Page 8 of Domination

“Soyoumanned up?” Rafael drawls, and I stifle my smile at my son’s sarcasm.

“I did.” Robert lifts his chin.

“Poor fucking girl,” Rafael mumbles.

I steeple my fingers on the desk in front of me. “So, what exactly do you needfrom me?”

The sly little fucker smiles, then swiftly masks it, but being brought up in the Mafia, I’ve learned the common traits and tactics people use without always realizing. The giveaways become like second nature to us. Rafael meets my eyes, and I know he saw it too.

“Well, there’s this rehab facility in Washington.”

He opens his mouth to continue, but I hold my hand up to stop him. “No. Any rehab facility will be chosen by us this time.” We’ve become accustomed to Robert’s idea of a rehab facility, and frankly, it’s nothing more than a bunch of money-hungry pricks who allow their patients to run amuck. They’re mostly funded by mommy and daddy, so the rich little fuckers don’t even feel the pinch of their own fuckups.

He nods his head, giving in far too quickly for my liking. “I was hoping my daughter and granddaughter could stay here. I don’t trust that fucker around her and the baby.”

Rafael’s and my body tense. “Is he going to be an issue?” I ask, needing to be made aware of any potential threats.

“N-no.” He shakes his head furiously. “Just keep him away from her. She’s a good girl, and she’s lost her way since… him,” he grits out.

“If the baby is his…” Rafael asserts.

“It is,” he bites back. “But he’s not a good role model for either of them.”

This coming from the man who has spent most of his daughter’s life being an absent parent and only stepping up when he had no choice and her mother passed away. I might not have had much contact with Robert over recentyears, but I made sure I had tabs on him. I just hadn’t realized how old his daughter actually is, and he’s made it a mission to avoid our family invitations unless it suits him.

“He takes drugs, deals them. I know he’s been stealing credit cards from other churchgoers, praying on their good nature.” He sounds like he’s describing himself, and I have to stifle the smile that threatens to break free. “That’s why I kept her home during the pregnancy. I don’t want my daughter around someone like that.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him he doesn’t want someone like himself around his daughter, but Rafael opens his mouth, so I quickly shake my head, and he snaps it shut. I know damn well my son was about to say exactly what I was thinking.

My finger toys with my bottom lip as I contemplate my next move. Robert appears genuine, but he always has. However, now he has a daughter and granddaughter in his care, something to get clean for, and Nancy would have been devastated if I’d turned away her flesh and blood, her granddaughter and great-grandchild, no less. They, at least, deserve more.

Jesus, I’m fucking old.

Taking a deep breath, I hope I don’t regret what I’m about to do. “They can stay.”

Rafael jolts, but Robert sits taller. The smile on his lips is cunning and not one I’m fond of. It’s not lost on me there’s not a single hair on his head that I like, I only hope his daughter is different.

Chapter Two

Gracie

“Remember your manners, and don’t let the kid run wild.”

I bite into my cheek to stop myself from responding. My father doesn’t so much as speak Bonnie’s name, and run wild? She doesn’t even walk yet, and remember my manners? Since when don’t I remember my manners? My mother brought me up the right way; she was everything pure and genuine in the world, but my father? He’s the complete opposite.

When I was fourteen, she passed away from cancer, and the day my father came to collect me from the only home I’d ever known was soul destroying. I’d only met the man once before, and that was when he came to the ranch I grew up on, demanding money or custody of me. My mom complied, and I didn’t see him again until the day after her funeral when he came to take me to live with him. He’s spent every day since reminding me of hissacrifice for me. According to him, he could be at the heart of a privileged family by now, but they wanted nothing to do with me because I was born out of wedlock. Instead, my father drowned his sorrows in alcohol and indulged in drugs. He spent months away from the house he owned, and I was only too grateful for that. When my father was home, he was not a nice person to be around. I preferred my solitude to dream about my future, one without him in it.

My mom said when she met him, he was a different man, before the addictions took over, and I can only live in hope that one day he becomes that man again. For now, I’m grateful because his extended family has offered me and my daughter sanctuary while my father is away hopefully becoming a better person, and even more, I’m hoping to use this time to get out from under his clutches once and for all. While I wish my father well for his future, I want him to stay the hell out of mine, and more importantly, I want to go home.

Vinny

There’s a knock at the dining room door, and it’s followed by Massio’s face. “Sir, your guests have arrived.”

“Show them in.” I wave a nonchalant hand in the air.

He gives me a curt nod, then disappears, and moments later, the sound of a gasp draws my attention to the doorway.

Massio guides the stunned girl into the room while my heart races wildly in my chest.

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