Choices We Make: The Moretti Brothers Series (21 page)

“And I can’t believe you neglected to tell me who you really were.” 

“It was not necessary to disclose that kind of information to someone I just met,”

“You mean someone you were looking at as an easy lay.” She spat.

Dominic was furious,  “How is that any different from you trying to go behind my back, then trying to pull my brother into your bullshit.” He whispered not wanting to upset the babies.

“You are such an ass.  What’s wrong with helping the man I….” she stopped midsentence.  He looked at her confused

“The man you what?”  She wanted to say the man I loved. 

“The man I have children with.  Why can’t I help the father of my children?” Dominic looked at her strangely but did not respond.  She looked at him feeling frustrated.  No more words spoken as they continued to feed the babies. 

*****

A few weeks later the entire, family including Jackie and Kevin, who have been inseparable since Kevin confessed his feelings to her, were at Dominic’s house, helping Victoria move into her new home.  Victoria had hired movers to pack and clear out her condo.  She loved being with the entire family and used any excuse to have all of them come together.  In her perfect world she and Dominic would be planning their wedding, but because of their frivolous argument, they were barely speaking. 

Victoria purchased her home with not only her babies in mind but she also included Dominic in the equation.  They were not a couple but she knew he would be spending many nights there and she wanted him to be comfortable.  Victoria fell in love the house the moment she saw it.  It was a beautiful stone and stucco Colonial home.  It had seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms.  It was equipped with two offices, a game room, a family room and a detached in-law suite that had its own private entrance and garage.  The entryway to the house was spectacular with vaulted ceilings and the spiral staircase added to the beauty of the entrance.  She was particularly excited about the formal dining room; it was massive.  She ordered a custom designed table that could sit sixteen.  She could imagine large family gatherings for years to come.  She made sure that Dominic had his own bedroom that was next to the nursery.  She master suite was on the other side of the nursery.   

Dominic reluctantly helped even though he was in a foul mood the entire day.  That evening everyone gathered in the family room, eating pizza.  Monica, Francesca and Francesco sat on the sofa and Rafael, Marco and Dominic stood talking.  Jackie and Kevin sat on the love seat in their own world.  Victoria looked at the two of them and wished she had what they had; they were clearly in love with each other.  She entered the room with two pitchers of drinks.  Dominic looked up and was at her side to help her.  “Thanks.” Victoria said with a smile, barely looking at him.  He nodded in response.  Fran looked up from the sofa “Vic this house is incredible.  So how rich are you?” Dominic shot her a glaring look as Marco and Rafael said, “Fran shut up!” in unison.  Everyone looked at her and roared with laughter.  She just shrugged her shoulders and continued to eat her pizza. 

With everything in place and everyone relaxing from a full day of moving Victoria stepped out on the patio connected to the family room.  The sun had just gone down and the view was amazing.  Rafael walked out and joined her.  She looked over surprised to see him; while they were getting along, they didn’t have many private conversations.  “Your home is beautiful Victoria.” He said looking out at the view. 

“Thanks Rafael.”  She looked over at him as he looked out at the landscape.  “How are you, I mean with the divorce?” 

He looked at her “I don’t know, I guess fine as far as divorces go.  That bitc…” he paused not wanting to be disrespectful.  “I’m sorry, the woman is not fighting me on the divorce or custody of our beautiful children, in fact for the right price she is even willing to give up parental rights.” 

She could hear the hurt in his voice.  “I’m sorry Rafael.” 

“I’ll pay her off because my kids deserve better.  It will be worth the price to be rid of her for good.”  Victoria didn’t know what to say, she could never imagine not being in her babies lives.  “Enough of the heavy talk,” Rafael said as he inhaled deeply,  “I just wanted to let you know that I am happy that you are a part of our family and thank you for my beautiful nieces and nephew.  I know we didn’t start off on the right foot because I was in a bad place at that time and….” 

“Hey, no need to explain, that’s in the past.  We’re family now and if you need my help in any way just let me know.” 

“I’ve got it handled, but thanks.  I’m heading out if you don’t need help with anything else.” 

