10. Luca
10
LUCA
R olling out of bed, I check my watch. It’s almost midday. I’ve missed my morning classes, and I have no motivation or desire to go to any of the others I have for the rest of today.
I place my feet onto the cold hardwood floor of my old bedroom, having crashed here after last night. I returned the car after everything that happened, doing my best to clean off the backseat in the dead of night without anyone noticing, and when I was done, I just couldn’t fathom having to drive back to campus as well. Especially with the possibility of running into Dominic hanging over me .
Even knowing that my father will interrogate me about it if I’m unlucky enough to cross paths with him in the house, this will still be easier.
Standing on my feet, still exhausted from my lack of sleep, I pull on the same shirt and pants that I had worn the previous night. I stumble toward the door to my room, carefully opening it and peeking out into the hall. Scanning around, hoping I can duck out quickly, I sneak my way toward the grand staircase and take small, quiet steps as I go down to the open foyer.
The front door is only feet away from me. If I can get across the foyer and out down the driveway, I can call a cab from the street and head back to campus with no one the wiser.
“Here so early?” My father’s words taunt my failed attempt.
Halfway to freedom, I turn to face him. “My professor cut my class short,” I fib. “He was feeling under the weather.”
“Hmm…seems to be a lot of that sort of thing at the moment.” He scowls.
After everything that happened last night, I had completely forgotten about abandoning the meeting with the Greco family’s representative so that I could go after Dominic. “About that,” I start to explain.
“I don’t want to hear your excuses right now.” His words are curt, and I don’t need to make any guesses about how he feels about me running away.
“I’m not making excuses. The Grecos are shady and undermining us. I didn’t want any part of it.”
“And how were they undermining us?”This is the right thing to do. I will tell my dad what the Grecos want. I can show myself as a strategic leader, shut down the Grecos as a threat, and keep the Rossis around. If the Grecos want them gone, they’ll be useful to have around.
“They want you to cut off the Rossis and ally with them instead.”
He looks at me intensely, trying to discern the nature of my accusation. I stand still, trying to make it seem like I have nothing to hide. Unfortunately for me, I do have something pretty big to hide. All I can do is pray that he doesn’t credit it to the meeting with the Grecos .
“Why would they want to do that?” my father asks me.
“They claim that the Rossis are unpredictable and are unfit to align themselves with us,” I begin. “Instead, they want to stand by us, saying that our combined empires will be greater than any other.”
“I see.”
“I don’t trust them.”
He keeps his gaze locked onto me. “Well, we can see just how unpredictable the Rossis are this evening.”
That isn’t the response I want. “What do you mean?”“Did you already forget? We’re having them over tonight,” he continues. “I wanted you all to play nice, but now it has another purpose.”
I bite my tongue. Only when I actually want Dominic to stay around, my dad starts considering cutting his family.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” I say with a forced smile.
I have to make sure they all look good tonight. I also have to make sure that Dominic doesn’t find out about any of this. I don’t really know much about him, but I can only assume that if he were to find out that he and his family could be in danger, he wouldn’t stop at anything to get back at the Grecos. But that’s not the response we need right now.
The grand table creates a vast divide between the families: Valentis on one side and the Rossis on the other. Everyone sits quietly as they maintain their attention on their meals; an awkward silence hangs heavily in the air.
I turn my head up from my plate, casting my gaze onto Dominic, who sits across from me and is paying me no attention. His cold demeanor has remained steady throughout the evening so far, and any attempts to grab his attention have been unsuccessful. The rest of his family have been just as aloof.
My father has remained silent thus far; if I don’t do something to break the silence, no one will.
“Sofia, you’re looking lovely today,” I compliment as I give her my best attempt at a smile.
Sofia looks at me, returning my awkward grin with one of her own. “Thank you, Luca. You’re looking lovely yourself. That’s a nice suit.”
