Chapter Sixteen #2
“You might get angry and that’s okay. You have every right to be angry. But please, Fabio, please know that everything I did, I did because I love you. And if I hadn’t done some of the things I did, I’d have lost you and that was unacceptable.”
“Jesus, Elio, you’re scaring me.”
I hold out my hand. “I know. I’m sorry.”
His blue eyes are wide. “So, what is it you need to tell me?”
I take a deep breath. “As you know, the surgery you needed was super expensive.”
He grits his teeth. “Yes.”
“When we first found out you needed the surgery, I realized paying for it would be a challenge. So I did all the things people told me to do. I applied for any financial aid we could get. I… I started the GoFundMe where we raised some money, but it wasn’t enough.”
He nods. “I was certain that wasn’t how we paid for the surgery. The amount we raised wasn’t that big.”
“No. It helped with some of our expenses, but the surgery was crazy expensive.” I hold his worried gaze.
“The insurance company wasn’t going to pay for most of it either.
Obviously, with what I made at Duffy’s, I couldn’t begin to pay for the surgery.
Even with extra shifts, it just didn’t come close.
I… I spent hours on the phone with the insurance company, basically pleading with them, but they wouldn’t budge. ”
“Assholes,” he growls. “What the hell good are they?”
“Yes, it was sickening how little they cared.” I rub the back of my neck. “So next I went to the bank to try to get a loan.” I grimace. “But they turned me down.”
He grimaces. “You should have told me all of this. I knew you were stressing out about all the money stuff. I knew you were hiding shit from me. Why’d you try to handle all of that alone? You should have told me.”
“No, Fabio. You needed to focus on your health. How would you worrying about money have helped anything? It was best that I kept that from you.”
“Bullshit. I’m the reason you were scrambling. Of course I should have shared the burden.”
I blow out a shaky breath. “I saw it differently. There was nothing you could have done to help me. It would have just stressed you out more, which was the opposite of what you needed.”
He scowls. “So if you couldn’t get a loan, what the hell did you do?” He touches his chest. “I got the surgery, so you did something. Was it the angel investor who helped out?”
“Well… not exactly.”
“Then who?” he asks apprehensively.
I try to swallow, but my mouth is too dry. “When the loan officer turned me down, she felt sorry for me. She told me about this guy named Kessler who helps people in our situation.”
He squints at me. “Sounds shady.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“He wasn’t a loan shark, right?” He widens his eyes. “Jesus, Elio, you didn’t borrow money from somebody like that, did you?”
Wincing, I admit, “It was a little more complicated than that.”
He looks sick. “What did you do? Tell me.”
“Kessler acts as a go between.” I hesitate. “He… he matches omegas who are desperate with rich alphas who need something.”
He leans back in his chair, dread on his young face. “I don’t like the sound of this.”
I let out a harsh breath. “You have to understand, I was out of all other options. I had to do something drastic, or you’d have died. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“You didn’t…. you didn’t sell a kidney or anything, right?” His voice wobbles. “Please tell me you didn’t do anything that stupid.”
“No, I… I didn’t sell any organs.”
He slumps with relief, but it’s short-lived. The dread returns quickly. “But you did something drastic, you said as much. What did you do?”
I take a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. “As I said, the… the alpha who Kessler set me up with needed something from me.”
“What did he need?” There’s apprehension in his voice.
“An heir.”
Fabio gives a sharp intake of breath. “What the hell?”
My face is hot as I meet his shocked gaze. “I had no choice, Fabio. Please don’t look at me like that.”
The disgust and pain on his face guts me. “No, Elio. Please. Tell me you didn’t sell yourself to that alpha for me.”
“It was a business deal. That’s all.” I don’t know why I bother saying that. He’s not an idiot and he’s not buying what I’m saying anyway.
“You… you slept with an alpha to pay for my surgery.” His face is white as he whispers, “Goddamn it, Elio, how could you think that was okay?”
“We were out of options, Fabio,” I say hoarsely. “You were going to die if you didn’t get the surgery. That’s just a fact. You think I’d let that happen? I wasn’t going to bury my little brother for any reason. Not if I had even one option left to me to prevent that.”
His jaw works and his eyes are bright. I can see him fighting tears, not because he’s weak but because he’s furious and guilty and overwhelmed. “So who is this fucker who thinks he can buy a person? Impregnate and exploit a desperate omega?” he growls.
I sigh. “His name is Marcello Foschini.”
His expression is blank. He doesn’t know the name. The Foschini name means nothing to him any more than it did to me when I first heard it.
