Baby V (Chianti Kisses #1)

by Tara Oakes

  My mouth forms the shape needed to begin speech but freezes in place. My eyes drop down to lock on his as he watches me from bended knee. His hand is closed, fingers protecting the secret treasure within.

  My eyes widen, and the only thing I can think to say, is, “What?”

  “I said... you once told me that you choose me, you choose this. I need to know if you still do. I need to you if you’ll choose to be my wife.”

  My heartbeat pauses. My legs feel heavy as I move them to be closer to him, but like a magnet they are drawn in. I swallow hard. As sure as anything I have ever been in life, I am sure of what I want my answer to be. I stand before him, running my fingers through his hair, nodding.

  “I choose you, I choose this. And I will choose to be your wife...” I see his eyes dance. I swallow hard, preparing myself for what those eyes may show me next, “... but I need to know the secrets first, Dom. I won’t agree to be your wife unless I know.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  I sip from the hot tea set down before me. It’s not a cold night, but my body is chilled. I pray the tea will warm me as I hold onto it, letting it’s vapors snake around me. The trip back to shore will take more time than when we departed due to the weather conditions. The weather is turning on us, a summer storm threatening to brew around us. Is it coincidence or symbolic of the storm threatening to rage within.

  The small galley kitchen isn’t stocked with much, as no one other than Brian has regular use of the boat, but there was tea. Dom started the kettle to brew us a pair of cups worth before he finished telling me of the sins of my family, of our families.

  The stringent sting of the near-boiling water hits my lips but I don’t recoil from it. The burning feels good, offering a painful distraction to the ache in my soul. I close my eyes and let it scald my mouth.

  Dom doesn’t drink his. Instead, he stares at the drink’s rippling surface, “I never wanted you to know, V. I had half a mind to not tell you just now. But, I can’t do that to you. You have just as much right to know as the rest of us do. Maybe more, because of what I’m asking of you.”

  I exhale deep and slow. Methodically and controlled even though it’s just for show.

  “Please say something,” he begs.

  I begin to speak, but snap my mouth shut. The thoughts and feelings coursing through me have no translatable words to convey them. I take another sip, fortifying myself before I attempt to verbalize my emotions.

  “It’s blood money, Dom. Everything. How... how-”

  He rests his hand over mine to still it’s shaking, “No, it’s not. We’ve had more and more legal streams of revenue for years now, ever since John and I began to steer things. It’s not like it used to be.”

  My bloodshot eyes raise to his, “He was a criminal.”

  Dom shakes his head sternly, “No. That’s not how you should think of him, V. He was a good man who made some bad choices early on. Once things were set in motion, they couldn’t easily change them. That’s why they raised John and I the way they did. They knew we’d have a lot on our shoulders one day, to straighten the company out and head in the direction they intended from the beginning.”

  I roll my eyes, and exhale again, not buying what he’s selling.

  “He loved you, V. He was a good father doing the best he could for his family. He tried everything he could to break free from it, short of starting a war between the five families. He kept us safe, and all of the people that would have died if he followed his heart and broke all ties with Rizzo. He was just buying time until we were strong enough to carry-on without them.”

  I push my cup away, the contents spilling from the side, “How can you romanticize it like that? They were some two-bit hustlers that got in deep with the mob to fund their pipe dream. How- how could they not have known that they would get sucked in? Shell companies, money laundering, smuggling, I mean...”

  Dom sits back in his seat as the rocking motion of the boat intensifies.

  “They were young, V. They were stupid. They came here, to the land of opportunity and had door after door slammed in their faces because of the color of their skin, the accent on their words and the vowels in their last names. They saw an opportunity and they took it. They thought they’d be able to find a way out of it later. They couldn’t.”

  “And so they became thugs,” I add. “Tell me, how much of everything is still wrapped up in all that?”

  Dom shrugs his shoulders, “Almost nothing. Once we set up alternate shipping routes in Miami, we severed the last of the ties. That’s why we’ve had so many hijackings. They’re trying to sabotage us into staying. If they make us weak enough where we can’t stand on our own, we’ll have to come back into the fold to stay afloat.”

  “Rizzo has setup a shell company of his own and he’s been buying a lot of the ATH castoffs. He wants to continue with business as usual. If he brings us to our knees then we’ll have to sell off more to him. He’s like a vulture, just waiting to pick at our carcass. I know he’s behind everything that’s been happening. I just haven’t been able to prove it, yet. Every time I change delivery schedules, dates, times, locations.... he knows. Nobody has that information except the five of us, V, and he uses it to hit hard.”

  My insides are churning, with seasickness looming nearby.

  “Everything that was made from those things, V, has been sold off. Any money earned from those investments has been donated, or purposely lost in deals. We’re legit. We’ve all worked so hard to clean things up. We’re not going down that road ever again... I’d die before I let that happen.”

  I see the pain in his eyes. It wasn’t only my father that disappointed him, it was his, too. Dom’s shouldered this all for both him and I, while working tirelessly to clean up our dad’s mess. He had not only a legacy to protect, but another one to correct. I let my head fall to its side, exhausted. Dom carefully reaches out and caresses my cheek, afraid I might push away. When he sees that I haven’t, he sighs his relief. We remain silent, both afraid of what the other will say.

