Under the table, I twist the tennis bracelet I found in my jewelry box around my wrist as I stare back at Dom.
Whatever is happening here...whatever has happened, I’m starting to feel like there’s more to my relationship with Dom than just being his stepdaughter.
And that thought terrifies and thrills me in equal measure.
Dom turns back to Dante and smiles as he lifts his flute in the air. “You’ve come a long way for someone who never wanted this. But I never doubted you. To Dante.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Xander says. We don’t see each other very much, but he was kind when he and Dom brought me home from the hospital.
“I’d like everyone to toast my son, the new head of the de Luca family.” Dominic smiles at me and then Lia before placing his glass on the table. He turns back to Dante. “I’ll make the arrangements for you to be officially sworn into the Syndicate in the coming weeks.”
A chair scrapes over the marble floor. I turn to my left as Mom stands and twists on her heels to face Dominic. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Don’t you dare speak like that in front of my family!”
I grip the edge of the table as Mom’s face twists with rage. The atmosphere in the room shifts instantly from celebratory to toxic.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Mom repeats, her voice rising. “You’re giving up everything we worked for?”
Dom’s jaw tightens. “What we worked for? I don’t recall you ever contributing to my business, Helena.”
“You’re making a massive mistake.” She points a manicured finger at him. “You’ve built this empire for decades and now you’re just walking away? For what?”
“My reasons are my own,” Dom says coolly. “And frankly, it shouldn’t matter to you. You’re not part of this household anymore, remember?”
Mom laughs, a bitter sound that makes me flinch. “Of course it matters! Do you have any idea how this alters my standing? The respect I’ve earned as your wife?”
“Wife?” Dom’s voice drops dangerously low. “You have no standing here, Helena. You never did.”
The table falls silent. Even the servers freeze in place.
“I’ve been by your side!” Mom shrieks.
“And I’ve paid you handsomely for the privilege,” Dom responds, his eyes cold. “But let’s not pretend it was anything more than a transaction.”
Mom snatches her napkin from her lap and hurls it at Dom’s face. It flutters pathetically before landing on the table.
“Go to hell,” she spits before storming out of the room, heels clicking like gunshots on the marble floor.
My body shivers from head to toe. I feel like I’ve had a bucket of cold water thrown over my head as goosebumps pop over my skin. Something about everything feels too familiar, like I’ve witnessed this exact scene before.
I can’t hold it in anymore. A sob escapes my lips, then another, until I’m fully crying at the dinner table. I press my hands to my face, mortified but unable to stop.
“Oh, sorry, darling.” Mom rushes back to me, but Milly holds her palm up for her stop.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Milly shouts, standing up so fast her chair tips backward. “Can’t you two keep your shit together for one fucking dinner? Look what you’ve done to her!”
Dom dashes toward me, but Milly blocks his path. “No! You’ve both done enough damage. Just leave her alone!”
Lia’s arm wraps around my shoulders. “Come on,” she whispers, helping me to my feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
I let her guide me away from the table, away from the stares and the rising tension. My tears blur everything as we move through the house until I reach my room. Where I collapse onto my bed, the tears finally subsiding into hiccuping breaths.
“I just need to be alone.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod.