“Thanks, I think everything is done.”  She gave him a hug and whispered “time is a wonderful healer.” He gave her a faint smile as he parted.  Shortly after, everyone else left, leaving Fran, Dominic and Victoria.  Dominic and Victoria both walked her to the door as she hooked her arm into Victoria’s “Your house is beautiful sis, when I come back you can show me my room.” she teased as she hugged them both and she left. 

They walked up the steps together. “So how do you like your room?”  She asked hoping he was pleased.

“The room, the office, it’s too much.  You didn’t need to designate that much space for me.” 

She sighed deeply in frustration.  “You just don’t get it do you?  It’s not about the space, it’s about you, I know that you will spend a lot of time here and I want you to be comfortable.”  She walked ahead of him towards her room. 

Dominic reached out and grabbed her arm gently and pulled her into an embrace “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, thank you.” he said as he kissed her on her forehead.  Having her that close to him brought all of his feeling and emotions to the forefront.  He released her because he could feel dick getting hard.  He turned on his heels and headed towards his room.  Victoria sighed as she walked towards her room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

One month after moving into her home, the nanny and housekeeper was in place, and thanks to the help of Annette, Victoria was ready to go back to work. The babies were three months and growing beautifully. Victoria had hired a personal trainer and she was almost at pre-baby weight.  Dominic was over every evening to help with the babies sometimes staying over night when it got too late.   Victoria was back into the swing of things at work but refused to work the same long hours. 

*****

“Ms. Hart, Mr. Dylan is here to see you.”  Victoria looked at her schedule “He’s not on my schedule, am I missing something Liz?”  “No Ms. Hart, he actually showed up unannounced.”  Victoria sighed loudly she was not in the mood for his bullshit today.  She thought when she passed him off to one of the vice presidents that would put an end to their meetings.  “Liz give me a few minutes then send him in.” 

Liz escorted him in.  “First you return my gifts then you don’t tell me you are back at work.  I thought we meant more to each other then that.” 

“Good morning to you too, Mr. Dylan.” 

“Please Victoria I’ve asked you several times to call me Mark.”  He said as he walked over and kissed her on the cheek, which caught her totally off guard.  She backed away choosing not to address the gesture.  

“So what can I do for you Mark?” 

“I was wondering when we will begin our weekly meetings again?” 

“I am unable to make that kind of commitment since my babies were born, but I trust the VP I assigned to your account is satisfactory.” 

“I don’t want to talk to your VP.  My family pays your company a lot of money to make sure we are attended to. Now I’ve been patient through your whole pregnancy thing.”  He said harshly as he waved his hand dismissively and he moved close to her.  “If you don’t want my business, just say so, I’m sure there are many other firms who would love to have our business.”  Victoria stepped back and moved towards her desk and sat down, she needed to calm down before she spoke.  “Mark please have a sit, I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.”  She gestured with her hand for him to sit down.  He moved towards the seat with a smug look on his face, he watched a smiling Victoria as she went into her desk draw and pulled out a file.  “I’ve reviewed your company’s file and since your family’s company has come on board with us, your profits have almost doubled.  We have put new innovations into place, to make sure that you continue to be profitable.  But it your telling me that you would like to discontinue our services, we can accommodate you.”  She gave him another smile that didn’t reach her eyes.  “However, we will to force to pull all of our resources that are currently in place with your company, because as you know, they are exclusive to Bouvier and Hart.  Now while I appreciate your business and would love to continue our working relationship, I don’t have time to stroke your ego and hold your hand.  If you are looking for a baby sitter, maybe I can suggest the company that is working with my babies.” 

Victoria continued to smile but she was furious.  She had received reports that this little prick has been disrespecting her staff and has been very difficult to work with since she had been off.  Mark’s facial expression went from smug to angry.  “How dare you speak…” She cut him off  “How dare you!  I will not have you disrespecting and barking orders to my staff and coming here without an appointment. Now you’re a very important client of ours, but you are not our only client.  He stood and leaned into her desk. “Watch how you speak to me Victoria, my family has many friends and one word from me and you won’t have many clients left.  Now, we will continue our weekly meetings or we will pull our business and recommend that our friends to do the same, your choice.”  His smug look returned.  She stood and walked around to the front of her desk and sat on it staring directly at him.  She reached back and dialed her assistant “Liz can you asked Russ and Mike to come to my office immediately, I think we may need to renegotiate our contract with Mr. Dyl… uhh… Mark?” she corrected herself as she smiled at him. 

