Hold My Love

Chapter 2: Hope for Tomorrow

GIOVANNI P.O.V

I have never been so anxious like I am right now. It's about 7 pm and I still needed to have a chat with Sofia.

"Heyyy man, you sure you don't want a taste." Alessandro was most likely on his 20th shot of the night. He had a leggy blonde on one leg and a short brunette on the other who appeared to have puke on her top.

I frown at his state of drunkenness, "Get up, we need to go."

He narrows his eyes at me, "Ok Gio you don't have to act like a bitch, Sienna's already on that."

He was drinking his feelings out because he and his girl got into a fight. But there was no excuse to get drunk when you're on an assignment.

Pulling out a benjamin from my wallet, I turn to the crying brunette, "Here Honey I'm sorry for the shirt."

She snatches it out of my hand and stomps off, the blonde hot on her trail.

Sighing I turn back to Alessandro, "This is why I'm always leaving your dumb ass at home when I go on important assignments."

I pull him up from the couch and we start our way to the car. "Seriously Less, 25 years and you still don't know how to act."

We were met by Lorenzo outside, "Good evening boss".

I nod back, "Drop him home first, then I want you to take me somewhere important." I push Less into the car, "I told you not to catch feelings but like the idiot you are you did."

He whips his head around so hard I thought It was going to snap. "You f*cking hypocrite! Acting like you weren't depressed for a whole year because you caught some too."

I clenched my jaw, "Lower your voice and watch how you speak to me."

He turns back the other way shaking his head, "Whatever man...with your pussy ass"

I ignore him and run a hand down my face, "Riccardo is going to drop you home, we're leaving for Italy in about a month so get your feelings together for the sake of our mother's please."

****

By the time I reach Sofia's, it was a half past 1am but her lights were still on. She lived on the poor side of New York. Her building looked as if it were about to fall apart at any moment with its rusted bricks and thin ceiling.

As soon as she allows me I am going to move her over with me, there is no way my baby is going to stay at a place like this, on top of that she is carrying our baby.

I walk up the creaking wooden stairs until I reach room 16A. I go to knock when I remember listening to her complain to the landlord about her broken lock. My jaw clenches as I turn the knob and walk right in.

The first thing I hear is her sweet voice singing to Johnny Cash's "You are my sunshine". The room smells like spices and there was a half-full bowl of chicken pasta on a small coffee table.

I pick it up and take a bite. Closing my eyes, I reminisce of the days we spent cooking together in the kitchen.

I walk past the bathroom where her voice was coming from and into her bedroom.

Her room was dim, the only source of light being the moon. She has a single mattress lying on the ground at a corner and two boxes of clothing near a closet that was missing doors.

On her mattress sat a journal and a bible that her Grandmother gave her when she turned 13. I pick it up, lean at the corner of the room and flip through it.

It wasn't even 5 minutes before she came in dressed in a white tank top and a pair of bright blue boxers that I recall as mine. I smile, watching as she lets her Afro loose from its restraint and grabs coconut oil.

I had planned on speaking up, I didn't intend to act like a perv watching a woman moisturize her hair. But she then lifts up her tank top exposing her stomach that now had a small bump to it. Reminding me of the miracle we made, the little being created from her and I.

I was mesmerized.

There is nothing more beautiful than watching the women you love carry your child.

She grabs a bottle of cocoa butter mixed with argon oil and starts singing Johnny Cash again as she messages the oil onto her belly.

She had a few stretch marks on her love handles that I love to call tiger stripes. Even from back here I can feel the trace of each of the strips. She finishes the song and sits for a moment with her hand on her belly, staring out at the moon.

I walk towards her clapping with each step I take. She jumps up from the mattress and stands at a perfect angle where the moon glows on her beautiful face even giving me a glimpse of her round breasts, her nipples hard with attention.

Upon seeing me eyeing her, she quickly covers her nakedness. I chuckle, "Why do you act as if I've never seen you stripped down before darling? We both know I have long since memorized the rhythm of your body in the back of my head."

She rolls her eyes, "How long have you been standing there? And have you no manners to knock?"

I narrow my eyes, "Speaking of nocking, Baby why do you think it's a great idea to sleep in a house with no locks? You are just begging to be broken into."

Her eyes come alive with anger, "No!Get out Giovani! I refuse to be insulted in my own home."

I laugh amused, "Home? Sophia this is in no shape a place to call home."

She rolls her eyes, "You don't get to tell me what is a home and what isn't, did you forget you were raised in a broken family too?"

I clench my jaw and release a few breaths. Grabbing her tank top, I tossed it too her,"Put it on and find some shoes. I need you home...please don't fight me on this one me amore".

I pull out my phone and text Riccardo to come in and get the boxes. It wasn't possible for me to do that and drag Sophia out.

Althiugh she catches the top, she refuses to put it on like I knew her stubborn self would do, "Look Gio I don't need your help, and especially not your orders. I am not one of your men. And since when did you start caring about me? When you realized I was carrying your heir ?"

I put my phone back in my pocket and face her, "Riccardo will be here in about a minute. So I'm going to tell you one more time to please put on your top. I'm not trying to have him seeing your breast, they aren't meant for him."

Reluctantly she does as I say and even puts on some sneakers. And just as I had told her, Riccardo comes in not even a minute later and starts to collect boxes. I give him orders to put them in the car and to return with more men tomorrow to shut down the building.

Back at the Apartment, I find Sophia in the bathroom throwing her guts out in the toilet. I squat down behind her and pull her curls out of her face. When she finally finishes, I hand her my handkerchief to wipe her mouth and press soft kisses on her cheeks where hot tears gracefully flow down.

She leans into me and I place a hand on her tummy, "I'm so scared G."

I pull some baby curls away from her ear, "I know baby girl, But I'm going to take care of you, You two are the only important thing on my mind from now on. And if I'm being honest you always have been and always will be. You don't have to let me back in, I would never ask you to do that and you have every reason not to. But remember what we promised each other Tesoro? We promised to raise our kids in a family dynamic we wish we had been raised in. So for the sake of this baby Mio amore, let's do this together."

What do you think made her run away from him?

Remember to vote :)