  ~*~

  The motion of the imaginary waves roll under me as I lie in bed. My ears still hear their crashing and roaring as if they surround me. It’s welcomed though, as it drowns Dom’s voice replaying in my head, telling of how my father had to act ruthlessly at times to protect what he had built. I’m thankful he didn’t go in to graphic detail. I lost my father years and years ago, yet I feel like I lost him again today.

  I feel so alone, so abandoned. I hold myself tight to keep from feeling the emptiness but it doesn’t work. I stare at the bedroom door and the soft muted light shining from under it, knowing that Dom is on the other side feeling just as alone. I fight with myself, torn between loving him for telling me tonight and hating him for hiding it all these years.

  My mind tells me to run far from here, from all of them... yet my heart tells me to run to his bed. I struggle with myself moment after moment before giving in and stepping out of bed and toward the one thing that will ease this pain right now.

  The small lamp on his bedside table is lit, with an empty shot glass and a bottle of whiskey nearby. I turn the lamp off, and crawl my way to his side, where he instantly grabs hold and draws me in close. His hand reaches to soothe my head, petting at my hair. His strong arms hold me, protect me from anything outside the two of us. I feel the love in his soothing hands, and I let them hold me as I cry.

  ~*~

  Jimmy, the doorman to Theresa’s building is signing for a delivery as I enter the main doors. She’d left hours ago for the new summer house, to prepare for the event later tonight. I’d gotten a frantic call from her asking If I could stop by and pick up her handbag... she’d left it on the kitchen counter while packing. I had to stop into the office this morning to pick up the certified checks to pay the venders, so making a slight detour wasn’t completely out of the question.

  “Hey Jimmy. How ‘bout that game last night, hmm?”

  I’d found out through one of our short
conversations that he and his son are both die-hard Yankee’s fans, so I sent over a couple of tickets for them to last night’s game. I know none of us would be using our family’s season tickets and I knew both he and his son would appreciate it a lot more than some random stranger given access to the available seating mid-game.

  “I can’t thank you enough, Miss Lombardi. My boy had such a great time!,” he boasted.

  I smile, glad I could help bring happiness to someone else. It helped ease my own pain just a little.

  “Not a problem. I have to get something from Theresa’s apartment. She left in a hurry and forgot something important. What else is new?”

  Jimmy laughs. He must know as well as I do by now, that Theresa forgets things at home on a daily basis. She’s always in such a rush.

  “I had a feeling she would. And her new gentleman friend asked her time and time again to think hard incase she needed to run back up for anything before they left.”

  My eyes perk open, “Oh, so you met him, did you? No one else has yet. Tomorrow will be the first time!”

  Theresa met Josh a few weeks ago at the gym. We’ve all heard about him of course, but he’s been in and out of town on business. Tomorrow will be his first introduction to the family.

  “I sure did meet him, he seems like a real nice guy. He treats Miss D real well from what I can tell. Nothing like the last guy. Now that one... I could see trouble from a mile away. I just knew that one was gonna break her heart.”

  He hands me the key but I slow down considerably while taking it from him. Last guy? When was there a last guy? Theresa hadn’t mentioned anyone by name let alone introduced anyone to a guy since her high school sweetheart.

  “Oh, right... that one,” I play along. “It seems like its been ages since he was around. What’s it been now...”

  Jimmy looks up, carefully calculating time, “I’d say less than a year now. Took the poor girl long enough to get over him though, with her sulking around all depressed-like.”

  I smile. “Well, he’s gone and she’s moved on to the next one. What was that guy’s name again?...”

  Jimmy takes the recently signed-for package from the shelf of the desk and places in a bin behind his desk, “Some E thing. It wasn’t a normal name.”

  “E.J.?” I hold my breath. Please don’t let it be E.J., please don’t let it be E.J.

  Jimmy nods, “Yup, that’s the guy’s name. Good riddance.”

  I feel a pang in my heart, but manage to wait until I am safely behind Theresa’s door to let my frustration out, kicking the base of the nearest wall. This can’t be happening. I pace the length of her kitchen, running through the possible scenario’s in my mind.

  Theresa had hinted that there had been a person she had fooled around with when she was giving me pointers on my own dating life. I know from the reaction she had to E.J. During the board meeting a while back that she loathes him, and from what Jimmy had just told me downstairs, I think its pretty safe to assume that they didn’t part on good terms. What was that, that she said to me at the board meeting?... He’ll do anything to get to Dom…He stoops low to do it, too.

  E.J. used Theresa to get to Dom. But how? No way in hell would Theresa ever knowingly help him take down her family... she must not know whatever E.J. is doing.

  Think, V,... think!

  No one outside the five of us knew... Dom told me that every time he would change shipments or deliveries he would only tell the four other board members... all our siblings. So, he would tell Theresa of the new itineraries.... and probably the purchase price information for the Miami deal that was leaked, too.

  Oh my God. The night Theresa and I were supposed to meet for dinner. The night E.J. Stopped by my table and Theresa went to the wrong restaurant. I’m sure that has something to do with all this, too.

