1. Dominic #3
She looks calm, as always. Short hair neatly styled, pale lipstick, a coat chosen with quiet elegance.
But her eyes... they give her away. Behind them lingers the same deep, heavy shadow she’s carried since we lost Axel.
A grief untouched by time. Unmoved by comforting words.
She straightens her shoulders and offers a faint smile, as if trying to shield me from her own pain.
She never speaks of him, not directly, but I know every day is a quiet battle.
She slips off her gloves and brushes her hand across my face with a gesture so familiar, it cracks something open inside me.
“You’ve lost weight, Dominic,” she says softly.
Her voice is warm, but there’s a tired edge to it. Alice gestures for her to sit, and I take her coat. For a second, her fingers clutch mine, like she’s holding on to something solid.
Alice gives my mother a polite smile and slips out without a word. My mother doesn’t even wait to settle in. She clears her throat and, with no preamble at all, zeroes in on Damien, who’s still visibly off balance from the moment Alice walked in.
“Still stuck in your rebel phase with that leather jacket and those jeans cutting off your circulation? Try brushing your hair sometime, it might help if you ever want to date a decent woman.”
Yeah... Damien’s always her favorite target when the three of us are together.
“I’m not planning on taking any woman out, Mrs. Monti,” he mutters, clearly intimidated.
“Don’t worry. With that outfit and attitude, you wouldn’t stand a chance anyway.”
Then she turns to Gabe, the golden child, ever since Lexi turned him into a responsible man.
“You look wonderful, dear. That relationship is doing you good. When you buy her a ring, take me with you. Let me enjoy it a little, since in my own family...”
She trails off just long enough to shoot a sharp glance my way.
What is this? An intervention? Did they plan this?
I glance at Gabriel, who hugs her and shoots me a helpless look over her shoulder. He has no idea what’s going on. Damien, now fully invested in dessert, does his best to navigate around my mother’s presence with all the grace of a bull in a china shop.
“Am I intruding? Have you finished eating?” she asks politely, but her look says it all: she wants to be alone with me.
She knows about our Thursday brunches. Which makes her unannounced visit even more unsettling. Something’s up.
“No problem at all,” Gabriel jumps in quickly. “We’ll go find Alice, I’ve got something to run by her.”
Damien, holding a plate of dessert, pauses mid-step. “We’re not going to Alice. We’re going to the bar.”
Gabriel ignores the comment and gives him a light shove toward the door.
“Run a hand through that wild hair of yours and drop the plate before walking into a woman’s office!” my mother calls after Damien, laughing.
The two of them leave, muttering under their breath and shoving each other like a pair of overgrown kids. Then my mother gently pulls me down beside her on the couch. She turns to look at me closely, studying my face like she’s searching for something.
“You’re not getting enough sleep. I can see it. You spend your nights in smoke and noise. God knows what you eat. Are you drinking?”
I’m thirty-seven. I served eight years in Special Ops. I’ve seen death up close, stared it down. And yet, here’s my mother, worried about my sleep. Which means something’s coming. She’s easing into it. I can feel the weight behind her words.
“Mom, seriously? I sleep just fine. I’ve got an office in every club. The food comes from the hotel’s chef, and I haven’t touched alcohol in ages. I work, I don’t party. Just like Dad did his whole life. You know how this business works.”
“Your father was wiser,” she says, her voice quieter. “He got married young, put his family first, delegated. Spent his nights with me, not at his desk.”
“And I respect that. But since I took over the business, profits are up thirty percent. I’ve opened new locations all along the coast. That doesn’t happen with half-measures.”
“And what does that get you, Dominic? Coming home to an empty room, eating alone or with strangers, sleeping in a cold bed.”
“We’ve had this talk before. This life works for me. I chose it. And I’m fine with it.”
“It’s not nice to lie to your mother.”
I go quiet. Something’s definitely coming, I can feel it.
“Did something happen?” I ask softly. “What’s with all this, suddenly?”
“I went to the doctor,” she says.
A jolt runs through me.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve gone with you.”
“I’m fine, Dominic. Your father went with me. To the hospital where Violetta works. She took care of everything.”
