Chapter 8

Aurora POV

Leonardo curses under his breath as he pushes himself up from his chair, his movements stiff with irritation.

Wine drips from his suit jacket, staining the expensive fabric and the shirt underneath it a deep, blood-red color. I should probably feel concerned about what kind of punishment will come from this since I’m the one closest to him and within hitting distance.

But instead, I can’t help it—I laugh under my breath.

Across the table, Dominic rises from his seat as well. His movements are slow and controlled, almost casual in a way. There’s no urgency in how he moves—just the kind of effortless confidence that makes it seem like he has all the time in the world.

Without a word, he plucks a cloth napkin from the table and hands it to his father, as if assisting in the cleanup of the spilled wine is beneath him but doing so nonetheless. Leonardo takes it with a grumble, dabbing at the mess with irritation.

“My mistake,” Domininc says smoothly. “I should’ve warned him to be more careful.”

The moment his eyes flick back to mine, I press my lips together, cutting off the small breath of amusement threatening to slip out. For the briefest moment, a flicker of amusement dances across his face.

“Be more careful?” Theo repeats. “You stepped on me.”

Dominic doesn’t blink, or react for that matter. Honestly, he doesn’t even look like he cares. “My apologies.”

The words are hollow—completely insincere.

By the way Theo’s jaw sets, he knows it too.

The other man shakes his head and stands from the table, throwing his napkin down on top of his dinner plate. He throws Dominic one last glare before turning around and stalking off back towards the front of the restaurant, not bothering to stop and help clean up the mess he’s made.

Leonardo exhales, tossing his own napkin back down onto his plate. “Well, things end here. Everything has already been settled for now.”

I breathe out a slow sigh of relief.

He turns toward me, his expression softening—well, as much as a man like him is capable of. The harshness in his features doesn’t fade entirely, but there’s an attempt at something gentler as he pulls something out of his suit coat pocket. “Before you go, Aurora.”

I stiffen slightly when something is placed on the table in front of me, a velvet box that is a deep navy blue. He places it with deliberate care, his fingers lingering for half a second longer than necessary before he pulls away.

My hands shake slightly as I open it, revealing a slim necklace laced with diamonds.

It’s beautiful, exquisite even, to look at. Each gem catches the warm glow of the chandeliers above, sending tiny refracted beams of light dancing across the table, so bright they almost make me dizzy.

The sight does nothing but make my stomach turn. Not because I don’t like it but because I know exactly what this piece of jewelry represents: ownership. His own makeshift collar that I’m to wear in front of everything so that they all know who I belong to.

“Where this to the banquet.” He says.

I swallow. “Thank you.”

Picking up and leaving for dinner, the cool night air blasts me in the face, relieving me somewhat from the stifling air in that restaurant. We stand together as my father shakes Leonardo’s hand, making polite goodbyes with Beatrice at his side.

Camilla, of course, doesn’t hide her disappointment from being ignored all night by Dominic, leveling him with a pout that isn’t at all noticed by him while she stands next to her mother.

Our car pulls up, one of the drivers getting out to open the back door for us.

I head for it first, closest to it.

A hand brushes along my arm. “Keep your phone on you. I might have a task for you later.”

Dominic.

A shiver rolls up my spine.

Task?

Before I can turn around and ask him what the hell he’s talking about, he’s gone. Sighing, I slip into the back of the car and press myself against the opposite door, keeping my purse and the necklace box clutched tightly on my lap.

I’m too exhausted to do anything but lean my head against the window and close my eyes.

The ride home is quiet, save for the soft hum of the engine as we move. The ghost of Dominic’s presence lingers at the edge of my consciousness, plaguing me with too many thoughts that race through my head with no end in sight.

“I’m borrowing this.”

Right as I open my eyes, the necklace box is slipped from my hand and into Camilla’s lap. She opens it to marvel at the stones, holding them up in the dim lighting from the passing street lights.

I don’t bother to argue with her.

It’s not like I wanted that thing to begin with.

After the banquet, she can have it for all I care.

Dominic POV

Watching the retreating car with Aurora in the back of it, Dominic fell into deep thought.

She had walked with careful, measured steps as she’d climbed into the back of that car, her head held high despite how the night had gone. It reminded him of someone who had spent their entire life learning how to conceal the weight of their own shackles.

Like someone who had long accepted the futility of fighting against the inevitable.

The quiet resignation in her voice as she’d spoken to him while they were outside together, her exhaustion as she’d accepted his terms and then turned around to march back inside, had stirred something unexpected in him.

Pity.

A lifetime ago, he’d watched his own mother act the same way. The ten years he’d gotten with her had been nothing short of sad, watching the person who brought him into this world suffer under the cruel hands of the man who ruled their family.

The night of her death was still etched in Dominic’s mind, a scar that had yet to fade no matter how much time had passed since then. He could still remember his mother’s wails, the sharp slap of flesh against flesh and then the noise that still woke him up out of a cold sweat.

A gun shot.

At that time, he hadn’t understood fully what had happened. Not until he’d forced the door open and had seen her lifeless body lying on the ground, blood pooling around her. His father had turned away from the scene with barely any flicker of remorse, leaving his only son to pick up the discarded body of the only person who ever truly cared about him.

Dominic realized that in a world like the mafia, women were simply bodies to bear sons and the beatings of their husbands.

That was when everything changed for him, when the seeds of revenge finally took root.

From that day forward, he swore that his father would replay tenfold. That he would make up for what he’d done to Dominic’s mother and atone for his cruelty in killing her without a second thought.

Unbeknownst to Leonardo, he’d inadvertently turned his only son into a weapon that night—one that would become his own undoing.

All of it had only been fueled ever further after the death of his two closest friends during the raid against the Russian syndicate. The memories of watching his two friends die haunted him just like his mother.

Leonardo had no idea how deep his son’s grudge against him was, nor did the Giovanni family.

Dominic would make sure they did when the time came around to wipe them off the face of the planet. Because when it came to revenge, Dominic Guerrero never left any loose ends untied.

Though… maybe at the end of all of this… Aurora could be spared.

As long as she played her cards right and kept on his good side.