I give her a nod of thanks and turn to look at Dominic. For the first time tonight, he catches my gaze. He looks me up and down, inspecting the suit for himself. Soon his eyes widen as he notices my shirt. The same shade of blue shirt that I wore last night while Dominic tore it from me and threw it to the floor like it was nothing.
At least Sofia is nice, I suppose.
I turn to my father, sitting in solemn silence as he ignores his opportunity to say something nice.
“Now that we’ve covered the formalities, can we get down to business?” Gianni Rossi asks.
“An excellent idea,” my father responds. Of course he only speaks when he gets to talk about business. “What did you have in mind?” His smile looks cold and uncomfortable.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the Greco family going around,” Gianni begins.
I dart my eyes to the side, making eye contact with my dad for only a second before we both return our attention to the conversation. As I look back to the Rossis across the table, I take notice of Dominic eyeing me up and down again.
He either noticed the non-verbal exchange or this is still about last night. In any case, I can’t dwell on it for now.
I clear my throat of the words I want to say to Dominic, however this only draws his attention to me even more. “What kind of talk?” “Well,” Gianni continues, “they’ve been pushing into our territories, and I’m sure they plan to do the same to you.”
You have no idea.
“I see.” My father allows Gianni to keep talking.
“I was just wondering if you had any plans to push back against them.” Gianni’s question was presumptuous, bold.
“Matter of fact, the Greco family have been doing some talking of their own. Isn’t that right, Luca?” His question throws me right under the bus. Is this his punishment?
The Rossis all turn to look at me.
“That’s right,” I say. “I spoke with a representative of theirs just last night. ”
Dominic’s brows furrow, his face twisting ever so slightly at the information.
Gianni speaks up again. “What did they want?”
“To strike a deal,” my father reveals.
“What kind of deal?” Gianni probes further.
“They claim to want peace and say they have a lot to offer us,” Dad continues.
Gianni scoffs. “Sounds like they just want to cut themselves into our own arrangement.”
“Let’s not be rash, Gianni. We should still hear them out,” Sofia butts in. “The same way we did before, isn’t that right, Salvatore?”
“My thinking precisely,” he replies with a smirk.
The Rossis have no idea that the Grecos are pushing for us to sacrifice them. I need to say something. “I’m with Gianni on this. I think it’s best we remain suspicious. Don’t let them gain the upper hand.”
Dominic pushes into the conversation. “And what do you suggest we do?” His tone is harsh. He clearly hasn’t forgiven me for running off again, which is fine, but this isn’t the right time for antagonizing.
“I don’t know yet,” I admit, trying to get him off my back.
“Really? What about your strategy of leaving them high and dry during the meeting?” my father interrupts.
“What does that mean?” Sofia clarifies, honing in on me to tell the truth.
“I had to leave early,” I confess. Watching Dominic’s face again, I see the shift in his eyes as he makes the connection. He doesn’t seem happy when he realizes that I had to leave to go after him..
“Leaving early?” Dominic chuckles. “Doesn’t sound like you, Luca.”
I grit my teeth. Why does he have to do this now?
“I don’t think that this is really the time for that kind of comment,” I push back, hoping he gets the hint.
“Well, I think that this is the perfect time. We’re talking about something serious here, and you went ahead and screwed it up,” he says, knowing exactly what he’s doing. His words hurt, and I don’t need reminding of how I messed up an important meeting with the Grecos and another with him all in the same night.
“Luca’s right,” Sofia says sticking up for me. “There’s no use in dwelling on the past.”
“Thank you,” I reply.
Sofia gives me a gentle nod of support.
“We should focus on the future.” I look over to my father. “A future with the Valentis and the Rossis together, right, Dad?”
He meets my eyes and produces a difficult smile. “That’s right.”
I know he’s having second thoughts now. He has no allegiance to the Rossis, and why would he? This whole marriage is a means to an end, a power grab to nip them in the bud as a threat. Now, however, a new threat shows its face and promises power in return for peace. What reason does he have not to swap the old out for the new?
