Page 108 of Dominance

“And what about you? Tell me everything! I feel so out of the loop.”

So we do. The three of us take turns, openly venting and detailing the events of the past few months, filling in gaps for each other where we’re missing facts, or adding elaboration where Ciro feels the need.

Mostly, it’s like a therapy session for me.

Unloading all of the pent-up frustration and simply sharing the things that have happened to me under Dom, some of what’s transpired with Gloria. Not telling anyone has been a major source of the problems growing in my brain.

Go figure, growing up in a macho-mob, predominantly male household…

You don’t talk about your feelings.

But we do, now.

At least to a degree. I’m not telling them the nitty-gritty details of me and Gloria, the on-again, off-again flirtatious and sexual proximity bombs that trigger every time we’re alone together for too long.

But I do share the important factors. The stuff that’s eating me about our relationship.

The things that are wearing me down about life in the organization under Dom. It’s something I know Aless can understand and can relate to in many ways.

Ciro and Ero are different.

They grew up inthe life, through and through. They barely remember our parents, the way they tried to balance our lives and keep us sheltered from some of the harsher realities.

For them, this is all par for the course.

Until I fill everyone in on what Dom wants from Gloria and I.

“You’re fucking kidding?”

“Nope. He wants a child to raise as his own.”

“He’s trying to steal your seed, Adri!” Ciro makes a horrified face right before Ero smacks him.

“So, he goes to all of this trouble, to take the empire from us, and now he wants an heir?” Aless muses, rubbing his chin.

“You said Gloria wasn’t around back then, right?” I ask.

Aless nods, putting pieces together with us. “He never even mentioned he had a daughter, honestly. But he had girls on the side, over the years. Makes sense one of them might have a baby, go on the run to escape this life. Or just him.”

“I feel there’s a missing piece to this somewhere, though. A link between the way he used to be. The way he is now, since he came back.”

“Where was he for two years?”

“And what does the FBI have to do with it, if what that guy Weller told you is true.”

“You never suspected?” I clarify, not wanting to accuse my brother, but genuinely baffled.

“Dom was always…huge. Big personality. He told stories, bragged a lot. Half of what he said, I thought he made up. On the other hand, a lot of actual, true things about him that I learned over the years, that Uncle Giancarlo told me, I would never have guessed. And never would have known because Dom kept his private life locked down.”

“Alright, so maybe he was a mole for the FBI. Maybe he backed out of their deal, went on the run when he didn’t get to take over for Giancarlo?”

“That’s the best I can come up with so far.”

“It still doesn’t explain why he’s so dead set on you marrying Gloria. And why she’s willing to go through with any of it.” Isabella settles back into Aless’s arms, her brow furrowed. It’s great to see them like this.

And great to have both of their cunning minds put to the task.

“Maybe it’s just because Dom’s a sick son of a birch?” Ciro intones, stuffing another cannoli in his mouth.

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