Viola's Risk (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 2) Page 9

  Thomas’ jaw dropped in shock. Never had Angelica threatened to leave him during any disagreement they’d had in the past. He watched as she stared him down along with the girls and Liam, not knowing what to do next.

  Chapter Seventeen

  As the stand-off between Angelica, Cora, Liam, Viola and Thomas continued, Dominic groaned, waking up.

  When Viola heard that noise, she moved onto her knees by his side and helped him to sit upright.

  “Are you alright? You scared the crap out of me,” she worried over him.

  He turned his head to look at her.

  “You are a sight for sore eyes Beautiful One,” he said as he rubbed his temples.

  “What’s wrong? Dominic, are you alright? We need to get you to medical,” Viola asked as she ran her hands over his face, shoulders, arms and chest, checking for injuries that weren’t obvious before.

  “Calm down, I’m fine. I just have a mild headache from the tranq I took to make it appear I was dead to Anna. That will go away soon. Stop worrying, please,” Dominic said as he caught her hands in his and held them tight.

  “Glad to see you’re okay,” Cora said and brought his attention to her and the rest of the group standing above them.

  “Thanks Cora. Where’s Sage?” he asked, noting that the one person he’d expected to see waiting for him to wake up wasn’t there.

  “He took Anna back to a prisoner medical room,” Liam replied to his question.

  “Medical? Did it get that bad?” Dominic asked, turning worried eyes on Viola. “Please tell me you were not involved.”

  “Oh, she was involved all right,” Thomas growled.

  That was when he noticed the undercurrent of anger, resentment and hurt making the air thick with tension.

  “Okay, what’s going on Beautiful One?” Dominic asked with true confusion. He didn’t understand why, if their mission was completed successfully, nobody was celebrating. Taking Anna alive was a huge accomplishment.

  “Just a family disagreement,” Viola said and shot a dirty look in Thomas’ direction.

  Dominic pushed himself up to where she was standing and wrapped his arm securely around Viola’s shoulders.

  Viola helped to steady him as he wavered a bit due to the lingering effects of the tranquilizer.

  Angelica cleared her throat and turned an expectant look on her mate.

  “We’re still waiting on your response,” she told him, irritation written all over her face.

  “Angie, this is foolish,” Thomas said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

  “So it’s foolish for your, our, daughters to demand the same respect you demand from them and everyone else?” Angelica asked, disappointment evident in her voice.

  Dominic looked around at each person in the group and finally noticed the divide. Thomas was standing by himself while the rest of them were clustered together as a unit.

  What surprised him was seeing Angelica standing with the group instead of at Thomas’ side.

  “I guess we know what his decision is,” Cora said, a tear slipping from her eye.

  “I don’t believe this. I can’t believe you won’t meet them half-way. You are a better man than this,” Angelica told him with a choked sob.

  “I have no problem believing it Mom,” Viola said with a sneer.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Liam said, placing the arm that wasn’t around Cora, across Angelica’s shuddering shoulders and steered her toward the waiting SUV.

  “Stop this nonsense right now!” Thomas yelled at them.

  Not one of them bothered to respond to Thomas acting like a spoiled child as they walked over and loaded up into the SUV that had been driven by Sage. They left him behind to stew in his own mistakes.

  As they pulled away, Dominic really wanted to know what was going on. He’d gotten the gist of it from what Angelica had said to her husband, but if it was affecting Viola the way it was, he wanted to know for sure so he could try to protect her.

  Angelica lost it as they rounded the corner and she lost sight of Thomas. Cora wrapped her arms around their mother and tried to soothe her as best she could. Dominic could tell Viola felt horrible that her mother was in such pain.

  “I’m sorry Mom,” Viola said in a very sad voice.

  “It’s not your fault darling. You did nothing wrong,” Angelica choked out.

  “If I hadn’t lost my temper the way that I had…” Viola started but Angelica reached up and placed a finger over her lips to silence her.

  “You had every right to be angry my dear. I’m surprised it took this long. Thomas can be a very infuriating man, but I love him. I did warn him if he didn’t change how he was treating you that this would happen. It won’t take him long before he contacts me. I will be fine, so please do not worry about me,” Angelica said in a much stronger voice.

  “Of course we’ll worry about you. You’re our mother even if we’ve only known you for a short time,” Cora said, rubbing Angelica’s back.

  Liam concentrated on driving as Dominic looked out of the window, trying to give the three women as much privacy as they could in the enclosed space of the SUV.

  “I told him to tell you the whole plan Viola,” Angelica said and her eyes pleaded with Viola to believe her. “I am so sorry my beautiful daughter.”

  “Please don’t apologize for a decision made by him. I know you wouldn’t have kept it from me if it were up to you. I just can’t deal with him ordering us around the way he does without any thought to how we feel about anything,” Viola said and took their mother’s hands in her own.

  “You are both such amazing girls. We both are truly proud of the young women you’ve become despite the horrors you’ve had to endure in your lives. That is true strength. I know you will succeed in fulfilling the prophecy, just because you don’t know how to be defeated,” Angelica’s words could not have been more heartfelt if she’d tried.

