by Bethany-Kris
Lily sighed, sitting back in the plush chair and folding her hands on her lap. “Thank you for bringing me.”
Damian mimicked her position, except his arm stretched over the back of her chair. “Don’t ever thank me for that, sweetheart.”
Silence covered the balcony, blanketing Lily in a sense of comfort and awkwardness all at the same time. She wasn’t even sure how that was possible. From her peripherals, Damian’s gaze caught hers and he held it. The man didn’t blink and he didn’t even look like he was breathing.
No, he just watched her.
Something warm bloomed in her chest under his heavy regard. It was as if he seemed to get some kind of pleasure from simply watching her. Lily realized then that Damian had no other reason to bring her to the ballet other than to spend time with her and to make her happy with something she enjoyed.
But why?
We don’t have to be strangers.
We don’t have to hate one another.
“What?” Lily asked softly.
“I like it better when you’re smiling at me and not glaring,” Damian said.
“I’m trying.”
“I’m grateful.” His murmur washed over her skin like a slow wave. It slipped over every inch of her exposed skin like her nerves were open for his attention. Lily didn’t have the first clue why Damian had such an odd effect on her. “And you do look beautiful, Lily. Beautiful things should be admired. Let me admire in peace.”
When he said things like that, she found it difficult to gage his intentions. What she did know, was that he clearly liked the influence he had on her. Damian’s grin turned almost satisfactory in nature as his gaze darkened.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to seduce me, Damian?”
Damian’s expression didn’t flicker as he said, “I’m not.”
“Oh, really?”
Why else would a man shower a woman in compliments, take her out to do things she enjoyed, and watch her like she was a precious jewel that might be stolen away at any moment?
“No,” Damian said with a shake of his head.
Those steel-blue eyes of his never wavered from Lily’s direction.
“If not that, then what are you doing?” she asked.
Damian chuckled. “Keeping my promise, dolcezza.”
Which one was that?
“Rossi table,” Damian said. “Damian and guest. Party was undetermined last I knew.”
The woman behind the podium nodded once and waved the couple back. Damian’s hand found the small of Lily’s back as they were led through the restaurant without a word, passing by several tables of well-dressed patrons. The woman veered to the right, taking them into a private section with wide wall-to-wall windows with a view of the quiet street at the side of the restaurant.
“Damian Rossi and his guest,” the woman said with a wave at Lily and her companion. She turned on her high black heels and disappeared back into the common dining area without so much as a smile.
Lily quickly took note of the people sitting at a long table. Several tables must have been pushed together for the meal as it looked more like a board meeting than a private dinner. Lily’s uncle Ben sat alongside Terrance Trentini. Laurent Rossi and his wife Serena sat across from the Outfit boss with Tommas at his father’s side. Lily hadn’t expected to see the Trentini sisters at the dinner, but both Abriella and Alessa sat in their respective chairs beside their mother and father on their grandfather’s side of the table. Joel, Abriella and Alessa’s brother, sipped from a glass of wine beside his father. Even the front boss for the Outfit was there, Riley Conti and his wife Mia as was Evelina and Adriano.
Considering the highest members of the Outfit had been invited to the dinner along with their family members, Lily had to wonder if this was more than just a regular meal. The table was empty of food, but everybody had a glass of something to drink.
“Smile, Lily,” Damian said quietly as Terrance rose from his seat to greet the two newcomers.
“You’re late,” Tommas said, reaching over to grab a bread stick from the basket.
“Lily had a chance to meet the dancers after the ballet and I couldn’t very well let her pass up that offer.”
“Of course not,” Terrance replied as he rounded the table. “Was the ballet good?”
“Very,” Lily said, plastering a smile on her face for Damian’s sake.
Her comment about the ballet wasn’t a lie, but her smile for Terrance was. Lily still couldn’t manage to feel comfortable around this man. He had ordered the hit on her parents all those years ago and her heart wouldn’t let it go.
