21. Dominic
21
DOMINIC
I press my foot against the brake, feeling the car squeak to a halt in the expansive driveway of the Valenti home. Staring up through the windshield at the large manor, I pull the handbrake to lock the car in place. Luca and I share a long, shaky breath, trying to muster the courage to actually get out of the car and talk to Salvatore.
“Are you ready?” I ask him, not sure if I’m ready myself.
Luca nods more than he needs to. I know that he’s terrified of having to do this, even though it was his idea in the first place.
Reaching across, I take his hand in mine and hold it gently in his lap. “No matter how this goes, whether it goes perfectly or ends up being the worst thing in the entire world, we’ll handle it together.”
He squeezes my hand and finally looks up to meet my eyes. “You’re right. We’ll figure something out if we have to.”
I rub the back of his hand with my thumb softly and release it from my grip. “Let’s get this over with then,” I tell him as I throw the car door open beside me and take an almost confident step down onto the asphalt drive.
I wait for Luca to get out as well, so the two of us can go up to the door together. Walking side by side, my body feels so tense, unlike every other time I’ve come to this house previously. Whenever I’ve had to come here, it’s always been by force, and I’ve never cared about Salvatore’s opinion of me. Hell, I wanted him to hate me and not want anything to do with us, but this time I made the decision to come here and I need to make sure he likes me. Salvatore Valenti isn’t just some stuck-up asshole who’s trying to take over my family. Now he’s my boyfriend’s stuck-up dad.
Standing in front of the large front door, I hesitate before opening it. “Do we knock, or…?”
“Let’s not make this weird. Just try to relax and be normal,” he tells me, trying to keep himself calm as well.
“Well, after you then… It is your house.” I usher him forward, not wanting to be the first one in the door. If I’m the first thing that Salvatore sees walking into his home, he’ll immediately be on guard and come at us with hostility from the get-go.
Allowing Luca to take the lead, I follow behind him and stand in the open entranceway waiting.
“He should be around here somewhere,” Luca mutters quietly. “Probably in his study or something.”
“Should we go find him?” I ask, looking around the room. He could come out of anywhere to ambush us. Going to him feels like a larger hurdle, but I’m already starting to crack under the weight of the paranoia and want to get it over with already.
Without saying a word, Luca makes his way slowly up the stairs, expecting me to follow behind him.
We walk carefully down the long run of the upstairs hallway, the door to the study waiting for us. This single corridor has never felt so long before, each step seeming to make neither of us any closer to the end. It feels like it’s taking me an eternity to make any ground. Focusing on our destination, my vision starts to blur. Forcing myself to take a breath, I draw in a long huff of air into my lungs. My eyes manage to refocus, and everything around me becomes infinitely clearer as I take my sights off of the door ahead and aim them at Luca. The image of him walking beside me fills my entire eyeline, and he doesn’t feel overwhelming or daunting, just calming.
I can do this. We can do this.
Luca pushes through the study door, trying his best to stand assertively in the doorway with me right behind him.
Salvatore is startled by the noise, looking up from his work and seeing the pair of us standing there in front of him. “Luca? And Dominic… What brings the both of you here?”
“We have something we need to talk to you about,” Luca says as he strides into the room and plants himself firmly into one of the chairs facing his father.
I follow in behind him and take a seat beside him, folding my arms in front of me and keeping my eyes on Salvatore. The light from the fireplace casts an intimidating shadow across his face, keeping his right half drenched in darkness and emphasizing his cold stare.
“My god,” he exclaims. “You didn’t do that to each other, did you?” he inquires as he leans across his desk to inspect our injured faces.
“No. The Grecos would be the ones to blame for this,” I explain while gesturing to my face.
Salvatore rolls his eyes at us both and returns himself back to his work. “I hope that this isn’t all another pathetic attempt to discredit them, is it? I’ve already made my decision.”
“Depending on your choice, you may want to reconsider,” Luca tells him.
Salvatore pauses again, peering up at us. “And why would that be?”
“You haven’t heard?” I ask him. I have to say I am surprised that he hasn’t, but I guess I don’t give Gianni enough credit for having his ear to the ground the way that he does.
“The Greco family is collapsing in on itself,” Luca informs him. “I don’t think they have the time to keep that deal on the table anymore, though.”
“What? How could that happen?”
Seeing him caught off guard for the first time is a total shock. He’s usually always projecting an aura of pure composure and control. This news, however, is big enough to crack that image.
“Antonio’s business partner was his son,” Luca starts to explain. “The two of them couldn’t see eye to eye anymore, and they fell apart because of infighting.”
“Even if this is true,” Salvatore begins trying to piece back together his facade, “I still don’t understand why you’re here.” His voice is as cold as ice and his eyes are just as welcoming as he zones in on me.
“I was there with the Grecos last night—” I try to answer his question, but he quickly interrupts me with a follow-up question.
“Right, so you went down there looking for a fight, didn’t you?” he jabs at me.
A week ago, I would have fallen into this trap, but after my time with Luca, I am far too well-versed in the Valenti game of pushing someone’s buttons to slip up that easily.
“That was actually another one of their lies. I didn’t get there until after Luca,” I reply in a completely neutral tone.
“Everything that Antonio’s told you since this deal began has been nothing more than an attempt to turn you against the Rossis,” Luca fights back with his own digs. “And you fell for every part of it.”
His voice remains calm and quiet, but I can feel the heat of the fire in Luca’s throat. Right now, he is letting out every single bit of spite he has for his father. He stares down his father with the same ferocity in his eyes like a predator about to tear apart his prey.