Violetta, my sister, is a resident doctor. Always involved.
I look at my mother, searching her face for any signs she’s hiding something.
“Why didn’t you say anything? Mom, I need to be there for you.”
“You don’t need to babysit me. Some things I have to face on my own. I’m seventy years old.”
“You’re sixty-nine. When you turn seventy, the whole city will know. We’re throwing a party.”
“Stop, Dominic. This isn’t the time for jokes.”
The silence that follows is heavier than it should be.
She exhales slowly, hands dropping to her knees.
Then, without a word, she lifts her eyes to mine.
“Dominic… I need to tell you something. I had further tests done. The results show that... my mother’s illness has started to set in.
It’s early days. But you remember how fast it progressed with your grandmother.
The memory loss. The disconnection from reality. .. You weren’t a child. You saw it.”
I can’t speak. It’s like something cracks open inside me, hollow, endless.
“No... no way. Medicine’s advanced now. It’s not like it was back then, right?”
She smiles gently.
“For all the progress science has made, some things are still stronger than we are. I’ll do everything I can to stay here with you, for as long as I can.
But I need peace of mind, Dominic. I need to know you have a life, a real one.
One that feels whole. I can’t leave this world knowing you’re like this, overworked, emotionally gutted, alone.
You’re still my child, no matter how old you are. ”
“I didn’t choose to be like this.”
I get up and walk a few steps away, trying to hide the shake in my voice. This is my punishment for what I didn’t do when it mattered. I’m strong. I can handle it. She doesn’t need to worry.
“No, Dominic.” Her voice is firm. Surprisingly strong.
“If you’re the one who survived, then you have the responsibility to live. Not just exist like a shadow in this flashy, hollow world.”
I start to speak, but she raises a hand, gently motioning for me to sit. I do. She takes my hand.
“I came here to say this clearly: You need to change your life. You need to get married. Have children. I can’t live, or die, at peace, knowing you’re like this.”
“Mom, come on. You’re overthinking. It’s not what you imagine. Everything in its time.”
“Dominic Andreas Monti!”
She says my full name, syllable by syllable, with that rare, quiet gravity that takes me straight back to being ten years old and about to be scolded. Her tone isn’t harsh, but it leaves no room for argument.
“You need to get married. Soon. We’re out of time.”
“Not now. You can’t ask me for that, not when everything in me still feels broken.”
She wraps her hands around mine, warm, familiar.
“Yes, now. I want to see you married. I want to get to see your child. I want to hold them while I still can. I didn’t bring three children into this world just to miss this joy.”
She pauses. “Your sister is still young. She’s a doctor. She chose a life of sacrifice. And Axel...”
She stops and lowers her eyes as tears slip free anyway. Then she swallows hard and straightens her back, like she’s drawing strength from somewhere deep.
“Too much sadness, Dominic. Too much emptiness. This family needs love. It needs to grow, not fade into grief. I want to see you in love. Happy. Surrounded by life, not loneliness.”
I freeze. Her words are a plea, but I know they’re also a command. A wish I can’t deny. She touches my cheek gently.
“I’m not asking for myself, my love. I’m asking for all of us. This family needs a wedding and a newborn. Something to help us move forward from the tragedy. And it’s your responsibility to make that happen.”
“Mom, I can’t just marry someone I don’t love. I can’t ask a woman to have my child if she doesn’t love me back.”
She raises an eyebrow, the faintest smile tugging at her lips.
“Dominic, there are plenty of women who admire you. Some of them even love you. Please don’t make me dig out all the tabloid articles and call a family council to pick one.”
She smiles, warm, playful, but her voice softens beneath the joke.
“You just have to open your heart. That’s all.”
Oh, Mom... As if it were that simple. As if I could love someone the way they deserve, let alone be loved in return. But for her sake, I’ll go above and beyond to give her what she’s asking for.
And maybe, just maybe, I already know the one woman who pushes every button I have. Who challenges me. Frustrates me. And somehow feels impossible to ignore. Maybe that’s exactly what I need. Someone who pushes me to my limits... in the most irresistible way.