Chapter 16: Dinner For Two

**J A D E**

Friday night approached quicker than I had expected. I had not seen or spoken to Dominic since our last encounter in his office, a few days ago. Letting out a soft sigh, I shook my head and tried to push him out of my mind. With unhurried steps, I made my way towards the underground garage.

"Are you nervous about your date tonight?" Quintin asked as he walked me to the black SUV.

"Not really. I do wish that Dom would have let Cristiano pick me up though," I reflected with a slight frown.

"You know very well why that can't happen; no outsiders are allowed near the compound. Just be glad you're getting to go out at all and that he hasn't murdered the poor guy already," he said with a grin.

Rolling my eyes, I responded, "By allowing me to go, you mean having me flanked by numerous bodyguards? I'm never escorted like this when I go out with Blaire and my other friends. I'm going to dinner for crying out loud, not to war!"

"Sorry, boss' orders!" Jee-min said as he walked past and got into the front seat of the SUV.

While looking at me, Jee-min coordinated via radio with the men in the other vehicles. He glanced at his watch before pulling out his gun. After making sure that it was loaded, he holstered his weapon once more.

Simultaneously, Quintin helped me into the backseat, then leaned down to kiss my cheek, "Just try and have fun, I'll see you when you get back. Sorry that I couldn't come and stand guard as well, but the boss has got me running an errand with Vincent tonight."

My lips twitched with a slight smile as I sarcastically said, "Oh joy, a night with Mr. Serious-Face, fun times!"

"Yea..." Quinin grumbled as he closed the door.

Half an hour later, the four SUVs pulled up to an upscale French restaurant.

Standing outside was Cristiano, whose face lit up as soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, forcing my lips to curl into a small smile of my own. "Wow, you look amazing Jade!" Cristiano commented as he appreciated my sleeveless, red leather bodycon pencil dress.

I was about to thank him when the sound of screeching tires cut me off.

Dominic's matte black and purple Bugatti pulled up, and the door swung open before the car could even come to a complete stop.

The mafia boss' silvery white hair shone in the bright outdoor lights of the restaurant as he hastily exited the vehicle.

The paleness of his skin stood out drastically against the purple alligator skin trench coat that he wore over his black suit. His gaze was intense as he looked over at me, slowly taking in my dress.

I did not miss the way he clenched his jaw and I visibly gulped, wondering if he would order me to go back home. I would not have put it past him to do such a thing, I was embarrassed enough as it was that he had shown up like this.

Although, a part of me was not really surprised. "Take her inside Jee-min," Dominic commanded, "I need to have a word with young Cristiano here."

Seeing the wrath burning in his bright blue eyes, I knew that it would not be wise to disobey Dominic's orders, but my fear of what he would do to Cristiano was greater. Squaring back my shoulders, I remained where I stood.

"I'm sure whatever you need to say to him can be said in front of me," I boldly said, though I was trembling on the inside.

"Good night, Mr. Calvetti," Cristiano said with a smile while extending his hand before Dominic could reply to me.

Looking away from me, Dominic glanced down at the hand being presented as he said, "Let's have a little chat yea?"

As Cristiano was about to say something, he was roughly pushed up against the nearest wall.

The sudden movement surprised us both as I let out a soft gasp. Dominic's left hand pinned Cristiano across the chest. With a soft cackle, he turned to look at me and my eyes silently pleaded with Dominic not to do anything too drastic.

It was hard not to noticed the wild sadistic look in his gaze as we silently stared at each other. His pupils dilated as his eyes travelled over the entire length of my body once more before turning back to face Cristiano.

"Do you know who I am?" Dominic asked, his voice deep as he stared down intently at him.

"Yes..." Cristiano replied, not breaking eye contact, "You're Dominic Calvetti."

A low growl was heard, "And yet you still felt it wise to ask Jade out?"

"Technically, she asked me ou–" Cristiano's words were cut off as Dominic unexpectedly shoved a gun between his lips.

Holy shit! I thought to myself, wondering why Cristiano thought it was a good idea to be a smart ass right in this moment. Though I had to admit that I was impressed by the way he tried to act like he was not afraid. But from the look in his eyes, I knew he was. We all were.

This was Dominic after all, and he was as volatile and unpredictable as they came.

"Mouthing off to me is never wise," Dominic said while cocking the Colt 1911 with his gloved thumb.

Cristiano quickly tried to mumble an apology; his eyes full of terror as the purple and gold gun forced his mouth wide open.

"If you hurt her, you'll wish that you were dead!" Dominic's voice was taunt with anger as he continued, "I'm not threatening you, Cristiano. This is a promise. Now nod your head if you understand," he snarled.

