Dominic: The Prince

by Mj Fields

  “And you didn’t contact us?” Jase shakes his head.

  “I was very busy.” She tilts her head toward me and whispers loudly, “I was also trying to discover who this woman is that my brother is so taken with. Look at the two of them. Don’t they make a beautiful couple? Imagine what their children will look like.”

  I look up, as Abe raises his eyebrow and leans back against the conference table, “Does Nikki know about this?”

  “Valentina is exaggerating a bit,” I laugh. “We are--”

  “She will be working for me in Italy,” Dominic interrupts and then kisses the top of my head. “We will see where things go from there.”

  I probably should be a little annoyed that he doesn’t think I can answer a question directed to me, but it takes some of the awkwardness out of the situation.

  “Things seem to be going well in Italy, huh?” Jase shakes Dominic’s hand and motions to the table, “Let’s have a seat.”

  Dominic pulls out my chair and I sit. Then, he pulls out Valentina’s. He doesn’t sit; he walks to the head of the conference table.

  “This work?” He points to the small laptop and takes an SD card out of his pocket and pops it in. “Although, it’s very nice to see you all again, this isn’t just a social call.” He clicks a button and a bar graph comes up. “The color green represents the businesses that make up DeLuca Italy. The white with black outline are those that are the foundation that funds all of these. These were once called Segretti Incorporated: the vineyards, the production and bottling of our wine, the arts, and the winery. The orange are the businesses Steel has interest in, the Venice casino, and the distribution and export of wine. Steel Incorporated has dove into import and export, music and medical research. Steel Incorporated runs security for the casino, the football team and stadium, as well as serving as general contractor and overseeing construction in Italy.”

  He clicked the mouse and another graph popped up, “These clubs, restaurants, and dried up vineyards are funded by DeLuca Incorporated. They do not make a profit. We thought they were, because this is where Benito has been running the money through from his illegal ventures. All look legitimate, but as I know now, they aren’t.”

  “Fuck, that’s a shit ton of money, man.” Xavier, the youngest Steel, leans forward.

  Dominic smiles and nods, “Indeed.” He clicks the mouse, switching the screen again. “This is where our actual money is made. The vineyards, the wineries, the casino, and the ships for import and export.”

  He takes a deep breath and clicks the mouse again, changing the screen, “Rossi gave me an envelope that was supposed to be delivered when DeLuca passed. Six properties, all on the coasts, all extremely valuable.” He points at the screen, “These six were bought before Grandfather died.”

  Everyone looked up when the door opens.

  “Aunt Joe!” Valentina jumps up and runs to her, giving her a hug.

  “A little bird told me we had company from Italy.” She hugs her back. “Un prezioso.”

  “Perfect timing, Aunt Josephina.” Dominic hugs her and gives her a kiss on each cheek. “You mind if I wrap this up?”

  “Please.” Joe walks over and sits down next to Jase.

  “As I was saying, these six properties were hidden treasures. Look around the room. There are six grandchildren, all of which a dying Isabella showed remorse for missing so much of our lives.”

  I look up at Josephina Steel who looks down.

  “They’re ours, one for each of us. If you have an interest in any of them, let Rossi or me know. I have no attachment to any of the properties.”

  The Steel boys look at their mother. “I can’t help you decide.”

  “We have plenty of time.” Dominic stretches his neck from side to side. “Here’s what I do want. I want DeLuca’s name off of everything, and the Segretti name to be put back where it should be. I want to sell the shit DeLuca and his son started. I want to concentrate on the vineyards, the production and bottling of our wine, the arts, and the winery.”

  “Let’s do it,” Jase says, and sits back in his chair.

  Dominic looks around the room and everyone appears to be in agreement. “Perfect, I was sure you’d all agree on that. What I propose next may be a harder sell.”

  He clicks the link and a tall glass building appears on the screen, “This is headquarters. This was also a project I was vehemently against. As you can see, I lost the fight. Several small shops, and locally owned cafés and wine bars were forced to sell out. I want to tear it down and give it back to them.”

  Silence, complete silence, and yes, it is deafening.

  “You’re saying you want to tear down a seventy million dollar building and hand it over to --”

  “The rightful owners, under the condition that they rebuild,” Dom interrupts.

  “You’re joking, right? We could sell it and --”

  “I want it torn down.” Dominic locks eyes with Jase.

  “Listen, this is a ridiculous idea. That’s a lot of goddamned money,” Abe huffs.

  “I expected hesitation. I also expect a fight. I won’t back down on this.” Dominic pulls out the SD card. “Together, Valentina and I have twenty four percent. I will fight for what I want. What I want; is what is right. Ladies.”

  He reaches out his hand and I take his.

  “Bro, hold the fuck up. You can’t just drop a bomb like this and walk out.” Cyrus, the oldest Steel, stands.

  Dominic turns around. “I won’t budge.”