Terrance grabbed Lily’s hand, squeezed gently, and then leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek. She suppressed the disgust and the immediate anger rolling hard in her stomach when Terrance finally released her and took a step back.
Damian’s hand on her lower back pressed gently, reminding Lily he was there. For whatever reason, she was appreciative for his silent, knowing support.
“You look lovely, Lily,” Terrance said.
“Thank you.”
“I’m glad to see you were able to steal Lily away from Dino for the evening,” Terrance said to Damian, smiling widely.
“He was headed to the south end for a pickup, so he didn’t mind me stealing her away for the night,” Damian said.
Lily’s brow furrowed. She didn’t remember Dino mentioning anything about work. In fact, she was pretty sure he had planned to stay in for the night and watch a rerun marathon of one of his favorite TV shows. Then again, Dino didn’t tell Lily a lot about his job as a Capo for the Outfit. Probably for the better, really.
“Sit, sit,” Terrance demanded with a wave at the table. “I’ll have Laurent let the servers know we’re ready for the food to be brought in.”
“You already ordered?” Damian asked.
“A buffet spread. There’ll be more than enough to choose from.”
Terrance took his seat as Damian’s uncle stood from his. Lily accepted the greetings from everyone else at the table while Damian pulled out her chair, tucked it into the table, and then took the open one beside hers.
Serena Rossi sat directly across from Lily and sipped on red wine like it was water. Actually, everyone at the table had a glass of wine, even Adriano Conti who wasn’t old enough to be drinking.
Lily couldn’t help but notice how Abriella and Tommas avoided looking at one another at all costs. While quiet chatter passed over the table as a large spread of food was brought in to be served, the two only spoke to each other if they had to. No one but Lily seemed to notice.
They played their parts well.
How long would that last?
“What ballet?” Evelina asked from down the table.
Lily smiled. “Giselle.”
“Oh. I love that one. How old were we the first time we all saw it together?”
“Eight, maybe,” Lily said. “Didn’t a group of us go? I can’t remember.”
“Yes, we all went,” Evelina replied.
“All?”
Evelina nodded. “A bunch of us—you and Theo, me, Adriano, Abriella, and—”
“Me,” Damian interjected in that dark tenor of his.
Lily stilled in her seat, catching Damian’s stare with her own. Why didn’t she remember that? It wasn’t the first time someone said Damian had been around when Lily was younger, but she just couldn’t find those memories. The truth was, Lily had spent so much time trying to wipe away those first few years after her parents’ murder that apparently, it worked.
“Did you?” Lily asked Damian.
“Yes and I hated it.”
Lily laughed. “Why?”
“I was a teenage boy with better things to do,” Damian said, grinning.
“Did you hate it today, too?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Lily believed him. But if she were honest, Damian spent more time staring at her during the ballet than he did watching the show. At least, it sure seemed th
at way.
“Damian was staying with us then,” Riley said offhandedly as he reached for a bottle of unopened wine chilling in a bucket. “For a couple of months around that time, I think. Wasn’t he, Mia?”
Mia Conti nodded. “Yes, he was.”
Damian stiffened, shooting his aunt and uncle a look across the table. Neither Laurent nor Serena seemed to notice the tension Riley’s statement seemingly caused for Damian. Lily had.
“You were quiet as a boy,” Riley added.
Terrance laughed loudly. “Ah, yes, Ghost preferred to be in the shadows even as a child, didn’t you?”
Damian’s tense back didn’t relax as he said, “Something of that nature.”
Joel scoffed down the way. “He’s still fucking quiet.”
“Joel,” Abriella chided. “Come on, watch your mouth at the table at least.”
“You’re one to talk,” Joel muttered. “Seriously though, Damian is still quiet now like he was when he was a kid. Makes a guy edgy sometimes; that’s all I’m saying. How far can you trust a quiet man?”
Terrance cocked a brow. “You might learn something from Damian, Joel, if you took the time to pay more attention. Like the fact that listening instead of running his mouth gets him a hell of a lot further.”
