Page 16 of Ti Amo

“Your nightmare. Isn’t that what you called me? You wanted a choice, I gave you one. Make it.”

“Will you let Kei go?”

“I’ll let your lover live.” He turned and headed for the door. “That’s more important to you obviously.”

“I won’t put Eve in danger. That’s not a choice. A choice is you let me raise her out of this thing that you do. To keep her safe.”

Giovanni chuckled over the absurdity of her request.

“Why? Why can’t you do this for me? After everything that’s happened, you know I’m trying to put our daughter first. Why? Especially since you hate me so much.”

“Because you belong to me,” he said through clenched teeth. “The day she was born you became mydonna. Look at me.” She closed her eyes trying to calm her self, to think of a way to reason with him, but nothing came. “Look at me dammit!” he shouted at her. Mira opened her eyes. She glanced up at him. He glared to the point of his eyes narrowing to blue slits. “I’d never walk away from my child, and there isn’t a damn thing your lover out there can do about it.”

“Love! What about love Giovanni?”

“The word means nothing to you. So don’t throw it in my face now.”

Mira turned away from him and the door closed. She put her hands to her temples and the tears she’d suppressed in the last ten minutes broke through. Kei was right. She was in over her head.

Giovanni waited a breath outside of the door. He felt sick to his stomach. He closed his eyes and tried to swallow a bit more of his pride. The weaker man in him wanted to go back in and plead his case, beg for her to try to love him. She despised him, and the realization of what he lost with her made him insanely jealous and desperate. They created a baby together and she’d rather run from him than let him share in the single good thing he’s done in this world. He could be a good father. He could try. Giovanni wiped his hand down his face and cleared it of sweat. His anger and hurt made him feverish and jumpy. Maybe she was right. He wasn’t worthy of her. But dammit he wouldn’t let her go. Hate him if she must. She was his donna and he’d teach her what that meant.

He found Dominic and Lorenzo hovering dangerously close to Kei who held Eve but faced off with them boldly. Something was off with this one. He didn’t cower and that made him dangerous. After all he had the resources to make Mira Ellison disappear. Their eyes met. Giovanni knew a formidable foe when he saw one. Kei was not a man to be discounted. Strange. Dominic said he was a wealthy banker. What gave him his balls? There was another factor at play, and he was determined to uncover the source of the Asian’s bravery.

He approached.

Dominic and Lorenzo stepped aside.

“Eve, I’m Papa Gio,” he said. The baby stared at him curiously. She spit out her pacifier. “Ti AmoEve, I’m Papa.”

“Pa-pa?” she repeated.

Giovanni smiled, he looked to the men he considered brothers and they smiled in encouragement. “Sí, Papa, now come to mebambina. I want to hold you,” he said reaching for her.

The little girl blinked at him a bit wary. She stuck the plug back in her mouth and looked to the Asian for permission. Giovanni struggled to remain humble, but like a ticking bomb the seconds wound down and his impatience quickly surfaced. Kei sized Giovanni up. He released her. A wise move. He passed him his daughter, and she went to him without complaint. Silently he vowed to spend the rest of his days being the father she’d reach for. Eve threw her arms around Giovanni’s neck. He kissed her chubby cheek. The little plug in her mouth remained, but she managed to grin while holding it in place with her teeth. Most remarkable were her eyes. She had his mother’s eyes. They were mirrors of his own.

“What did you do to Mira?” The Asian man asked.

“She’s no longer your concern.” He bounced Eve in his arms. Kei made to reach for Giovanni’s new love to end their bonding but Dominic smoothly stepped between them. “She asked that you be allowed to live,” Giovanni continued, he rubbed his nose against Eve’s and she touched his beard with a curious furrow of her brow. “I will honor that request. But it does have an expiration date. I suggest you forget all about Mira and my little Evie. Return to America of wherever the fuck you came from immediately.”

“You dictate nothing to me,” Kei replied in a cold almost amused tone.

Giovanni cast his gaze over toward him. The playful smile he wore for his daughter faded. “You don’t think so?Ballista!”

Mira walked out of the back rooms wiping her cheeks. She looked at the men. “Kei, I need to talk to you please,” she said quickly. Eve’s head turned at the sound of her voice. “Ma-ma!” she stretched her arms to her mother.

“Please, Kei. Come with me. So we can talk.”

Kei looked as if he would go for Eve. Mira walked over to him and took his hand and pulled him from the room. “She’ll be fine with him. Just for a moment. Please.”

They went to the room she and Giovanni had argued in. She closed the door. When she turned Kei looked at her with alarm. “Tell me you aren’t leaving with him.”

“I have no choice. Eve and I have to go.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he shouted. For the first time since they’d known each other he shouted at her. “What is this shit about you belonging to him? He talks about you and Eve as if you’re property he came to collect!”

“I have Eve to think about. I’m also supposed to be dead. What if his enemies find me next? What then?”

“I can protect you. I have resources.”

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