'Am I scared? Of course I am. A love like this doesn't do anything but make you want to hold on tighter. And I don't know if this will push you away or bring you closer to me.'

I couldn't stop fucking smiling the whole way home.

I needed to calm to fuck down.

I drove back home and ran up to my room to get changed. I wore a black dress shirt, black jeans, a black blazer, and some trainers before clasping another chain around my neck and putting on a few more rings. Spraying some aftershave and running my fingers through my hair, I went back downstairs and locked up, getting into the car and driving to my parents house.

The De Campos should be arriving soon and I wanted to discuss a few things with my papa before they came.

Using the key I had in my pocket, I unlocked the front door and let myself in.

I could smell the delicious food being cooked in the kitchen and before I could go in and ask my mamma if she needed anymore help, my papà called me into his office.

I guess the sooner we get this over with, the better.

"Ciao papà", I greeted whilst taking a seat on the opposite side of his desk. I took my blazer off and rolled my sleeves up, quickly checking my phone to see if Liliana had messaged – much to my disappointment, she hadn't.

"Ciao figlio (son)", he said, briefly looking up from his laptop.

He was in a suit himself, almost identical to mine but instead of a black dress shirt, he was in a white one with a charcoal grey blazer. He had his hair gelled back, but much like myself, he had most likely been running his fingers through it the whole day which gave it the rustic type of look. He had his reading glasses on and a silver chain around his neck that my mamma had gifted him for their twenty-five-year anniversary.

He finished off what he was typing and turned his laptop off, focusing his attention on me.

"How's Lily?", he asked sincerely.

"Your son is fine, thanks for asking," I said whilst shaking my head with a smile.

"I believed I asked how my daughter-in-law was doing. No one asked about you, Luciano", he said with a wink.

"She's fine. She was really happy to meet all of you", I replied honestly. Liliana was definitely a vocal sleeper. I find out more about how shes actually feeling when shes sleeping than I do when she's awake talking to me.

"So, I've taken it that you've told her about yesterday?", he questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"Non finché non siamo sicuri (not till we're sure)", I replied. I don't want to overwhelm her until we know for sure that she is a De Campo.

"Luciano, theres some things that I haven't told you. Mostly about the De Campos", he started, stopping with a sigh.

"What is it, papà?", I asked anxiously.

We had never kept anything a secret in this family and so it must have been something important if he had kept this from me.

"As you know, your mamma and I used to be really close friends with the De Campos, that was until Stefano's wife was abducted. Us being friends, our family helped to search for Gabriella, but we were never able to find her. After a few years, he had lost all hope and had separated himself from everyone.

We all tried to cheer him up, but eventually he stopped all contact with us all. His only light in this world was his son, Matteo. Around seven years after Gabriellas abduction, he found out that she had died a few years ago and was in fact pregnant when she was taken.

That was when he decided to reach out to us all again. We all tried our best, speaking to everyone who might have any information about the baby but we found nothing. A few years later, he came to the conclusion that the baby may not have survived the pregnancy and yet again, cut off all contact with us.

It was during that period of his life that he scaled up his business; going undercover and saving people who had been abducted or abused. When he found out that your m-he was the anonymous donor who funded the start up for your business when you refused money from us.

He knew the feeling of wanting to build business based on a foundation of a horrible past and when he found out that you hadnt accepted our help, he decided to help you. He followed your progress and was incredibly impressed of how far you had built the business and how many people you have helped. What Im trying to get across by telling you all of this, is that Stefano De Campo is a good man. Lily will be in safe hands with him; he would never let anything happen to her again."

Fucking hell.

My mind was racing with so many fucking thoughts. Was all of this true?

I couldn't even hear all of the thoughts in my head, they were so loud and there were so many of them.

Liliana would never willingly go with him right now. After what she experienced with the motherfucker who hurt her, she would need to know for sure that this man was someone who she could trust.

"Not today", I decided, standing up and grabbing my blazer from the back of my chair.

"Cosa? (what?)", my papà asked in confusion.

"She's not meeting with him today. Not until I know that he isnt going to hurt her. Its ultimately her decision what she decided but I need to make sure this is all true before telling her", I said, with no room for discussion.

"Va bene per me. Sono orgoglioso di te, figlio mio (That's fine by me. I'm proud of you, my son)", he said, whispering the last part and patting me on the back.

"One last thing, you need to tell her about your past. You can't hide it from her anymore. You need to talk to her about it. She'll understand. She won't judge you. Te lo prometto (I promise you)", he said, ruffling my hair and almost running out of the room before I could get him back for messing uo my hair.

Shit.

I knew that she wouldn't judge me for my past but I don't even know where I would start. And I definitely couldn't break down on her. I need to be strong for her when she needs me, I couldn't be weak.

But she deserves to know.

Before I could think about it any further, the doorbell rang and I knew that it was time to meet the De Campos.