The Bonus

“I’ll call you back later.” I end the call and stand; I need to be eye to eye for this conversation. “Hello.”

She’s completely fitted out in designer clothes and her hair is swept up into an up style. Her cold eyes hold mine, and she lifts her chin to the sky in defiance.

She’s here to fight.

“Before you say anything, I have a few things I want to say to you…preferably before Mark gets back from wherever he is,” I tell her.

She goes to say something and I cut her off.

“Firstly, I would like to apologize for telling you that you will never see the children. It’s not okay under any circumstances to threaten you with that.” I shrug. “I don’t know why I said it, and it’s not something I would ever do. I regretted it the moment the words left my lips. They are your grandchildren, and you can see them whenever you want to.”

“Listen . . .”

“Secondly.” I cut her off again. “I don’t blame you for hating me. In fact, I’ve thought long and hard about this and I put myself in your position, and if Dominic did what Gabriel has done, I wouldn’t handle it well either. I probably would have gone more postal, if I’m being honest.”

A frown flashes across her face.

Dominic runs over and her eyes roam over him, her face falls when she sees the resemblance to his father. “This is Dominic,” I say. “Dominic, this is your dad’s mother.”

“Nonna,” she whispers.

Dominic smiles up at her. “Hello.”

I wave Lucia over and she skips over with a big smile. “Lucia, this is your grandmother, Nonna.”

“Hi.” Lucia frowns up at her.

“Your dad’s mom.”

“Oh.” She smiles up at her, all starstruck.

“Mrs. Ferrara,” Mark snaps urgently. “What are you…?”

“It’s fine, Mark,” I tell him.

“I have strict instructions from Mr. Ferrara,” he stammers.

“Mr. Ferrara isn’t here,” I reply sternly.

“You need to leave,” Mark says to a man who is standing close by. My eyes flick to him, I didn’t see him standing there before…the penny drops, oh, he’s her bodyguard.

“È ora di andare,” he says to her. (“We should go”.)

“Dammi un minuto,” she replies. (“Give me a minute.”)

Dominic looks between them. “Dove vai?” (“Where are you going?”)

Her mouth falls open and she steps forward. “Parli italiano?” (“You speak Italian?”)

“Sì.” (“Yes.”)

Her eyes rise to search mine.

“I tried to prepare them the best that I could.” I shrug. “I wanted them to know and appreciate their heritage.”

Her chest rises and falls as if she’s struggling to breathe.

“Grace, I must insist,” Mark says as he holds his hand out for me.

“Say goodbye to Nonna,” I tell the children.

“Arrivederci, Nonna,” Dominic says.

“Bye.” Lucia smiles with a little wave.

She smiles through tears. “Arrivederci,” she whispers.

Mark rushes us to the car. “It’s fine, Mark,” I say.

“Nothing about this is fine, he’s going to go crazy, I could lose my job over this.”

“What?” I stop on the spot.

“He’s warned me again and again to keep her away from you.”

“I’m fine, stop being so dramatic.” He bustles us into the car and the driver pulls out with haste, I roll my eyes as we drive along. Talk about overreacting. Although the fear on Mark’s face in the front seat is unsettling, he’s genuinely really concerned. He and the driver keep exchanging worried looks. I don’t want them to get into trouble with Gabriel for a two-minute slip.

“I asked her to meet me there,” I lie.

“What?” His eyes flick back to me.

“I wanted the children to meet her.”

He drags his hand down his face as if this is the worst thing that has ever happened. “Why would you go against his wishes?” he whispers.

“Relax. It’s fine.”

“Nothing about this is fine.”

I gesture to the children who are completely oblivious and staring out the window.

“We’ll talk later.”

It’s just past 5 p.m. when I hear the door click. “Dad’s home,” I call.

“Daddy,” Lucia squeals in excitement, they both come tearing down the stairs and run to greet him.

“Hello, my darlings.” He smiles as they both jump into his arms. He’s had to learn to pick them both up at once now that Dominic wants a piece of the action too. “How was your day?” He smiles as he holds them.

“Good,” Lucia says.

“We went to the park,” Dominic tells him.

“I heard.” His cold eyes rise to meet mine, and I wince. He’s angry.

