DanteI waited for Chaney inside her dorm building the next morning. She approached me with a smile on her face, wearing her hot damn uniform, and she put her arms around me. I turned her so her back was to the wall and kissed her, slipping my hand beneath the skirt and skimming my fingers across her ass.“Must I see this every morning?” Megan asked.The door beside us opened and Nico walked in.“Your turn,” she told us with a huge grin and threw herself into Nico’s surprised arms and kissed him.He didn’t miss a beat and kissed her back.Chaney and I held hands all the way to the main building. I liked it. I liked having her at my side. We received attention, most due to the challenge the night before. It was Chaney. They weren’t watching me.We hung together until class started and I left her at the door of her first one. Caine entered after her and gave me a look that said he’d watch her. I didn’t need the look. Caine had Chaney’s back and it relieved my mind.At lunch she sat at o
Dante I lifted my hand and caressed her cheek with my thumb. It seemed impossible that with how little time we spent in clothes when together, something as important as virginity was still between us. I didn’t know why the hell I hesitated. “Patience,” I told her. She made an angry sound and stomped her tiny foot. I was saved from tickling that foot by Nico and Megan. “Hey, man,” Nico said and gave me a bro shake, bumping my shoulder. “Women are feeding us homemade Italian food.” He smiled. “I don’t plan to tell my mother.” We all laughed and went to the table and sat down while the girls brought the food in. Megan poured red wine. I liked this but it didn’t take my mind off the call. My father sent me back here for his own reasons and I would probably never know them. What the hell was it about Chaney that made him tell me to stay away from her? My father knew who she was but Chaney also had those answers. I needed them. I cared about her and the feeling wasn’t going away. I re
ChaneyI sat in my room and stared at the wall. Every word Dante said replayed in my mind. I did owe him the truth but Mr. Xavier’s family came first. It killed me that I couldn’t give Dante what he wanted.I had a secret phone. It was only for emergencies. I called Mr. Xavier.“Are you in danger?” he asked immediately when he answered.“No.” Tears clogged my throat. “Could I talk with Madison?” It was horrible but I needed a woman to speak with.“She’s right here. Let me grab Brightly and you can have all the time you need.”“Thank you.”I heard Brightly squeal when her dad took her and I smiled through my tears. I wanted a family like theirs. I wanted something normal and even though I was at a school for Mafia kids, it was the most normal I’d ever had. I also had a sneaking suspicion that I was in love. It had happened in a matter of weeks.“Hello, Chaney, are you okay, honey?”That was all it took. The sobs started. Madison waited me out and I’m sure half of what I said at first m
Dante“What the fuck do you mean, she’s gone?” I demanded.Megan had knocked on the dorm room door before I had my fucking coffee and she was hysterical.“She wouldn’t listen to me. Mr. Xavier came, they packed her stuff, and they left.”“This happened last night and you’re just here now?”It was sinking in. Chaney left. I fucking pushed it with her and she ran. Fuck, fuck, fuck.“Mr. Xavier threatened me. He said I wasn’t to leave the room or use my cell until this morning. I came here sooner than I should have. She wouldn’t listen to anything I said. Nothing.”I stormed into my room, grabbed my uniform, and got dressed. I then stormed to Rochester’s administration office.“Get me in touch with Mr. Xavier,” I demanded to the poor secretary who shouldn’t have had a clue what was going on.“He’s waiting for you in the back office on the right.”The fuck!I marched in, throwing the door open. Mr. Xavier was looking outside the window and slowly turned.“Have a seat, Mr. Laterza.”“I am
DanteMy father leaned back in his chair. I noticed the oxygen tank beside him but he didn’t have the nose piece on. It’s the first time I’d seen him bring anything into his office that made him look weak.I stood and walked around his desk to the tank and lifted the rubber tubing for him. He took it and placed the oxygen over his nose and ears. His hands trembled and I could see the disease taking over. It was hard for him when I witnessed these times but he’d been honest with me during the hours we spent in his room over the summer where I really saw the toll it took on him.He squeezed my hand before I walked around the desk and took the chair again and yes, I squeezed his back.“Her family was powerful but most of that was due to their money. Their wealth far surpassed ours along with most other families.” He coughed. “After Gimonde senior and his son went down, much happened to level the balance of power. As you know, we came out on top in the transaction.”He took a few moments
ChaneyI was not happy but I was at peace. I’d finally decided to take charge of my own destiny. I was sixteen and that was a huge problem.Mr. Xavier smoothed the way once he knew what I needed, or demanded was more like it. His lips twitched after that talk. It was the closest I’d come to a smile when he wasn’t with Madison and Brightly.I had to be emancipated. It required a judge. In less than a week it happened. Financials were turned over to me and I spent another week discovering how rich I was and what all the investments were. It boggled the mind and I didn’t understand half of it. I knew someone who would—no, not Dante, but Caine. He would tear through the info and have a plan in hours not days or weeks.I started looking at real estate. I narrowed my search to California, Colorado, and Oregon. I needed to be as far from the families as possible. I also needed to be safe. I started looking into security and came up empty. I talked to Mr. Xavier on one of his visits. I’d leas
DanteCaine showed up a few days before I left to return to Rochester. He had a look in his eyes that gave me hope.“I have a letter from my father to your father.”He patted his jacket pocket. It was fucking snowing outside and he wore a light coat.“He’s in his office. I told him we would be speaking to him.”“Father, this is Caine Fenella, the reason I’ve survived Rochester this long.”“Mr. Laterza,” Caine said formally. “I have a letter from my father I’m to give to you.”He placed the envelope on the desk. My father took it and opened it. He didn’t read long.“Your word is your father’s. What do you bring to the table?”“Security for your son.”The fuck!“My family will give their loyalty to Dante when it is time. We will move here, all of us, including my sisters. We are not wealthy, but we come with connections that will be helpful after Dante marries Chaney.”My father stared him in the eyes and asked one question that shocked the shit out of me.“Is your family as insane as y
DanteCaine, shook up, which almost dragged a smile out of me, deleted his first. I thought of Chaney and her record. It would have been fun to do this together. There were calls with my father in the record. It was sad to lose them but I knew why he sent me here. I knew why he was proud of me. I hit delete.Graduation was bittersweet without my father. Caine’s family came and cheered me as their own. They would have rooms inside the house along with Caine and his sisters whom I met for the first time. Rosa, the older of the two, was a firecracker. She was starting Rochester the following school year. Caine told me she was the smartest in their family and it boggled my mind that there was an order to their brilliance. It would be interesting.Caine would be my consigliere and right hand. When I had money to oversee, he would take on that role too. His father wanted to run the house and that surprised the hell out of me.“He wants to keep an eye on me and he’s growing lazy in his old a