“Almost three.” I stop in shock. “I wasn’t expecting it either. I’m usually up by one.” A shrug as he scans the long row of food places along the busy stretch of road. “I hate fast food, but Starbucks works for me. They serve breakfast all day and I need coffee. Okay?”
I nod, hungrier than I thought I was when I woke up. In less than ten minutes we’re back on the interstate.
His phone goes off with a text message. He checks it with an annoyed glance. He doesn’t try to respond, just sets it back in the center console.
Finished, I collect the trash and put it into the bag the food came in. As I do I see the file about Richard on the floorboard at my feet. It’s still where it had fallen when Dominic tossed it at me last night. I have no idea why I hesitate to pick it up.
Opening it, the pictures of the brutally beaten woman shock me even more than they did last night. It’s the second mug shot that sends anguish through me. I hadn’t seen it last night, but in the photo there is a scratch down Richard’s neck. The memory flares hot and bright of seeing him with the scratch. He blamed it on his niece—they were roughhousing, he explained when I asked him about it.
“This isn’t fake.” The words fall from numb lips.
“No.”
I throw it in the backseat with force, desperate not to have to see it again. Closing my eyes, I lean against the window. All those lies, no wonder Dominic thought I was an idiot. One after another, I see everything I ignored in my desperate need to believe Richard loved me, that someone loved me.
“He was good, with Benny at his side, I can understand why you fell for it.”
A bitter laugh is out before I can stop it. “Yeah, right. You were right. I was desperate for...”
I feel Dominic’s eyes on me but refuse to look his way. God, I just want to curl up and die. How stupid and foolish could any one person be?
“It happens, princess, to all of us. Everyone at one time or another trusts, believes in someone we shouldn’t. You learn from it and you move on.”
His words are so like the ones he spoke in the hotel room. “The person you trusted tried to kill you?”
“Yeah, and if I’d listened to the man who saved my life I would never have so much as walked away with a bruise. I was young and dumb, so sure I knew what I was doing. My scars are visible, yours aren’t. They will heal, eventually.”
“Can you please go back to being an asshole? It’s easier to deal with you that way.”
His laugh fills the car. “Give me a minute, I’m still finishing my coffee.”
I catch myself smiling at the sound, chest clenching at the sight of those dimples. Something tells me he doesn’t laugh much—his laughter has a tinge of rustiness to it. There are no deep smile or laugh lines on his gorgeous face. I try to remember the men talking about him, until I catch myself. Stop it, Regina. Lull him into thinking you’ve given up, but don’t you dare give up for real.
In the light of day, I study the car. “Why did you rent an old car like this?”
“I didn’t rent it. It was going to be a birthday present for Pop. After the shit he pulled I’m thinking I’ll keep it for myself.”
“Your father is the one behind this?”
“While I have no doubt it was Johnny’s idea, Pop could have shut him down.” He shakes his head. “Pop has been on me the last year or so about the marriage thing. My cousins one by one have gotten married over the last few years. They’re popping out kids left and right, and Pop is knee deep in it all and loving it.”
“Really?” I struggle to picture a man who went on a killing spree of six men in a week bouncing babies on his knee.
He sighs. “My grandfather was big into family, very involved and passed it on to his two kids. Pop always wanted a big family. For a long time it was just the two of us after Anthony died. He had a woman, then one day she was gone. It fucked with him.”
It’s clear his father’s pain also affected Dominic. They are clearly close.
“Che, my cousin, kind of saved him from drowning in misery. His woman was going through something, Che needed help from Pop on an issue. After Pop helped out the invitations kept coming. Pop saw how lonely Alicia was, recognizing it in himself, I think. At first it was an occasional visit during the day, he worked with her on her Italian. Then he was there a few times a week helping her with the baby. Now he’s Nonno and loving it.”
“How many cousins do you have?” I hate how wistfully the words come out of me.
“Three, all men, all billionaires. If you think I’m an asshole, wait until you meet them. It runs in the family.”
“Billionaires as in B?”
A nod. “B as in billion, the property game for Che and Dante and the market
for Enzo. They aren’t greedy bastards though, they put their money to good use. Enzo even went all Mr. Mom once his wife, Chloe, had their baby.”