True to Lillian's words, Tony came around after a week,he called Lilian and asked whether he could see his daughter, so Lilian gave him the Villa's location and he came there.
Gianna was downstairs when he came.
"Father!" She stood up and rushed to him,Tony spread his arms in a warm embrace to hug his daughter,
"Father,I'm so sorry for…"
"Shhh,I'm the one in the wrong.I failed to appreciate the virtuous and selfless daughter I've got." He said,
"Daddy's very sorry,will Gigi forgive him?" He asked making his cutest face at her.
Tony might have advanced in years and the financial crisis might have made him look older but he was sure the most handsome man Gianna had ever acknowledged.
"Gigi forgives daddy and also ask daddy to forgive her,she's super sorry." Tears were streaming down her eyes as she spoke.
"Hmmm." The man nodded and pecked her forehead since he was almost a head taller than her.
Lilian stood by the side and watched the lovely scene played by this father and daughter duo.
Even though Gianna isn't his biological daughter, Tony had treated her like she was his blood,he never for once treated her like an outside unlike how Carol and Camille treats her.
He loves her more than he does his daughter and this made the latter angry,seeing Gianna as a wretch that came to steal her father from her.
Unlike Gianna who was a straight 'A' student, Camille was more of a dullard,getting bad grades and failing school tests and exams.
The only thing Camille did better was on vain things,like how to look beautiful and get the best and expensive clothes regardless of the financial problems in the family.
While Gianna was the more conservative and an economist, she manages whatever comes her way and isn't after vain thing like her sister.
Even with her flawless body and nice curves,she still wasn't interested in looking good and that the most reason why she doesn't have any friend except Janine,her high school girlfriend and the boy of them are in the same college.
Janine was from a wealthy family but she's more like Gianna and that's what attracted the both of them to be friends.
She's selfless and really beautiful but Gianna is and will always be the fairest among them.
The both girls are like two hands,they're always to help each other.
* * * *
After the first trimester of the pregnancy, an ultra scan was carried out and the scan showed Gianna was pregnant with a pair of male twins.
Alexandre was so happy with the news but didn't show it.
He was still keeping his aloof profile when the secretary told him.
"So you said it is a twin?" He asked the woman again to be sure,
"Yes Sir," She brought out scan result and showed it to him,he took it from her.
I'm going to be a father to two soldiers, he was so elated with the new but didn't make it visible but like the observant person she's.
Lilian noticed the trace of happiness in his eyes when he first got the news and like flash he replaced it with his cold demeanor.
"How's she feeling?" He asked,
Ever since that night,he hadn't been able to get her off his head,he sees her everywhere.
Secreting wishing he could make her his but he knew he couldn't, his grandfather as already chosen his bride for him.
Jasmine. How he hates the sight of that girl.
She was like an eyesore to him,the only reason he's agreeing to this alliance was that his grandfather really wished it and since Jasmine was his adoptive aunt's daughter, he can't make his grandfather change his mind.
Years ago, Colin De Marco had adopted eighteen year old Katerina as his daughter. She was a very beautiful entertainer and Andre's father Alejandro and his two step brothers were madly in love with her.
Seeing the rift this was about to cause amongst his sons,he decided to adopt Katerina.
He doted on her to the extent he started having feelings for the girl.
He already has three wife's that had bore him three sons,so getting Katerina as his forth wife was no big problem to him but he knows his wives and sons won't support him.
So he decided to keep the girl as his forever but thing changed when Katerina was discovered to be pregnant for another man.
When Colin found out,he sent people to investigate the bastard that got her pregnant.
Lo and behold,it was a man from the lower class,he ruthlessly wiped the mans family and forced Katerina to abort the baby.
She'd refused and fled from home with her pregnancy. Katerina took refuge in her friend's house till she gave birth to her twin,a boy and a girl.
Meanwhile in the States, Colin had turn everywhere upsidedown in search of his daughter but to no avail.
The search continued for almost eight years later till when Katerina was spotted by one of his spies.
They went after the woman and unfortunately in the car chase the woman's car crashed and got burnt,only one death body was found in the crash but three people were in the car before it crashed.
The corpses they found was Katerina's but her children were nowhere to be found.
Colin was so heartbroken, he came so sick right after the funeral.
Colin instigated a search in the next few months and it was discovered that one of the child is in Washburn Orphanage.
From the initial, he wanted to get rid of the two bastards but upon Katerina's death,he wanted nothing than to bring in the kids into the mansion to enjoy the wealth of the De Marcos.
When he finally found the girl twin,Jasmine.
He got her betrothed to his grandson Alexandre.
The alliance was accepted by the elders of the family but not Alexandre. He hated Jasmine from that day onwards.
