Chapter 14 #2
“I feel incredibly fucking protective of you,” I tell him, and lean down toward him. I place my fingers under his jaw and tilt his head up. “Even your best friend makes me a little…” I trail off.
“Jealous?” Ethan smirks at me. “You don’t need to be. Nathan isn’t interested in me, and he’s very aware of us now. Not about everything, but he knows we’re together.”
I kiss his lips hard once before pulling away. “Good. You’ll let me know if absolutely anythin’ seems off.” It’s not a request; it’s a demand.
“I will,” Ethan agrees.
If only I could leave with full confidence that nothing will go wrong.
“Is that boy really worth it?” my father asks me. He’s confronting me in the living room of the mansion along with Marco, Aunt Tania, Contessa, Yvette, and Uncle Barry.
I stand on the opposite end of the room from all of them, though Contessa is inching closer to my side with every second.
“‘That boy’ is Ethan, and yeah, he is,” I insist. My arms are folded, and I attempt to ignore the urge to simply walk out of here before the family meeting that’s clearly just about me is over.
“We all know what it’s like with our first loves,” Tania tells me. “But this Ethan is hardly the right fit for our family. Your attachment to him is putting all of us in danger.”
I scoff. “How the fuck would you know that?” I ask. “Not to mention, the Greivans have been on our asses since before I even met Ethan.”
My father sighs and lights a cigar, as if this entire thing is just one big annoyance to him.
“Nevertheless, your aunt is right. They have something they can use against you now, which means they have something they can use against us. What reason do they have to concede to our demands if they can threaten us instead?” He waves his hand around, smoke from the cigar getting into Tessa’s face, so she steps even farther away from him.
I laugh. “Please. Yvette was a flight risk too, you just didn’t give a damn because it happened to go along with what you already had planned.”
“What exactly do you suggest we do about the Greivans then, Dante?” Yvette asks. “I have no objection to your relationship with Ethan, but I would like to know what the plan is.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t give a fuck if you have an objection or not. It’s not my responsibility to figure the plan out.” I motion to my father. “Nicholas is the one who started this war.”
“It’s hardly a war,” Marco butts in. “It’s two old men fighting for control.”
“Shut your fucking mouth, Mark,” Barry snaps at him.
Marco glares at him, and then turns that glare back to me.
“How do you feel about this, Tess?” I ask my cousin.
She looks incredibly uncomfortable. Her arms are wrapped around herself, and she sways slightly side to side. “I don’t think Dante’s relationship should be any of our business.” Her voice is quiet.
“It’s my business when it puts this family’s future on the line,” Father insists. “Your instance on defending some fling that will be unimportant by next month, further pissing the Greivans off by punching one of their sons in the face…it’s utterly idiotic.”
I growl. “Ethan isn’t some fling, Father. If you cared enough to talk to your fucking children, you’d know that,” I hiss.
“Dante, we all know you,” Barry says. “You’re not the type for long-term commitment.”
“Neither is Marco, but I don’t see you questioning every move he makes.” “Hey, don’t bring me into this! I defended you, dickweed,” Marco snaps at me.
“Alright, enough of this.” Tania puts her hands up and looks at my father. “This is about keeping our family safe, not judging anyone’s bedmates.”
“Thank God for that, huh, or else you’d be screwed,” I mumble under my breath.
“What was that?” Tania asks.
“I said, thank fucking God for that, or else you’d be screwed,” I say louder, looking her right in her eyes.
Her face flushes and she looks away from me.
“This is all ridiculous, if you ask me,” Yvette says.
“What do you suggest, Yvette?” Father asks. “As the newest member of our family, perhaps you should voice your opinion louder if you have one.”
I roll my eyes. I know what that means—the exact opposite of what he’s saying. He’s basically telling her to shut the fuck up if she doesn’t have any good ideas. And since I know Nicholas, I know he thinks he’s the only one with good ideas.
But Yvette steps into the middle of the group. “I think it comes down to this: what do you, Nicholas, need from Dante to prove he’s serious about this relationship and the grievances with the Greivans aren’t for nothing?”
My father blinks at her. He clearly didn’t expect her to actually say something that actually made sense.
Yvette doesn’t look away from him. Her body language is so much more confident and unwavering than Tessa’s.
“Ah, well.” My father clears his throat. “If you’re serious about the boy—young man—he needs to become a part of this family and pledge himself to us.”
