Chương 5 - What Her Family Chose to Call Small

Raina did not tell anyone about the kiss.

She did not need to.

Marcus knew because he had eyes. Marisol knew because Leo smiled at his phone during inventory. Naomi knew because Leo answered a question about dinner with, “It was fine,” in the tone that had meant disaster or happiness since childhood.

Dominic knew because he had people whose profession was noticing things.

Three days after the fundraiser, Raina received an invitation to a DeLuca family dinner at her aunt Bianca’s house.

Attendance was not technically mandatory.

That was why the invitation ended with the words Everyone will be there.

Raina almost declined.

Then Martin called with preliminary audit findings.

“We have eleven businesses,” he said. “Possibly fourteen. Payments routed through three companies tied to Dominic. The amounts aren’t enormous individually.”

“Together?”

“Enough.”

“Can we prove coercion?”

“For four businesses, yes. Two owners kept messages. One has repair invoices after refusing payment. Another has a police report from a vandalism incident that was closed with no suspect.”

Raina looked out her office window.

“Send me everything.”

“Raina, there’s something else.”

She waited.

“One of the shell companies is partly owned by your aunt.”

Bianca.

The dinner suddenly made sense.

Raina arrived alone except for Marcus, who remained outside.

Bianca’s house overlooked the river and contained enough marble to make warmth feel like a design failure. Family portraits covered the hall. Raina’s father appeared in half of them, younger and harder than the man recovering quietly in Florida now.

Dominic stood near the bar with a glass of whiskey.

Bianca kissed Raina’s cheek.

“You’ve been busy.”

“So I hear.”

They sat ten minutes later.

Seven relatives.

Three senior business partners.

Dominic.

Raina.

No one mentioned the audit during appetizers.

That was almost impressive.

Bianca waited until the main course.

“I’m told you have been paying outside accountants to examine private family companies.”

Raina cut a piece of salmon.

“Yes.”

“Without discussing it with us.”

“I don’t require a committee vote to audit revenue attached to my organization.”

Dominic leaned back.

“There is that crown again.”

Raina ignored him.

Bianca dabbed her mouth with a napkin.

“The issue is not accounting. The issue is trust.”

“Good. Then let’s discuss why one of your companies received money from businesses threatened by Dominic’s collectors.”

The table went still.

Bianca’s hand stopped.

Dominic’s expression hardened.

A cousin near the end of the table whispered, “Raina.”

She did not look away from her aunt.

Bianca set down the napkin.

“Those companies provided security.”

“To businesses that became unsafe when they refused to pay.”

“Allegedly.”

“Documented.”

Dominic laughed once. “By the waiter?”

Raina turned her head.

There it was.

Bianca looked between them. “What waiter?”

“No one relevant to this conversation,” Raina said.

Dominic smiled.

“Leo Bennett. Belladonna.”

Raina’s eyes cooled.

Bianca’s brows lifted.

“The employee?”

“Yes,” Dominic said. “The one she’s been visiting three nights a week.”

“That is enough.”

“Is it?”

Raina’s voice dropped.

Dominic should have stopped.

Instead, he looked around the table and saw an audience.

“He tells her rich people are bad, and suddenly decades of business are immoral.”

Raina’s fork touched the plate with a small sound.

“Leo has never told me rich people are bad.”

“Then what does he tell you?”

“That no one should pay us to be protected from us.”

Silence.

One of the older men at the table looked down.

Dominic’s face darkened.

Bianca intervened.

“This is not about some restaurant employee.”

“Correct,” Raina said.

“Then stop allowing your personal life to affect family decisions.”

Raina looked at her aunt.

It would have been easy to say Leo did not matter.

Easy and useful.

The old version of her would have done it without hesitation.

Instead, she said, “My personal life is not the reason the audit exists. But since you brought him into this, I will not pretend he is beneath discussion because he waits tables.”

Bianca stared.

“You are the head of this family.”

“Yes.”

“You cannot attach yourself to anyone you please and expect the consequences to disappear.”

Raina almost smiled.

“That is exactly what he keeps telling me.”

Dominic pushed back his chair.

“This is absurd.”

“No,” Raina said. “What is absurd is that you think I’m investigating because a man embarrassed you by having principles.”

“He knows nothing about our world.”

“Maybe that is why he sees it clearly.”

Dominic stood.

“You want to dismantle everything your father built?”

“No. I want to know which parts require frightened shop owners to fund them.”

“And if they do?”

“I dismantle those.”

For the first time, several people at the table understood she meant it.

Dinner ended shortly afterward.

Raina left without dessert.

She did not go to Belladonna.

Not because she was ashamed.

Because for one ugly second during dinner, when Bianca had said employee, Raina had felt the room waiting to see whether she would defend Leo.