* * * *
Eight months in the pregnancy, Gianna felt like a bloated maggot.
She ate like hell but the smell of sweet and sour pork which was her favorite makes her feel nauseated, Lilian which explained all this to her was so privileged to be able to teach a youngster about pregnancy since she could have one.
One morning,while Gianna was having her normal morning exercise,
"Gigi,don't you think you've gone too far already ?" Lilian asked as they jogged.
She wasn't tired but she felt Gianna should be tired cause they're very far from the Villa and since she's pregnant, Lilian expected her to be tired but it was the opposite.
"Don't you think we should start heading back to the Villa now,I'll call the driver to come get…"
"Ah!" Gianna yelled,she felt a sharp pain on her waist and immediately after that,her water broke,Lilian rushed to her,
"You're having those Braxton Hicks again?" She asked, thinking it was the fake contraction she often have but when she saw the water flowing down Gianna's thigh,she was shocked.
But she's due in five weeks time.
"No..theses are real contrac...,it really hurts." She cried,Lilian placed her arm around Gianna and held her up.
"Can you walk?" She fearfully asked,holding the girl gentle so as not to hurt her.
Since they were far from the Villa and it might take the chauffeur up to thirty minutes to come there due to the morning jam.
Lilian got a cab and asked the driver to get them to the nearest hospital.
The driver helped her in and drove as fast as he could.
In the next fifteen minutes they were in the hospital, the doctors hurried out and took Gianna into the labor room.
Lilian brought out her phone and called Tony first,
"Sir please can you come to…" She turned to the nurse,
"Please what's the name of this hospital?"she held the phone with one hand as she asked the nurse,
"Brooklyn Specialist Hos…."
Lilian turned to her phone,
"Brooklyn Specialist Hospital." She relayed to Tony and hung up after the man told her he's on the way there.
When Tony arrived,Lilian was still outside the labor room waiting for the doctor to come out.
"How's Gianna?" He asked immediately he came close,cold beads of sweat formed on her forehead making the man worried,
"No news yet." She managed to say.
Inside,Gianna cries filled the room,
"Miss push harder please,the head is almost out." The matron told her.
"Take a deep breathe and push." She said,Gianna took a deep breath them pushed harder.
"His head's out,just one more push and….." Before the woman could finish,she pushed and the baby came out.
"It's a boy!" She exclaimed,given the baby to the third nurse.
"Now for the second one,you just have to push again,so he'll go through the same passage as his brother." A younger nurse said.
"I can't do this.." Gianna cried,she was already in pain.
Gosh,I never knew childbirth is as painful as this.
"You just have to,one more push." Gathering the little strength she have left,she pushed.
The baby came out but unlike his brother,this one isn't crying.
"Its a boy…but..he isn't breathing." The matron said taking the boy from Gianna's blossom.
Gianna froze at the word' Not Breathing.'
"Nurse what happened to him?" She asked seeing the disappointed look in the nurse's face.
"Sorry Miss, your son is still born." She said,
"What? Why?" She cried weakly,
"The older one seem to have greater access to nutrition and oxygen while the younger one seemed to be in short of it,we're sorry."
Gianna was so tired but she felt very heartbroken,
Her first pregnancy and she lost one of her boys.
Though the kids weren't hers immediately they were born but she really felt the pain.
Lilian was still outside when the matron came out with a sad look on her face.
"What happened? How's Gianna and the babies?" She asked,Tony stood up and walked up to nurse,
"How's my daughter?" He asked the nurse,
"Well,she's fine but we lost one of the babies." She said,Lilian face fell.
She excused them and place a call to the boss,yelling him of the tragedy.
Andres ordered that the living baby should be brought over to the De Marco's Private Hospital immediately and his order was carried out with immediately effect.
But something miraculous happened,immediately the older boy was taken by Lilian out of the hospital.
The nurse who was admiring the dead baby noticed something,
"This baby's showing faint sign of life!" She yelled, attracting the doctors attention.
They took the baby from her and placed him on a life machine to boost his chances of survival.
After spending almost three weeks in the hospital, baby Reid was a bit fit to go home with Gianna.
Tony had asked the doctor who had become his friend over the past three weeks erase all data concerning the boy's survival so no one would know about his existence.
Since they were friends, the doctor did it and a few week later when Andre sent some representatives to the hospital for his son's corpses.
They told him that the corpses has been well taken cared of,this left him sad.
Actually,the main reason he came was to get information to contacting Gianna but as fate could have it,she has disappeared from the face of the earth.
Having lost her and his second son,he poured his devotion to the first son Justin De Marco.
Though his grandfather opposed the name saying it too modern and it doesn't sound like a De Marco's name but Andre refused to change it.
His mother has a soft personality and would love such name.
This were always his though whenever he looks at his son.