“They’ve only been together a few days,” Marco says with a scoff. “Like that’s going to happen.”
“He will,” I say before anyone else can speak. “Ethan will pledge himself to me, to us.”
“How can you promise that?” Barry asks.
I bite my tongue before speaking so I won’t just curse him out. “Why are you even here?” I snap. “You only show up when there’s money in it for you, we all know that.”
“Your Uncle Barry is here to begin negotiations with the Greivans,” my father explains.
“Great, because that always goes well,” I mumble.
“You didn’t answer his question,” Tania reminds me.
I take a deep breath. “I care about Ethan. Whether you believe that or not, I couldn’t fucking care less. He will pledge himself to this family—maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but he will eventually.”
“Can you accept that, Nicholas?” Yvette asks. Her voice is calm, collected. I can tell that how unbothered she is gets on my father’s nerves.
He rolls his shoulders back, trying to seem casual and in control.
“I suppose, but this is not a game, son,” he tells me. “I will not let you put this family in danger over something that isn’t serious.”
“It’s serious,” I nearly growl at him. “Dead serious. I didn’t jump in front of a car bomb for a good fuck, as much as y’all might think so little of me.”
It’s silent just long enough for me to decide I don’t want to be here anymore.
“I’m done here.” I turn around and walk out of the room. No one stops me. I hear their voices behind me, but ignore them.
“Dante!” Yvette calls after me.
I stop only once I’m near the front door. “What?” I ask her.
“Your father may not want to talk about the plans with the Greivans, but I think you should know that he plans on storming in if the discussions with your uncle don’t work,” she informs me.
I huff. “I could have guessed.”
“Perhaps you should talk to him. I don’t think it’s a good idea to jump the gun,” she tells me. “There are new children in the family—triplets, born just yesterday.”
I frown at the floor. “How do you know this?”
She steps closer to me. “I know their mother, Darlene. I know several women in the Greivans—at least, I did before I pledged myself to this family. To Tessa.”
I look up at her, finally meeting her eyes. “What do you expect me to do about this?”
“Anything. One day you might be in your father’s place, Dante. Do you want your legacy to be full of blood and death like his is?” she asks, her voice quiet but clear.
“Blood and death are part of this life,” I remind her.
“I know that better than you can imagine, Dante, but some of the blood spilled is innocent. Blood from those who haven’t had a choice in their family or their path,” she says. “I know about your mother, and?—”
I snap. “Don’t talk about her. You don’t know anything.”
I spin away from her, planning on storming out the door and leaving her behind as quickly as possible.
But something stops me in my tracks. I can’t make myself leave.
Instead, I stand with my back toward her, feeling her behind me still.
I sigh.
“Alright. Let’s talk.”
Ethan hasn’t sent me a text or called me to tell me that something has gone terribly wrong. So that either means everything is fine, or he’s been kidnapped and is already dead.
The second is a very low possibility, but still one that I can’t help but think about all day during classes. He doesn’t message me to meet for lunch, but he does text me at the end of his final class, asking if I’m still on campus.
I agree to pick him up and go back to his apartment so we can have some alone time.
The car ride is quiet, but I know what question is lingering in the air. I simply drive and wait for him to get the courage to ask.
It’s not until we’re sitting in the parking lot and I’m turning the engine off that Ethan speaks.
“What did your family want?” he asks. “You didn’t message me after you left, so it must have been a lot.”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” I tell him.
Ethan takes his seatbelt off. “It is. You barely said a word to me all the way here.”
I chuckle. “I thought you were the one who didn’t wanna talk.”
“So we both want to talk, then. You go first. Tell me what’s going on with your family.” Ethan turns a bit in his seat. The heat is off now, so it won’t be long until the car is cold.
“Let’s go inside first.” I get out and open Ethan’s door for him. I follow him, taking in everything around us. There’s no one hiding in the bushes, no one standing outside suspiciously. It still doesn’t mean it’s safe, though.
“Just so you know, two guards will be in the parking lot,” I tell him as we head up the stairs.
“Until you leave?” Ethan asks.
“No. They’ll stay after I leave. They’re here to watch over you,” I explain.
He frowns as he unlocks the door. “I don’t know how I feel about that. On one hand, it’s nice to feel safe, but something about people watching me is incredibly creepy.”
“I’d rather you be creeped out than blown into a million fucking pieces, Ethan,” I grumble.
He sighs as I follow him in, and then he closes and locks the door. I double check that it’s locked.