Roses & Ruin

Chapter 85 (Lexi)

         Domani De Luca bought himself and Mia's ticket in first class. I did not. I was towards the back of the plane fighting with my neck pillow as I always do. I'd really like to sleep on this red eye or I'll be exhausted tomorrow, and I'm meant to sight see. 

We're meant to be in London for roughly four days. With the overnighters and time zone changes it's not exact, I suppose.

Tomorrow is Saturday, so we'll do a little sightseeing and then we have Sammi's big gallery that night. Sunday morning Mia is meant to visit some friends for brunch. People from the fashion world. An old boss of hers or something. I'll branch off on my own for a bit while her and Dom do that. The rest of our Sunday is ours for whatever.

        Monday is much more sightseeing for me. I'll leave it optional for the other two, though Mia sounds very enthusiastic to do many things with us as a lovely trio. And we leave on Tuesday, so we have some time for London, and need some time to get our things together for the airport.

Mia mentioned shopping that day, but I have no use for it. Again we'll see if we part ways or do other things together that we can all agree on.

        I've never spent much time with Domani De Luca, and I think this trip will be a rare opportunity to see a side of him I doubt many have. He's different with Mia than he is with everyone else. I wouldn't call it a softness because I don't think there is a single soft thing about that man, but he's less Domani the mobster, and more Domani the man I suppose.

I won't lie, I'm interested in getting to know him for myself. Since coming into this group of Italians I've heard varying stories about him, and all are controversial and usually shed a pretty bad light on him. 

Toxic, crazy, possessive, aggressive, violent, evil, and so on.

        This trip came at the perfect time for me though. I feel like a lot has happened within the last 24 hours. I got to witness first hand how nasty a man my fiance can be when having too much to drink. I sliced my stupid palm and hurt my wrist. It's wrapped up right now as we speak. Then I went and slept with Anthony after I told myself I wouldn't anymore.

Then there is the issue of my father and Dmitriy. Andrei too I guess, though lately he's actually become the least of my worries. He's been so busy with his spy position within the Italians that I think he's actually having fun with it, and keeping out of trouble in other ways. 

Dmitriy has shown me he's Vitaly's son through and through. Pressuring me more than anyone to get my wedding straight and to follow through with the deal. He's the reason why I was locked away for days. He's been a thorn in my side since he stepped stateside. 

Vitaly too, though I see him less and less. And trust me, I am not complaining.

        When the lights above head dimmed as the flight stabilized from take off I shook all that from my mind. I want to forget about hard truths on this trip. Just for a little while I don't want to think of weddings, mafia men, or anything else. I want to be Lexi Vero here just as my passport says. 

I heard the ding above head signifying we could safely remove our seatbelts. I closed my eyes after that, letting the constant rumble of the plane's jets below our feet turn into a white noise to bring some sleep to me.

-

        Dom and Mia had a beautiful suite. I went up with them to check it out first thing, then parted ways with them to bring my things to my own hotel room. Dom pulled some strings and got me a room down the hall from them. It was nicer than I deserved, but he swore it was nothing and didn't let me compensate for it.