The Return of My First Love novel Chapter 77

Emily

Her words stunned me, and everyone around us as we fell into complete silence. I felt a tight feeling in my chest, seeing the depth of Naty's attachment to Alessio, and it scared me.

She was just a kid. She didn't know what she was saying. Even though I had asked him to be that figure in her life, and Domenico referred to her as Alessio's daughter, I had never expected she would actually call him by that name.

My eyes turned to Alessio as I thought of the right and careful way to tell my daughter to call him by his name. His face had turned serious, as he, without a doubt, was taken aback.

"Naty, he's not—" I began, wanting to correct her gently, to spare us both from any awkwardness or misunderstanding.

Alessio stopped me with a simple shake of his head, telling me with his eyes not to make it a big deal. Then, he turned to Naty with a big smile and gave her a fist bump. "I'll make time for you this week, and we'll finish that puzzle—I promise."

Naty cheered, jumping up and down. "Hey," Alessio grabbed her shoulders to stop her. "And in the meantime, you'll have to be nice and apologize to Mommy for calling her stupid."

He spun her around, and Naty stared at me with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry for calling you stupid, Mommy," she said. "I didn't mean it."

"It's okay, baby."

Alessio shot me a quick wink before praising her for being kind. Naty listened to him, she had grown closer to him and never had to beg for his attention or love. It was freely given, unconditional.

And yet, I began worrying about their close bond. If she saw him as her Daddy, that meant our relationship just couldn't afford to fail. That fight we had? Something like that just couldn't happen again. It wasn't just about us anymore. It was about her—and that put me under a lot of pressure.

On top of that, our relationship was being challenged with him taking on more responsibilities. I took a deep breath once it really kicked in that I would be feeling lonely again, just as in the beginning.

~

As two weeks had passed, ‘lonely' didn't even come close to describing how I felt during those long days and nights when Alessio was gone. I supposed he was busy planning the Fanuccis' supposed revenge, but I could only assume.

I usually spent my days taking care of the girls and their routine. Occasionally, I would hang out with Alessio's fEmilyale cousins, but more than that—I found myself on the phone with Pilar, pouring my heart out.

Now that more was out in the open, I had shared everything with her. From Jason, to my time as a maid, to the fake relationship, to our blossomed relationship, and at the moment, I ranted about Gian.

"No, I already noticed that one time at the club, that Gian guy needs some serious fucking help," Pilar said.

I laughed into the phone, imagining Pilar's pissed expression on the other side. She sounded as if she was ready to jump on a plane to give him a piece of her mind.

"That's what I'm telling you!" I agreed, happy to have her at my side. This was the kind of topic I couldn't discuss with Alessio's cousins or any other Fanucci.

I needed to vent to someone, and I could come to Pilar with anything.

"Do you want me to send someone over to finish the job? Because I can do that for you," Pilar cackled, but the threat was very serious.

"I'm good, but thanks," I managed to say between chuckles. Alessio had already done more than enough damage to his eye.

"No, but seriously, it sucks that you're stuck with him, though," Pilar said.

Gian had been home all day, sometimes undergoing physical therapy sessions to regain strength in his legs. The mansion was so big, yet we always happened to cross paths, and whenever that happened, it was always awkward. Neither of us said a word, pretending like the other didn't exist.

"Yeah, it does suck," I agreed, feeling the weight of the situation. We were really going somewhere, and then all of this happened.

"How are you and Alessio doing?" Pilar changed the subject. I released a soft sigh.

"Good," I started, unsure whether I was speaking the truth or not. "He's either in the office or goes out all day, then when he gets to bed, he unloads himself, literally, we go to sleep—and repeat the same as if we're living in a damn loop."

"Unloads himself?" Pilar laughed hysterically. The sound was too contagious for me not to join her.

"Yeah, but I'm not complaining!" I added. "He did finish a puzzle with Naty because he promised her. That was cute," I shared, a small smile tugging at my lips at the mEmilyory.

Even though he couldn't spend much time with me, he had kept his promise to Naty because he didn't want to disappoint her. He had only stayed for an hour, but it meant more to us than he could ever know.

"Awh, that's cute," Pilar cooed over the phone.