanted Brian and we are handing him over.” I nod, taking everything in.
“Are we doing this? Are we going to be together, be parents, raise a human being?” I ask him, needing to know his thoughts, needing to hear them again to be sure. I want to do this with him; I want us to be a family.
His eyes look deeply into mine, giving me butterflies, and I feel like I know what he’s about to say before he says it. And that in and of itself has every other thought in my mind taking a back seat. What’s important is in this room, sitting before me, and growing inside me.
“I love you, bambolina, and I love our little bean too. The heartache I felt when you were missing is like nothing I have felt before, and I never want to feel that again. So, yes, we are together, and yes, we are having a fucking baby. You will be mine, and I will be yours.” Nico’s statement has me smiling, tears welling in my eyes, knowing that he means every word that he says.
