The Storm Before the Calm

Chapter 20

Dominico Vicious Vitale
Fuck these parties.

Fuck the cellists and band playing music louder than my fucking thoughts.

Fuck this monkey suit.

And fuck Aurora Salvatore in that tight dress that matches me perfectly.

As soon as I left my house for this party, I had Zach take care of the body in my basement. The body of the man who had been following Aurora the other day. As soon as she called Antonio, he had called me to see how close to her I was. Little did he know that I was literally right behind her, about to leave the cemetery when the call came in.

I got to them in about 4 minutes before Antonio showed up, and we boxed the truck in successfully, so she could exit the freeway safely before we trapped him and lead him to his inevitable death.

He didn't even last a full 24 hours of the lightest beatings ever before I decided I'd get nowhere with him, and took care of him before getting ready for this party.

As valet took my Bugatti, I shot Antonio a text that he was taken care of.

I tucked my phone back into my suit jacket pocket as I entered the Salvatore mansion. My only plan for the night was to try to find out why Aurora Salvatore wanted her own husband dead, according to Frankie. And I didn't have time or patience to beat around bushes, so I planned on asking her directly.

But not without having at least a little bit of fun with her first. What kind of vicious killer would I be if I didn't toy with my prey first?

As I entered the ball room, Zio Giovanni greeted me almost immediately, and I fell into small talk with him and Zio Dante before I felt my skin physically itch. I went from semi-comfortable to feeling ablaze within a matter of seconds, and I needed to know what the fuck was causing the heat. I turned my head, seeing no one familiar in the crowd until I saw Antonio sipping on a drink and looking at me, but that wasn't where it was coming from.

No, my skin was feeling the lick of the glare that came from a pair of crystal blue eyes next to Antonio.

Oh, I didn't miss the way she looked me up and down, then back up again. Except this time, her gaze met my own icy one on their way back up. But she didn't look away, or coward down like everybody who looks into my eyes does. No. Somehow her gaze was emptier, deadlier than my own. But, full of a different element this time. One I hadn't seen from her. Heat.

Our stare down was only interrupted by some men approaching her and Antonio, and Frankie's hand extending a glass of Scotch towards me. I graciously took it, and followed him away from listening ears.

"Get anything from him?" He asked me, meaning the guy I'd been interrogating that was following Aurora.

"He didn't know his dick from his balls. All I got before his forehead met the end of my gun was a lot of tears and pleads." I said, sipping the scotch he'd handed me, before nodding my chin at him. "You?" I asked, since he'd run background on the guy's phone and car. Even his fingerprints were already burned off, along with patches of skin along his shoulders and arms.

"Nothing. Everything was wiped clean. Whoever he works for is careful, and I'm willing to venture a guess on who that would be." Frankie said, devoid of any emotion. In this moment, he was businessman Frankie. Mafia Francesco. Or was this cousin Frankie, protective over Aurora?

Speaking of, my eyes somehow immediately found her across the room again. This time, some slime ball with way too much gel in his hair was talking to her, unsuccessfully, might I add. He was clearly flirting with her, trying to either compliment or impress her, but her hardened stare didn't even twitch. She sipped on her whiskey, and I decided I was done waiting to play with her myself.

"We know he's close, it's just a matter of how close. We need to keep her safe this time, Vicious." Frankie said, but I didn't respond because I was already headed in her direction.

I strode up to where she stood with greaseball, and extended my arm between them to place my now empty glass on the bar. At the same time, she glanced down at my arm, like she wasn't surprised by my actions, and the guy trying to flirt with her's eyebrows furrowed like he was about to give me some lick, but he looked like a deer in headlights when he finally looked up to see who I was.

"Vic-, uh, Mr. Vitale. Good evening." He said, but I was already bored with him before he opened his mouth. I simply took Aurora's also empty glass from her hand, placing it on the bar next to my own, and offered her my open hand. Neither of us said anything as she turned her sharp jawline toward me to stare up into my eyes.

It felt like an eternity while simultaneously like I still needed longer to stare down into her perfect blue orbs before she placed her small, cold hand into my much larger, warm one.

We walked side by side to the dance floor, and my hand gripped hers as I pulled her smaller frame in front of my much larger one. She wasn't tiny by any means, at about 5'8" without her tall heels, but my hands melted into the small of her back as I pulled her curves into my own body. I was completely engulfed in her warm scent, and I wanted to bury my nose in her neck and never smell anything other than her again. Vanilla and something else. Flowers?

As I looked down at her, she had her head turned, looking at the room around us, hyper vigilant as always. But as I watched those glossy lips move, I took in the words that fell from them.

"His father is the Don of Long Island. The man I was speaking to." She was actually thinking about him right now? Here she was, in my arms, dancing with me, thinking about the douchebag she was just speaking to at the bar?

"Am I supposed to care?" I asked, looking away from her now, around the room.

"You took me away from a pleasant conversation with a nice man."

"Yeah, you fought me off real hard." I retorted quickly, and knew she wasn't going to have anything to say to that. Well, I thought she wasn't going to have anything to say to that, but I was wrong.

"I'm only being polite because I was told I needed to play nice with you, Mr. Vitale."

God dammit, she needed to stop using my last name. Her voice was so breathy, so raspy, yet feminine. With the slightest of an accent I could hear in some of her words.

"I thought nobody told you what to do?" I asked, using her own words from the other night against her. She had told Antonio so, with pure venom dripping from her tongue.

"They don't. But I want to know for myself why you're really back." Straightforward. I knew she was...bold. Unapologetic, and not at all bashful. But, I'd never been on the receiving end of her quick tongue and glares that made me want to regurgitate all the information up in my head just to appease her. "Because I'm not buying the bullshit you're selling. I'm not like all the men at this cock fest. My brain isn't between my legs."

But, I now had more information about her than I had before. Now, I knew that she wore a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue because of whatever had happened to her. Whatever Nico Russo had done. Whatever her husband had done to her, and my baby sister.