He puts them down and then without saying a word to me, he walks into the other room as they follow him, chatting away.

Okay…

I’m in trouble, why is he always so dramatic?

“What’s that drink?” I hear Lucia ask.

“Scotch,” he replies. I hear the ice fall into the tumbler.

Hmm…not a good sign.

I go to the refrigerator and pour myself a glass of wine, I keep my drinks in the kitchen like a normal person.

I hear him talking to the children as they walk past me out to the garden.

Still not a word to me. I take a swig as I stand at the sink.

“Why don’t you two get in the hot tub,” he asks them.

“Yes.” They both run upstairs to get their swimming costumes on, and I walk out to the garden. “Hello.” I widen my eyes.

Did you forget I’m here?

His cold eyes hold mine and he sips his scotch, contempt drips from his every cell.

“What’s your problem?” I raise my eyebrow.

Silence.

He bends and turns the hot tub on, and it begins to bubble.

I swallow the lump in my throat, angry Gabriel Ferrara is someone I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

The kids run downstairs and jump into the hot tub. He clicks the safety net on. “Stay on the step,” he tells them. “I have to go inside for a moment, I’ll watch you through the window.” He turns and walks past me into the house.

Great.

He’s put them in the hot tub so we can fight without them hearing.

I walk in and he shuts the glass door behind us. “How fucking dare you!” he yells.

I jump, startled. “What?”

“I know what you did today,” he screams, the veins in his neck sticking out.

“Calm down.”

“I will not fucking calm down.”

“What did I do?”

“Arranging for my mother to meet my children?” He steps forward and I step back. “When you knew that I did not want her anywhere near them.”

Oh fuck…he thinks I called her. I did say that, didn’t I?

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

“It went well,” I say softly.

“I don’t give a flying fuck how it went,” he bellows so loud that the windows nearly shake. “You.” His jaw flexes as he clenches his teeth. “You have no idea what you have done.”

“Then tell me,” I spit. “How can I make an informed decision if I don’t know why they can’t see her?”

“Because I fucking said so!” he screams.

My eyes flick out to the kids in the hot tub, happily playing away, oblivious to their drama queen father.

“I’ve made the decision that she is never to see these children and YOU…purposely went against my wishes.”

“She’s your mother!” I yell back, I’m getting pissed now. “What was I supposed to do?”

He narrows his eyes and his chin tilts to the sky as if having a realization.

“Show me your phone,” he says.

“What?”

“I want to see where you called her to arrange this meeting.”

Fuck.

“You need to calm down, she was nice to the children, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?” I stammer.

“Show. Me. Your. Fucking. Phone,” he growls.

My eyes hold his.

“You didn’t call her at all, did you…?”

I swallow the lump in my throat, staying silent.

“She ambushed you.”

“Gabriel…”

“Did. You. Or. Did. You. Not. Call. Her?” he yells as he loses all control.

“No. I did not.”

His eyes flicker with fury and he storms toward the front door; I run after him. “Where are you going?”

He grabs his keys.

“I don’t want you going anywhere when you’re like this.”

He brushes past me and into the foyer, he gets into the waiting elevator.

“Gabriel…”

His eyes are murderous as the doors close in my face.

I feel like I should ring ahead and warn his mother that he’s coming…but I don’t even have her number.

Fuck…

Gabriel

I march through the underground parking lot toward my car and Mark comes running out. “What are you doing?”

“You’re fired,” I snap as I march past him.

“Grace called her,” he stammers as he follows me.

“Grace did nothing of the sort,” I fire back. “She was covering for you.”

“What?” He runs to walk beside me. “Where are you going?”

My car unlocks as I approach it.

“I’ll drive you,” Mark says. “You are not driving like this.” He steps in front of my car. “I won’t allow it.”

“Get out of my fucking way.” I push him to the side.

“I’m coming with you.”

I turn toward him like the devil himself. “I ask you one thing. One fucking thing and you can’t even do that. Keep my mother away from my family…how fucking hard can it be?” I explode.

“I went to the bathroom,” he stammers. “I was gone two minutes.”

“So why lie?”

“It’s what Grace told me, I thought it was true.”

