Her eyes searched mine when I pulled back, questioning, perhaps trying to gauge how far I’d go. Honestly, I didn’t mind if she did push me.
“Mr. Benedetti,” the salesgirl said, her high heels clicking toward us.
I turned to her. She couldn’t be more than twenty.
“I’m Carla, and I’ll help your…” She searched our ring fingers and modified, “I understand you’re looking for an evening dress.”
I chuckled and kept one hand at Lucia’s back. “For Lucia. I’d look rather silly in an evening dress.”
The girl laughed nervously and looked Lucia over. “Size four?”
Lucia nodded.
“Any preference as to length or cut?” We followed her as she led the way to the designer dresses.
My phone rang. When I saw Natalie’s name displayed on the screen, I excused myself. Lucia raised her eyebrows but didn’t question. Marco followed me, and the other guard kept close to Lucia.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Salvatore. It’s Natalie. Is this a good time?”
“Yes, of course. Is everything all right?” She sounded tense.
“Dominic came by. He was here when I got home from work.”
Natalie didn’t trust Dominic. She had never liked him, and I’d seen Sergio have words with him. I never knew the details but suspected it had something to do with Natalie.
“What did he want?”
“He said he wanted to see his nephew. See how he’s doing, since I won’t take him to the house for visits.”
Why in hell did Dominic care about a baby? He never had before.
“Salvatore?”
“I’m listening. How long was he there?”
“Just ten minutes. I wouldn’t let him in. Talked to him on the front steps. What does he want, Salvatore?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll see him at my father’s birthday dinner. I’ll talk to him then. Do you feel safe? Do you want me to send someone over?”
“No, it’s okay. I just…seeing him again…it brought back so much.”
“I know.” I heard her sniffle. “I’m sorry, Natalie.” I heard Jacob fuss near the phone.
“It’s okay, it’ll be fine. He just surprised me. I’d better go get Jacob’s dinner.”
“I can come by myself if you want me to.”
“You have your hands full. Really, I’ll be fine. I feel better already, now that I’ve talked to you. It’s fine.”
“Let me at least send someone to keep an eye on the house.”
“No. I don’t want that for myself, and I don’t want it for Jacob. We’re out of this life. It’s what Sergio would have wanted for us.”
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see. The salesgirl came around the corner, looking frazzled until she spotted me. I turned my back to wrap up my call.
“Okay, but if you feel unsafe or need anything, you call me, understand?”
“Yes. I will, Salvatore. Thank you.”
We hung up, and I walked toward the girl, my mind going a thousand miles a minute, wondering what the hell Dominic was up to.
“She’s ready with the first one.” The girl sang out and pointed to the dressing room.
I followed her. It was a private room with a sofa and a long mirror with a curtain to separate the changing area. Once inside, the girl closed the door and disappeared behind the curtain.
“It’s too low,” Lucia complained.
“It looks amazing,” the girl retorted.
A moment later, she pulled the curtain aside, and my eyes about popped out of my head. There stood Lucia, her expression annoyed, her long dark hair falling in waves over her shoulders, a cream-colored dress wrapped around her petite frame. The material fell heavy to her feet, which I could see were wrapped in silver-and-gold, high-heeled sandals. They added three inches to her height. The dress was cut low so that the V dipped all the way down to the high belt around her waist. Gemstones circled her waistline and edged the V between her breasts, clinging to her, displaying their small, round mounds beautifully.
“I think the hair should go up,” the girl said, piling Lucia’s hair on top of her head and forcing her farther out so that she stood before the mirror, her back to me. “To display this gorgeous back.” The V of the neckline repeated on the back. “We’ll need to alter it slightly here,” she pointed out the pins at Lucia’s shoulders. “But it’ll be ready by tomorrow.”
“You look beautiful,” I said to Lucia.
Lucia’s eyes found mine in the mirror. She looked at herself once more as if not quite believing it was her. I wondered if this was her first time in a dress like this.
“It’s too…” she started, looking down at the V between her breasts.
“It’s perfect.” I stood and went to her, standing close behind her. Our eyes locked in the mirror. I took the clip out of her hair and let the mass tumble down her back. Lucia bit her lip and shuddered.
“Find us something more casual for tonight,” I said to the girl without taking my eyes off Lucia. “Take your time.”