Chapter 6 - The Confession
Two hours later, the crisis had passed.
It was a severe allergic reaction to a new laundry detergent my well-meaning mother had used on Lily's spare blanket, combined with a mild bronchial spasm. Dr. Alistair administered a dose of intravenous steroids, monitored her for an hour, and declared her completely out of the woods.
Right now, Lily was fast asleep in VIP Suite 402—a room that looked less like a hospital and more like a luxury hotel suite, complete with a plush sofa bed, a flat-screen TV, and an entire basket of gourmet fruit and toys that somehow materialized within ten minutes of our arrival.
I sat in the leather armchair beside her bed, gently running my fingers through her dark curls, watching the steady, even rise and fall of her chest.
The door to the suite clicked open softly.
Giovanni walked in, carrying two paper cups of steaming black coffee from the hospital cafeteria. He had removed his suit jacket, rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt to reveal powerful, lightly scarred forearms.
He didn't say a word. He just walked over, set one of the cups on the small side table next to me, and sat down on the edge of the sofa bed, his eyes fixed on Lily.
"She's a fighter," he murmured, taking a slow sip of his coffee. "Gets it from her mother."
"She was terrified," I whispered, my voice thick with lingering exhaustion. "And so was I. Thank you, Giovanni. For the chopper, for Dr. Alistair, for... everything tonight."
"You don't need to thank me for keeping my family safe," he replied quietly.
I turned my head, looking at him in the dim light of the hospital room. "We aren't your family, Giovanni. This was a fake wedding, a stunt to get your aunt off your back. Now that the reception is ruined and half of Chicago is gossiping about us, we can end it. You don't have to keep playing the hero."
Giovanni set his coffee cup down on the tray table. The sound was soft, but it seemed to echo in the quiet room.
He turned his full, undivided attention to me, his amber eyes burning with an intensity that made it impossible to look away.
"You think this was a game to me?" he asked, his voice low and deliberate.
"Weren't you trying to dodge an arranged marriage with Victoria?"
"I was," he admitted without hesitation. "My family wanted to merge our real estate holdings with the Vance group by forcing me into a corporate merger disguised as a wedding. They thought they could control me, dictate my life, and treat my future like a stock portfolio."
He shifted closer, reaching out to take my hand, his thumb gently tracing the back of my knuckles.
"I needed a wife to stop them. That part is true. But out of all the women in this city—out of all the debutantes, socialites, and corporate heiresses my mother tried to throw at me—I didn't hire an actress, Jessica. I didn't pay someone to play a part."
He paused, letting his words settle into the quiet space between us.
"I chose the only woman in Chicago who would stand by my side in a department store dress, look my terrifying aunt in the eye, and treat me like a human being instead of a bank account."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "Giovanni... I have nothing. I have a one-bedroom apartment, a massive student loan debt from nursing school, and a five-year-old daughter. I don't fit into your world."
"Then we'll build a new world," he said simply, his voice fierce with absolute conviction. "Between my businesses and your clinic, we have everything that matters. I've already instructed my legal team to buy out the mortgage on your apartment building and set up an educational trust for Lily that will take care of her until she's thirty. Not as charity, Jessica—as an investment in my family."
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes again, but this time, they weren't tears of fear.
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"You're impossible," I whispered, a watery smile finally breaking through my exhaustion.
"I've been told that my entire life," he smiled back, leaning in just a fraction closer. "So... are you going to make an honest man out of me, Mrs. Fierro? Or am I going to have to fake another wedding next weekend?"
