He didn’t say any words of love or devotion, but he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, hoping she knew or at least sensed what he felt for her.
“I’ll always protect you and our family, Valentina. Always.”
They weren’t the right words, and he hated himself for being so fucking weak. Valentina had a right to know the truth, but he held back.
Sinking his fingers into her hair, he felt her shake a little in his arms.
He wanted her to be pregnant, to bind her to him, but he also wanted to be able to tell her how he felt. He couldn’t do any of that yet. Leonardo was proving to be a difficult man to pinpoint. He’d already gotten the capos who were willing to swear loyalty to another Boss. What he didn’t have was the missing pieces of the puzzle, but he would get them. Leonardo would screw up, and when he did, he’d be waiting for him.
****
Valentina was pregnant.
The doctor confirmed it with a blood test and an ultrasound.
She put her hands on her stomach three nights later, still marveling at the news. The doctor had prescribed her vitamins to start taking, and had given her some leaflets to read. They were full of information that delighted her, and if she was honest, terrified her.
There was so much information to absorb.
Giovanni was delighted, but they had agreed not to tell anyone their news. She hadn’t called her parents, and he hadn’t told Thomas Rossi.
Their baby was a secret.
She settled down into bed, putting her hand back on her stomach and wondering when she’d be able to feel it kick. Valentina wrinkled her nose, hating that she thought of her baby as an it. They didn’t know the sex of their child, so they didn’t know what to call their child yet. Giovanni didn’t want to know the sex of their baby, and she didn’t want to know either. The surprise would be exciting.
Rolling over in bed, she reached for Giovanni’s pillow, pulling it against her chest and breathing in the scent of him.
“Your parents love you, sweet baby,” she said. “You are going to be so spoiled.”
When the doctor had given them the news, Valentina had wanted to tell her husband that she loved him. It had been on the tip of her tongue to say the words, but at the last minute, she held back.
There had been so many times in the last three months she wanted to tell him how she felt, but each time, she’d held back, almost afraid to say the words out loud in case it … cursed them.
It was crazy of her to think about.
There was no reason for them to be cursed, but even still, what if Giovanni laughed at her? She didn’t know if she could handle any rejection from him. He was the first man she had ever loved.
At the sound of the front door opening and closing, Valentina climbed out of bed to go see Giovanni.
She heard him coming upstairs, and she stepped out into the hallway, only to come to a stop as she froze in place.
The man in front of her was her husband.
He was covered in blood.
This was The Butcher.
“Giovanni,” she said.
“You should be in bed.”
She licked her dry lips, and fear ran down her spine.
“Are you … okay?”
Was he hurt? Had someone got to him?
She looked over his body, but how could she know if he was hurt with all that blood? Rather than go to bed, she closed the distance between them and grabbed his jacket.