American Dynasty

E I G H T

Our boy Dante played by Evandro Soldati ^^^

********

"Come on, Stella!" Dante held his hand out to her, laughing as she shivered. "Are you cold?"

"A little bit," she squeaked as another gust of wind hit her bare back. She was wearing nothing but a bathing suit, which had made Dante blush dark red when she revealed it when she took off her bright red dress.

"Well you're going to be even colder when you get into the water," Dante said with a mischievous grin.

Too late, Stella realized what he was doing.

"Dante, no-"

He scooped her up bridal style and flung her into the ocean then plunged in himself right after. Stella came up spluttering, trying to get her hair out of her face. "Dante!" She yelled, searching for him angrily. "Dante?" She scanned the water around her, feeling panic building up in her chest when he was nowhere to be found. Suddenly a mop of brown hair surfaced, then a pair of mischievous green eyes. "Dante!" Stella shouted, swatting the surface of the water so it hit his face.

"Hey!" he exclaimed with a boyish grin. He pushed his hair off of his forehead and chuckled. "It's nice to know that you're so concerned about me, though."

Stella scoffed and crossed her arms. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Don't have to," Dante said smugly before tackling her back into the water.

"Hey!" Stella shrieked, frantically trying to swim away. Dante wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, preventing her from escaping.

"Nice try, Stella, but you remember I always caught you whenever we played tag as children."

Stella wriggled in Dante's secure grip, failing to find any sort of way to escape. She sighed in defeat and went limp.

"Giving up so fast? That's not the Stella I know," Dante said with a chuckle. Stella felt his arms loosen and she took her chance. Before Dante could blink she zoomed out of his hold and paddled away from him. "You little scamp!" Dante yelled, laughing as he chased after her again.

"I may be a scamp but I'm a lovable scamp," Stella said playfully, turning around to face him.

Dante stopped chasing her and smiled adoringly. "You sure are."

Stella's smile faded and she ducked her head, feeling her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Dante's index finger rested below her chin and he lifted her head up. "A pretty girl like yourself should never hide her face," he said sincerely, letting his hand rest on her soft cheek.

Stella only blushed more and bit her lip to avoid smiling like an idiot. The sweet, young boy she had known Dante to be was still there, only now he was confident, graceful and polished. Everything a young debutante could ever want.

Dante took her hand and smiled. "Your fingers are starting to look like prunes. We should probably get out of the ocean." Stella simply nodded and let Dante hold her hand as they waded through the water. As they trekked back up the beach Stella lifted her head towards the sky, enjoying the feeling of the sun's heat beating down on them. There was not a cloud to be seen on the endless expanse of blue sky.

"You two are sopping wet," Luciana said as Dante and Stella made it back to where they had set up their beach towels. "I thought you were just going to wade in the water."

"Well, you know us," Dante said, shooting Stella a mischievous grin. The corners of Luciana's mouth turned upwards into a smirk as she remained silent and continued reading her fashion magazine.

Dante's father Giovanni was fast asleep. His sunglasses covering his piercing blue eyes that had always frightened Stella as a child. A thick scar ran from his hairline to the middle of his cheek where he had gotten slashed in a street fight in 1904. It was strange for Stella to think that Giovanni had been involved in the crime since before the dawn of the 20th century, since before her or Dante had even been born.

A trait she had always admired about Dante was that he had never shown interest in following in his father's footsteps. He instead, much to his father's exasperation, wished to pursue a career in writing. "Are you having fun?" Dante asked.

Stella laughed and nodded. "So much. I haven't been to Coney in a long time."

Dante scanned her face as if trying to memorize every single feature. "I'm glad I could be the one to take you here."

Stella was aware of Luciana's eavesdropping which was made obvious by the wide grin that kept appearing on her face. Stella was sure that if her mother were here, she would be nudging Luciana and giving her a knowing smile.

Stella dropped her gaze down the golden sand. She immersed her feet, wiggling her toes in enjoyment at the warm, soothing sensation of the grains of sand against her skin. Dante scooted closer to her and placed his hand on the ground behind her, leaning his weight on his arm.

Stella could feel Dante's soft breath on her bare shoulder that made her cheeks heat up at his sudden closeness. Tentatively she rested her head on his shoulder, unsure of her movements. Dante stiffened slightly before relaxing and letting out a quiet sigh of content.

Stella felt a soft kiss on her head and she raised her eyebrows. She didn't feel her heart race in excitement or flutter with happiness. She didn't feel that tingle of love inside that she read about in books. She just felt...comfortable. And content. Comfortable and content.

"The two of you look so beautiful together," Luciana remarked, clasping her hands together. "The Golden Couple of New York, I can see it now."

The Golden Couple of New York. Stella internally scoffed. Luciana was practically already making wedding plans at this point. Giovanni, who had woken up a short while ago, simply nodded at his son approvingly before returning to his previous position and was snoring again in no time.

Stella studied him intently, frowning as she did so. Giovanni was nothing impressive; in fact he was quite out of shape and balding. But Stella couldn't help but wonder how many people he had killed in cold blood, how many people he had intimidated and threatened to get what he wanted, or more so what Giuseppe Masseria wanted.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, feeling thankful that Dante didn't have the criminal aspirations his father wanted him to have. Because there would never be a day that Stella Biancardi would fall in love with a criminal.