Miss Taken

by Cleo Scornavacca

  Dominick stares at the show before him for a long time and then turns to me.

  “No one has ever loved me like you do.” His voice is strained and he puts his forehead to mine. Then he slowly kisses me. I know in that moment I could never let him go. Now he’s mine.

  “Now my turn, baby.” He smiles.

  He hands me an envelope. It’s wrapped in the shades of Christmas and a sprig of Mistletoe sits in the center of the gift.

  “The Mistletoe was my idea.” He says in a slightly conceited way.

  I pick it off the package, spin it in my fingers and hint, “This is going to be very useful later.” I grin.

  He smiles back. “You’re insatiable.”

  “You love me that way.” I whisper and kiss his lips lightly.

  I open the gift and my eyes widen. I look at Dominick, who is still smiling.

  “Merry Christmas, baby.”

  Two tickets to Capri for New Years. Tears fill my eyes as Dominick’s arms wrap around me.

  “Rain, you said Capri is magically during the holidays. Time to bring you to the magic.” He doesn’t realize it but he made the magic happen ever since he told me he loved me for the first time.

  I wasn’t feeling great the day after Christmas. Dominick has some holiday parties to attend, but did say he would stay home with me. I told him to go. I’m just going to rest, because I have less than a week to feel better before we leave again for Capri.

  One of the parties is in Philadelphia so he decides to stay at the shore house. I explain to him that Tommy will drive me down to LBI the day before our flight so he doesn’t have to drive back up and get me in Manhattan. Dominick doesn’t like that plan and explains to me that he will be coming up to retrieve me and I’m not to argue the point. Which I don’t because we are in a very good place right now and I don’t want to ruin it over something so trivial. I’m learning to pick and choose my battles with Dominick and it seems to be working so far.

  As the morning fades, so does my illness. I feel brand new. That is so strange. This sick feeling has been going on like this for over a week. Then my thoughts slap me in the face all at once.

  SHIT!

  I run out of the house and head for the nearest drug store to pick up a pregnancy test. It’s the end of December and I haven’t gotten my period. Dominick and I made love on Thanksgiving. He didn’t use a condom, and because I hadn’t seen him for a week, I didn’t think to protest. With the holidays and all the celebrating going on, I never put two and two together.

  I read the box to see if it has to have two lines. I follow the instructions and wait and wait and wait. I look at the stick. Two stripes, PREGNANT. A smile so large comes across my face that I thought my cheeks would burst. I’m carrying Dominick’s baby. We love each other. This news can’t wait. I call Tommy not revealing why I need to get to Dominick now but that I just need to go. I pack my stuff for Capri and Tommy picks me up and we head down the shore. The car stops and I jump out to get my things.

  “Hey, I’ll get your bags. You were sick remember. Run in and find lover boy. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Thanks, Tommy.” I smile at him and give him a peck on the cheek. I race inside to find Dominick.

  Once I’m in the house, I hear Dominick yelling from his bedroom. He sounds furious. I think to myself that I’m glad he isn’t mad at me for a change. When I get to the doorway his back is towards me and he’s staring out the window.

  “I don’t give a shit, Martin. You just get me the information I need to take down that son of a bitch. I want that business and I want him destroyed. Rain finally belongs to me now, she won’t leave me no matter what I do to her father. He isolated her for her entire childhood. I know what that’s like. I love Rain, she will always be better off with me than him.” Then he hangs up and continues to stare out the window.

  I hear nothing but my pulse in my ears beating rapidly.

  I’m stunned, not believing what I just heard. He never changed anything. He deceived me the entire time we’ve been together. The worst part about this whole thing is that I own his father’s half of the business. Destroying my father will get him nowhere. I’m the one that can make all of this go away. Yet, nothing would change. He still lied. He lied to my face every day, every time he was inside of me. He lied when we created this child together and when he said I love you. He continued to lie.

  “YOU FUCKING LYING PIECE OF SHIT!”

  He spun around not expecting to see me in his room.

  Surprise.

  “You never gave up on your plan to take down my dad. I became yours, Dominick. I love you and trusted that you would handle my heart with care. You just spit on it.”

  “Rain, baby, listen …

  “Don’t Rain baby me, you fucking bastard. I would never be okay with you hurting my family, no matter how much I love you. I would never be okay with that. How could you even think this is acceptable behavior?”

  “Rain, he isolated you for your whole life. Why can’t you see that? I’m the one who really loves you, Rain.” He’s desperate.

  Just then Tommy comes in to see what’s happening. He’s unsure of what just transpired but he stands behind me wrapping his hands around my shoulders, bracing me for any additional blows. He doesn’t interrupt. He lets me have my say.

