Chapter 102: ONE HUNDRED AND TWO

The door opened once again and this time, Yoda walked in.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked.

"No, not at all. I was only checking in on the Don." The doctor said, "You also need to convince her to sleep, I pray you have better luck with that than I did."

As soon as the door closed, Yoda turned to face me.

"You know the doctor is right, yes?"

"I'm tired of hearing that, Yoda." I sighed. "I'll have peace of mind when he's back with us, not before."

"You're just as stubborn as he is." Yoda shook his head.

"Is that a compliment or..?" I trailed off, hoping he would provide the answers.

"It depends on what perspective you're seeing it from." Yoda shrugged.

"Do you think he's going to come out of this?" I asked, my eyes finding Alessandro.

"I'm going to tell you something, Gianna. I'm not sure he's told you yet but Alessandro relinquished his position in this mafia a while ago."

I stared at him like he'd gone mad. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No, I'm not. He handed everything over to me and he sent his half-brother, Donovan, on exile to ensure I would have no opposition." Yoda replied.

The mafia was Alessandro's life. None of this made any sense.

"Why would he do that?" I asked.

"He said he wanted to live a happy life with you and your son. He was tired of the dangers that come with his position so it wasn't a difficult decision for him to pick his family over the mafia."

My eyes brimmed with tears. "He fucking gambled, you know? I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him after what happened."

"I guess you know what you want now because it's clear to everyone that you're obsessed over each other." Yoda said before leaving the room.

"Gianna?"

I turned my head toward Alessandro at neck break speed as soon as I heard his voice.

"Alessandro?" I squealed, reaching out to grab his hand.

All of a sudden, I became pissed as I remembered Yoda's confession.

"You're stupid for lying to me about everything, Alessandro! I wish I could strangle you right now!"

"Before you do, can you get the doctor for me?"

***

I turned towards the room after managing to take her eyes off Alessandro for the moment. We were seated in the newly renovated grand ballroom in the mansion he had recently purchased from an heiress seeking to travel abroad permanently.

Alessandro had decided to announce me as his fiancée genuinely and for the second time, and we had decided on a private engagement ceremony for our friends and families.

Only family and close friends were invited and she would be lying if she had said that she didn't shed a tear when she and Alessandro read their vows to each other.

The space I had always carried everywhere was now filled making me feel like a new person. If I could relive this particular moment, I knew that I would do it over and over again.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Tiffany walking up to me so I stood up to meet her halfway.

"Your mum would've been proud of you if she were alive to see what an amazing woman you've become,"

I could feel the tears threatening to drop as Tiffany smiled at me.

"You've done right by me and everyone else in your life for years and we're happy to be here for you when you need us the most."

"I promised you that I would take care of you all and I've been able to do that and I'm going to continue until you have everything." I sniffed.

"That's where you're wrong, G." Tiffany smiled warmly at me. "I have everything I could want from life and I am content that way."

"You're going to make me cry, Tiffany." I laughed as my eyes brimmed with tears.

"You don't need to, you're going to ruin your makeup. Besides, I've got to get back to talking with Alessandro's friend, Yoda, he's the most exciting person I've met in years."

I couldn't help but laugh, I knew they were always going to get along from the start.

The banquet was nothing short of amazing, Alessandro had gone out of his way to make sure that this would be an event that would be cherished for years to come, Never had I seen anything this spectacular.

From the floral arrangements to the interior decorations, the dignitaries invited and the performers all added extra touches to the atmosphere as well. Today was easily one of the happiest day of my life.

"Can I have your attention?" Alessandro announced as he clinked the side of his glass with a butter knife.

The murmuring in the room subsided immediately as everyone heard him speak.

"First of all, I'd like to thank every one of you for coming here today. The fact that you saw it fit to honor my invitation is something I cherish and I'm not alone in this, I'm certain that Gianna shares in my gratitude as well. We both appreciate you all for taking your time to be here." Alessandro began.

"We all know why we're here today, we're here today to celebrate the love Gianna and I share. Some of you might not know this, while some might have forgotten but we weren't supposed to be here but fate has a funny way of making things happen even when everything else is against it."

I could feel the tears brimming and threatening to fall for the umpteenth time. Alessandro never told me that he had a speech prepared just for the moment and it was now that I realized that this was the surprise he said he had for me.

"But as fate would have it, I went through hell to get her to be mine and it was worth every moment of it. We wouldn't be here today if she hadn't taken a leap of faith in me and my words. So this banquet isn't just to celebrate our engagement, it's also to appreciate Gianna and everything she's put in to make us work and how well she's pushed me to do big things. So, I want to end this speech by making a toast to the best woman I could ever have asked for,"

I stood up with everyone else in the room as we raised our glass in unison.

She had been through the worst parts of her life and now, it was time to bask in love and the promises that the future held for both of us.

"A toast to Gianna, the woman of my dreams. Thank you for everything."