Page 44 of Surprise Baby for the Mafia Boss

“I understand,” I reply to him, not fully understanding, but knowing I can’t force him to feel the same way I do.

“But I’m not going to take any of your money. You have kept your word, so you don’t need to feel guilty about that. I’ll let you have your time and space. I do hope we can work this out, for the baby, and so that we don’t waste what we have. You just let me know if you ever feel the same as I do, Luca Baldini.”

I give him a sad smile and leave the office. I grab my keys from my room and head straight to my car, leaving the bags I brought with me yesterday.

I need to get home, away from this house, and away from the man who was currently breaking my heart.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Luca

The envelope feels heavier in my hand all of a sudden.

I set it down on my desk and sit down, staring at it. Emelia’s words echo in the empty room.

I thought money was at the root of this whole scheme of hers. I know that her father tries his best, but they definitely don’t have the highest net worth. So why would she choose to leave the money behind?

I hear the door open and see Grazia walk in. She’s also done a brilliant job of pretending for the Mexicans, and I can see in her face that she’s tired after the recent drama.

I’m so grateful that she and Emelia could put aside their fight for the weekend, and that neither of them tried to confront the other. I worried when they ended up seated right next to each other for dinner, but they were cool and collected.

“How are you doing?” she asks. I shrug in response.

I honestly have no idea how I’m doing right now. Then she spots the envelope with Emelia’s name on it, picks it up and looks inside. She whistles when she see just how much cash is in there.

“Emelia left this behind?” she asks. She puts the envelope back down.

“She did, but it was on purpose,” I say. I’m still surprised at how things went down just a few minutes ago, and I know I sound dazed. I barely slept last night, what with Emelia and the baby right next door.

“Are you paying for an abortion?” Grazia asks carefully, clearly unsure of the full situation, and not wanting to step on any toes. But her comment takes me by surprise.

“No! God, Grazia. I offered her money in return for coming here to handle the Mexicans. I told you and Enzo, they still think that we’re together and I needed to keep up the pretense.”

I haven’t even thought about the possibility of Emelia thinking about an abortion. I can’t see her wanting to give up the baby, but I’m not sure I want her to, either.

“Oh.” Grazia seems to understand a bit better now. “Sorry. So, why didn’t you give it to her, then? I saw her coming out of here.”

“I did give it to her.” I sigh. “But she told me that she doesn’t want it. She said she’s in love with me and she did this for me, for the family.” Saying the words out loud doesn’t do much to help me understand them any better.

Could Emelia really be in love with me? I know that I was falling in love with her, but that was before I heard about her and her father scheming to join our family for all the wrong reasons.

“Do you believe her?” Grazia asks me the million-dollar question. And I look up at her, searching her face for how she feels about this whole situation.

“Do you believe her?” I ask.

“You’ve been friends with her for a long time, and you two seem to know each other inside and out. I know it’s probably unfair of me to ask this, after we lied to you, but do you think she’s being genuine?” I still feel terrible for the way I treated my sister, even after the fight when she confronted me. She deserves better, and I’m glad we can talk now.

Grazia thinks for a moment. “It is a bit unfair. You were both shitty for doing that. But, yeah I think she’s being honest. I believe her.” Grazia sits down on the other side of the desk and picks up the pen Nonna gave me for my twenty-first birthday. It has my name engraved on it.

“Emelia has had a crush on you forever. At first, I thought it was just because all the girls had a crush on you.” She rolls her eyes and I laugh softly.

Grazia was forever chasing away the girls who thought they were my next true love. I hardly ever encouraged these girls, but every now and then I was guilty of accepting what they were offering (mostly just sex), which caused them to become a little obsessed at times.

“But now…after Nonna, and this deal, and your baby…” She sighs, resigning herself to this new reality that is about to be her life. “She probably does love you, Luca, and I’d bet she has for a while.”

“But what about what you heard her and her father talking about?”

“Well, she’s also always wanted to please her father. So, yeah, having a Baldini baby would probably make her father love her a little more—or that’s what she’d be thinking. But I don’t think it’s all about that anymore.”

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