Chapter Thirteen
Donny Rae
The Atlanta heat was simmering outside, but inside the Masters estate, the air was crisp, scented with white lilies and expensive champagne.
It had been four months since the night the city went quiet, the night Dominic's father had swept the board clean.
I didn't know the details, and I didn't ask.
All I knew was that one morning I woke up in Dominic's arms, and the weight that had been crushing his shoulders for years seemed to have vanished.
The Vittis were gone, the threats were silenced, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't waiting for a door to be kicked in.
I was standing in the center of the grand ballroom, draped in a sample gown of intricate lace and silk that cost more than my father's life was worth. Mirroring the change in our lives, the house had shifted, too. It was no longer a fortress; it was a home.
"Donny, stop holding your breath, baby. You're gonna pass out before the fitting is even over," Nia laughed, leaning against a marble pillar with a glass of mimosa. She and Tasha had been my shadow for the last few weeks, helping me navigate the labyrinth of high-society wedding planning.
"I can't help it," I pouted, looking at my reflection. My ginger curls were pinned up, exposing the flawless diamonds Dominic had given me—the ones he'd recovered from the warehouse floor and had reset as a symbol of our resilience. "Everything feels so… perfect. It makes me nervous."
"That's just the hood trauma talking," Tasha chirped, adjusting the train of my dress.
"You're a master’s now. We don't do nervous.
We do 'iconic.' And this wedding? It's gonna be the event of the decade.
Even Big Dom is looking better. He's determined to walk his favorite daughter-in-law down the aisle, oxygen tank or not. "
I smiled, thinking of Dominic's father. He had become a strange sort of anchor for me. He was a hard man, but there was a deep, protective love in him that I had never experienced from my own father. He looked at me not as a bargaining chip, but as the woman who had saved his son's soul.
The heavy oak doors at the end of the ballroom swung open, and the atmosphere instantly shifted.
That familiar, magnetic pull in my chest told me he was there before I even saw him.
Dominic walked in, looking every bit the king he had become.
He wasn't in a suit today; he was wearing a black-on-black tech suit, his thick beard perfectly groomed, and his tapered fade looking sharp.
The gold rope chain sat heavy against his chest, and his dark eyes were fixed on me with an intensity that still made my knees weak.
He stopped a few feet away, his tall frame casting a shadow that felt like a warm blanket. He didn't say a word for a long time; he just looked at me, his gaze traveling from the crown of my head to the hem of my gown.
"Damn," he whispered, the word vibrating through the room, "I knew you were a ten, Donny Rae, but this? This is off the charts. You look like a dream I ain't ever want to wake up from."
Nia and Tasha caught the look in his eyes and took that as their cue to exit. "We'll be in the kitchen," Nia whispered, passing him with a wink. "Try not to wrinkle the silk, Dom."
Once they were gone, Dominic stepped into my space, his large, tattooed hands coming up to rest on my waist. The contrast of his dark skin against the white lace of the dress was breathtaking.
He leaned down, his forehead resting against mine, his breath smelling of mint and the faint, sweet scent of the backwood he'd probably just finished poolside.
"You happy, baby?" he asked, his voice a low, intimate rumble. "Is all this wedding talk too much? Because if you want to just hop on the jet and get married on a beach with nobody but the pilot as a witness, we can do that. I just want you to be mine. The rest is just noise."
I reached up, my fingers disappearing into the thickness of his beard.
"I'm happy, Dominic. For the first time in my life, I feel like I can see a tomorrow.
I want a big wedding. I want your mother to see us, and I want your father to see that the legacy is safe. I want the world to know I'm yours."
He squeezed my waist, pulling me flush against him.
"They already know, Donny. After what happened a few months ago, there ain't a soul in this city that doesn't know who you belong to.
I've been talking to the old man. He's at peace, Donny.
He's smiling. He said seeing you plan this wedding gave him more life than any doctor ever could. "
"He's a good man, in his own way," I murmured.
"He's a menace, just like me," Dominic corrected with a smirk, his thumb tracing my bottom lip. "But he's a menace who loves his family. And speaking of family… we're modifying the guest list. I want your father there."
I froze, my hand dropping from his beard. "Dominic… why? After everything he did?"
Dominic's expression turned serious, his eyes grounding me.
"Because I want him to see what he threw away.
I want him to sit in the back row and watch you walk toward a man who actually knows your worth.
I want him to see that his betrayal didn't break you; it built you.
And then, I want him to leave this city and never come back.
It's the last bit of business I'm closing before we say, 'I do. '"
I looked at Dominic, seeing the wisdom behind the grit. He wasn't doing it for my father; he was doing it for me. He wanted me to have that closure so I could step into our marriage without a single ghost haunting me.
"You're a trip, Dominic Masters," I said, a small smile breaking across my face.
"I told you, I'm the whole vacation." He grinned, leaning down to capture my lips in a kiss that tasted like forever.
"Now, get out of this dress before I decide the wedding is happening right here, right now.
I got a tasting with the chef in ten minutes, and if I'm late, Nia is gonna have my head. "
As he led me out of the ballroom, his hand firm and protective on the small of my back, I realized that the planning wasn't just about flowers and cakes.
It was about building a foundation on top of the ruins of our past. I was a girl from the hood, and he was the king of the streets, but together, we were something entirely new. We were a legacy in the making.