But I have a reason. He’s my reason.
I look to Dominic across the table for some essence of support, some fragment of understanding in what I want. I don’t want to run away again, but I’m too afraid to not keep hiding for now. So to have this conversation, we have to do it quietly .
“I don’t know,” Dominic starts. “I still don’t see a reason for us to trust you.”
“Dominic, not now,” Sofia scolds.
Gianni joins her with a cold glare directed at his brother.
“No, I’m serious,” he persists. “Why should we expect you to not throw us to the side the second we become inconvenient?”
“We won’t become inconvenient,” Gianni pipes up. His confidence is clear in his voice, but I think even he has his doubts.
“Oh, what an incredible idea. Just don’t become inconvenient. A fool-proof plan,” Dominic rants. He locks his eyes purely on me. “But to me, I think a Valenti will use you however they want and throw you to the curb the second they’re done.”
Dominic shoots up from the table, storming out of the room without another word.
“What’s wrong with him now?” Gianni yells as he stands up to chase after him until Sofia yanks him back down to his seat.
“Leave him be,” she speaks softly.
As Dominic leaves, I already see him draw his phone from his pocket and make a call while crashing out through the front doors.
“Maybe now we can continue without further interruption?” my father asks in a demeaning tone.
I look between them all, completely stunned. My father’s apathy I can understand, but even his own family seem to show little care for Dominic.
“Excuse me,” I say without waiting for their permission. Quickly stepping my way out of the dining room to go after Dominic, I try my best to catch up with him.
By the time I make it out outside, I see Dominic already rushing his way down the asphalt strip, making his turn on foot out of the front gates and back out onto the street. His fast pace never falters, despite the attention he pays to whoever is on the other end of the phone line.
Where is he going?
I already know I wont catch up to him on foot, so I turn back around and dash for the car in the driveway. Climbing inside and taking the spare set of keys from the glove box, I peek through the windshield, seeing him disappear from view as he makes his way farther down the street. The car starts and I chase after him, speeding down the driveway and swinging around the corner straight out of the gate.
In the time it took me to get out there, he must have made it a couple of blocks as any sign of him is already gone. Steadying my pace, I check all around me as I look for anything that could show me where he went. Yet the streets are empty, and no pedestrians or cars occupy the roads or sidewalks. There is simply nothing around.
That is until a quick streak of bright purple hurtles in front of me, blasting through the intersection without a second thought and flies onward. Even as it moves past at such a perilous speed, I can still manage to identify the car. It’s the same car that was in the alleyway last night, the one that Dominic had for the race. Was he behind the wheel?
It doesn’t matter. I have to go after him before he involves himself in some other dangerous activity.
The car ahead tears through the streets of Montcove, showing no care or caution for other drivers. I follow as close as I can, struggling to match their speed in the luxury SUV I drive. In the distance, the sports car takes a rough turn around a street corner, and I watch on in total disbelief. Is this how Dominic and his friends drive?
They make yet another turn, their path starting to seem familiar. I think they’re taking the scenic route, but they’re definitely heading back to the Valmont College Campus.
Hopefully this means he won’t get himself into anything stupid. I pray that all he’s doing is getting a ride home from an overly reckless friend so that he can go back to his dorm and sleep the evening off. Please tell me that’s all this is.
Pulling into the campus’s parking lot, I see their vehicle parked and unoccupied. Not too far ahead, I can make out the shape of Dominic and another shorter man walking alongside him.
But they’re not heading back to the dorms. They’re not heading toward any of the fraternity or sorority houses or anywhere I would expect them to go. They’re heading to the college gym.
I park up a good distance away from them, hopping out the car and trying to keep a low profile as I follow after them on foot.
Checking my watch, I know for a fact that it’s way past the gym’s open hours, so why are they both heading inside?
This whole thing put me on edge. Something about it all just makes me feel uneasy. This isn’t right and won’t end well.
I need to go after him. Why do I always need to go after him?