REESE

chapter fifty two.

"My father would have loved you."

Jonathon's gaze snapped to Alexander. The Italian Don was leaning back in his seat, an amused smile sprawled out on his face. Unlike the other Dons at the table, there was no alcohol in his hands, just a glass of water he sipped on occasionally.

Another product of the past, Jonathon connected wordlessly. The Italian Don had recently stopped drinking, his youngest brother doing enough for the both of them and then some.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Jonathon asked, even though his heart already knew the answer.

"A great thing." Alexander chuckled. "Consider it a compliment of the highest regard. It's the best and only compliment you're ever going to get out of me, Vanderbilt." He teased. "Relish it."

Jonathon rolled his eyes, his lips twitching into an annoyed smile. At the sight of that very smile, everyone let out a collective breath of relief at the somewhat restored mood. Then, as if a brief moment of conflict never arose, their poker game resumed once more. At least until, the Donnas decided to join them.

"God Jonny, what the hell did you do to that woman?"

Jonathon let out a sour laugh. "Which one?" He drawled. "I need specifics. I tend to piss off a lot of the opposite gender these days."

Sydney raised her eyebrows in interest. "She's talking about Evangeline. What other girl have you pissed off?"

"Reese." Xavier was more than happy to indulge his wife with an answer. Uncaring that he was in turn throwing his friend under the bus, he smirked at Jonathon. "He got into a fight with Ree."

Sydney's eyes narrowed. "What have you done to my baby now?"

The American Don scoffed in incredulity. "Reese is my baby, get your own daughter. And I didn't do anything."

"He just yelled at her for passing out, then he yelled at her for not telling him about Carver." Vincent chimed in. "Then he yelled at her some more for killing Denis Baudelaire."

Sydney blinked, her mouth falling open in surprise. Then, faster than anyone could react, she shoved her hand into her husband's drink, grabbed the ice inside and hurled the cubes at Jonathon's head.

Cursing, Jonathon dove to the side in order to avoid the assault. "What the hell, Syd?!" He hissed, wiping away the water from the ice cubes he hadn't managed to dodge. "What are you doing?!"

"Trying to get your head out of your ass." The Spanish Donna shot back. "What the hell has been your problem lately? You've been an angry, miserable, hateful human for weeks. Why are you so dead set on pissing everyone off and consequently pushing everyone away?"

"I haven't been hateful." Jonathon huffed, throwing back his drink. "That's just rude."

Sydney shook her head in disbelief. "That's the part you chose to fixate on? What's wrong with you?"

"Everything!" Jonathon slammed his hand onto the table table, making everyone flinch back. "Everything is wrong, Syd! My daughter is fucking bipolar! One minute she's laughing with the boyfriend I didn't even know she had, the next minute she's refusing to get out of bed for days!"