Kingpin (An Italian Mafia Romance) Read Online Free Page B

you to know something. Your father’s life might seem glamorous. He’s got a lot of money, and he knows a lot of people who fear and respect him. But what your father does isn’t glamorous, Dominic, it’s dangerous. Maybe you haven’t seen that much of it yet, but I know Donnie, so I’m sure you will. You have to be smarter than that. Make some friends the right way, and do something good with your life. I don’t want you to be like your father.”
    “Why would you say that?” I snap. “My father is respected by everyone in St. Louis. They all know his name. Me? People treat me like crap at school, and I just let them get away with it. They laugh at me, they call me Ugly Dominic. Nobody likes me, Ma, and you want me to not be like Dad. I wish I was like him. He gets respect, but not me. I’d rather be like him than be like me.”
    “Don’t say that, Dominic,” Mom answers, softening her tone now. “I know how rough school can be, and I know some kids are little shits, but you have to be above them, just like you have been. You’re better than those kids who are calling you names. Don’t bring yourself down to their level. Don’t let them bother you with their words.”
    “Their words hurt, Ma!” I yell. I didn’t mean to, it just came out that way.
    Both of us are silent for a moment, my words hanging in the air like a cloud above our heads. The tension in my mother’s face eases as she gets up from her seat and kneels in front of me. She takes my hand and looks me right in the eye, and I can see she has tears in hers.
    “I’m sorry you have to go through that. Kids are brats, and their parents should teach them better. I can’t control that, but I can teach you better. Don’t let the hatred of others bring you down. You’re above all those kids who are mean to you. You don’t have to fight all the time. You win by being smarter than all of them. You’re gonna be the one, out of all those little A-holes in that school, to be somebody big. They might not respect you now, but I guarantee they’re gonna respect you later. You’ll see, Dom. I just want what’s best for you, that’s all. I want you to have a better, safer life than what your father has. Do you understand?”
    A better life than my father has? A better life than the nice cars, and the money, and the women, and the respect of every man in the city? How does it get better than that?
    I hear her words, but it does nothing for me. It’d be impossible to convince me that my father’s life is somehow bad. He has everything. I want everything he has, and I’m so tired of trying to be the nice kid my mom wishes I was. The things that I think aren’t nice. The things I want to do to those kids who call me Ugly Dominic aren’t nice. I’m not who my mother thinks I am, but I don’t want to break her heart by telling her that I’m more like my father than she knows. So, I hear her words, but I let them go in one ear and out the other. Just like my father would do.
    “Yeah, Ma. I understand.”

Dominic
    F riday. Everybody loves Friday, even me, but what I’m even more excited about is that I’m about to see Alannah again. She’s really been going out of her way to talk to me all week long. I don’t know why she does it, but I like it. In fact, I think I like her, but I’m not going to say anything about it. She gets enough crap from people just for hanging out with me, so the last thing I want to do is make her feel uncomfortable by telling her how much I like her. So, when she sits down next to me during lunch—for the fourth day in a row—I just smile at her and keep eating.
    Okay, she’s here. Just stay cool, Dominic , I think to myself.
    “Hi, Dominic,” she says as she sits. She’s wearing a pink shirt with a picture of NSYNC on it, and I instantly have a new hatred for Justin Timberlake. Her brown hair is so pretty, and it hangs over her shoulder like it was always meant to be there. She smells good, too, like flower