Still, Salvatore doesn’t say a word back to him, not wanting to let Luca take control over the conversation.
“And everything that Antonio said was just him parroting the plans of his son,” Luca continues his barrage.
Salvatore sucks his teeth. “Well, now that it’s all over, I’m sure you’re glad to be happy again. ”
Luca’s jaw sharpens as he grits his teeth together, his eyes narrowing as I feel him take his restraints off. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“How dare you speak to me like that,” Salvatore snaps back.
“Let him talk how he wants,” I assert with my clenched fists hidden by my side. I don’t want to fight my boyfriend’s dad, but I will if I have to.
“You’re hearing about how your son got manipulated and beaten by those assholes, and the only thing you can seem to do is be bitter about you messing up and not have an ounce of care or concern about me?” Luca yells.
“I’m sorry, Luca, but I am just too busy to be able to divert all of my attention to you whenever you get into some trouble,” Salvatore says, talking down to him. “Anyway, you’re supposed to be an adult now. You should handle your business yourself.”
“Well, do you know who has time? Do you know who cares?” he snarls. “Dominic does. He cares.”
“Sure,” his father taunts. “And that’s not just because he was caught up in this mess as well?”
“No,” he says definitively.
He gives me a quick glance, his eyes asking me a question that doesn’t need to be voiced. I give him a brief nod in response, already bracing myself for what’s to come.
“Because we’re dating, Dad.”
“Excuse me?”
Luca grabs my hand and holds it tightly in his own, both to keep himself calm and to try and slow the shake in his arms, but also to spit in Salvatore’s face with an act of defiance.
“That’s right,” I confirm.
“Every single time I needed someone, whenever I needed help, Dominic was the one who was there for me. Whether it was in his benefit or even if it could ruin everything for him, he came for me without a second thought,” Luca says with a strong passion behind his words. This time, however, it’s not a hot, fiery passion that he wants to use to burn Salvatore in his seat, but a warm, calming ember that he uses to keep the both of us going, caring for what we have. “And if I knew that he was in danger, whenever he was alone and being torn down by the Grecos, I was there for him. Not a care in the world for what could happen to me or what I was leaving behind.”
“Like a business deal?” Salvatore asks, starting to connect the dots we’ve been leaving behind since this all began.
“Like a business deal with the men who wanted to tear us all apart and take everything from us,” Luca corrects him. “Why can’t you just admit that you were wrong? Why can’t you apologize for constantly ignoring my concerns? Hell, why can’t you just thank me for fixing the mess you refused to acknowledge?”
Salvatore takes in a long, slow breath, pushing down his pride with a sigh, and looks back up to us both. “Thank you, Luca.”
“Him too,” he says coldly.
His father narrows his eyes at me. “Did he do enough to earn that?”
“If it wasn’t for Dominic, I’d probably be dead on the floor of the Greco restaurant while Antonio and his son had already taken you for everything you have.”
“Is that right?” Salvatore clarifies with me .
I give Luca a look, trying to gauge from him what I should say next. He gives me a nod back, and I take that as a sign to let loose.
“That’s right. Antonio’s son had been manipulating me for months to make me look bad to almost everyone in Montcove and maybe even get me killed,” I start with the cold, hard truth before I start to allow myself to talk myself up. “When I learned what they did and thought of every time they’d gotten me into these awful situations, it made me angrier than I think I’ve ever been before.”
“Do you really think that your short temper is really the best thing to brag about right now?”
“That’s not my point, but it was the start of my plan,” I explain. “I thought that if someone who I thought was my friend was messing with me like that, how would I feel if it was my own father or son doing it?”
“So you alone managed to turn the two of them against each other?” Salvatore asks as he leans toward me.
Is he impressed with me?
“Luca was helpful. He’s really good at pissing someone off if he wants to.” I chuckle slightly, looking at him as he cracks an actual smile for the first time since getting in here. “Anyway, it wasn’t too hard. His son was showing him up to every important person in the mafia, while his father was taking all the credit for him doing so.”
Salvatore lets out a reluctant sigh. “It is difficult seeing your own son turning into a different person from you, but managing to be just as good… Better, even.”
Luca struggles with expressing his feelings, and I know for a fact that his father is even worse. So him saying that is the most he’ll ever manage.
“You know,” Luca says, “I think the Grecos saw your marriage to Sofia as just a way to make both families stronger, and in this world, something like that only makes you look weak. Telling everyone that you had no real loyalty to one another and either family would sacrifice the other if it was needed.” Luca takes a shaky breath. “But if they found out that your son and hers had been sneaking around having a secret romance, despite both of them knowing that if they were discovered they could both have been killed and forced to watch as their families tore each other apart…”
“No one could possibly question their loyalty,” I say, finishing his sentence. “And right now, we need loyalty.”
Salvatore folds his hands in front of himself on the desk. “What has your mother said about this?” he asks, knowing for a fact we wouldn’t have come to him first about this.
“She’s supportive,” I tell him.
“Well then,” he remarks as he stands from his chair. “With my blessing as well, no one could possibly doubt our devotion to each other.” He holds out his hand for me.
I shake it awkwardly, and he treats his son in the same way, exchanging their respect with another handshake. Gesturing toward the door, Salvatore directs us to leave him to himself in the study.
Giving him a simple nod each, Luca and I walk out of the room and close the door behind us. We wait anxiously on the outside of the study, waiting for a possible noise or outburst.
Nothing.
Luca rushes me into a hug, wrapping his arms around me and embracing me tightly against him.
I can’t believe it.. I think we’ve done it.