Chapter 21
SOFIA
With Dominic and Rafe gone, I can finally breathe. I know my dad hated having them here to witness this. Unfortunately, when I turn to speak to him, his face is furious. Every angry thought he swallowed while they were here is bubbling to the surface now.
“Why did you bring them here?” he seethes.
“I didn’t bring them here,” I argue. “Dominic just wanted to come and make sure that you were okay. It was a safety thing.”
“A safety thing?” he roars. “Sofia, my livelihood is gone. Because he butted his nose into my business. I have told you over and over again that I don’t trust this man, but you refuse to quit. You’re so stubborn, just like your mother.”
That stings. I know Dad loved her, but he always drags up her worst qualities, especially when he’s measuring me against them. She’s been gone six years now, but his anger about her death never faded.
“That job is the only reason your debts were paid off,” I remind him. “And how you can afford your blood pressure medication without going into more debt. You can hate Dominic all you want, but he’s saved us financially.”
He glares at me. “Does this look saved?” he asks, gesturing around to his trashed garage. “Years of hard work and saving are just gone. Some of those tools belonged to my grandfather. They’re irreplaceable, Sofia!”
“He didn’t trash your garage himself,” I remind him. “You act like he stormed in here with thugs and tore the place apart.”
“He may as well have. I don’t know who decided my loose association with that man was worth destroying my life over, but this is exactly what I’ve been telling you, Sofia. This is what happens when you get sucked into a world like that.”
“If we’re part of that world, it’s because you decided to trust shady people,” I shoot back. “You just had to get that loan. They would have done this to your garage whether I worked for Dominic or not.”
“Yes, if I hadn’t paid the loan,” he says. “But the loan was paid, Sofia, so this was a warning. Those men know you work for Dominic. It’ll be a miracle if they don’t come after you too.”
I freeze. I never told him about the break-in, or that I’m staying at Dominic’s penthouse. He’s going to be furious.
“What is it, carina?” he asks, instantly concerned at the shift in my demeanor. I hate that he knows me so well.
“They already came after me, Papa,” I say in a small voice. “They trashed my apartment.”
“What?” he screams. “When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was a few weeks ago—”
“A few weeks?” he shouts, his face getting redder by the second.
“Papa, you have to calm down,” I tell him. “You’re going to have a heart attack if you don’t.”
“So what, Sofia? They took away my livelihood and threatened you. If I can’t protect my daughter, I might as well be dead.”
I roll my eyes and groan. There’s no reasoning with him. So instead I go to his mini fridge, grab a bottle of water, and thrust it into his hands. I don’t stop glaring until he opens it and takes a sip.
“You need to make a decision, Sofia,” he says once he’s swallowed half the bottle. “You can keep working for that man, or you can keep being my daughter. I can’t do this anymore.”
Now it’s my turn to shout.
“Excuse me? I’m a grown woman, where the hell do you get off?”
“This is for your own good, carina. He’s not a good man, and working for him will only lead to more troubles in our life. I’m not willing to put up with it anymore, so if you insist on working with him, I want nothing to do with you.”
“You can’t be serious,” I spit. “You can’t just cut off your family when they make you angry. I’ve worked my ass off to make sure you’re okay, and now you’re throwing it in my face.”
“That was never your job.”
“No? Because there wasn’t anyone else banging down the door to help us. There was just me.”
“Well, now the money is paid, and you have no reason to stay there. How is this even a choice?”
“I’m pregnant,” I finally manage. “And Dominic is the father. So, no, I can’t just walk away from him now. It’s a lot more complicated.”
He doesn’t respond at first. He just stares at me, jaw tight, his face completely unreadable. Then he walks to his office, steps inside, and slams the door.
I go after him, pushing my way into the office. By the time I get there, he’s already in his chair, staring at the spot on the wall where Dominic’s business card was pinned.
“Papa?” I ask.
“No,” he says lowly. “Don’t ‘Papa’ me. How could you do this?”
His voice is quiet, but it’s full of rage. I’ve never seen him like this, and it scares me. I can take the shouting, but this quiet fury is too much.