  “No, Dominick, that’s where you’re wrong. My dad has loved me my entire life. You isolated me, just like your father isolated you. He may not have kept you away from people. He may have sent you to the finest schools. Allowed for the best of everything, but the one thing he didn’t give you, the thing that eats at your soul day in and day out, is not having his approval. His love. You feel you never got it. That’s your isolation and that’s why you demand control.”

  He doesn’t utter a word. I continue.

  “Did you ever really try?” I’m being slightly sarcastic in my tone.

  Still no rebuttal.

  “My dad told me that you tried time and again to destroy your father. That tells me you didn’t want to try. Why didn’t you go to him as you had gotten older and mend what was broken? Do you really believe a man would continue to support his son if he didn’t love him? I think we both know the answer to that question?”

  “Listen Rain, throwing money at me doesn’t show me any love whatsoever. It’s like a payoff. Like I was just another inconvenience.” He’s breathing heavy and choking out his words.

  “How would you know? Did you ever try to speak with him?”

  Silence.

  “I’ll take your lack of a response as a NO.”

  There is nothing more to say. Dominick and I are truly fucked up. I thought we had gotten past some of the hard parts. Sure I knew telling him about me owning the business would be another battle, but I thought it would be worth the risk. I know the baby would be happy news. At least I thought it would be. Come to find out that I knew nothing at all. I decide it’s time to go. I’m not saying anything about the pregnancy or the business. I need time to digest what just took place. I just need to leave. I can’t even stomach that sight of him anymore.

  “Take me home, Tommy, please take me home.”

  “C’mon, baby.” Tommy’s arm comes around me and we proceed to walk out. Dominick lunges and grabs me out of Tommy’s grip.

  He’s begging now.

  “Rain, please don’t go. We can work this out. I will take care of you. You and I are the same. We were lost but now we have each other and we’re happy. We love each other. Please baby, please!

  “Dominick! Stop! Just Stop! I can’t do this anymore. We have gone around and around in this crazy fucking relationship and we always found each other but this is where it ends. You can’t be my family if you are the one who wants to destroy them.” I’m starting to tremble and the tears are clouding my eyes.

  As I pull away, Dominick grabs me again. Forcefully, desperately. This is where Tommy takes over. He grips Dominick and pins him to the wall violently. The room feels like its shaking from the
impact of Dominick’s body hitting the solid surface.

  “You don’t have a fucking clue, Kane. Don’t you ever put your fucking hands on Rain like that again. I told you more than once that if you fuck with her, you will deal with me.” Tommy is talking through clinched teeth and holding Dominick by the throat. Almost in the same manner at which Dominick was holding Marcello back in Capri.

  Dominick breaks free and pushes back at Tommy. Now both men are nose to nose. I really hope it doesn’t come to blows. They are both breathing heavy and staring eye to eye.

  “Listen Conte, I told you! No one gets inside Rain but me.”

  Tommy’s jaw visibly tightens. He speaks but he doesn’t yell. I knew Tommy needed to have his say. He was never happy about Dominick and me but he respected me enough to let me learn for myself. Now he needed to get out all the shit he has been holding inside of his chest. I let him. I owed him at least that much.

  “I have stood by and watched this freak show unfold. Much of the time in silence. I knew you would use Rain. I knew you would fuck her up. Yet because she asked me to stay out of it I did. Not anymore. How much of your shit do you think she can take. You tell her you love her and still behind her back your plotting to destroy her father.”

  “He held her captive as a child. She had no say. I get that!” Dominick is now screaming.

  A small sad laugh escapes my mouth and both men turn towards me.

  “Dominick you have no idea what it’s like to be truly controlled. You also have no idea what went on when I was a child. Mostly because you weren’t there. But also because you really didn’t hear me when I told you about it. You heard what you wanted to hear so you could make my dad the bad guy. My dad folded because of my mom. Sure there were times he could be controlling like her but she was the worst. She loved me but she was manipulative. She needed that control. Then when it ended, she became ill and she died. Maybe she gave up. Her entire life was wrapped up in me and instead of embracing my new freedom and being happy that I wasn’t sick as much anymore, she became resentful. She made her whole world about me. When she should have made it about experiencing life with me.”

  Both men said nothing so I keep going.

  “You are just like her Dominick. You love me but your love is like a poison. It will slowly kill both of us. It will eat away at us each day until there is nothing left. I won’t allow that to happen. I won’t be controlled anymore.”

  With that I start to walk out. He grabs me again but this time I stop him. I turn and slap him as hard as I can across his face. He’s taken by surprise and stumbles backwards.

  “KEEP YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF ME!”

  “WE ARE DONE!”