And she had hated that she had needed even half a breath before answering.

Leo noticed her absence.

Tuesday became Wednesday.

Wednesday became Thursday.

He did not call.

That was partly pride.

Mostly fear.

Their worlds had become easier to forget inside Belladonna. Outside it, he had no idea where he fit.

On Friday, Naomi cornered him outside the restaurant.

“You’re sulking.”

“I’m going to work.”

“You’re aggressively going to work.”

“That is not a thing.”

“It is with you.”

Leo opened the back door.

Naomi followed.

“Did she do something?”

“No.”

“Did you?”

“No.”

“Then why do you look like Dad when the Orioles lose?”

“Go study.”

Naomi crossed her arms.

Leo gave up.

“Her family knows.”

“About you?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And nothing.”

“Nothing bad?”

“I don’t know.”

Naomi’s face softened.

“Oh.”

“What?”

“You’re waiting for her to decide whether you embarrass her.”

Leo looked away.

His sister knew him too well.

Before he could answer, Marisol called from the kitchen.

A supplier had refused delivery.

Not delayed.

Refused.

The seafood distributor claimed Belladonna’s account was under review.

The produce company called twenty minutes later with the same explanation.

Then the linen service.

Leo stood in the office with three invoices in his hand.

“This is Dominic,” he said.

Marisol’s face tightened. “Call Raina.”

“No.”

“Leo.”

“If I call her, what happens? She makes three calls, everyone apologizes, and we prove exactly what her family thinks this is.”

“What do you suggest?”

He looked at the delivery schedule.

“We find other suppliers.”

“With dinner service in four hours?”

“Yes.”

Marisol stared at him.

Then she grabbed her phone.

For the next two hours, the staff worked every contact they had.

Priya called a cousin who managed a hotel kitchen.

Tomas knew a wholesale produce warehouse.

Marisol called a fishmonger she had trained with years earlier.

Leo drove his dented Honda across the city and returned with boxes of vegetables in the back seat and thirty pounds of seafood packed in ice.

At five-thirty, Belladonna opened.

The menu was shorter.

No one complained.

At six-fifteen, Raina walked in.

She saw the handwritten substitutions on the host stand, the unfamiliar produce boxes near the kitchen, and Leo carrying a crate.

Her expression changed.

“What happened?”

“Supplier issue.”

“What kind?”

“The coordinated kind.”

Raina became very still.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because we handled it.”

“That is not the point.”

“It is to me.”

Marisol appeared behind him.

“Before you two begin whatever this is, dinner service exists.”

Raina looked at Leo.

He looked back.

“After closing,” she said.

“No orders.”

“Request.”

“Fine.”

She ate at the bar.

At eleven-forty, they stepped outside.

The street was dry and cold.

Raina told him about the family dinner.

All of it.

Including the pause.

Leo said nothing for several seconds.

“Thank you for telling me.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“It’s not.”

“You’re angry.”

“A little.”

“At me?”

“A little.”

Raina accepted that.

Leo shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

“I don’t need you to win an argument about me.”

“I know.”

“I need to know you don’t secretly think they’re right.”

Raina looked at him.

“I don’t.”

“You hesitated.”

“Yes.”

The answer hurt more because it was honest.

“Why?”

“Because I have spent my whole life measuring people by whether they can survive my world. I hate that I did it to you even for a second.”

Leo’s jaw tightened.

Raina continued.

“I am not ashamed of your work. I am ashamed that part of me still understands the language they were speaking.”

That was not the answer he expected.

It was worse and better.

Behind them, Belladonna’s lights dimmed as Marisol closed the dining room.

Leo looked through the glass.

“We lost our suppliers today.”

“I know.”

“You can fix that in ten minutes.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t want you to.”

Raina frowned.

“We found replacements. They cost more. We’ll negotiate tomorrow.”

“You want me to do nothing?”

“No. I want you to deal with the person who caused it. Not erase every consequence before we learn whether we can stand without you.”

Raina looked down at her hands.

Then at him.

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Do you want me to argue?”

“A little. It’s unsettling when you agree.”

She almost smiled.

Then he stepped closer.

“I’m still angry.”

“I know.”

“I still want to kiss you.”

Raina’s breath changed.

“That seems inefficient.”

“I contain contradictions.”

“So do I.”

He kissed her.

Not carefully this time.

For several seconds, the family dinner, the suppliers, Dominic, and every difference between them disappeared.

Then Leo pulled back.

“They’ll come after the restaurant again.”

“Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

Raina looked at Belladonna.

“Something they cannot mistake for affection.”

The next morning, she called an emergency meeting of every company under the DeLuca umbrella.

Not to defend Leo.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

To put the entire organization on notice that extortion conducted under her family’s name was ending.

Whatever it cost her.