“To where, Grandpapa?” Joel tipped his chin in Damian’s direction. Lily felt second-hand offended just at the sight alone. “Where the hell has it gotten him, then?”
Damian reached for two over turned, cleaned wine glasses and handed one to Lily. “Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
“That’s supposed to be a feat?” Joel asked snidely.
“I’d say so.”
“Why is that?”
Damian took the opened wine bottle and poured a glass for him and Lily. His silence only seemed to irk Joel Trentini more.
“Damian, I asked a question,” Joel said.
Lily caught Damian’s smirk out of the corner of her eye before her fiancé said, “How many other men can say the same?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Damian surveyed the guests at the dinner table as they ate, chatted, and discussed the upcoming events.
Like his wedding.
Thankfully, Lily took the discussions in stride and joined in when needed. He figured she was a lot like him in the way she didn’t like being the center of attention, not to mention she wasn’t entirely fond of everyone sitting at the table.
So yeah, he was grateful for her cooperation.
It wasn’t like Damian wanted to be there, either. Terrance hadn’t given him much of a choice when he called earlier about the dinner. It wasn’t uncommon for the boss to gather his closest men and their families for a meal that didn’t involve business, simply because Terrance liked to be in the loop on everything, but Damian had rarely been invited before.
As the guests ate, topics flowed from the studies Evelina, Alessa, and Abriella were focusing on in school to what Lily planned on doing regarding the same thing after the wedding. Tommas and Laurent vaguely discussed business the best they could with the Outfit’s front boss, Riley, and with Ben while attempting to keep their words veiled for the women’s benefit.
Damian stayed quiet in his seat beside Lily, carefully gaging his companion’s mood throughout the meal. After all, breaking bread with these three families could be a hell of a taxing event. Someone always had to bring in drama. Damian avoided that shit like the plague. Others found it like flies and shit.
“We’re going with peach and a powder blue, right?” Abriella asked.
Lily nodded and swiped her fork through Damian’s fluffy pastry when she thought he wasn’t looking. “Yes,” she said before sticking the bite in her mouth.
Damian leaned over and whispered in Lily’s ear, “I can order you one of those, you know.”
“Yours is fine. I just wanted a bite.”
Sure.
That was why she’d eaten half of it already.
Damian let her have the pastry.
“Is Damian going to be wearing the peach?” Serena asked.
Her words slurred together at the end of the sentence, reminding Damian his aunt had already tossed back a half of a bottle of wine since he and Lily arrived an hour before. He didn’t know how much alcohol Serena had consumed before they got there.
Knowing her, probably a lot.
“No, the blue,” Lily replied, keeping her attention on her pastry.
“Good, good,” Serena muttered. “God knows we don’t want him looking like a fool on his wedding day.”
“Serena,” Laurent snapped harshly.
Serena, like the drunk she was, didn’t act like she heard a thing her husband said. Everyone else at the table had stilled and quieted, watching the scene unfold between the two women at the middle of the table.
“He’s already done enough of that for himself with this whole thing as it is,” Serena added. “He’ll be lucky if even half of the Rossi family is able to show up without wearing something to hide their faces. The shame, my God.”
“Serena!” Laurent said again, much louder the second time.
“That’s quite enough,” Damian said, refusing to feed into his drunken aunt’s nonsense. “You’ve said what you wanted long before this, so I don’t want to go through it again.”
“Oh,” Serena drawled, wagging a finger in the air. “But she hasn’t, Damian. She should know we don’t—”
“Laurent, control your wife and her liquor or neither of you will be invited back to dine with my family,” Terrance said from the head of the table.
Serena scoffed loudly.
Damian’s brow rose at that. Clearly his aunt had guzzled a lot more alcohol than he previously thought if she was even showing her nastiness to Terrance. Serena knew better than to pull that kind of crap with the boss.
