“You’re what?” Dalessandra and I said together.
Dominic placed a hand over mine, but his attention was on his mother.
“As of last night, Ally and I are in a relationship. You’re the first to know. Well, besides a Romanian woman who broke into Ally’s house.”
I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I was floating up toward the ceiling and looking down at this scene with a distinct feeling of what the fuck? I imagined people who were hit by buses felt the same kind of detached bemusement on their way off the mortal coil.
“You are not resigning,” I said a few decibels louder than I intended.
Brownie trotted into the room, Dominic’s underwear dangling out of his mouth.
“I am,” Dominic insisted. “Ally will stay on in her current position for whoever you appoint to take my place until Greta comes back. If Greta chooses to leave or retire, Ally can continue on in the position permanently. If Greta prefers to stay, I want you to find Ally a suitable placement with the salary she has currently.”
“You can’t just make decisions like that without consulting me,” I choked, valiantly trying to wrench my hand free of his so I could smack him upside the head.
“Or me,” Dalessandra agreed. She was handling it better than I was, slicing up a dainty portion of tomato and egg.
“You hard-headed, bossy, alpha—Brownie, put those down!” The dog shot me a guilty look and ran out of the room, underwear flapping. “This is not how a relationship works. You don’t just make all the decisions and expect me to happily go along with it!”
“Ally is absolutely correct,” she said, picking up her tea.
“This is the only way this works,” he insisted. “I’m not willing to put you through another scandal. Or drag Ally’s name through the mud.”
“A consensual relationship between two people who care very much for each other is not a scandal,” she said.
“It’s still fodder. There will be rumors. People will say things,” Dominic pointed out.
“Of course, they’ll say things,” I snapped. “You can’t control people’s reactions.”
They were both ignoring me, and I wondered if perhaps I really had ceased to exist. Maybe a bus had plowed through Dom’s townhouse, and I was the last to know.
“I do not accept your resignation,” Dalessandra told him.
“You’re not fucking firing Ally,” he said.
“Of course not,” she agreed.
“Can either of you two see me? Am I invisible?” I yanked my hand free from his grip, but Dominic grabbed my thigh under the table and held me in place.
“First of all. How serious are you? Is this just sex, or is it more serious?”
“Once again, this is a conversation that should be had with me first, not your mother or our boss.” I was screeching.
“We had the conversation. We’re together.”
“Darling, if you’re not willing to put up with a few bloviating windbags and their blind speculation, then I have to wonder just how serious you are about this relationship,” Dalessandra said.
“We’re serious enough. End of story,” he said calmly. “I’ll announce my resignation today.”
“No, you fucking won’t, you egotistical jackass,” I snapped.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Dalessandra insisted much more politely. “I suppose keeping this quiet is not an option?”
“There isn’t going to be a relationship to keep quiet about in a minute,” I said through clenched teeth.
It would be my shortest relationship on record.
“I’m not hiding this,” Dom said quietly. “I don’t think I could even if you asked me.”
Okay, coming from Dominic Russo, maybe that was kind of a swoony thing to say. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was real. These feelings felt real.
But still.
Dalessandra nodded. “Well, that settles that.”
I fought his hand off my thigh and stood. “Look, Russos. I am not a minion. I am a human person with feelings and opinions and decision-making capabilities.”
“Your decision-making capabilities have you living in a water-damaged icebox,” Dominic said.
Oh, if he wanted a fight, I was happy, thrilled, to wade in swinging. “Up until last night, your permanent stance was you didn’t want to have anything to do with me!”
“I am trying to save you both from another scandal,” he growled.
“I don’t need to be saved.” Dalessandra and I blinked at each other as the words came out of both our mouths in unison.
Dominic took a breath and let it out slowly. “I am offering a solution that puts all the problems to bed,” he argued.
Dalessandra spoke first. “That policy was designed to protect employees from predatory power plays and the workplace from disasters like your father left us with last year.” She shot me a look.
“What exactly do you suggest?” Dominic asked, annoyed.
“I suggest you disclose your relationship to human resources and the rest of Label’s senior management, myself included. Let us worry about how to deal with it.”
“I willingly ignored the fraternization policy. How do you think they’re going to deal with it? It’s grounds for termination for both of us. And Ally can’t afford to lose this job. If I leave, no one has to know why.”
“Everyone will know why,” I said, regaining my voice. “You think just because you didn’t confirm any rumors about Paul Russo that they just went away? This is the problem. Sweeping secrets under the rug doesn’t help anyone. The rumors are usually worse than the truth. People know about your father, and they’re going to find out about us.”
Dalessandra paled visibly.
“You think rumors are worse?” Dominic asked icily. “Are the rumors worse than my father locking an intern in a conference room and putting his hand up her skirt until she cried? She’s in therapy three years later because he thought he could take what he wanted. I read every affidavit, and believe me, the rumors don’t do the bastard justice.”
His pissed-off vulnerability snuck up on me and gripped my heart. I reached for him, intending to put my hand on his shoulder, but he rose. “I’m taking the dog out,” he snapped and disappeared out the back with Brownie, who was still carrying his underwear around like a trophy.
An awkward silence descended.
Dalessandra took her tea to the window that overlooked Dominic’s backyard. “He cares very much for you,” she mused.
I snorted.
“I hope you can see beyond his high-handed actions,” she continued. “There is no one in this world I would rather have on my side than my son. He’s fiercely loyal, protective.”
I’d seen both those sides of him.
“I hope you don’t see him trying to resign as him choosing me over you.” The bonds between parents and their children shouldn’t be so fragile.
She turned to face me, a smile playing on her lips. “Darling, I think this is the first time that Dominic chose himself. I’m ecstatic.”
I joined her at the window. “I don’t want him to have to walk away from Label. Not for me,” I told her.