  I pick up my things and head straight for the car. There is a ruckus in the house behind me. Once I’m securely locked in the passenger seat, I look out the window. I can see Tommy in my side view mirror coming out of the house rubbing his right hand. That can’t be good. He gets in the car. Tommy is smirking.

  “Kane won’t be going anywhere, anytime soon.”

  We pull away and drive off. I look back to see if the madman I left behind is following us. No sign of him. I wonder what Tommy did to him. As I settle in my seat, I feel my stomach start to heave.

  “Tommy, pull over!” I’m panicking now.

  I jump out of the car and vomit on the side of the highway.

  When I get back in the car Tommy says, “Don’t worry, baby, that kind of stress and everything you’ve been through with him, it’s no wonder you’re so sick.”

  I laugh slightly under my breath. Shaking my head and turning to Tommy I say, “That’s not why I’m sick, Tommy. I’m pregnant. That’s why I had you rush me down here. To tell him he’s going to be a father. What a fucking joke.”

  He turns to me and reaches for my hands. Tommy looks deep into my eyes and reassures me. “It’s all going to be okay, baby. I promise. No regrets, Rain, yeah?”

  Looking out the window, I whisper, pulling on my sleeves as we drive away. “Yeah, no regrets.

  I’m sitting in the car barely breathing. Trying to wrap my head around what just transpired. It’s not something I would have never expected. So now I’m thinking how the next seven and a half months are going to play out. I’m sure it will be very different from what I’d originally envisioned. I’m carrying Dominick’s child. I own his father’s share of the business. I know Dominick was adopted. A secret he’s totally unaware of. I’m madly in love with him.

  How do I stop my feelings? How can I keep him out of my life when his life, our life, is growing inside of me? Do I truly want to be without him? Yet how can I be with someone that has absolutely no regard whatsoever for my dad and his child’s grandfather?

  Do I have the ability and strength to stand up to him before he destroys my family? Maybe I can use my newly acquired share of Kane & Medici to do just that.

  I never liked being controlled. I have fought tooth and nail to live my life my way. I can’t be a hypocrite and deny our child his or her own father. That would just be wrong. How do I fix this? Can I fix this?

  Maybe no matter what I do, my love for Dominick Kane and all the madness that accompanies it, will ultimately destroy me in the end.

  I would like to thank my husband Sal and my daughter Nikki for supporting me on this journey. I love you both so much. To my family and friends especially my dad, my brother, and my sister-in-law Michele for being there and giving me all the positive thoughts I needed to take this on. I am grateful for all of you.

  A very special thanks to my childhood friend and author of the novel, The Last Round of Archie Mannis, Joseph Grant. Joe, you’ve dealt with all of my questions, as crazy as they were. The days when I just felt completely overwhelmed, you kept saying: “stop worrying, it will happen. JUST WRITE!” I can’t thank you enough.

  For bringing Miss Taken together, I need to thank my editor Liz, my cover artist Stephanie, and my formatter Angela. You helped make my dream a reality.

  To my beta readers Corinne B. and Robin Buxton, and to the many bloggers who reviewed and revealed Miss Taken’s cover: Obsession is a Book, Rambling’s Beneath the Sheets, Love Between the Sheets, Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews, Sweet Sassy Sexy Book Blog, Bridger Bitches Book Blog, Totally Booked, The Indie Bookshelf, The Book Enthusiast, Mommy’s Late Night Book-Up, Bottles and Book Reviews, Red’s Book Blog, Read Hot Reads, Crazy Chaotic Book Babes, Book Lovers and Body Art, The Book Trollop, Up All Night Book Addict, and The Book Bellas, thank you for taking a chance on a new Indie Author. I love all of your emails and words of encouragement. I know this is a labor of love for all of you.

  I need to give a special thanks to Ryn, First Class Books, and author L.B. Simmons. I wrote to you before Miss Taken was even close to being complete and you gave me great advice and avenues to get the book finished.

  And of course I have to thank the readers. As an author I love to write. I want my characters to make you happy, sad, and even a little crazy. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed creating them.

  Cleo Scornavacca is a New Indie Author. Miss Taken is her first novel and book one in the Miss Taken Series. Cleo loves to read and has always loved to write. She recently found the courage to put her thoughts on paper and create Miss Taken.

  When Cleo isn’t writing, she is spending time with her family, her friends and her Dobie Blue. Cleo loves all types of Romance and anything on Italy.

  Her favorite place to read or write is “down the shore”.

  Cleo is currently working on Identity, book two in the Miss Taken Series.

  If you would like more information on Cleo and her upcoming works, you can follow her on Facebook and Goodreads.

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cleo-Scornavacca-Author/209488709213525

  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7242174.Cleo_Scornavacca

 

 

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