“I came to see my son and check that he has actually been doing his duty, but I can see you’re doing nothing more than playing the fool.”
It was like the temperature had been sucked down a million degrees below zero.Clarissa didn’t have a good relationship with her own parents.It was just as strained, if not more so.
“You do not have time for these games.You have a responsibility.It is your duty to provide an heir—a male heir—to carry on the Vitale name, and instead I catch you—”
“You do not need to be here, berating me in my house,” Lorenzo said.“How I behave and conduct myself behind these walls is none of your concern.”
Clarissa put her hands over her ears and tried to drown it out.The arguing continued.
“I suggest you get the fuck out of my house.”
“Do you think you can talk to me that way?”his father asked.
The anger was so clear.Even through the muffled sounds, she heard it.This had turned nasty.
“Yeah, I think I can, seeing as I’m where I am, not because I’m your son, but because I’ve earned it.Get the fuck out of my house, and the next time you enter my property, uninvited, I’ll have you shot on sight.Make sure you get an invitation first.”
She heard the sound of a door slamming.Clarissa lowered her hands and couldn’t believe how much she was shaking.
Seconds later, Lorenzo entered the room, and he went to her.“You don’t have to worry.He’s gone.”
“You have a duty?”she asked.
Lorenzo sighed.“You don’t have to think about that.It means nothing and it is exactly that, nothing.”
“But it’s not nothing.”
“Every man has a duty in the Colombo Mafia, Clarissa.We all have to provide heirs.The next in line for our name.It’s no different for Diego, Giovanni, and Emilio.We’ve all got to do it.”
“I’m the failure because I haven’t given you a child.”
He cupped her face.“You’re not a failure.Neither of us are, do you know what I’m doing?”he asked.
She frowned.“I don’t understand.”
“The shopping trip, the fair, the dance-off, hanging out with you.”
She shook her head.
“I’m dating you.I’m getting to know who you are and I’m hoping you’re getting to know me.We’re going to be married for a long time and I don’t want you hating me.I don’t want us to go through that again.”
“That?”
“The shit I said.I didn’t know what you’d been through or what was going on.I had no idea you didn’t know what to do, that you were just doing what you were told to do, by lying there and taking it.It doesn’t have to be like that between us.”He put her hands against his chest.“I want you to trust me, Clarissa, and to know I am always here and I always have your back, no matter what.”
Tears filled her eyes, because he looked so genuine.
“Do you want to be a dad?”she asked.
“I do.Even though the very thought of it fucking terrifies me.Look what I’ve got for an example.He will not be winning many awards for this, trust me.”
She smiled.“Other than my grandmother, I don’t have any idea either.”
“So, what you’re saying is we’re both fucked.”
She couldn’t help but burst out laughing.“I don’t think it is quite as bad as that, but it’s pretty close.”
They both laughed.