“As I said, I’m a grown woman.”
He shakes his head. “Then why did you do something so childish? Sleeping with that monster is bad enough, but you got pregnant with his child? Didn’t your mother and I raise you better than that?”
My eyes start stinging with hot tears. “It just happened.”
“Did he force you?” he asks, meeting my eye. “It’s okay, Sofia. He’s a powerful man, but I’ll fight for you.”
“No!” I shout. “He didn’t force me, I chose to be with him. I want to be with him.”
“You don’t know who he is,” he tries.
“I do,” I say bravely. “I know exactly who he is and what he does and what he’s capable of. He told me everything.”
He shakes his head and looks down at his desk. The shame and disappointment are written so plainly on his face. I feel like a child again, being reprimanded for breaking a vase or bombing a math test. Of course, this is much, much worse.
“Okay,” he finally says. “A baby is a miracle, no matter where it came from. I want to be part of my grandchild’s life.”
Finally, he’s seeing reason.
“Of course you’ll be part of his life,” I say, a tear sliding down my face. “I don’t want to do this without you. He’ll need his grandpa around. I’ll need you around.”
He looks back up at me with shining eyes. “Then you can’t let Dominic be involved.”
I stop breathing for a second. What he’s asking is so unfair. Either I let my child be fatherless, or I make myself fatherless? That’s no kind of bargain.
“How could you want that for your grandchild?” I ask harshly.
“How could you want this life for your child?” he asks, gesturing around.
“This is the kind of life you’d be giving him.
Constant violence and blood feuds. You’d never know if you were safe.
Dominic would probably keep you locked away around the clock just to keep his enemies off you. What kind of life is that?”
“We’d be taken care of. My child wouldn’t want for anything ever again. He could go to the best schools. He could be anything he wants to be, instead of just an assistant.”
“So that’s it?” he asks. “You blame me for the fact that you’re ‘just an assistant?’”
“I don’t want to get into this with you,” I beg. “That’s an entirely different conversation. The point is, I can’t deprive my child of a good life, and if you really loved me, you wouldn’t ask me to.”
“Little girl, I have done nothing but sacrifice for you,” he huffs.
“And I will continue to sacrifice for you. You can move into my place. I’ll help you with the baby.
I’ll close down the shop and take care of him full-time.
You could go back to school. Be something better than an assistant if that’s what you want. ”
“With what money?” I ask, incredulous. “You were barely scraping by as it was. If you close the shop, you’ll have nothing.”
“I own my home,” he argues.
“For now,” I say. “You’re getting older, and you’re going to need more medical care. Don’t you see how staying with Dominic would be good for all of us?”
He shakes his head. “No, Sofia,” he says sadly.
“I see nothing but destruction and pain if you stay with him. And I want no part of it. The choice is yours. I’ve told you what I’m willing to do to help you.
But if you still insist on staying with that man, I want nothing to do with you or your child. ”
The tears flow freely now, and my face burns. His eyes are cold and empty, though I know that’s just a tactic. He wants to pretend this doesn’t touch him. He wants to act like losing his only child forever is fine with him.
At his core, he’s no better than Dominic but he doesn’t see it that way. He’s prideful and thinks everything in this world should go the way he plans it.
I won’t play into his game. As much as it hurts me, I turn from him and walk out of his office. I don’t look at his face as I go, but I hope it’s pained. I hope it hurts him as much as it’s hurting me, because he’s put me in a shitty situation.
I walk through the destroyed garage without seeing anything. My eyes are so filled with tears, it’s a miracle I make it out of there without tripping on something. Still, I keep my spine straight and my resolve strong.
Nobody else gets to write my story. Nobody else gets to tell me who I can or can’t be with. Not even my father.
When I walk out of the garage, a town car idles at the curb, waiting for me. My heart breaks with every step I take toward it, but he made this decision, not me. I can only hope he’ll come to his senses soon. As angry as I am, I truly don’t want my child to grow up without their grandfather.
Once I’m in the car, the tears start to fall, and they don’t stop.