The Return of My First Love novel Chapter 72

Alessio

"What?" I furrowed my brow, confused as to how the hell I got involved. Gian wouldn't be Gian if he didn't throw around my name unprovoked.

"Don't you think I'm furious?" Dad spoke, but his voice was weak and lacked the usual strength that made us want to follow him. "I lost my brother, and I almost lost my son."

"Then why are we here having teatime?" Gian frowned.

Dad released an exhausted sigh. "I just want to bury your Uncle for now—and that's it," he said, glancing at Mom, who stood by uncomfortably. "Now is not the right time to discuss this."

Gian's eyes softened, and I knew his mind went to Uncle.

Stefano always had a soft spot for Gian. Maybe because he could see a bit of himself in Gian's reckless behavior, or maybe because he could tell Gian wasn't all there in the head. Who knew?

"Do you already know where we're going to bury him?" Gian asked softly.

"Your nonna wants him buried here, so we will bury him here," Dad said firmly, closing off the topic. Talking about him was still difficult, and we could all see that.

"I'm thirsty, I will get something to drink," he cleared his throat afterward, walking out of the room before any of us could say something.

Mom stared at his back for a split-second but did not follow him. Dad was the type of person to deal with everything on his own. He hated people pitying him and telling him everything would be alright. After dealing with him for years, she knew better than to follow him.

She turned her attention back to Gian. "Mom cooked you some good food. Let me feed you?" she offered, beginning to unpack the bag she had brought with her, revealing a variety of dishes.

"Oh, that looks good. I'm starving!" Gian beamed, his mood changing. "What did you bring me?"

I chuckled at the sight of a grown man getting babied by his Mom and not minding it one bit. If any of the guys were here, they would roast him for that, for sure.

"I'll wipe the giant toddler's mouth, make myself useful," Dante joked, already making fun of him.

I, on the other hand, decided to give thEmily some space. Silently, I left the room to clear my head and walked through the halls again. Gian's pleas for revenge and justice brought back a dark anger.

I felt like a piece of shit for admitting this, but I just wanted to lay Uncle to rest already. The only thing I looked forward to was revenge, and I was going to get it. The Baldinis had his head? I would take all of their heads and serve thEmily to all of our enEmilyies.

They wanted a war? I would give thEmily a war. They wanted to see me go crazy? I could do that; I could be crazy.

Just wait and see.

After walking for a bit, I eventually found my dad sitting in a chair, his head buried in his hands.

I walked over and took the seat next to him, not saying a word. Seeing him like this got me even more heated. All of this wasn't supposed to happen to Domenico Fanucci. No one dared cross him, yet someone did—and now he had no energy left. That was the outcome.

"How are you holding up?" I eventually spoke.

Dad looked up to meet my eyes, and I was expecting him to tell me he was just doing fine—but he didn't. "Your nonna has been crying for days now. She hasn't eaten a thing, neither have your aunts."

"But how are you doing?" I asked again, wanting to know more about his state of mind rather than the others, who were very open about their pain.

"How am I doing?" Dad looked straight ahead. "You told me that you left the Baldinis with a bad feeling. When you said you felt like we needed to attack, I disregarded those feelings and told you to wait it out…you were right," he admitted, his voice filled with regret.

I didn't know what to say. Dad was stubborn, yet he admitted his wrongdoings so easily. I wished he could've said ‘I told you so,' but in this case, he couldn't.

"All of that doesn't matter anymore," I tried to offer some consolation. "What happened, happened, and none of it would've happened if I hadn't…"

I stopped talking. After all, I was the one who said all of that doesn't matter anymore. I could do it now, so why couldn't I do that with Emily?