Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
The music was still playing, and Clarissa tensed up and excused herself, sneaking off to the den to turn off the music. The moment she did, she heard the harsh words.
“Do you think that sight is becoming of a Capo?”
Clarissa wrapped her arms around herself.
“What do you want?” Lorenzo asked.
“I came to see my son and check that he has actually been doing his duty, but I can see you’re doing nothing more than playing the fool.”
It was like the temperature had been sucked down a million degrees below zero. Clarissa didn’t have a good relationship with her own parents. It was just as strained, if not more so.
“You do not have time for these games. You have a responsibility. It is your duty to provide an heir—a male heir—to carry on the Vitale name, and instead I catch you—”
“You do not need to be here, berating me in my house,” Lorenzo said. “How I behave and conduct myself behind these walls is none of your concern.”
Clarissa put her hands over her ears and tried to drown it out. The arguing continued.
“I suggest you get the fuck out of my house.”
“Do you think you can talk to me that way?” his father asked.
The anger was so clear. Even through the muffled sounds, she heard it. This had turned nasty.
“Yeah, I think I can, seeing as I’m where I am, not because I’m your son, but because I’ve earned it. Get the fuck out of my house, and the next time you enter my property, uninvited, I’ll have you shot on sight. Make sure you get an invitation first.”
She heard the sound of a door slamming. Clarissa lowered her hands and couldn’t believe how much she was shaking.
Seconds later, Lorenzo entered the room, and he went to her. “You don’t have to worry. He’s gone.”
“You have a duty?” she asked.
Lorenzo sighed. “You don’t have to think about that. It means nothing and it is exactly that, nothing.”
“But it’s not nothing.”
“Every man has a duty in the Colombo Mafia, Clarissa. We all have to provide heirs. The next in line for our name. It’s no different for Diego, Giovanni, and Emilio. We’ve all got to do it.”
“I’m the failure because I haven’t given you a child.”
He cupped her face. “You’re not a failure. Neither of us are, do you know what I’m doing?” he asked.
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“The shopping trip, the fair, the dance-off, hanging out with you.”
She shook her head.
“I’m dating you. I’m getting to know who you are and I’m hoping you’re getting to know me. We’re going to be married for a long time and I don’t want you hating me. I don’t want us to go through that again.”
“That?”
“The shit I said. I didn’t know what you’d been through or what was going on. I had no idea you didn’t know what to do, that you were just doing what you were told to do, by lying there and taking it. It doesn’t have to be like that between us.” He put her hands against his chest. “I want you to trust me, Clarissa, and to know I am always here and I always have your back, no matter what.”
Tears filled her eyes, because he looked so genuine.
“Do you want to be a dad?” she asked.
“I do. Even though the very thought of it fucking terrifies me. Look what I’ve got for an example. He will not be winning many awards for this, trust me.”
She smiled. “Other than my grandmother, I don’t have any idea either.”
“So, what you’re saying is we’re both fucked.”
She couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “I don’t think it is quite as bad as that, but it’s pretty close.”
They both laughed.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said.
“Good.”
She felt a little bold and gripped the front of his shirt, pulling him in close, and finally, she was able to put her lips to his, and it was a kiss she had been waiting for since the fair.
****
Lorenzo couldn’t sleep.
His dad’s visit had pissed him off. He and his father never really got along. It was the usual between fathers and sons within the Colombo Mafia. There was either love, like he had seen with Liana’s brother and father. Or it was like his and his father’s relationship.
There was always disappointment. He wasn’t a good enough son. His dad wasn’t a good enough father. It was a fucked-up situation.
Rather than lay in bed and try to sleep, because it just wasn’t happening, he shoved off the blankets and made his way downstairs. He didn’t go to the kitchen, but instead went to his office, where he turned on a small lamp and poured himself a glass of scotch.
He was trying to get Clarissa to fall in love with him. To build the trust that had never quite been there. He didn’t want a fucked-up marriage, but one that was going to last. The thought of spending the next fifty years with Clarissa hating him, or having a marriage like similar couples he had seen, didn’t appeal to him.