Page 49 of Forbidden Property
“Give her a new contract that makes Nicki’s look like child’s play. Then you have to let her go.” Gino says it as if letting go of Geralynn after getting her pregnant with my child would be so easy. Let her go. I feel like there’s a hippo sitting on my fucking chest.Let her go.So never see Geralynn again? Fall for another girl? I don’t even want to look at another fucking woman right now because I just want to get back to her and convincing her that we belong together.
Maybe my twin brother doesn’t understand me. I don’t want this to end with Geralynn walking in the other direction. I want her to come running towards me.
“I can’t let her go.”
“I know. That’s why you have to do it.”
“Why did I call the dumbest person in our family?”
Gino laughs. “Insulting me won’t get your girl, Renzo.Trusting me will.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“I’ll let you fuck the next chick I take home from the bar to take your mind off things.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Geralynn
33 weeks pregnant
~6-8 weeks from the baby’s due date
Renzo hasn’t called me ‘mop girl’ in at least fifteen days. I don’t have an exact count, but I have so much time off my feet that I’ve started noticing crazy, stupid little shit like that. Those fifteen days have been strange for other reasons too. No more insults. No more degradation. He draws me now with clothing on instead of forcing me to strip my clothing off. He doesn’t complain about studying for the LSAT anymore and I got my first perfect score on a practice test. If I weren’t about to pop with Renzo’s big headed baby… life would be perfect.
But nothing is perfect aboutthatsituation right now. My body forces me to think about the consequences of what Nicki did to both of us at this point. The baby is coming and this reality will change everything. Renzo won’t want to play his little game anymore, and I’ll have to cope with the aftermath of my bad decision all alone with a baby that I don’t even know how to take care of.
At least the baby would be a welcome distraction. I don’t have the baby yet, just the discomfort from my third trimester and my even more disturbing emotions.
Now, I have to think about my feelings and not the way Renzo stretched me out and pushed me into a situation that was simultaneously fucked up and so orgasmic that the head rush didn’t leave me for days.
He hasn’t brought up his feelings for me since. Once we left the cellar, he hasn’t said the words “I love you” again, and I haven’t said the words back. My reluctance to express my love for Renzo has totally shifted our dynamic in a way that my pregnancy distracts me from… most of the time. I don’t trust that he’s forgotten.
This week, he’s been going back to the gym with his twin brother Gino, who I got to meet for the first time. I declined to have Nicoletta come over and hang out with me because the more the baby pushes against my pancreas, the less I want to see the woman who tricked me into this position in the first place.
I must have fallen asleep on the velvet covered chair in Renzo’s library, because I wake upwithout remembering having fallen asleep. Given the pregnancy situation, waking up in confusion leaves me panicked. My heart races and I gasp for breath as my head cranks around instinctively. It’s just Renzo, calmly walking into the library.
My heart stops because my first thought when I see him is that he looks so fucking hot. Why does he look so hot when he told me he was going to the gym? Instead, Renzo has on a business casual suit – navy blue wool with gold buttons.
“It’s just you.”
Just Renzo. Looking hot as fuck in a navy blue suit that makes his eyes look so pretty. It’s so unfair that he gets to look like that. And that he gets to be such an asshole and have me still fall in love with him. I should have tried harder not to seeRenzo’s strong and protective side… the stoicism that has kept me from blowing the fuck up at Nicki throughout this process.
“Yes,” Renzo says, his face flat and unsmiling. Did I do something wrong? It looks and feels like I’m in trouble. I sit up to gain some control over my posture and a little bit of my power while I’m facing Renzo. He hands me a large white envelope. “Look this over.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s between the two of us and I think you’ll have every incentive to sign it.”
“Another document?”
“Yes,” Renzo says. “It ensures your complete freedom from me from this point forward. I can’t make you love me, Geralynn. I understand why and I can’t undo the ways I’ve hurt you in the past. I tried fighting for you and I still want to fight… but I love you enough to let you choose for yourself.”
He’s serious. I should feel better that Renzo wants to set me free, but I just feel this sense of numbness forming a small ball in the base of my stomach. It’s not a normal day and the past two weeks haven’t been normal at all. He’s breaking up with me. What did I think would happen if I turned Renzo down? Did I really expect him to keep pushing and fighting for me?
After the cellar, I allowed us to slip back into a regular routine but now my desire to hide from the confusing way Renzo makes me feel has come back to bite me in the ass. This is it. I made my choice and Renzo has his own response tothat.
“Open it,” he says after about a minute of silence. “Please. I’ll move out of our bedroom soon and take full responsibility for however Nicki responds.”
