The Ideal Deal

11

I heard the door open, so I left the living room to meet Dominic. With hope probably clear in my eyes, I stared at Dominic's hands, which were full with mail. Dominic skimmed the information on each envelope before meeting my eyes. Expectingly, I raised my eyebrows, hoping that at least one of the envelopes was an invitation from the Circle. Bursting my bubble, Dominic shook his head while sighing. Immediately, my shoulders slouched in disappointment. It had only been two days since Dominic and I informed the public about our marriage, but I was still disappointed that the Circle hadn't contacted us as yet. I didn't understand what on earth they were waiting for. I turned on my heels to head up the stairs, but Dominic called out, "Wait," stopping me in my tracks. I turned to face him and frowned, but chose to let him explain whatever he wanted to say, as opposed to questioning him about why he stopped me. "We need to talk."

"About?" I questioned while crossing my arms. I had no idea what he wanted to speak about, but judging his face expression and body language, I could tell that it would be about something serious.

Dominic explained, "We have to start working soon. We can't leave the faith of our businesses in the hands of our parents' PAs. We need to check on things ourselves and make sure everything is going smoothly."

Though I knew about the business world and attended a few conventions when I was younger, I never got the experience of running a business. Father and Mother were supposed to start me off easily with a position in one of the companies, and then I'd have to work my way up from there. I had no idea how to run a business.

"I-I...uh...I...I can't," I shook my head while staring at the ground. "I don't have any experience."

"I can help you. I can tea-" he got out before I cut him off.

While frowning, I questioned, "You expect me to trust you when it comes to my family's businesses? Your businesses are my businesses' biggest competitors."

Dominic pointed out, "You trusted me with your life when you depended on me to not let you drown yesterday."

"That's diff-" I got out before he cut me off.

"Is it? Look, we only have each other at this point. I have nothing against you, Sumter," he promised. He used the nickname that he gave me as a child to show his genuineness while staring deeply into my eyes. When we were a child, he'd call me Sumter because of my first and last name, which he combined. Instead of Summer Winter, I became Sumter to him, and as pay back, I'd call him Demonic instead of Dominic. "Just like the day I made you the ginger tea and yesterday when I held you in my arms so that you'd float instead of drown, my only desire is to help you. I promise."

Even though I had a feeling he was telling the truth, I noted, "A promise is a comfort to a fool, Dominic."

"I swear to you, this isn't a trick," he said while walking closer to me. "If you don't want my help, then that's fine."

I thought about his offer before warning, "If you screw me over, Dom, I swear I'll-"

"Yeah, I know how bad your temper is. You don't have to remind me. You and I both know that honesty and loyalty are the two most important codes in our lives. I wouldn't lie to you, Sum," he promised, so I nodded in defeat.

"You can help," I nodded.

He then handed me some mails, as I had told him to stop by my place to check my mailbox as well. I noticed that a few were from the bank, the company, and insurance while the others were from friends of the family. I walked to the living room, and Dominic followed. We then opened our mails and silently read through them. Once we were done, we looked at each other with the same question burning our tongues.

"Did your parents leave you anything?" We asked each other in unison. "Did yours?"

"I got everything," Dominic answered, "which was expected. If Michael were alive, I would have shared the money with him, however. It was the deal I made with my dad two years ago." Michael gave up the business life for acting, so Dominic was always the son that Matthew- their father- preferred and trusted with his money and business. "What about you?"

"Surprisingly, I got everything as well, except for a million dollars that was given to Autumn. Autumn, however, placed me on her will as the person she wanted to give everything to if she were to die. There's 750k in her name, in addition to her car, but do I also get the million from what my parents wanted to give her?" I questioned.

Dominic shrugged and encouraged, "You should call your lawyer and see."

I nodded in response and decided that I'd call the lawyer tomorrow, being that it was a bit late already.

"Dominic, I think we haven't gotten an invitation from the Circle as yet because they didn't know whether we got what our mothers and fathers had before they died."

Dominic's eyebrows raised immediately as he nodded in agreement. "That actually makes sense. I think they'll be contacting us soon to find out, and then we'll get an invitation to the Circle." I smiled eagerly and nodded in response. I then yawned from hunger, and Dominic questioned, "Are you hungry?" I nodded in response, so he stood up and stated, "I'll make us dinner."

"I thought you were going to teach me how to cook," I frowned.

"I thought you wouldn't want to, being that you're already hungry," Dominic stated.

I shook my head and promised, "I'll be fine."

Dominic gave a simple nod before cocking his head towards the kitchen. I nodded and stood before following him.