  “Thank you Mom,” Cora said and hugged her again. “That means more than you know to both of us.”

  “Yeah, it does. Aw man, can we change the subject, I don’t feel like crying right now,” Viola said as she brushed a tear from the corner of one eye and then the other.

  Both Angelica and Cora laughed and nodded.

  Viola looked around at the scenery as it passed as Liam finished driving them to whatever location they were going to. It was obvious it wasn’t back to the house they’d been in the night before.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The house Angelica had Liam drive them to was much smaller and a lot cozier than the two mansions they’d taken them to before. It was more of a Victorian era home and Viola loved it. She wished they could just stay there instead of returning to the enormous mansion she knew they’d be going back to once Thomas apologized.

  “Please, make yourselves at home,” Angelica said as they entered.

  “This is gorgeous Mom,” Cora gushed.

  “I love this place,” Viola said in awe.

  Both guys turned around and went to retrieve all of the shopping bags from the SUV, hoping that everything the women needed would be in them so they didn’t have to play middle men to get things from the mansion or go shopping for them.

  While Angelica gave the girls a tour, they set the bags down by the couch and headed into the kitchen for something to drink.

  “How are you feeling?” Liam asked him as he unscrewed the cap from an ice cold bottle of water and handed another one to Dominic.

  “I’m doing okay. Just wondering what all happened while I was out,” Dominic tested the waters to see if Liam would be open to filling him in.

  “Yeah, I figured you might be wondering. To make a long story short, Viola sensed you were in danger, jumped from the moving SUV she was in with Angelica and Cora, ran all the way to where we were by sensing you, got there just as Sage shot you and flipped out on Anna and Sage. We were all lucky she went after Anna first and Sage was able to get through to her before she killed Anna and star
ted on him,” Liam summed the events up and Dominic stared at him in shock.

  “Wow. So what was the whole deal with Thomas? Everyone looked pretty upset with him when I woke up,” Dominic asked as he took a drink of his own water.

  “He arrived on the scene and started ordering people around and demanding information as to what happened. Viola was still pretty volatile at that point and when he told her what she was going to do, she stood up to him and demanded the respect from him they both deserve. It got even messier when Angelica took the girls’ side over her mate. She gave him an ultimatum and he didn’t back down so here we all are,” Liam said with a shrug.

  Dominic raised his eyebrows at the man’s casual reaction to everything, “So, I missed a lot huh?”

  “Yeah. One thing I advise is to never make one of these women angry at you. If you survive it, you’ll regret it for a long time after,” Liam said just before the women walked into the room chatting as if nothing had happened today.

  “So, is anyone hungry?” Angelica asked them all with concern.

  Everyone responded with, “I am,” at the same time and then burst into fits of laughter.

  “How about we order take-out and go pick it up?” Angelica asked as she opened a drawer full of menus.

  “Sounds good to me,” Viola said and went over to see what options were available.

  “I’ll go pick it up. What are we having Chinese, Italian, burgers and fries?” Liam said as he came over and stood next to Viola, as the selection of menus were laid out on the counter for them to look through.

  “Italian sounds amazing,” Cora said just as her stomach rumbled.

  “I was thinking Chinese,” Viola said and the girls looked at each other and laughed again.

  “Please don’t make me drive all over the place,” Liam groaned.

  “What sounds good to you guys?” Angelica asked them.

  “Whatever you all decide on, I’ll find something to eat,” Dominic said, choosing not to get into the great food debate.

  “Smart man, I agree with him. You guys decide what sounds good and I’ll find something to eat,” Liam agreed and gave Dominic a fist bump.

  “So Mom, it looks like you’re the tie-breaker. Italian or Chinese?” Viola asked her with raised eyebrows.

  “Hmmm, Italian sounds delightful. Sorry Viola,” Angelica said as Cora grabbed the only Italian food menu in the pile. “Trust me, once you taste this food, you will be craving it.”

  “Okay, I can do some lasagna with extra garlic bread,” Viola said as Dominic stepped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his chin on her head.

  “That sounds perfect. Make it two orders,” he said and placed a quick kiss on her head.

  Angelica pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and started writing down everyone’s orders. Cora chose the meat ravioli with marinara sauce and Liam picked the spaghetti with meatballs. Both asked for extra garlic bread as well.

  Once everyone’s orders were placed, Angelica called in the order, paid by phone with her credit card and left Liam’s name as the person picking up the order.

  “What did you get?” Cora asked as Angelica hung up the phone.

  “Their chicken fettucine alfredo is my favorite. I always order it when we get Italian,” Angelica said and turned toward the fridge as tears welled up in her eyes.

  “It’s okay to be upset, Mom,” Cora said in a gentle voice as she moved over to her. “If I were you, I’d be furious.”

  “I just need a minute. I’ll be fine,” Angelica said and they could all hear the tears in her voice.

  Liam grabbed the keys from the counter and looked at Dominic. “Wanna come? We can let the ladies have some bonding time.”