  “That’s crazy,” Jase says, as he stands. “Tear down…”

  “Crazy was thinking six kids could run a billion dollar company, yet here we stand. Crazy was not taking DeLuca’s money when he tried to buy Valentina and I out, so we could go back to being pampered children of wealth. We trusted in your vision because you preached family--”

  “That’s not fair, man.” Jase interrupts.

  “Trust was given, yet not returned. Understood.” Dominic opens the door.

  “Wait.”

  “No, consider this a test. I hope to hell you pass.” Dominic places his hand on the small of my back and ushers me out.

  I look up at him once the elevator door shuts and he stands looking straight ahead.

  “Dominic?” Valentina says.

  “Give me a few moments, please.”

  ***

  A few moments, turns into the entire car ride back to the city. When we arrive, he drops us off at the door. “I’ll be back shortly.”

  Valentina gets out and I don’t.

  “Where are you going?” I ask.

  “To blow off some steam.”

  I turn his face to mine and he closes his eyes. “I don’t know why you want to give away seventy--”

  “It’s not a rational reason. I won’t apologize for it, it’s just something I need to do.”

  “Okay.”

  He opens his eyes and looks at me, “Okay?”

  “Yes,” I kiss his cheek, turn and open the door. “Oh, if we’re gonna try this, I really don’t mind seeing the human side of you. People get pissed and need to blow off steam. You don’t have to hide to do it. Actually, you could come upstairs and take it out on me. I wouldn’t mind one bit.”

  I shut the door and run inside. “Thanks, Franco.”

  Valentina is holding the elevator when I get on.

  “You okay?” I ask her.

  “I am, and you?”

  I nod.

  “So, everything worked out well last night, then?”

  “It did.”

  It is quiet for a moment when she leans against the wall. “I need to get laid.”

  Shocked, I look back and we both start to laugh.

  We get out on my floor and walk inside.

  She sits on the couch. “What’s up with that Sabato guy?”

  “I know he’s a friend of your brother. But I would strongly advise against going in that direction if you need to get—“

  “Oh God, no,” she laughs.
“Did you see that place? Creepy.”

  Yes, it is, I think to myself. “Do you have someone in Italy?”

  “I did. I’m still looking for the right one, I guess. It’s kind of hard finding someone. If they know you, you worry about it being just about the money, you know?”

  “No, I--”

  “Oh damn, I wasn’t thinking of you. Please, don’t think I was insinuating you were with Dominic for financial reasons.”

  “Okay.”

  She sits back. “Then you think you like someone, and they just don’t meet your standards. I probably compare them to Dominic. I probably expect to be treated a certain way, and when I feel like I’m the stronger one in the relationship, I stomp all over them. When they allow it, I look at them like they are less of a man. Completely unreasonable and unrealistic expectations, I know.”

  “I used to say if it wasn’t fun, it was done,” I offered. “What are you looking for in a partner?”

  “I want someone who is strong and smart. They have to love music and be sensitive, too. But I want someone who doesn’t put up with my bullshit, yet finds me appealing, even when I’m acting irrational.”

  “So, a cross between John Edwards, Chris Martin, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Psychic, lead singer of Coldplay, and a body builder, slash actor, slash governor.”

  “That may just work.”

  I call Rossi as soon as I round the corner.

  “Get things in place.”

  “No luck?”

  “No, and I won’t beg.”

  “I’ve called the board members back, told them they have been cleared. Some took a little more convincing than others, but they’ll all be in next Monday.”

  “Did you let them know we were still looking to make cuts?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Good, they need to sweat, bastards.”

  “Let’s hope they follow like the lambs they are.”

  I end the call.

  If the Steel brothers say no, I will have a board of crooks and criminals behind me. When the building is down, they can go to hell too.

  ***

  When I walk in the apartment Laney and my sister are sitting on the couch.

  “That was fast,” Valentina says, as she stands up. “I’m going upstairs. I have some things to do.”

  After she leaves, I grab a glass of water, grab my laptop and make my way to the couch.

  “You haven’t said a word.”

  “What would you like me to say?”

  “All very overwhelming I’m sure. I would love to show you home, would you like to see?”

  “Sure.”

  I open my photos. “This is my boat. It’s docked about thirty minutes from the winery in Livorno. It’s peaceful and beautiful.” I click on slide show.

  “Do you live there?”

  “No, I like it there best. Well, I like it out in the water the best. Tell me, Laney, what places make you happy?”

  She closes her eyes and appears to be deep in thought. “I guess when I was growing up, I loved going to Tybee Island in Georgia.”

  “With your family?”

  “Yes, every summer before school started.”

  “What did you do there?”

  “My dad loved to fish, so we all did that one of the days.”

  “Off shore?”

  “No. He chartered a boat.” She reaches over and clicks on the computer.

  “You will talk to them before you leave.”

  “My parents? You’re crazy,” she laughs.

  “You could regret it, one day. I don’t want you ever to feel regret.”

  The look she gives me is a cross between pain and anger. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I think I’m going to lay down and rest.”

  I walk in and she is sitting on the bed, “Where do you keep your passport?”

  “I have to get one. I didn’t even think about it, I haven’t had time to process it all, yet.” She looks up at me, “Maybe I’m jumping the gun.”