Serena had her issues, to be sure. Especially where the marriage was concerned. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t get to make any calls when it came to Damian and Lily. He also didn’t give a flying fuck what his aunt thought. She hadn’t cared much about him when she was supposed to, so what was the damned difference now?
Guessing by his aunt’s behavior, Serena was about to have one of her meltdowns that usually came along when she drank too much. Damian wasn’t interested in sitting through it, so he figured it was time to leave. Pulling out his cellphone, he texted a quick message off to let Dino know he would be bringing Lily home soon as the man asked him to do when he picked her up earlier.
“Serena—”
Laurent didn’t even get the chance to say another thing.
“Oh, shut up, Laurent,” Serena hissed, swiping her hand in her husband’s direction without a care. “We all know, don’t we? I mean, come on. Even she has to know.”
Lily stared at Serena through her dark lashes. Damian swore he saw her eyes narrow. “Know what?”
Serena laughed a high, sharp sound. “Really? You’re asking me?”
“You said it, didn’t you?” Lily asked softly. “I’m only asking for you to spit it out instead of chew on it. Whatever it is.”
Damian had to give his fiancée credit where it was due; Lily didn’t blink a lash at Serena’s behavior.
Serena attempted some odd cooing noise that came out entirely wrong. Instead of sickeningly sweet like he supposed she meant for it to sound, it rang like a garbled mess mixed heavily with her alcoholism. Most likely because she was three sheets to the wind and ready to topple over, Serena didn’t even understand the consequences of her actions. She usually had a little more control than she was showing now. Damian had enough and he wasn’t about to let Lily go through a round of his aunt’s abuse just because the bitch couldn’t hold her liquor.
Hell, she never had.
Damian still had a fucking scar on his pec to prove it.
Tommas had a few, too.
Standing from his chair, Damian offered Lily his hand. She took it without question, leaving her unfinished pastry on the plate and standing from her chair. “So
rry, Boss, but I think we’ll have to call it a night.”
Terrance frowned. “Yes, I—”
“You’re running, now?” Serena grinned wickedly, the wine in her glass sloshing as she waved at Lily. “Since when do you run, Damian? Didn’t we teach you better than that growing up? Don’t you want me to explain to the poor girl how terrible she’s making you look?”
“Serena, that’s damn well enough!” Laurent exclaimed, his face turning red.
Lily stiffened at Damian’s side and her hand tightened around his. “Me?”
The question had been posed with a dangerous edge, like Lily couldn’t believe what she had heard.
“Lily, let’s go,” Damian said firmly. “She’s not important and she’s drunk.”
“Which isn’t anything new,” Tommas muttered under his breath about his mother.
“Damian, I’m your aunt! And I expect you to treat me with respect!”
Damian snapped. Any and all control that he had managed to keep for the day was lost with three simple words. Turning on his heel to face the bitch across the table, Damian glared. Rarely did he show emotion in the presence of others and certainly not Mafioso. It was a dangerous game to play and while Damian was mighty good at his, he didn’t ever like to give someone an opening to one of his weak spots.
Serena Rossi just hit the right one on the goddamn head with a sledgehammer.
“That’s right,” Damian said, sneering. “You’re my aunt. My drunken, useless, bitch of an aunt. So fucking useless in fact, that you aren’t even capable of keeping your husband home. But you were mighty fucking good at spreading your legs and making children you didn’t want and couldn’t care for. A woman who couldn’t even be bothered to raise me and instead, handed me off to any and every person who would take me in. But not even me, no, your own kids, too. And when we were with you, shit … Tommas and I spent the majority of our time dodging your abuse and taking the hits in-between so Cara and Lea wouldn’t have to.
“Yeah, my aunt,” Damian repeated, spitting the words through his clenched teeth. He waved at Mia Conti, Serena’s sister. “You want to talk about how I’m embarrassing the family, huh? Why don’t we go straight for the fucking jugular and talk about how even your own goddamn sister doesn’t like to share a dinner table with you because you’re too busy trying to fuck her husband half the time?”