Doing as instructed, Cristiano moved his head up and down, his eyes watering as his whole body trembled, the skin of his face completely flushed.

"Good boy!" Dominic remarked, then wiped the drool off his gun onto Cristiano's jacket before holstering it.

I bit the inside of my cheek as Dominic walked towards me.

"Enjoy your date," he said softly before dusting off his coat and strutting off back into his car and drove off.

Cristiano cleared his throat as he walked up to me, "I'll meet you at our table? I just realised that I forgot my wallet in the car."

"Oh, okay," I said as I went inside. Sitting at our reserved table, I frowned as I played with my napkin while

Jee-min kept me company. It had been fifteen minutes and Cristiano had yet to return. A part of me wondered if he ditched me, not that I blamed him.

"Look at it this way," Jee-min explained, "the fact that Cristiano even agreed to go out with you, knowing who the boss is, shows that the guy has got some balls. Either that, or a death wish."

A smile made its way to my lips as his attempt to cheer me up slowly began to take effect.

With a slight smirk of his own, the handsome Korean continued, "I suppose he seems nice enough. Hopefully you guys will hit it off and you can just focus on him instead of you know who."

I chuckled softly before letting out a sigh, "I wonder what's taking him so long."

"You can always ask him yourself," Jee-min countered as he motioned to Cristiano who was now walking towards us. With a wink, he got up and walked over to another table where five other bodyguards sat.

"Is everything alright? I thought that you might have left," I immediately asked as my date sat down.

Taking a sip of water from the glass in front of him, Cristiano nodded, "yea, I'm fine. I couldn't find my phone, apparently it had fallen between the seats."

"I'm so sorry about Dominic," I said as I slumped my shoulders, "I'll understand if you want to call the date off."

"Are you kidding me?" he quickly reached for my hand across the table,

"It'll take more than your daddy shoving a gun down my throat to scare me off."

My eyes widened slightly, the shock causing me to ignore the 'daddy' comment. I looked away from Cristiano momentarily as my cheeks flamed with slight embarrassment, wondering why he would want to put up with such madness in the first place.

Sputtering slightly, I commented, "I still can't believe he did that."

"If it means getting to spend time with you, even if we're under surveillance," Cristiano briefly glanced at Jee-min and the other men, "I will gladly endure it. Don't worry about it, I knew what I was getting myself

into when I agreed to go out with you," he said with what appeared to be a genuine smile.

During our dinner, I realised that we had a lot more in common than I initially thought.

We had both grown up without our biological parents, and we also had similar tastes in food as well as in music. I learnt that he had spent most of his life in California before having to move to Aelbank City due to his adoptive parents getting a new job.

Smiling, Cristiano continued his story, "But yea, that's how I found myself waking up naked in my neighbour's garden, let me tell you, my mother was most displeased, although my dad thought it was hilarious."

Throwing my head back, I laughed loudly, something that I had been doing most of the night.

By the end of our date, I was glad that I had taken Blaire's advice to ask him out. Cristiano had been a perfect gentleman, and he had a certain charm about him that I found very attractive.

In the beginning, I had only asked Cristiano out in the hopes of making Dominic jealous. However, since we had been chatting over the phone these last few days, the more I learnt about him, the more I realised that I was beginning to like him as a person.

Now that I had spent some more one-on-one time with him outside of campus, I felt that he was someone who I could see myself having feelings for in the long run. There was definitely some form of attraction between us, and I wondered if it was something that I could possibly explore later on.

I mean, I was still new to this whole dating thing, so I definitely did not want to rush into anything.

While we stood outside of the restaurant, I reminisced back on what Dominic had told me about finding someone closer to my own age, and in this moment, as I watched Cristiano lean in to kiss me, I thought that maybe I should.

I smiled as I looked up at him expectantly.

When Cristiano slowly bent his head down to give me a good night kiss, Jee-min suddenly interjected and said, "Sorry guys, but no kissing on the first date. Boss' orders."

I felt my face heat up as anger and humiliation overwhelmed me, "Wwhat?"

Cristiano shook his head, trying to calm me down, "It's fine. It was a bit presumptuous of me to try and kiss you on the first date anyway. There's no rush."

Instead, he opted to kiss the back of my hand once more.

"I'll message you later, beautiful," he said, flashing a brilliant smile as he ran a hand through his wavy hair.

"Goodnight," I said before getting into the car.

Leaning against the leather seats, I frowned as we drove off, eager to go home and give Dominic a piece of my mind. Taking off my heels, I pulled my feet under me and lay my head back against the headrest.

As I stared out the window, I muttered, "I might have to start calling him Daddy Cock Block instead, un-fucking-believable!"