Chapter 4 You Give Me

• Giulia
• Present Day
• My plan only went as far as finding him, period. I knew my feelings for the jerk would resurface. I wished I could be the kind of person who knows how to hide what they feel or look at him like the simple idiot who abandoned me out of nowhere.
• However, being in the same place as Dante was hard. All the times we were together kept flooding my mind, torturing me and breaking down the tough shell I tried to build around myself just when I needed to be strong.
• Dante was visibly nervous. It was strange and surprising because we rarely saw him show any emotion other than arrogance or anger.
• Focus, Giulia. You can't falter. Don't get emotionally involved; say what you came to say, ask for the minimum, and leave.
• "Why are you here dressed like that?" he finally said something, using a disgusted and angry tone. Well, it wasn't hard to hate this man, as long as he was the same old Dante. "What...? Why...?"
• "You didn't leave me many options." I tried not to look at him, feeling the anger I had been trying to cultivate over all the crap that had happened to me in recent months. "Do you know how many times I tried to talk to you?" He frowned. "The idiots surrounding you always kicked me out, always sent me away with my tail between my legs. If it wasn't absolutely necessary, if only my own neck was at risk here, I would never subject myself to this, never come back to see your face."
• "What are you talking about?" He seemed incredulous. "When? Who is with you and why...?"
• "I'll be direct," I interrupted him. "I need to leave this city; this country, if possible. That's all I'm asking. You owe me that because it's your fault."
• "Giulia..."
• "I don't want to hear anything other than what I came to ask for," I warned him.
• As incredible as it seemed, he showed sadness, nervousness, and anger all at once. He took off his blazer and handed it to me.
• "Put this on." Dante didn't look at me. It was as if he didn't want to see me practically naked in the vulgar clothes the club waitresses wore.
• Hypocrisy, I would say, since that place was part of his family's nightclub chain. And considering how he used me, it didn't seem like he respected me much.
• "You’re going to tell me exactly what's going on, and then I'll handle it."
• I grabbed the piece of clothing with so much anger that I could have torn it, but even I hated the vulgar way I was dressed.
• "Look, I don't want more than what I asked for," I explained again. "If you hadn't come into my life and messed everything up, my father wouldn't be trying to put me through hell. Not that I'm in heaven now."
• "Marcos?" He finally looked me in the eye. "I looked for him. I looked for you..."
• "Spare me!" I rolled my eyes.
• Then Dante, surprising me in the worst way, advanced on me, pinning me against the wall and looking me in the eyes with anger.
• I had seen him furious before, but I had never felt as scared as I did at that moment.
• "Listen here, girl, I'm not playing around." I would have said something ironic if my tongue hadn't been stuck in my mouth. I feared making the situation worse. "I made a lot of mistakes, some irreversible ones." Gradually, the force he used to pin me against the wall dissipated. "Many reasons made me leave you that day. I suffered like hell. The only thing I liked, that I wanted, after years in this mess, I had to give up."
• "You left me to die," I finally said. "Did you think my father wouldn't find out? Especially when..."
• "I didn't know it would last so long. I didn't want to take you into that mess. They wanted my head, and my family needed me."
• "I needed you," I said, furious. I was almost losing the walls protecting me from him.
• I felt a terrible anguish, a desire to let the tears fall that I thought had dried up after all I'd cried.
• "He found out the day you left, that you left me behind."
• "I didn't want that." He tried to kiss me, but I turned my face away. "I had to resolve that problem. I was going to come back for you, take you out of that house, and you would be mine. But when I came back, you were no longer there."
• I looked at him, incredulous, gathering all the anger I had for him for everything I suffered at that time. I pushed him away, finding it ridiculous that he was telling me all this.
• "Want to know why I left?" I stared into his dark eyes with so much anger I could hit this bastard. "You left me, but I was still there. I was pregnant. He would find out sooner or later, and I knew he would kill me for it, for betraying him."
• "What?!" he said, surprised.
• "So, I couldn't hide it from him anymore. He beat me as hard as he could, thinking that way he could kill that child inside me. He was going to take me to a clinic and have it removed from my belly, so I ran away."
• "What did you say?" He became enraged.
• "You heard me." I didn't realize I was standing up to Dante, who was taller and stronger.
• He stared at me, almost incredulous and furious. And I didn't care; I just wanted to let it all out.
• "He's still after me. I can't stay in one place for more than a week. He wants to kill my daughter because you are her father, and me for sleeping with you. Is it clear why I want to leave this city?"
• "I have a daughter?"
• "Don't worry," I replied, sarcastically. "After you get me out of here, you won't have to worry about it."
• "Why didn't you come to me sooner?" He shook me, furious. "I have a daughter and I didn't know."
• "In case you forgot, you left me behind, my father is chasing me, and your guards wanted me away from you."
• "Where is the child?"
• Hearing him talk about her like that made me furious.
• "Do what I'm asking. That's all I want."
• "You want my help?" This time, he seemed frightening. His gaze darkened, and my arm hurt from his fingers digging into my flesh. "You'll have it. But I want to see the girl. I'll take you both to a safe place."
• "Her name is Nina, and you won't touch my daughter." I pulled my arm free.
• "The girl is my daughter; she's my blood. No one, not Marcos or anyone else, will hurt my blood. You may hate me for what I did, but she's my daughter, and I have the right to see her, to protect her."
• "No need for this good father performance," I mocked. "In the end, you were just the guy I slept with and who conceived her."
• "No. In the end, I'm her father. And I won't be like mine, who despised me."
• "You're saying you want to take responsibility for Nina? Don't be ridiculous."
• "Where is the girl?" he asked again. "I'll take you both to a safe place."
• "There is no safe place near you."