I roll my eyes in disgust as I get into my car. “You get upstairs and you watch over Grace, and so help me god, if you take your eyes off her for one fucking second…I’ll kill you myself.”

He steps back from the car and I scream out of the parking lot, my black Ferrari roars like a tiger as I pull out into the traffic.

I’ve never been so angry; years and years of my mother’s toxic behavior have finally tipped me over the edge.

I pull up to the lights and my two hands grip the steering wheel. I get a vision of my mother walking up to Grace and the kids today at the park, I can only imagine what she said to them. The audacity.

And Grace was prepared to take the blame…

I inhale deeply as rage simmers deep in the pit of my stomach. I’m so furious that I can’t see straight. I can feel my pulse as adrenaline surges through my blood stream. A ticking timebomb about to blow.

Calm down.

Fifteen minutes later, I pull into the parking bay of my mother’s building and I storm through the foyer. The doorman nods as he opens the door. “Good evening, Mr. Ferrara.”

I walk to the elevator and the doors open, the elevator attendant smiles. “Mr. Ferrara.” I walk in and turn to face the front; I readjust my tie as we rise floor by floor to the penthouse.

The doors open straight into her apartment and I step out. Ivan, my mother’s bodyguard, is waiting there.

“Mr. Ferrara.” He smiles awkwardly. “We weren’t expecting you, sir.”

“Get out.”

My eyes find my mother across the room.

“I—”

“Get. The. Fuck. Out,” I yell.

My mother’s cold eyes hold mine. “If you’re going to speak to my staff like that, you can leave.”

“Call it as it is.” I sneer. “He’s your lover.”

Ivan’s face falls, and my mother gestures to the elevator. “Leave us,” she whispers.

“I don’t . . .”

“Get into the elevator by choice, or I’ll throw you over the fucking balcony,” I growl.

Ivan begrudgingly gets into the elevator and I’m left alone with her.

She goes to her bar and pours amber fluid into a crystal tumbler. “What do you want, Gabriel?” She raises an eyebrow.

“What do I want?” I whisper, I begin to pace as her words roll around in my head. “What do I want… I want a mother who isn’t a fucking monster!”

“And I want a son who isn’t a control freak.” She rolls her eyes. “Did you come here to insult me?”

“I told you to stay away from Grace.”

“I wanted to see my grandchildren.”

“Lies. You want to set me up to fail. Planting poison into Grace’s head is the only reason you would ever go looking for her…we both know that.”

She smiles as she sips her drink. “It’s charming that you still think the world revolves around you, tell me, does she know that you still love Ariana?”

I clench my hands at my sides.

“That you are with her out of pity and to be closer to your children.”

My chest rises and falls as I struggle for control.

“She’s poisonous, Gabriel.”

“You want to talk about poisonous?” I whisper. “Let’s talk about Dad, shall we?”

Her eyes hold mine.

“What kind of woman lets a man beg her for a divorce for fifteen years?”

She smirks, proud of her actions. “The kind that retains control.”

“Control over her reputation, control over her social status…control over the money… Tell the truth, Mother, you won’t divorce Dad because it will mean you lost…to her.”

Her face falls.

“We both know why you hate Grace…she reminds you of someone, doesn’t she?”

“Stop it,” she snaps. “Get out.”

“I’m not finished. I recently came across some very interesting information,” I snarl. “I went to our lawyer to add my children to our family trust.”

Her eyes widen.

“You can imagine my disbelief when I found out it was already under review, that somebody had recently tried to amend it.”

“I had to do it,” she splutters.

Fire flickers in my eyes, I feel it deep in my soul. “You cut your own daughter from our family trust?”

She tilts her chin to the sky in defiance. “I warned her.”

“To what…to toe the line, to do things your way. To not marry Helena?”

“Helena is no good for Carina.”

“Because she’s a woman?” I yell.

“Because she’s American. I have told you all again and again, I will not tolerate this behavior,” she yells at the top of her voice.

“You do not get to dictate who we love. You racist bigot!” I bellow. “Carina is the backbone of Ferrara Media; she has worked her guts out for years and you had the audacity to cut her from her inheritance without telling any of us?”

“I stand by it.”

