Page 111 of The Sexy Billionaire

“We are your family, and we love you.”

“I’ve let everyone down,” she cries.

“Who? Who have you let down?” I ask her.

“Mamma and Papà. They want me to marry a good man and have grandbabies.”

“Do you not want a family?” I ask her.

I can hear her sniffling on the other end of the phone. “I do, one day.”

“Do you think Mamma cares where that baby comes from as long as her house is filled with them?” I tell her, which pulls a chuckle from her lips.

“You’re making this sound so easy.” She moans, hiccupping through her tears.

“It is when it comes to family.”

“Do you think Papà can handle my news?” she asks.

“Yes.”

She lets out a shaky breath. “Okay, I’ll come home and tell them.”

Relief fills my body. “Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you into it.”

“I’m sick of living with this secret,” she confesses.

“Do you want the entire family there or just me?”

“All of you. I might need Lilly to resuscitate Papà.” She chuckles.

“I can arrange that,” I tell her.

“Gio, I don’t deserve you as a brother. After everything I’ve done to you, here you are still trying to protect me. I’m so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen.” She cries down the phone. I can hear how sorry she is for making the choices that she has.

“I forgive you. It’s water under the bridge for me. What I do want is for the world to know that Giada and I are not together anymore. Not the why or who, I just want that noose cut from around my neck.”

“I can do that, Gio,” Giada says down the line, surprising me. I had no idea she was there. “Consider it done.”

“Just like that?” I ask, trying not to be skeptical.

“Yeah, just like that. I’m sick of hiding who I am and who I love. It’s exhausting, I’m done living in the shadows. I’m sorry for putting you through this, Gio. I don’t deserve your compassion, but I’ll never forget it,” she says.

Wow. That’s unexpected.

“It’s going to be okay, Gia, this isn’t going to ruin your career. Matteo said to give him a call if things don’t work out here, he’d love you to be on his show.”

Giada squeals on the other end of the phone. “No way. He said that?”

“Yeah, he did. I was just with him on the weekend in Paris.”

“Wait, so he knows about Allegra and me?”

“Natalia was very forthcoming with the information,” I tell her.

“She never did like me.” Giada chuckles. No, she didn’t, but I don’t need to say anything more when it comes to that. “We don’t have anything in the next couple of days, maybe we should come back and face the music,” Giada states.

“You willing to come back to that media scrutiny?”

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