  I grab my phone and send a message to Franco to locate the nearest authorized passport location, to get me the information needed to apply in the United States, and find out how to legally expedite the process.

  I sit next to her. “No, we’re not.”

  “Dominic, we really don’t know enough about one another--”

  “You know nearly everything there is to know. The rest we will discover through time. I promise there isn’t anything too disturbing about me.”

  “I won’t call them.”

  “Then, I will. I will do that for you.”

  “I don’t need you to.” She stands up off the bed. “I don’t want to. Maybe there are things about me you’ll hate. Like this for instance. Don’t push me.”

  “Don’t push you? I’m just trying to save you from the guilt you’ll feel, if you --”

  “I want to be alone. I want an hour alone. Please leave.” She points to the door.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave like this.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to act like you know what I’m feeling. Besides, you took off when you were angry, you didn’t even speak in the car for God’s sake.” She is so angry.

  I stand up and debate whether leaving or fighting is a better way to deal with this problem.

  “I’ll leave you to think, but it’s not a way I wish to deal with issues between us, in the future. I made a business call, and returned within a thirty minute time frame.”

  “Maybe I don’t wish to deal with things like that in the future, or maybe the future is just a pretty idea.”

  “Don’t.” My blood boils. “I just had the most fucked up morning of my life. I stood in front of family I was angry with, for not coming to rescue Valentina and me from the hell we lived. They had their own tragedies to deal with. I have forgiven them, Laney. Forgiveness is a gift to them, but a bigger gift to myself. Anger, hate, resentment are all poisons, the effects are far more harmful to us than to the ones who placed it in our hearts to begin with. We will be much stronger, if you can accept that gift. A gift only you can deliver to yourself. It’s poisoning us, right now. It’s a call I am very willing to make, that will give you more peace than you can imagine. You think you’re the one taking all the chances because I have money to fall back on? Think about this while you sit here pouting. How much is a heart worth? I am taking just as great of a chance here, because I feel you. I feel like I found that one piece to a puzzle I have been looking for my entire life.”

  I grab her face in my hands, a little more aggressively than I had meant to, kiss her and walk away.

  ***

  I go downstairs to speak to Franco and see how things are coming with the second floor flat.

  “Here’s the information you requested.” Franco hands me a manila folder. “Fourteen days is the quickest.”

  “Not good enough, damn it. I hadn’t even considered someone not having a passport.”

  “I apologize, sir.”

  “I have a plane, we’ll see what happens. Show me what we have done so far.”

  He opens the door and I walk in, “Impressive. Flooring?”

  “Monday. Kitchen appliances and cupboards will be installed Tuesday. Furniture on Wednesday, then it’s ready.”

  “Let’s hope my gut is wrong, but it normally isn’t. This floor doesn’t have access to floors three and four correct?”

  “No, sir. It’s all as you requested.”

  “Perfect. Monday is court Franco. If all goes as planned, we’ll all be back in Italy, soon.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I look around again, “I can’t wait to see what it looks like when everything is in here. My sister has impeccable taste, doesn’t she?”

  “She has missed her true calling, sir.”

  “She loves those animals, though. Floor one?”

  “Of course.” He opens the door and we walk to the stairs.

 
“Enough with the sir shit Franco.”

  ***

  Twenty-nine minutes later, I open the door. it took a lot to stay away that long. I shut the door quietly behind me, because as confident as I am, she is not and that is a problem for me. A big problem.

  “No,” I hear her whisper.

  I walk to the bedroom door that is left open, just a crack, and look in. She is sitting on her knees in the middle of the unmade bed.

  “Look, I am only calling because apparently, it will make me feel better. Mom, please just listen, I’m not asking permission to go. What do you care? You left when she died. I didn’t die, damn it! I was still there. I was watching you fall apart and trying everything I could to help. I lost my sister and my mother that day,” she sobs. “I’m not asking permission to move on, you didn’t. You left a week before Christmas. Ask me where I spent Christmas, Mom, while you were riding around in a truck, ask how I spent my holiday!”

  Her head drops into her hands and her shoulders heave as she cries out, “I was with her. At her grave, wanting desperately to climb in there with her. I used to want to do that, you know, I wanted to trade places with her, so you’d be happy again. Cause I wasn’t able!”

  She hangs up the phone and tosses it aside. She grabs a blanket and cries into it.

  I walk in and sit in front of her. I know I am pressing my luck, but I have to touch her. I push her hair behind her ear, and she wipes her eyes on the blanket then lunges forward into my arms.

  “Shhh. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I promise you, I will never make you hurt like that.”

  She holds tighter and I pull her onto my lap. As I close my eyes and hold her, I am reminded of how Valentina used to cry, and how I would hold her just like this, trying to calm her. No one had done that for Laney, she had no one.

  After five minutes, she sits back and looks at me. “It didn’t make the pain go away.”

  I hold her face and wipe her tears with my thumbs. “It’s only gonna get better. I will make sure of it.”