Mark relaxed as he sat back in his seat, feeling victorious.  His thoughts instantly went to a naked Victoria beneath him, screaming his name is pleasure.  He would eventually bed this woman and she would succumb to him as easily in bed as she just did in business.  He smiled to himself.  Her voice interrupted his thoughts. 

“Once my associates are here…” she heard a knock at the door.   “Aww, they’re here.”  She opened the door to reveal the same two bury security guards he had seen when the father of her children showed up.  He jumped from his seat surprised and a little frightened. “What you’re NOT going to do is come into my office and threaten me or my staff.  Consider your contract cancelled with our company.  Now these two gentlemen will show you to the door.  She moved really close to her almost whispering.  “And if I hear one disparaging thing about my company, I will make sure your father knows how you have been paying for some of those expensive cars you have been collecting and I’m sure the IRS would love to hear how you handle your side businesses.  I’ve done my research on you Mr. Dylan and you are not a very honest man.”  She spoke louder, “Now I’m sorry we can’t continue our working relationship but I am sure that you understand that our working relationship is no longer beneficial to either of us and the best thing to do at this point, is sever all ties.  I will inform your father and brothers of our philosophical and business differences and send your files back to your company.  Have a nice day Mr. Dylan.” 

Victoria nodded to the guards and they happily grabbed him by the arms to escort him out. 

“You bitch, you can’t do this!” 

“I can and have.  Take care of yourself Mr. Dylan.” 

“You black bitch, you will pay for this!”  He yelled as he was being escorted out. 

Jackie came running from her office when she heard the commotion.  “What the hell is going on?” 

“Come in my office Jackie.”  Victoria looked around and saw that most of the staff was looking. 

“Everyone back to work, the excitement is over,” she said before spinning on her heels and returning to her office with Jacqueline in tow. 

“Victoria, what was that about?”  Jacqueline said looking despondent. 

“I have had enough of that little prick.” 

Jackie sat, “Vic, you know that was one of our biggest clients.”  She stared at Victoria then smiled. “With that being said, I was wondering who was going to throw him out first you or me.”  She said as both women looked at each other and began to laugh.  Jackie’s expression turned serious.  “We now have to work on damage control.  We don’t want it getting out that we can’t handle prima-donna clients.” 

“Jackie, he went well beyond prima-donna, he was more like Attila-the-Hun.  I couldn’t let him set a precedent that you can come in here and treat our staff any way and get away with it. We would lose the respect of our staff, not to mention that it would get around that we are willing to do anything to get and keep clients; we have worked too hard to let that happen.  So if we have to take a hit on losing this client, so be it.”  Jackie looked at her best friend and knew she was right.  They were a female run company, in a male dominated industry, and they could not afford to be seen as weak. 

“You’re right, so how do we handle damage control?” 

“I know exactly how we handle it.  We can talk about it over lunch; right now I’m late for another meeting.  I’ll call you when I’m done.” Victoria said as she grabbed a file and walked out the door.             

*****

After a stressful day, Victoria just wanted to go home and hold her babies.  She thought about Dominic and hoped that he would be there when she got home.  She often pretended that they were one big happy family, even though she knew Dominic didn’t love her and lately seemed to be avoiding her.  When she got home she headed straight for the nursery.  She stopped before walking through the door when she heard jazz music playing softly in the room.  “Dominic” she whispered.  She knew he loved jazz music and would turn it on low when he was in with the babies.  She stood in the doorway and saw him sitting in the rocking chair, holding his two baby girls.  She continued to be in awe of how gentle he was with them.  He was a natural at it, always jumping right in with feedings and change diapers.  “Hi Nick,” she said as she walked over to the crib to see her son staring up at her smiling.  She picked him up, held him close to her chest and inhaled deeply, the smell of her babies always made her feel better. 

