. . .
LILY
Dante was sitting at the corner of the restaurant, still somehow able to loom over me with just his gaze. There was not a single moment when I wasn't aware of his presence - of his pretty green eyes on me.
But, I was not paying any mind to him, because of two reasons.
First - I finally knew what Leyla meant when she said Dante was without heart.
Second - my mothers looked seconds away from twisting my ear till I cried.
My non-biological mother, Chelsea, who I called Ma most of the time, blew on her coffee, as her one pale hand grasped the back of my biological mother, Amanda's, jacket to keep her from attacking me.
"So," Mom said, left eye twitching with barely restrained rage. She had anger issues, and she looked too much like me. Her body just happened to be curvier and I couldn't find curves on me even if I looked with a magnifying glass. "This is what you've been up to? What is your longer-term plan? Ignoring your mothers your whole life? Why are you even here?"
I spit everything out, and with each word that left my lips the tension in my shoulders lessened. Suddenly, I could breathe. No matter how much I grew up, they'd always be my safe space. Sometimes a yelling, ear-twisting, safe space - but a safe space nonetheless.
Ma was the one who spoke up first, twisting a strand of her snow-white hair around her tiny finger. "Which one is he?"
"It's that punk, isn't he?" Mom nodded her head toward where Dante sat. He looked ridiculously out of place in this run-down restaurant.
I couldn't look him in the eye.
"That's what you come up with?" I asked her, trying to lighten up the mood. "You've written several bestsellers and the only insult you can come up with is punk?"
"Comedy isn't going to get you out of this one," mom said, her slim face covered with a sheet of anger and...fear. "Lily, this is dangerous. Just...we will figure something out, as a family." She took my hands in hers and caressed my knuckles with her thumb. "This whole marriage thing with Sebastian...it doesn't sit well with me."
"Same," Ma said. "There has to be a different way."
"I..." I hadn't told them about Dante's murderous tendencies. I left the story after I said yes to Sebastian. I needed to figure out what I was going to do before dumping it on them.
"Why is he even here?" Ma asked, doe eyes narrowed at Dante who smirked in return and raised his mug in greeting. "Doesn't he have a fiancee?"
"Not anymore. He came to...check up on me."
I took a sip of my coffee.
"Do you love him?" Ma asked and I choked.
"W-what?" I asked. "Ma, you're fu- freaking crazy. I hate the guy." I tugged at the end of my hair. "Why are you even here? This isn't safe."
"We're safe," mom waved my concern away. "Let me tell you - your plan is shit. Not going to work. What rank does Sebestain even have in the mafia? Is he even strong enough to keep you safe from Pietro's deranged family?"
"Um - he is a captain-"
"So Pietro's family is above him?" She asked.
"Ah- I supp-"
"That's not good," Ma said. "I don't think he'll be able to keep you safe. That's why we should try to come up with a better plan together."
"Ma-"
