Page 64 of Prince of Malice

“I don’t care if you don’t approve of us being together and you end up doing whatever you can to stop us,” Dominic snarls. “But don’t you dare act like he doesn’t care about me for even a second.”

Dominic pants out short heavy breaths, still fighting to settle the brewing anger inside of him. I gently squeeze his hand, reminding him that I’m right here beside him. I feel the rapid pulsing of his hammering heartbeat against my fingertips, its rhythm slowly starting to slow down.

“I do care about your son, Mrs. Rossi,” I assure her. “I care about him a lot.”

“Good,” she finally speaks again. “Because I care about him a whole lot more, and I promise you that it won’t end well for you if you end up hurting him.”

“I’m willing to accept that risk,” I reply nervously.

“Come here,” she says. “Both of you.”

Letting her cold front fade away, she embraces both of us in a warm hug and holds us tightly against her, ignoring all of our pained groans and attempts to pull away sooner than she wanted.

Looking down at her in the embrace, I have to say that I underestimated Sofia, like many others have done before me. Just because she likes to project this warm, caring figure most of the time, it doesn’t mean that she can’t get serious and downright intimidating when she has to. I suppose that’s what makes her such a good parent. She’s like a mother bear: warm and soft when she needs to be, but prepared to tear someone to shreds at any moment if they endanger her young. It’s certainly better than my father, a man more akin to a bird pushing its child from atree branch and expecting it to fly all on its own. Well, he pushed me from the highest branch long ago, and after hitting the hard ground over and over, I’m ready to fly now.

“Alright,” she says while eventually letting us go. “Of course I support you two. I haven’t seen you passionate like this in quite some time.” Sofia smiles and gently pats Dominic’s shoulder. “But I can’t tell you that everyone will be the same. You’re both in a tough world now, and you’ll both need to be ready for it.”

“We know, Mom,” Dominic assures her.

“Anyway, we have each other to get through it,” I say with a smile overtaking my face.

Sofia smiles back at me and gives us both a slight nod of approval before making her way toward the room off to the side where Gianni went off to before.

“Mom,” Dominic calls after her. “Can you not tell Gianni about this yet? I’m going to tell him, but I don’t think now is the best time.”

“Of course,” she responds simply, walking away and disappearing through the door.

Dominic sighs like it’s the first breath he’s taken since his family got home. “Well, that went better than I expected.

“Your mom’s nice,” I tell him, my voice cracking slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Dominic asks, his face showing all of his worry.

I bite my lip, hating the bitter taste of the words about to come out of my mouth. “My dad…I don’t know if he’ll be as easy to convince as her,” I mutter.

“Luca, don’t worry,” Dominic tries to assure me. “We don’t have to tell him until you’re ready.”

“I think we have to tell him soon,” I admit. “We can’t let him find out on his own. We need to be there to explain everything.”

“Alright. When do you want to do this?”

I take my time to think. I know that we should probably get this over and done with as soon as possible, but the idea of doing it terrifies me. We are both still recovering from everything so far. Could confessing to my dad be the final thing that makes us collapse?

However, if the Grecos get to him first to get one final spite-fueled hit back at us, theycan not only expose Dominic and me, but he won’t know about their betrayal and could take it out on him without him being prepared.

“Can we go over there now?” I ask him. “I’m still worried about the Grecos. He doesn’t know what happened with them last night, and I can’t be sure that they won’t go after him for revenge.”

“Alright. We’ll go now,” he agrees. “I’ll ask my brother for his keys.”

Standing beside him, I wait for him to go ask, expecting him to chase them into the side room and talk to him there, but I am quickly reminded of the ways of the Rossis.

“Hey, Gianni!” he yells into the next room. “I need your car!”

His brother crashes through the door and leans against the frame. “Why?” he groans. “Where are you taking your boyfriend?”

“Did Mom tell you?” Dominic demands.

His brother laughs. “No, you just talk loud when you’re being dramatic.”

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