I look up from the kiss, just in time to see my dad come charging into the living room from the foyer, where he must’ve watched the proposal. “If you think I'm going to let you marry this criminal, I’m here to tell you right now, it will be over my dead body.”
30
VICTOR
Victor had gone back and forth with himself about inviting Dawn's father to this party. No matter his resolution with Dawn, this man is his enemy. Someone who would have been tortured to death for his actions against his father by now if his daughter were any other person.
But in the end, Victor told himself this was the ultimate test. He wanted to start a family with Dawn. So, he would have to accept the man who had taken down his father into his house. There was no way around it.
He hoped this gesture of goodwill would give Dawn that much more reason to believe he was serious when he talked about how committed he was to their future.
And it worked. She said yes to his marriage proposal. But then…
“If you think I'm going to let you marry this criminal, I’m here to tell you right now, it will be over my dead body,” Darrell growls after charging into the living room.
Victor stands there, frozen. He has no handcuffs preventing him from communicating with Dawn. Yet, this is the penthouse all over again.
For one glorious moment, he believes he has it all. But then this man barges in to ruin everything. Again.
“Dad, come on. Don't do this,” Byron says, jogging into the living room after him.
Dawn's mother also comes forward. “Darrell, you're making a scene!”
“I'm making a scene?” Dawn’s father repeats, his voice both insulted and incredulous. “An international criminal just proposed to our daughter. Luca Ferraro, the head of the East Coast’s most notorious crime family, just introduced his ass with a dance. And all of you are standing around clapping like she's a princess in a goddamn fairytale.”
Her dad turns on Dawn. “And you! What part of you thought I could ever be okay with this when you said yes?”
Dawn glances at Victor, then back to her father. She has the same expression on her face as she did back in the Roppongi apartment. Scared and confused.
“Dad, you're right…” Dawn says, holding out both hands in a placating position.
Disappointment crushes Victor like a boulder dropping down on him.
He’s losing her. He is one of the most powerful men on the East Coast. But he is losing the woman he loves again. And he doesn’t know what to do about it.
“Damn straight, I’m right,” her father said. “That’s why I knew I had to come to this mess even though I didn't want to. Just to make sure he didn’t pull any shit like this. Let's get out of here. Since your brother is so fond of embedding you with known criminals, Doll and me are taking you home with us.”
He takes Dawn by the arm.
And it's all Victor can do, to stand steady. To keep his promise to always let her make her own choices.
Even if it's not him.
But before her father can drag her out, Dawn snatches back her arm and says, “You’re right. I wasn't thinking about you when I said yes. I was only thinking about Victor. The man I love. The man who continues to love me back even though my father destroyed his life and used me as a pawn to make that devastation happen.”
For a moment, all sound disappears inside Victor’s head. There’s only a voice, his voice, shouting in Cantonese: She chose you this time, it’s saying. She’s choosing you over her father.
Victor squeezes his eyes close. Just to make sure he’s not dreaming.
But no, when he opens his eyes again, there Dawn is, still glaring up at her father. And defending him. “Maybe he's a criminal. Maybe his friends are too. But at least they have honor. At least they've never abandoned me or used their children to help them win a case.”
Dawn takes a step back from the man who’s once again trying to direct her life. “And that's what I was when you planted that camera on me, Dad. A child. That's what Byron was when you probably did the same thing to him and Jake Nakamura.”
Byron shakes his head, looks at their dad. “Wait, you didn't…you didn't put a camera in my jacket too, did you?”
Their father grits his jaw, giving his son all the answers he needs.
“Fuck, dad. Seriously?” Byron asks.
“Yes, seriously! If I was going to have a son who was a fag, then I figured I might as well get something out of it!” Darrell answers before asking the rest of the room, “How am I the bad guy here? I took down two international crime families. I'm a hero. The rest of you should be ashamed.”