Tainted Hearts

14 | Caution

✧

CLAUDIA

Outside, people ran in all directions. Claudia moved quietly while watching Dominic's guards fire back. She saw man after man fall. It wasn't the men who worked for him, either. It looked like it was the shooter. Of course, it's possible she was wrong.

"What's happening? Does this have anything to do with you?"

Once they climbed into the car, Dominic stepped on the gas without saying a word. Claudia looked back before buckling her seat belt and watched the activity fade away.

"Yeah, this happened because of me," he answered. "This is just my everyday life, Dia. It's something I had to learn to live with."

He had to learn to live with this.

It was a simple way to explain what was almost killing them. Claudia recognized how dangerous things were for her instantly. Never before had she been so close to being shot at. She still wore the lovely ring he gave her. Something about it made her feel like she was in paradise.

"There was nothing to worry about. It's over, so you can breathe now."

"Dom, I have to worry about bullets coming at me," she said. "That was terrifying."

"I know. That's how my enemies take me by surprise," Dominic explained as he turned a corner. "You shouldn't have been there. I'm sorry."

The way Claudia's neck snapped toward him was almost like a turtle snapping. "You wouldn't be able to stop a bullet from getting to me. Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this with you."

"Do you mean signing my contract, or are you talking about being more with me?" Dominic kept looking out the front window.

Claudia became quiet, and she reasoned that was enough for an answer.

Things got more serious the moment they got home. For a while, neither of them said a word to each other. Dominic was the one to break the peace after twenty minutes, which was a surprise.

He entered the bedroom with a frustrated expression on his face. "Claudia, I don't want you to worry. Really. Not often does what happened today occur. From what my men told me, it was just a lowlife trying to make a name for himself who saw me leaving the store. No civilians were hurt, and my men took down the person who was shooting at us."

"It was a bloodbath."

"Yeah. This kind of scene is something I have dealt with before. Particularly after funerals, people tend to linger in a cemetery."

She avoided looking at him for a moment because it was too complex. "Could this happen again? I was just picking out a ring with you when suddenly shots started flying toward my head."

Dominic's eyes fell to the floor. He was speechless. Then he said, "This is not what I had planned for my life. If I could get out of being in the Mafia, I would, but I can't. Not now. When I saw those shots coming toward us, I didn't think once about myself. I could think of only one person. No one else."

This time, Claudia looked him straight in the eyes.

"I thought about you, Dia. I immediately wanted to keep you safe. I was afraid something bad would happen to you."

He was so sincere that it moved her. It put an end to the fury she'd been feeling inside. Not even actual animosity. It was something else that added to her anxiety. "All right. Maybe we should move on from this. Not focus on it anymore."