Chapter 7 - The Confrontation
I didn't go back to the mansion. I took a cab straight to Lily's school, pulled her out of class early under the pretense of a doctor's appointment, and took her to Camila's apartment.
"Jess, you're white as a sheet, what happened?" Camila asked, terrified as she took Lily into the bedroom to watch cartoons.
I collapsed onto Camila's worn sofa, sobbing hysterically as I showed her the documents in the folder. "He lied to me, Camila. Everything was a lie. He’s been tracking us for five years. He bought Lily from Tyler."
"That bastard," Camila breathed, eyes wide with horror. "What are you going to do?"
"I’m going to confront him," I said, wiping my tears, a cold, protective rage taking over my grief. "I’m going to look him in the eye and tell him he will never touch my daughter."
Before I could even stand up, the front door of Camila's apartment was kicked open with a deafening crash.
Marco and three heavily armed security guards poured into the small living room, followed immediately by Giovanni. His coat was damp from the rain, his face pale and frantic. When his eyes found me, a visible wave of relief washed over him.
"Jessica! Thank God," he breathed, stepping toward me. "Marco tracked your phone. Why did you leave the estate? Do you have any idea how dangerous—"
"Stay back!" I screamed, snatching a kitchen knife from the counter and pointing it at him. "Don't you dare come near me!"
Giovanni froze, his eyes dropping to the knife, then up to my tear-streaked, furious face. "Jessica, what is wrong with you?"
I grabbed the manila folder from the table and threw it at his chest. The papers scattered across the floor.
"I met Francesca," I spat, my voice shaking with pure hatred. "I know everything, Giovanni. I know about Tyler's gambling debts. I know you bought the custody rights to my daughter five years ago. I know you’ve been watching us like a predator waiting to steal my child!"
Giovanni looked down at the papers on the floor. His expression hardened, a deep, painful shadow crossing his features. He didn't deny it.
"Dismissed," Giovanni ordered his men quietly.
"Boss, with all due respect—" Marco started.
"Leave us!" Giovanni roared, his voice shaking the walls. Marco and the guards immediately backed out of the apartment, closing the broken door behind them. Camila, terrified, stayed in the bedroom with Lily, locking the door.
Giovanni turned back to me, his amber eyes filled with a desperate, agonizing torment. "It's true, Jessica. Five years ago, Tyler Brooks came to my associates. He was a coward trying to trade his unborn child's future to save his own skin."
"And you bought her!" I sobbed, the knife trembling in my hand.
"I bought the debt to save your lives!" Giovanni shouted back, taking a step forward, ignoring the knife. "Do you have any idea who Tyler owed that money to? It wasn't me, Jessica. It was a rival crew—ruthless monsters who would have slaughtered you and your unborn baby to make an example out of Tyler! I intercepted the contract. I paid off the debt, and I forced Tyler to sign those custody papers over to my shell company so that no one else could ever use Lily as leverage against you!"
I blinked, my mind struggling to process his words. "What?"
"I never intended to take Lily," Giovanni whispered, his voice cracking with genuine emotion. He took another step, placing his chest directly against the point of my knife. "For five years, I watched over you from a distance. I ensured your hospital shifts were safe. I ensured your landlord didn't raise your rent past what you could afford. I stayed away because I knew my world was too dark for a woman as pure as you."
Tears streamed down his face, matching mine. "But when I saw you at that wedding... sitting alone, broken, being insulted by the same piece of trash who tried to sell your daughter... I couldn't stay in the shadows anymore. I used the fake marriage as an excuse to bring you into my life, to protect you, to give you everything you deserved. I swear to you, Jessica, on my mother's soul... I love you. I love Lily. I would die before I ever hurt either of you."
The knife slipped from my fingers, clattering onto the floor.
I looked into his eyes and saw no deceit—only the raw, bleeding truth of a man who had been my guardian angel for five long years without ever asking for anything in return.
May you like
"Giovanni..." I whispered.
Before I could say anything else, a sudden, violent explosion rocked the building. The windows shattered into a million pieces, and the sound of automatic gunfire echoed from the hallway outside.