  It’s all starting to add up. I grab Theresa’s handbag from the countertop and lock her apartment behind me.

  ~*~

  Once in privacy of my car, I mentally go through the long laundry list of possibilities. If E.J. was spending time with Theresa in her apartment, doing God knows what... I fight the sudden urge to regurgitate my lunch, then he had access to her things.

  Dom had sent any business related schedule changes to her secure company email address, but I had sent the dinner plans to her personal email. I know for a fact that both accounts do not share the same password, from when the I.T. department set up my own company email. So I doubt he has the passwords to all of her accounts, checking each one.

  I also know that the email I had sent her was sent while she was at the office, whereas Dom had admittedly sent things after hours, when she was most likely home. So it’s not one particular computer that he’s hacking into.

  I rummage through her bag and find both her smartphone and her tablet. OK. So she has two devices, and I’m sure she checks her emails on both of them. I close my eyes tight, pinching the bridge of my nose to magically clear my mind of all the clutter interfering with my rationalizations.

  The night we were sent to different meeting places on opposite sides of the city she had only her small evening bag. There would have been no room in it to house her tablet. She must have only been carrying her phone.

  E.J. is spying through her phone!!!

  I eye the phone suspiciously in my hands. I can’t decide how cautious to be, so I place it back into her handbag and walk it around to my trunk, where I lock it inside. I waste no time in using my own phone to return dial the number she called me from earlier.

  It rings twice, before a male voice answers, “This is Josh.”

  This is going to sound crazy weird to him, I’m sure. “Hi, Josh... This is V, Theresa’s friend. I need to speak to her. It’s extremely important.”

  He immediately responds, “Sure, hold on... she’s right here.”

  “Hello?” She sounds confused.

  “Theresa! Listen, I don’t want you to say anything other than the password to your phone and email. It’s more important than you’ll ever know and I’ll explain everything when I see you tonight, but until then I just need your phone password, and email password. And no matter what.... don’t check those accounts from any other source.”

  There is a momentary pause, but she gives up the information.

  “Thanks! I swear I’ll fill you in tonight. And Theresa... he sounds cute.” I hang up.

  My next call is to Dom.

  “Babe, where are you? The band is setting up and they need to know where you want the speakers,” he informs me. The event seems so trivial to me right now, as I concentrate on the mystery unfolding itself quite literally in my lap.

  “I need you to send a bogus company email from your account only to Theresa’s about a huge shipment tonight at the storage docks in Jersey. Make sure you mention that it is vulnerable due to the lack of insurance thresholds and it is critical that it be received in a timely manner. Add something about this being just the thing that can save ATH from falling in the red. Only Theresa though, don’t send the message to anyone else.”

  I hear rustling on the far end of the phone, and Dom grits through his teeth, “V, what is going on?”

  I shake my head to myself as cars whiz by, “I think I figured out how things have been getting leaked.”

  I hear anger in his voice now. “What’s this got to do with my sister?,” he’s obviously worried.

  I do the best I can to calm him without giving away too much, “Nothing that she’s aware of. Just please trust me and send it. Wait like ten minutes though, OK?”

  I hear the struggle in his voice. “I want you to tell me exactly what’s going on, V! What are you getting yourself into?!”

  I swallow hard,“Trust me, Dom. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

  I hang up the phone with no guarantee he’ll send his message, only hope that he’ll trust me like he asks me to trust him.

  Opening my trunk, I withdraw Theresa’s bag and wait for a safe break in oncoming traffic to wal
k over to my driver’s side door and enter my car. I use Theresa’s phone, typing in her six digit security code. The screen magically morphs into a picture of a beachside cabana and a crystal blue lagoon. I select the icon for her AOL email app and enter yet another security passcode.

  Once access is granted to her personal email account, I resist the urge to scroll through her private messages. I compose a new email to send to my own account under the guise that it’s in fact from Theresa, detailing how she feels guilty about not telling me about a secret relationship she had months back, and how she need to come clean even though she knows her brother will be upset with her. I type out that she will tell me all about this mystery boyfriend tonight at the event. I hit send.

  It’s done.

  There’s only one way to know for sure if my plan worked. We have to wait.

  ~*~

  I pull my car into the gravel drive of the vineyard. Almost all of the parking spaces are filled with delivery trucks and vendors unloading supplies. I maneuver around them and park at the far end of the staff lot, next to Dom’s car.

  I can see the large white party tent being erected on the back lawn, with dozens of workers buzzing about setting up tables, lights, and chairs. I check my watch, pleased to see there is still about four hours before guests will begin to arrive.

  “What the hell took you so long!” I whirl around to see Dom approaching.

  His tone caught the attention of several passers-by, probably likening it to a lovers quarrel. I smile self consciously at them.

  “Would you lower your voice, please?” I speak under my breath as Dom enters earshot.

  He grabs my arm, pulling me close, “You cannot call me and tell me those things and expect me not to worry, V. For all I know, you could be in some deep shit.”

  “I’m fine... I promise. Can we go somewhere to talk... I have a lot to tell you...”