“He’s the head of a crime family,” I say bluntly. “Here in Sorrento Bay.”
There’s silence. Complete, airless silence as Fabio stares at me in horror.
“What?” he hisses at last. “He’s what?”
I wince at the shock and anger in his voice.
He growls, “If he’s such a big shot, why would he pay someone to have his kid?”
“It’s complicated,” I mumble. “I’ll give you all the details later, but there’s more to tell you first.”
“There’s more?”
“Yes.” I hold his gaze trying not to wilt under his anger. “The terms of our agreement were that I’d marry him.”
“Oh, my god.” The veins bulge in his neck. “You married the asshole?”
“Fabio, please calm down.” I hold out my hands, scared that he’s getting too worked up.
His eyes glitter with confusion and anger. “You married an alpha for money? Why did you have to marry the guy?”
“Like I said, it’s complicated.”
Fabio rakes a hand through his hair, closing his eyes. When he opens them, his blue eyes are drenched with guilt. “How could you do that, Elio? How could you prostitute yourself for me? You thought I’d be okay with that?”
“No,” I say quietly. “I knew you wouldn’t be okay with any of it. I knew you’d be furious and guilty and upset. Why do you think I didn’t tell you until now? I knew that you wouldn’t go through with the operation if you knew what I’d done.”
“So you lied to me,” he says bitterly. “You tricked me and whored yourself out. How do you think that makes me feel?” Tears streak down his cheeks. “How am I supposed to feel about that?”
“Fabio,” I whimper. “If our positions were reversed, wouldn’t you have done the same thing for me?”
His mouth hardens, although he doesn’t argue.
“You would have,” I say. “We both know you’d do anything for me just like I would you.”
“Of course I’d do anything for you,” he whispers. “But that still doesn’t make it okay.”
“I never said it was okay. I said it was necessary,” I mutter. “And even though I can see you’re disgusted by me, I’d do it all over again. Because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Nothing.”
“I’m not disgusted by you.” He wipes at his eyes. “I’m angry that you lied to me, and furious that I was born with a shitty heart.”
“Fabio, no. That’s not your fault.”
He looks distraught. “That’s the only reason you were put in that horrible position. My fucked up heart.”
“Stop it. None of this is your fault.”
He continues as if he doesn’t hear me. “First our parents died, and you were forced into the role of my protector. That was bad enough, and now this? It’s not fair, Elio.
You shouldn’t have to keep doing things to protect me.
All you ever do is worry about me. You never get to live your life.
It’s always been about me, and that’s fucking sad and horrible and I wish you’d just have let me die instead of sacrificing yourself for me yet again. ”
“Don’t say that.” I pull him into my arms and hold his thin body as ragged sobs jolt through him.
I’m scared he’s too upset. I’m terrified for his heart.
For his sanity. “I’m sorry you’re upset,” I mumble, tears filling my eyes.
“But I had no choice. I had to protect you, Fabio. You must understand that.”
“I ruined your life. I wish I’d never been born.”
“Damn it, Fabio. Don’t you ever say that.
It’s okay. I’m okay.” I’m shocked by the enormous amount of guilt he’s been holding onto all these years.
I had no idea he felt like such a burden.
“You’ve got it all wrong,” I grate out, holding him at arm’s length.
“If I hadn’t had you to care for, I’d have given up long ago.
Don’t you understand? You weren’t a burden, you were my reason for living. ”
“Living? What living have you even been allowed to do? All you ever do is take care of me.” He looks at me, his face wet with tears. “It’s so unfair. You were just a kid yourself when Mom and Dad died.”
“Yeah, I was a kid,” I say. “And that’s why I’d have given up. I was scared. Too scared. But you were there and I had to keep going. I couldn’t just give up because you needed me. Don’t you see? You were my reason for living. Without you, I’d have given up long ago.”
He wipes at his eyes, giving little hiccups. “Or maybe you’d have been happier.”
“Believe it or not, I… I am happy, Fabio.”
“How can you be?” He stares at me like I’m insane. “After what you did, how can you be happy?”
“Because you’re okay. I’m happy because you’re safe and you’re going to be healthy again.” I let out a shaky breath. “And there’s more to the story. You only heard the bad parts, but there are good parts too.”
He blinks at me, eyes red-rimmed. “How can there be any good in this?”
“Well, the alpha, Marcello, he… we… we’ve actually fallen in love.” My face is warm as I hold his bewildered gaze.
“How’s that possible?” he mutters. “He bought you.”