Allure

Ch. 34: Love, Love, Love

DANTE

"You are different these days," Enzo comments from behind the steering wheel of his Mercedes. I catch him eyeing me with a poorly hidden smile on his lips. "It is nice seeing you happy."

I roll my eyes at his comment, but I cannot ignore the fluttering sensation in my stomach. I have grown to be familiar with the feeling. It seems as though I feel it every time I am with Elaine.

"I hope you do not think I have grown soft," I tease in response. "Because I will be quick to prove you wrong if that is the case."

Enzo chuckles and shakes his head. "You have grown soft, but not beyond the confines of that apartment. I noticed Giovanni was nearly in nervous tears when he left your office yesterday. Care to explain?"

I audibly grumble at the mention of the name. The boy has been working for Cyril Enterprises for all of about a month, and he is already on my last nerve. If not for the fact that I am a halfway decent human, I would have fired him on his first day. God knows he would not have lasted even an hour if my father were still in charge. But alas, the boy has a toddler and a pregnant wife at home.

However, my empathy can only be worn so thin.

"He is a complete, incompetent idiot," I mumble. The words are mostly a vent to myself, but I would not mind hearing Enzo's opinion on the situation. "He has worked there for a month and still does not know how to properly write up an account summary. An account summary, Enzo. You literally click two fucking buttons and, boom, it is done!"

"Who is training him?"

I wave a dismissive hand at him. "I am quite sure that the Queen herself could train him, and he would still not pay attention."

A quiet chuckle from Enzo has me pulling my focus away from the window to glare in his direction instead. When he feels the heat of my stare, he lets go of the wheel and holds up his hands in feigned innocence. "I am not laughing at you," he says. "I am only laughing because you sound so much like your father."

My eyebrows inch closer together in a confused furrow while my lips contort downward into a frown. "Emilio Cyril would have killed the boy by now and hung his head from a coat hanger to make an example out of him," I comment dryly.

"Ahh, but would he?" Enzo asks with a single raised eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, you accidentally erased hundreds of account files, and your father only grounded you for a month."

"I was six!"

Enzo's boisterous laugh fills the car, but the look of disbelief on my face does not falter until he opens his mouth once more. "Maybe so, but your father was a very patient man. He had to be, to put up with your shit. I would like to think he would be proud of how you have grown since he has been gone."

Enzo slows the car to a stop outside of my apartment just as he finishes his sentence. Elaine's Aston Martin is parked out front, next to my Bentley. Their identical colors remind me of the perfect match she and I make. As if the cars we chose at sixteen were somehow divine intervention, and God knew all along that we would be together.

Or maybe they are just two black cars bought by two rich fathers.

I like my version better.

Fanculo! I sound like a fucking school boy.

"You love her."

Enzo's words pull my attention away from the vehicles I have begun to hyper-fixate on. A statement, not at all a question. A knowing smile pulls at his lips when I look at him.

There is no use in denying it. I simply nod my head.

And given our track history of shitty things happening to us or around us, perhaps it is time I tell her.