Page 75 of Borrowed Bride

It’s more nerve-wracking than charging into a room full of armed men all wanting to kill me. This impossible small human is mine, somehow, and as I settle on the floor next to her, I can’t take my eyes off her. She has the cutest button nose with hair like her mother’s.

“Can I play?” I ask softly.

Freya shoves a plastic spoon into my hand and orders me to cook, and from then on I become the head chef at the cafe/restaurant she’s running. It’s terrifying at first. My mind races with the fear that I’m doing the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing, but Gianna never corrects me and Freya doesn’t seem to mind anything I do.

After some time, she ends up shuffling around with her toys and resting against my leg. The contact burns, but I’d rather chop my own leg off than move and risk disturbing her. During play, we have to deal with an unruly customer who refuses to pay and Freya punishes them with too much salt in their food.

Then she begins to yawn and rests heavier against me.

“Tired?” Gianna asks. “It’s been a long day.”

I glance at the clock. A whole chunk of time has just vanished, either because of the earlier meeting or because of play with Freya. Either way, she isn’t the only one that could benefit from a nap.

As Gianna stands, Freya suddenly turns against me and raises her arms. I glance at Gianna for permission—who nodsquickly—and then as carefully as I can, I scoop my daughter into my arms. She barely weighs anything and immediately settles into my hold like she’s been there a thousand times already. Through Gianna’s direction, I tuck her up into bed, and then together, we read her the hungry bear story until tiredness pulls her into an afternoon nap.

Gianna then takes me back to the bedroom and remains silent until she prepares my medication. “I’m sure you have questions.”

I ease down onto the bed with a grunt as all my aches pull and squeeze. “A few.”

“You can ask me anything.”

“What age is she?”

“Six, nearly six and a half.”

“Six?” I count back and had expected the child to be from when my memory was hazy but instead, I have to go back further.

“When Tara was attacked,” Gianna begins, sitting next to me. “That was when I found out I was pregnant. I was going to tell you once you had gotten your father back but then Cherry appeared and threatened me. Of course, she was working for Fawn, and they were convinced you were a sex trafficker, so they were scaring me to stay away.”

I nod slowly.

“All I knew was that I had to keep the baby safe from everyone so I just…I left. And I stayed hidden until she was born and Fawn tracked me down. She also wanted to keep Freya safe and it was her idea for me to go to Leo. She told me the truth of who she was, and I would have told you when we met at the safe house but there wasn’t enough time.” Gianna sighs deeply. “Anyway, that’s why I went to him because I didn’t know the truth. I didn’t know anything and all I wanted to do was keepher safe. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Even in that apartment Dante put us in…”

She shakes her head and tears sparkle in her eyes.

“I’m sorry I never told you. All the time I was pregnant, maybe if I’d reached out, then things would have been different?—”

“Hey, hey.” I stop her immediately and cup her face, caressing her cheek. “Don’t talk like that. You’ve been through this constant hell, with a child to protect all through that. I’m the one that’s sorry. If I hadn’t been so blinded by grief and hate all of the time, then maybe I would’ve seen clearly sooner. I’ve been blind to so much, my father included. You did what you had to do.”

Looking deep into her eyes, a small grateful smile flashes across her lips.

“You did all of that alone, and I can’t imagine the strength that took. So don’t you dare apologize, okay? Don’t youdare.”

Moving in, I kiss her deeply and pour every ounce of my love into the action. Gianna murmurs softly, then her hands slide around my neck and she pulls me closer.

31

GIANNA

His kiss is sweet and soft, unlike any other kiss he’s given me before. So much has come out today that I’m just relieved he didn’t accuse me of cheating or get mad at me for hiding his child from him.

If anything, his warmth and understanding is almost unexpected. If he’d taken the pills I’d laid out for him then I’d suspect he was just high on pain relief, but they still sit on the bedside table, abandoned in favor of me.

I cradle the back of his neck and run my fingers through the finer hairs just below his hairline. When he angles into me, I align myself just right and sink into his arms.

Part of me wants to cry. Everything that happened in the lounge is still so raw and sharp at the forefront of my mind. Revealing all those secrets and not being met with pushback was a shock, but part of me suspects Marco had his own suspicions that something else was going on. Maybe being blown up together with Leo was a bit of an eye-opener.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Dante were behind that too.

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