DOMINIC
“He is useless now,” I heard my father muttering as he stood over the dead body on the floor; the thick crimson blood slowly crawled towards his Amadeo Testoni loafers. It was the third dead man in twenty-hours, and my sister was still in the wind. And so was Lorenzo—the man I had trusted once. At one time, in a drunken conversation, I convinced Viktor that maybe Lorenzo wasn’t a wrong choice for Sammy, but even under the intoxicated haze, Viktor wanted to kill him. I only wish he would have done that. Lorenzo grew up closer to our family and, it was his dedication and loyalty that qualified him to be one of our closest men. But it wasn’t good enough for him, I guess, and with Sammy’s involvement, he started to dream big. The poisonous ambition slowly morphed into greed that ultimately destroyed his loyalty. How the fuck could we miss that? How, in the name of hell, could we overlook the hunger in his eyes and lLILLIANAIn every romantic movie or book, not that I read or seen too many, they would tell you about the happily ever after, not bothering to tread over the details of the wedding – like how horrible it was for the bride-to-be to change fifty gowns before she could choose the perfect one.Or how dreadful it was to twirl in an enormous dress, then have the stylish poke you in places you didn’t know you were ticklish or putting on a pair of heels crafted for torturing a woman.I probably have a fair idea now how the term ′bridezilla’ came to surface. Off the top of my head, I had so many homicidal thoughts that I could put Dexter to shame.Finally, I returned home after a tedious day of shopping with Anna and Noah. Anna, who was going to be my bridesmaid in two
DOMINIC A senator came up, followed by the Mayor, to congratulate on the engagement as I took this moment and excused myself to move away from them. The past few weeks made me realize that I could go above and beyond for Lilliana, which I would, but I still can’t make Ralph like me. So why the hell on earth should I even try? The people around us were as enamored by her beauty and magnificence as I was, and I felt it was all the more reason to steal her away from here. “Do you need a tissue? You are drooling like a boy in puberty.” Viktor chuckled, coming up to clap his hand on my back. “Fuck off.” I snickered. “Who knew you Romano men would turn out to be such pussies!” Beside Viktor was Marco, probably on his hundredth drink, because parties like these bored him to death. Also, because Aurora wasn’t around, and the rest of the women didn’t interest him. “You aren’t getting any younger, so I suggest you find a woman before your wood wit
DOMINIC “Ladies and gentlemen…” Every set of eyes in the room turned to me, except mine was fixated on that one face that upturned my entire world for good. Lilliana was looking so beautiful, so ethereal that I felt a sense of pride to make the declaration in front of everyone that she was mine. “Tonight is indeed special, so thank you for joining us,” I began with a smirk, knowing they actually had no other choice. My family knew how to keep the people of Chicago interested in us. “A few months ago, I met this girl—a beautiful one who changed my entire life in ways I couldn’t even imagine. And before I could realize, I was already deep under her spell. As stubborn as I was, I kept telling myself that ‘it wasn’t love’, except, these were the exact moments that I fell in love with her—over and over again.” Soft murmurs broke out as someone giggled while others whispered. My gaze roamed around the crowd and purposefully pau
LILLIANAMy heart was beating so fast within the confines of my chest I thought I would explode. I have been to the Romano Mansion countless times, but not once for an occasion as special as the one dedicated to me. Dominic and I have been through so many trials of love and hate that anything beyond the realm of our perfect little world scared me. “You are nervous,” my brother’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Ralph caught a last-minute emergency, which was why Marco was accompanying me to the Romano Mansion for the gracious dinner invitation. “I have every reason to be,” I reminded him. Despite the chill in Chicago’s night, I felt the shimmering beads of sweat forming on my skin. “Validation from the Romano family means that much to you?” “It doesn’t. I just don’t want to be looked down upon, you know.” I had no qualms of my unfortunate past and the fact that I paid the price of this union in blood, sweat, and heartbreak. Bu
DOMINICHow can someone get this unlucky in love? I swear my karma was catching up with me every other day when I managed to screw up around Lilliana. I was so desperate to spend some quality time with her that I agreed to a day dedicated toshopping. But even that had backfired.“Are you really going to give me the silent treatment for something your brother did?” I finally broke the silence as Lilliana fixated her eyes on the blurring streets of Chicago as I drove us to the Fashion Outlet.“I don’t understand Aurora. I have seen her in a fighting ring, and she’s practically a beast,” Lilliana murmured, more to herself, without sparing me a glance.A corner of my mouth lifted in recognition. She was finally getting there, but n
DOMINICLil: “I will meet you outside the gate. Give me five minutes.”The message popped on the screen as I was nearing Lilliana’s place.She was dead set on picking up a perfect dress for herself when she found out about Mia’s invitation to my place as a formal introduction into the ever-crazy Romano familia.I never understood the need to impress my family because everything works pretty much in black and white. You either liked them or not. In case you didn’t, you couldn’t do anything about it, so you move the fuck on. How difficult was it to understand the structure?Nevertheless, it was difficult to convince a woman not to shop for clothes when she has found apurpose.