My Childhood Bully is a Mafia Boss-Chapter 89

Giovanni

The floorboards creaked under my feet as I paced back and forth in my room, unable to shake the feeling of confusion and disbelief.

Ellie Blackwood had rejected me - at the hospital of all places, right after she gave birth to our child.

Okay...the baby wasn’t actually mine, but so fucking what? My name was attached to her now, accidental or not. She was my daughter now. Because I already claimed her to be!

"Can you believe this?" I muttered to myself, throwing my hands up in the air. My heart raced with anger and frustration. And a bit sadness. "I offered to make her daughter legitimate. And she just...rejected me."

I couldn’t comprehend it. The pieces weren’t fitting together in my head. How could she turn down such a generous offer? It felt like a slap in the face.

I never wanted to get married and never cared to have children, but I threw myself out there. FOR HER!

"Unacceptable!" I growled under my breath, clenching my fists at my sides.

"Bene," I said aloud, determination coursing through me. "I won’t give up just yet." I believed that once she was back at her brother’s house and feeling healthier, she might have a change of heart about my proposal.

"Maybe she was just scared," I reasoned, trying to understand what had gone wrong. "She needs time to adjust."

I thought back to the hospital when I first held the baby in my arms. The warmth of her tiny body, her small fingers curling around mine - it was a feeling I couldn’t describe. A sense of fatherhood washed over me, solidifying my love for this child. I didn’t even know I was capable of such feelings.

Strange concept...love is. I never thought I’d love something, let alone someone. I didn’t even know what love was until...

Until I held that tiny human in my arms, as soon as the baby opened her eyes to look at me and gave me that tiny smile, I knew...I knew what love meant.

"See?" I murmured to myself, picturing the moment vividly in my mind. "I can be a good dad. Ellie just needs to see that."

"Who’re you talking to?" a voice cut through my thoughts, making me jump.

"Jesus, Sam!" I exclaimed, turning towards my right-hand man, who had snuck into my room without me noticing. "Don’t sneak up on me. I could’ve shot you in the face!"

"Sorry, Capo," Sam grinned sheepishly. "But seriously, what’s going on? You’ve been acting weird ever since you came back from the hospital."

"Nothing," I said grimly. "What news do you have for me?"

Sam gave me a rundown of how my businesses were going, but I barely listened. My mind was occupied with the thoughts of the child and the mother.

I had proposed to Ellie Blackwood on a whim so I wouldn’t have to let the child go, but now that I think about it, I wouldn’t mind having her as my wife either.

She had a fiery attitude that matched the color of her hair and those intense green eyes that seemed to pierce into my soul. And her lips...those full pink lips...

I wanted to bite them.

"Enough," I muttered to myself as if to stop myself from daydreaming.

To distract myself, I decided to go check on my grandmother.

My grandmother raised me and was the only living relative I had left. No one could understand me better than her.

"Nonna?" I called out, turning the corner to find her sitting in a cozy armchair. Her fingers worked nimbly, knitting a small scarf of some sort.

"Ah, Gio, my darling," she smiled gently, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "You look troubled, nipotino. What’s on your mind?"

"Nonna, I need your advice," I said, my voice cracking slightly. "Ellie...she rejected my proposal."

Her eyes crinkled in confusion. "Ellie? Who is that?"

Right...I should’ve started from the beginning.

I took a deep breath and sat down on the floor beside my Nonna’s chair. She continued knitting, her needles clicking rhythmically, a comforting sound that had always soothed me as a child.

"Nonna, there’s this woman... Ellie. She just had a baby, and there was a mix-up with the paperwork at the hospital. My name ended up on the birth certificate as the father."

My grandmother’s eyebrows shot up, but she didn’t interrupt. I continued, "I thought it would be a good idea to propose to her, to make things right, you know? But she turned me down."

Nonna paused her knitting, her sharp eyes studying me. "Gio, amore mio, you can’t force someone to marry you, especially not in such a situation. And you say the baby isn’t yours?"

"The baby isn’t mine," I replied.

"Then why do you want to adopt it, Amore mio?" she asked, confusion evident on her face.

I shifted uncomfortably. "I... I don’t know, Nonna. When I held the baby in my arms, I felt something I’d never felt before. A sense of responsibility, maybe even love. But..." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

She put her knitting aside and reached out to cup my face with her wrinkled hands. "Gio, you have a good heart. But love isn’t something you can rush or force."

Hmph...

"Sometimes, Giovanni, life doesn’t go as planned," Nonna continued softly, resuming her knitting. "But if your intentions are pure, then perhaps this Ellie will come around."

My mind wandered back to the moment in the hospital, holding the baby girl and feeling her tiny fingers curl around mine. I smiled. "Yes, you are right."

"Of course I am right," she nodded, her eyes never leaving her work. "Just remember, love takes time and patience. Don’t force it."

"Grazie, Nonna," I whispered, my heart swelling with gratitude. I knew what I had to do now.

She finally looked up from her knitting, a small smile teasing her lips. "Now, Gio. Care to tell me how you come to sign the birth certificate by accident?"