“What have you ever done for Ferrara Media other than to drive our father away?” I scream.

“He left of his own free will,” she spits more of her venom. “If he loved any of you, he would have stayed.”

“Let me make something crystal clear, Mother. I have blocked the amendment; I’ve told Dad what you tried to do and he’s fucking furious. I will spend every last fucking penny I have to protect Carina and fight this…and you…” I whisper, “…will get nothing.”

She stares at me, guilt written all over her face.

I had hoped I was wrong; I’d hoped it was an error.

The truth hurts.

“How does it feel to betray your own children?” I whisper. “To cut your only daughter out of her inheritance because you don’t like her fiancée?”

Her eyes well with tears. “I’m protecting her, I’m protecting you all.”

“The only person we have ever needed protection from…was you.”

Her silhouette blurs. I can’t do this. I can’t be here; I can’t fight for her to be a good person any longer.

I turn and stumble out of her apartment.

That’s it, I’m done.

She’s broken my trust for the last time.

Grace

I hear the front door click and I rush to the foyer. Gabriel is standing there; his tie is off and his hair is messed.

Pain is written all over his face.

“Babe,” I whisper as I take him into my arms, he drops his head into my neck and I hold him.

I don’t know what just happened, but it’s upset him deeply, I can feel it oozing out of his soul. We stand in each other’s arms for a long time, and eventually he whispers, “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“It’s okay.” He needs a soft place to fall.

He hugs me tighter.

“Your children want ice cream for dinner.”

I feel him smile into my hair. “Me too.”

I take his hand and lead him out into the back garden, where the children are painting on easels. “Daddy,” they call in excitement. “We’re painting pictures for you with our new paints.”

“Great.” He smiles softly, and with his arm around me, he kisses my temple. “I’m so grateful that you’re here.”

Suddenly, the world is right again.

We lie in the darkness in the cocoon of our bed.

Gabriel’s head is on my chest, and I aimlessly run my fingers through his hair. Tonight we’ve hit a new level of intimacy. It’s not sexual or romantic, it’s a closeness that only family can provide.

He’s quiet.

And as much as I want to know what went on tonight, I’m not asking. He will tell me when he’s good and ready.

“I don’t know why she’s like this…” he whispers.

I keep my fingers running through his hair, I’m enjoying it as much as he is.

“She changed when he left.”

Who left?

“And the worst part is, I knew he was going to leave and I never told her.”

I frown as I try to keep up with the conversation.

“I started working at Ferrara straight out of school, and there was no training period. I went straight to the top floor, straight into management.”

I smile as I listen, he’s so good at his job, I’m not surprised.

“At the time, I thought it was because he believed in me…but now I know he was just…” He pauses. “He was training me to take over from him when he left. He had planned what was going to happen long before it ever did.”

I kiss his forehead as I listen.

“At first, he would go to Italy for a few weeks at a time…the visits became more frequent and longer.

“I ran the company while he was gone, the staff and processes were all in place, I could handle it.” He falls quiet for a moment as if thinking back. “Then the fighting between him and Mom began and I could see what was happening.”

What the hell is he talking about now?

“I was right there…I saw everything. Then he went to Italy for a month. He was helping his brother run Ferrara Industries over there, but the truth was…he could be who he wanted to be over there…with her.”

Okay, I’m lost…

“I hated her, I hated everything about her and what she had done to our family. That he chose her over us.”

My heart sinks, his father had an affair.

“I swore I’d never be him; I would never be that weak and give in to temptation.”

I hold him in my arms just a little bit tighter.

“But then…it happened,” he whispers. “When you started.”

“What happened?” I ask softly.

“I’m not the first Ferrara man who wanted his PA.”

My eyes widen…oh, fuck.

His father had an affair with his PA and left the family for her.

“And I fought it with everything I had, I was mean and horrible to you. I blamed you for making me feel weak and out of control.”

My heart sinks as I remember the time I worked for him.

“I paraded other women, did everything in my power to show you the worst of me. To make you hate me so that I could hold my mother’s honor and be the man to head my family, the one thing my father couldn’t do.”

I get a lump in my throat as I listen, my heart hurts just remembering it.

“And through every one of my flaws…you loved me anyway.”