Young Retribution

XVIII

Dominick extended his hand out to me. Swallowing the dying lump in my throat, I accepted the offer and allowed him to lead me out of the room. Neither of us said anything as we walked through the different halls, taking turns left and right until we got to the staircase that led to the first floor. A few house members that we passed shared worried looks, no doubt wondering what was going to happen between the two of us, but neither him nor I made any comment on it.

I hadn't been quiet when I was fighting with Dominick yesterday, and even he had raised his voice a time or two. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had overheard some of the things that I had been yelling. Since we had kept to ourselves after the fight, no one had been able to ask the questions I'm sure they were wanting to ask. It was the first night in a while we'd gone to bed together and woken up with both of us still in bed.

Still, I couldn't help but wonder if the pity looks were for us fighting, or just for me. I don't treat the workers as bad as some of the others. Because of that, I've noticed that when certain men are around, a few of the maids and other female staff would basically cling to my side. They would go out of their way to make sure that I had everything I needed and would even offer to do things I didn't even think of. They've started to care, a lot.

I've gotten to the point where I have them do stupid stuff just to keep them busy and away from the sweaty hands of some of the greedy pigs that think they can do what ever they want. I've been able to tell from the looks on their faces, that while the work may be annoying, they are grateful for giving them an escape. I was just glad I was able to do something, even if it was little.

The higher-ups were where most of my problems lied. For one, I have yet to formally meet any of them, besides Leo. I knew of some of them, like Anthony but what I knew about him came from my conversations with Hope. I don't know if it was intentional on Dominick's part, or if it had to do with his distantal growth over my time here, but the introducations had never been made. I wonder if that will change since our wonderful heart to heart. I wonder if I even want to meet them.

Meeting the higher ups meant two things in my mind. For one, it meant that I was officially one of them. They would know me, and I would know them. They were the men that practically ran this place under Dominick. Running the families day to day operations, they were the ones you went to for pretty much anything. If Dominick were to introduce me to them, then it meant that he was officially ready to make this relationship between us more than just a show. The second thing it meant, and the one thing I was scared of, was that it meant I was going to know more. Meeting these men and knowing what they do, every time a meeting would be held, I would practically be able to guess what was going on. Not even being in the room, I would know what they were talking about. At this point, I don't think that I would be able to stomach it.

"If you're up for it," Dominick stopped outside of a random door, "I would like to introduce you to someone."

"Who?" I asked with a little too much snap to the word.

A chuckle left his lips, "Don't worry, that meeting is going to be coming for a different day. This one, well hopefully will help you settle in a little bit."

"Fine..."

Dominick opened the door and nostalgia hit me instantly. Lemon with a hint of pine, the slight smell of a metallic tang mixed in with a mix of bleach, antiseptic, and copper from someone cleaning up a bloody mess. It was the smell that I had grown up around, and eventually started to work around.

"As much as I wish it wasn't true, the men around here get hurt," he led me down a sight of stairs that slowly opened up to a set of double doors, "And taking them to a hospital isn't always an option. So, my father hired his own doctor, and then turned a large section of the basement into a small clinic, and added a single operating room for the really bad ones. There is an elevator that leads right outside the room, but I'm sure you can put two and two together as to why we have one." We paused right outside the doors, "I don't want you to just sit around and get lost in the thoughts of what I or my men are doing. I am in fact confident that you probably would rather be in the complete dark about it all. You don't have to come back down here after today, but please think about this. Medicine was your life. If I can remember anything clearly, it was the light shining in your eyes as you pushed through your schooling. Medicine is your calling, Caliana. Medicine might actually be the one thing you truly love more than me. And I think that if you were to get back into it, it might help you adjust a little bit more around here. I also think that saving a life or two around here would help some of my men open up to you more. With all that said, let me introduce you to Dr. Kyle Strand." He pushed open the doors and we walked in.