  “Sure. Let’s go,” Dominic said as he gave Viola a quick squeeze and she tipped her head back for a kiss with a look of pure gratitude in her eyes.

  Liam gave Cora a quick kiss and they left to go get the food.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, Angelica’s tears came flooding out as choked sobs as she finally let go of the pain filling her heart at her broken family.

  Both girls wrapped their arms tightly around her and crooned anything comforting they could think of to her. Their hearts broke for the pain she was in because of them.

  After about ten minutes of Angelica’s sobbing, Viola pulled back and looked at Cora.

  “Maybe we should just call him and apologize,” she suggested even though it was against her normal behavior.

  “No!” Angelica cried out at Viola’s suggestion. “Don’t you dare.”

  “Why? This is tearing you apart and that was never our intention,” Viola said, hurting for their mother. It seemed all of this adversity had worked to help them form a mother/daughter bond she hadn’t even realized was forming.

  “Yes, this is hard for me, but the two of you are right. His behavior is not acceptable and you should not tolerate it. I am proud of you for standing up to him, because most people are too scared to. That is how I know you will win this war. I am so proud to have you both as my daughters,” she said touching each of their cheeks as the tears began to dry on her cheeks.

  Neither of the girls knew what to say in response to Angelica’s statement so they just stood there feeling awkward. Angelica understood how they were feeling and didn’t push them. She was touched they were trying so hard to help her feel better.

  “How about we set the table for dinner so we’ll be ready when the boys return?” she asked them, trying to make them feel more at ease.

  “Sure, we can do that,” Cora said and moved toward the cabinets to pull out the dishes as Viola moved over to the drawers and started searching for the silverware.

  “I am going to go freshen up for a minute,” Angelica told them.

  “No problem. Take your time, we’ve got this covered,” Viola said with a sympathetic look.

  Angelica exited the room and the girls gathered everything they needed to set the table for dinner.

  “Do you think she’ll be alright?” Viola asked Cora, worry filling her voice.

  “Yeah, she’ll be okay. I’m sure all of this is a huge shock for her though,” Cora said with a look toward the doorway their mother had exited through.

  “It’s got to be. I didn’t expect for her to leave him in our defense,” Viola told her.

  “Neither did I. It all spiraled out of control so fast I couldn’t keep up until she’d already done it,” Cora admitted.

  “I was just so tired of being left out of the loop,” Viola confessed as she sank down in one of the dining chairs.

  “I don’t blame you there. I told him it was a horrible idea to leave you out, but he insisted. I don’t have your backbone to stand up to him the way you did Vi. I wish I did, because all of this could have been prevented if I had,” Cora told her sister with regret filling her voice.

  “Don’t worry about it Cora. It’s all behind us now,” Viola said, exhaustion catching up to her.

  “Are you hurt from the jump out of the SUV? I so can’t believe you did that,” Cora asked her sister with awe in her voice.

  “I am so sore it’s not even funny. I hope there’s a huge bathtub in this place where I can soak in a nice hot bubble bath before bed,” Viola said with a wistful voice.

  “I’m sure a soak in a hot bath can be arranged my dear,” Angelica said with a warm smile as she entered the room. “The table looks wonderful.”

  “Thank you,” Viola said without getting up.

  “Would either of you like something to drink with dinner?” Angelica asked, moving toward the kitchen doorway.

  “Yes, please,” Cora said. “Would you like some help?”

  “No, please have a seat and rest. I’ve got it,” Angelica said with a smile. “I enjoy doing things for you two. I missed so much while you were growing up.”

  Just then the front door opened and the guys entered with their take-out. What surprised the women was Thomas walking in behind them, with a hard look on his
face.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dominic and Liam brought in the food and set it in the center of the table while Thomas hovered in the doorway. Angelica glanced at her mate, then proceeded into the kitchen to gather drinks for everyone for dinner, as if he wasn’t there.

  Cora and Viola sat at the table feeling awkward and fidgeting with their silverware while the guys unpacked the food, not saying anything. Viola could tell they felt awkward now with Thomas there and the current situation. She wished there was something she could do to ease the tension that thickened the air around them.

  The silence was deafening as Angelica returned from the kitchen with glasses full of ice. The only noise was from the movement of the guys sorting the food and her placing the glasses down on the table with loud thuds, before heading back into the kitchen.

  Cora and Viola looked at each other and had one of their silent conversations, wondering what was going to happen next. Neither girl was willing to speak first and give Thomas the satisfaction of backing down from the pressure.

  Again, Angelica returned with a couple of bottles of sparkling cider and began pouring. Once each of the glasses were full, she sat down at the head of the table, continuing to ignore her mate, who still stood in the entranceway waiting to be acknowledged. She gestured for Liam and Dominic to take their seats beside each of their mates before opening the container holding her chicken alfredo and scooping it onto her waiting plate with her spoon.

  The girls each shrugged and followed their mother’s lead. Viola had to give their mother a lot of credit because she wasn’t sure she could hold out as long as Angelica had if she’d been in the older woman’s shoes right now. Admiration for her mother made her smile as she closed the now empty take out box and placed it back in the center of the table.