He could quite literally incinerate her with his eyes if he stared any harder. He watched her prance around the dive with the easy confidence that came from years of doing this kind of job. The bartender looked like a vision with the neon light washing over her. She wore a long sleeve top and jeans that hugged her thighs like a lover. When she would usually have her hair up in a tight bun or ponytail, tonight she wore it down, waves of golden hair spilling over her shoulders, and down her back.
He met her for the first time in this very bar while out alone one night. He had been injured on a job and instead of going to get his wound treated, he walked into the little dive bar craving cheap booze to drown his thoughts. He had taken a seat at the very back and glanced down at the paper menu on the table in front of him.
He looked up and there she was. Green eyes stared back. She was the most beautiful woman Tobias had ever seen and his brain hadn't let him forget it. Her eyes were the color of leaves in spring, her hair was the golden color of the sky at sunset. How could he possibly forget when everything reminded him of her.
Wren Fallows— he heard someone call her once and it had stuck. It suited her well. It was pretty, just like her. Pretty doesn't last long in the world he lived in. It was a rough place where softness and vulnerability were all that was needed to have you chewed up and spat back out. A ray of sunshine like her wouldn't survive a day. Those were the words he told himself. And yet every other night he found himself right back where it all began. The root of his infatuation.
In the hour he had been there, she had glanced in his direction five times. Each of those times he forced himself to look away before their gazes could meet. He took a swig of his beer and tried not to grimace at how awful it tasted. The bar wasn't known for its good food or drinks but what it lacked in delicacies, it made up for in great customer service. Right at that very moment, Wren started talking, waving her arms theatrically as she spoke. Tobias strained his ears, but he couldn't hear anything that wasn't the loud chattering from the bar's patrons. Whatever Wren said had the customers closest to her tossing their heads back in laughter.
They were still yet to exchange words with one another that wasn't a drink order. Once again she looked in his direction, only this time when she did, Tobias didn't glance away.
Their gazes met.
Wren smiled. There were about twenty other people in the bar and yet something within Tobias knew that smile had been for him. A moment that was just for them. Each night he came, he fell deeper into the pit that was his infatuation with Wren Fallows and he couldn't bring himself to stop.
Heavy footfalls sounded behind him as he pushed open the bar's doors and walked out. Despite knowing he was being followed, Tobias kept his body relaxed, hands in his pocket while humming a tone from his childhood. The person behind was inching closer by the second. Tobias barely made it ten feet away from the dive bar before spinning around and pinning the person behind him against the rough concrete wall.
Tobias had one hand around his stalker's throat, the other one held his pistol which he pressed into the man's ribs. He wasn't surprised to see it was Dominic. He jammed the gun harder into Dominic's skin. Tobias didn't know why he didn't notice him inside.
Dominic managed to grin despite the threatening hold Tobias had him in.
" Is that how you greet a friend?" Dominic asked. He felt Tobias tighten his grip around his throat.
Tobias gritted his teeth. " What you are is a pest."
A second passed, two. Tobias shoved his gun back into its holster and pushed Dominic away.
Dominic's grin was still firmly in place.
" Is this where you run off to every night? I didn't know you fancied the taste of watered down rum and cheap liquor." There was a taunting lilt to his words. When he looked back at the place they stepped out of, he knew they both saw an old brick building with chipping paintwork and neon light spilling out everytime someone opened the door. " And you weren't here for the drinks, perhaps you were here for someone. From what I saw, you could barely take your eyes off the bartender."
" Stay out of my business." Tobias started walking, heading to where he could see his car parked. Each step took him further away from the dive, further away from her.
Dominic's smile was now impossibly wide. " Where is the fun in that?"
Tobias wasn't sure if he had ever seen Dominic this excited about anything.
" What's her name?"
" I don't know." Tobias snapped.
" Don't lie. I told you about Claudia, didn't I?" Dominic argued, still trailing after him.
" That doesn't make you entitled to anything." Tobias retorted.
Dominic halted suddenly. " You know I could just go back and ask her myself. I could do what you don't have the balls to. Talk to her like a decent human being and not stare at her from a distance for an hour like a fucking creep." He spoke loud enough for Tobias to hear every word.
Tobias stopped walking as well. He still had his back to Dominic as he spoke. " Do it. She isn't mine."
But he wanted her to be. He wanted her. Despite how hard he wanted to admit it to himself, he wouldn't. He wouldn't let himself be the reason someone as perfect as Wren got dragged into the hell that was his life.
***
Her father told her to be dressed and ready by twelve. Someone important was coming to the house, her father had said. He refused to tell her much else but it wasn't hard to read between the lines. Whatever her father planned for today had something to do with the agreement her father brokered with the Kanes.
By eleven o'clock, Claudia was already dressed. She fiddled with the hem of her dress as she paced the length of her bedroom. Back and forth then repeat. She almost wore a hole in the rug with how much she moved. There was a knock on her door by a quarter to twelve. Her steps halted. Her gaze was trained on the door but she didn't speak. She couldn't talk past the lump in her throat.
A minute later the knocking resumed. It was harder and louder this time.
" Claudia, I swear to God if you don't open the door this very second—" Aurelio said from the other side of the locked door. He twisted the doorknob. He wasn't gentle either. Claudia walked to the door and unlocked it before he actually broke it.
" Knock a little louder next time, I don't think our neighbors heard you well the first time." Claudia said. Her red painted lips widened into a smile when she spotted the scowl on his face.
" Father sent me to make sure you were actually doing what you were told." Aurelio said, clear disdain oozing from his tone.
Claudia's smile turned derisive. " Poor Aurelio, reduced to nothing more than an errand boy—"
His hand struck out and grabbed her throat. " Shut. Up. For once in your life, Claudia."
He glared at Claudia but her smile remained despite the pressure he was applying on her throat. Her smile taunted and mocked him. Pushing him to do his worst. Aurelio was just like their father and she had no respect for either of them.
He let go of her when they heard voices approaching. Three maids rushed past them. There were murmurs among the staff. A car had driven into the property. A man was downstairs. Claudia's anxiety rose with every word she heard. She looked at her brother, hoping to gleam anything from his expression but his face was devoid of all emotions. Just then she heard something else from the group of retreating staff.
Salvatore's son was here.
The thumping of her pulse became frantic. Dominic. Dominic was here.
Without a word, she left Aurelio and headed to the first floor. She descended the stairs one at a time until she got to the bottom. She covered the reminding distance to the living space where her father welcomed guests in long strides before coming to a complete halt. There she saw a man smiling and shaking hands with her father. But that man wasn't Dominic.
Her father turned and spotted her standing awkwardly in the corner. He smiled that same fake smile he reserved just for her whenever they were in the midst of outsiders.
Gabriele gestured for her to come closer and she obeyed. He put his arm around her shoulder.
She barely bristled. Her eyes were on the stranger in front of her. The anxiety she felt had been replaced with cold sinking dread.
" Lorenzo, this is my daughter Claudia. My absolute pride and joy." Gabriele said with mirth crinkling the corners of his eyes. But then his eyes met his daughter's and his expression hardened. " Claudia, this is Lorenzo Kane."
Her father's once gentle grip on her shoulders now felt as heavy as lead chains, its weight keeping her pinned and unable to move.
Dominic had an older brother who he occasionally spoke about. Lorenzo. Just like Salvatore, she had heard of him but never met nor spoken to him before.
Why was he here? What was happening? Where was Dominic?
" Lorenzo dropped everything and came all this way here just for you." Gabriele said.
Lorenzo was now staring intently at her. He smiled. " Anything for my future wife."