This changes everything.
I have a son! I didn’t even ask her what his name is. I was too absorbed in the story of how she was forcibly taken away from me. Gustavo was the reason she was taken to Italy to be hidden away. It makes me so angry. All this time we could have been a family, all this time I spent hating her for leaving me, that I thought she found someone else.
God, the way I’ve treated her these last few days.
I’m ashamed.
An old part of me has awakened, and it feels the shame heavily. I’m that college boy again who wants to sit under the stars and talk about poetry.
I walk out of her room and to the office, shutting the door behind me. I want to be alone right now because now everything is difficult.
I have a duty to be loyal to my family. The objective of taking Kira, well, the goal was to take Arianna. But the reason we have kept her is to further our family’s gains. To give my family better territories and money.
But she’s the mother of my child. My child is in the hands of the Sorvinos right now. I want to meet him, but at the same time, I’m terrified to do so.
I need advice right now, and I know it’s late, but he’s the only person I can think of calling with something on this scale.
“Pa,” I say when he answers the phone, “I need your advice.”
“It must be serious if you’re phoning at this hour. Let me get to my office, and I’ll call you back. I don’t want to disturb your mama.”
I hang up and wait, sitting at my desk and staring at my phone, willing it to ring. I don’t even know what to tell him at this point. Do I tell him about my son? What will he think about me sleeping with a Sorvino woman?
Kira’s father had reacted badly because there’s always been tension between our families. The Sorvinos always had the bigger stick.
My phone buzzes, and I pick it up, “Pa.”
“Miguel, what is it? What has happened?” he asks, and I can hear he’s tired.
“I’m sorry to worry you so late at night,” I say, “but I need your advice. I’ve run into a big problem, and I need to tell you something before I can tell you what the problem is.”
“Ah, story time at midnight. My favorite,” he chuckles. “I joke. Tell me.”
“Pa, I fell in love with a girl when I was in college. We were together for a couple of months before she disappeared off the face of the planet.” I take a deep breath. “I thought she had left me because she found someone else, but it turns out she was forced to leave because she was pregnant with my son.”
“So you’re calling me to tell me you have an illegitimate child running around? Marry the mother, and we’ll smooth everything over. No matter how old the child is. A Rossi is a Rossi.”
“It was Kira Sorvino, Pa.” I say quietly.
I wait, and a long moment of silence passes between us before my father growls, “You betrayed your family for some pussy?”
“I loved her,” I retaliate. “We had something special, Pa. We belonged together.”
“Well, Sonny Sorvino didn’t think so, or he wouldn’t have sent her away, now would he? Now you’re telling me I have a grandchild with Sorvino blood? A child that is the first in line to take over from you? This is bullshit. Negotiate her return, deny the parentage and move on with life, Miguel. This is not worth the trouble.”
“She very much is.”
“She’s gotten to you,” he accuses me. “Did you ever think maybe it’s not your child? That she’s trying to escape.”
I hadn’t, but something in me told me she was being honest.
“He’s mine, Pa. And I want to claim him as my own.”
“You cannot be Don of this family if you’re going to disrespect the name our family has built,” He growls. “Your ancestors, including me, put blood, sweat, and tears into making sure this family can hold its own, and now you want to toss it all for some chick who claims she birthed your heir.”
“I am Don,” I responded coldly. “I will decide what the future of this family is. You are retired, and the men respect me as a businessman.”
“Then think like a businessman, Miguel. Disown the boy.”