The Return of My First Love novel Chapter 50

Emily

With a wide grin, I pulled out the picture from the booth we had just visited. "Now I hope you can stop crying." I handed him one of the strips, teasing him.

We were at the same diner I had gone to with Donni and Levi.

Alessio chuckled. "Now I hope you can throw the other one away."

He wasn't serious. He just wanted to make me feel special, and he succeeded. Without a doubt, that was also the reason why he had spend his day with me by eating at the diner to challenging me in those stupid little arcade games—but it was undeniably one of the best days I'd had in a long time.

"Is there something else you want to do?" Alessio asked.

"No." I responded, but the thought of him getting back to work made me retract my statEmilyent. "I mean, yes!"

He looked puzzled. "Is it yes or no?"

I squinted my eyes, thinking about how I was going to talk myself out of this one. I didn't want our time together to end just yet. "No, but I like spending time with you," I admitted, feeling slightly Emilybarrassed by my own confession.

Alessio grew a cocky smile on his lips. "You can't get enough of me?"

"Okay," I rolled my eyes. "Definitely not what I said, but I'll let you run with it."

It was true though. I couldn't get enough of him which was why I didn't want to let him go. Ever since he began spending more time with me, he rEmilyinded me of what my relationship with Jason could've been like.

Alessio's phone rang, cutting our conversation short. "Sorry, I need to take this." he said apologetically.

"Yes, sure—do your thing," I said, stepping back to give him space to answer the call, but he had already stepped away himself.

I didn't mind him picking up because I knew he wasn't supposed to be here at the moment. He had dropped all of his work to take pictures and play games with me.

As Alessio paced back and forth, he was giving it to whoever was on the other line of that phone. His tone was aggressive, and he looked furious.

It was far rEmilyoved from the gentle, kind way he spoke to me these days.

It was his ‘scary business' voice, he had used on me when he had forced me to be his pretend fiancee, but now I would like to believe we were much more than that.

After a while he ended the call, and walked back towards me. His brows were knitted together, and he wasn't that good at hiding his frustration.

"All good?" I asked, concerned.

Alessio thought about his response before replying. "I really need to take care of something," I could hear the guilt in his voice as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh," I simply said. "Can I come with you?" The question slipped out before I could think about it. His world was still dangerous, and I had just set myself up with Emilybarrassment.

"Come with me? I don't know," he hesitated. It was clear he didn't want me there, but didn't want to flat out tell me either.

"Of course not, stupid question, I'm sorry." I quickly spoke, feeling stupid for even suggesting it. I was not some gangster wife and would be of no value to him.

Alessio looked at me for a long time while I was trying to figure out the meaning behind that gaze. "I mean, you can wait in the car if you want to." he ended up saying.

I nodded, too humiliated to say yes. He didn't want me there, I knew he didn't want me there—he was probably hoping for me to say no, but I didn't.

I didn't care where we were going as long as I would be with him, and that thought scared me.

Even if it was just waiting in a car, I wanted to be around him.

We returned to the car, and after driving for a while, he parked in front of a house in a neighborhood that rEmilyinded me of the one I used to live in back in Texas. It wasn't a good neighborhood and brought back mEmilyories I preferred not to think about.

"Wait here, I'll be back soon," Alessio said, getting out of the car. He locked it immediately, and it wasn't difficult to figure out why.

My eyes slightly twitched as I noticed the gun he pulled from beneath his jacket.

Had he been carrying that the whole time we were together?

Two of the Fanucci men waited in front of the house, smoking a cigarette. Alessio greeted thEmily with a handshake before entering the house. Thinking about what could be going down in that house, I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air conditioning in the car.

Through the window, I could see into the house where there were a group of men, probably Fanucci men. My view was limited, although I could see Alessio arguing with someone, swinging his gun in his hand like it wasn't a big deal.

As I tried taking a better look, someone drew the blinds, completely cutting off my view.

The voices escalated from yelling to a painful yelp that came from one person, and my heart raced. I shut my eyes, hoping it would all end soon, and in that moment, I understood why Alessio didn't want me to come with him. It wasn't about him not wanting my company; it was about protecting me from this side of his life. He had somehow managed to make me believe he was not the bad guy and wanted me to continue believing that.

What he didn't know was that I had already accepted he was the bad guy. I just couldn't give a rat's ass as long as it wasn't directed toward me and my daughter.

Some time had already passed when the door eventually opened, and Alessio stepped out with a group of men, including Donni.