Dominic looked at her and could see the stress in her face. “You had a bad day too I see.” he said as he smiled at her.  He followed her with his eyes as she sat in the other rocking chair.  She was glad that she had been pumping milk for the babies, it gave Nick the opportunity to feed the babies even if she wasn’t there and other family members could also get a chance to feed the babies.

“Yeah you can say that.  You know the client whose expensive cribs we sent back?” 

“Yeah, the creepy one.” 

“Well, he thought he could come to our office and bully me into entertaining his weekly meetings again, while he continued to disrespect our staff.” 

Dominic’s entire body tensed up. “What do you mean bully?  What did he do?” 

She looked at him and could see the tension in his face.  “Relax Nick, nobody assaulted your babies mother.” She said with a smile.  “But he did say some pretty disgusting things; Mike and Russ threw him out on his ass.  Our company has severed ties with the Dylan Corporation, so that’s the last I’ll be seeing of him.” 

“I don’t trust him, there is something not right about that man.  I noticed it the first time I saw him; the way he looked at you, how he held on to your hand longer than he should have.” Dominic thought back to that day when he came to her office to confront her about the pregnancy.  He wanted to smash his face in, just for the way he was looking at her, not to mention holding her hand so long that she had to pull away from him. 

“Nick you remember all that?” 

“I remember everything when it concerns someone I care about.”  Victoria blushed at she looked down at her son who began to squirm.  She pulled out her left breast and began to nurse him.  He looked at her as she nursed his son and felt the most indescribable love and affection for her. 

She looked at Dominic “What?”  She said questioning the strange look he was giving her. 

“Nothing, I’m just thankful for you and my babies.” 

“Ohh.”  She was hoping for a confession of love but that was wishful thinking.

“Did the girls already eat?” she asked wanting to think about something else. 

“Yes, I fed Gabriella and just as she was finishing, Isabella woke up and I fed her too.”  He said with such pride.  She could tell that he loved his babies so much that he would give his life for them.  Victoria looked down at her son and he was sound asleep.  They placed all three sleeping babies in their cribs and quietly walked out the room.  

“Are you hungry?  There’s some leftover pasta that your mom made.”  She said hoping he would stay, she really missed being around him and talking to him.

“No I have to get home.  I’ll call you later.”  He said without looking back as he walked down the stairs and out the door. 

“Okay that went well.”  She decided to skip dinner and get a shower instead. 

*****

Over the next few weeks Victoria and Jackie worked to spin the public relations nightmare in their favor, after their abrupt split with the Dylan Corporation.  The father and other sons tried, to no avail, to renegotiate their contract with Bouvier and Hart, but they could not be seen as weak.  Even when they offered an extreme amount of money to reconsider their decision, Victoria stood firm.  Potential clients needed to know that while their company would give one hundred and ten percent for their clients, they would never comprise their values and core beliefs and absolutely never tolerate disrespect.  Jackie walked into Victoria’s office with Chinese food.  “Break time, you have spent enough time on damage control for today.  Victoria looked up from the papers she was reviewing.

“Hummm, that smells good. You are right on time, I’m starving.”  She walked over to the table in the corner of her office to join Jackie.

“So how is everything going sweetie.”

“I think we’re good.  We managed to put out all the fires that resulted from severing ties with the Dylan Corporation and I think we’re back on track.”

“I don’t mean with the business, I mean your personal life, how are you and Dominic?”

“What are you talking about Jackie, there is no me and Dominic, we are raising our children together, that’s it.”

Jackie looked at her and rolled her eyes.  “Don’t you think this has gone on long enough?”

“What has gone on long enough?  What are you talking about Jackie?” Victoria said frustrated.

“Ohh come on Vic, anyone with limited sight can see that you two love each other, so what’s the problem?”

Victoria looked at her best friend and knew she needed to confide in her.  “Jackie, I don’t know what to do.  I forced him into my life by the choices I made.  I don’t want to complicate his life further by telling him how I feel.  He just ended his relationship with Anna, and who’s to say that they won’t be back together next week.  Our relationship as parents is already stressed enough; I don’t want to make it worse.”

“Do you love him?”