Chapter 178 Observations And Questions

Chapter 178 Observations And Questions
Rain

Throughout the night, either Sade or Tomilino introduces me to different people who are gallery owners whom Tomilino personally invited tonight. They are all gushing all over my work. While I am amazed and excited, I do have to wonder how much of their reaction is because of Tomilino and has nothing to honestly do with me. 

I am noticing things tonight that I haven’t had the chance to before. This is the first party I remember ever attending with Tomilino and members of the Russo family. There are also other high-profile people around that I am being introduced to. I have smiled and shaken hands way too much tonight. 

I’m glad when we finally are able to sit down for dinner. I do watch and see everyone wait until Tomilino and the man by his side, Dominick, are seated before taking their seats. What happened to the ladies being seated first? Is this a new thing? It seems a bit choreographed. 

Throughout the night, all sorts of things scream out at me, and I am starting to put the pieces together. I also have a better opportunity to see the dynamic between Sade and Tomilino, and I have a suspicion about their relationship, but I’ll have to decide if I am going to ask Sade about it or not. 

I think there are several times he realizes I am watching and picking things up quite a bit. Sometimes he just watches me and raises an eyebrow in question, and I shake my head. Then sometimes he smiles like he is wanting me to ask, but again I’ll just shake my head for right now. This really isn’t a good place to get into any type of serious conversation. 

“Rain, I wanted to tell you personally I am so very sorry you had that horrible encounter last month.” I look over to see Tomilino standing just behind me. 

I turn and smile at him, “Thank you, but it’s all done and over, and now I have a bodyguard, so hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again.” He nods at me. 

“Sade told me about the baby being a boy, and I’m happy to hear that the Russo name is very much secure for the future.” I’m not sure what to say about that, so I just smile and nod, and I’m happy when Sade appears and they start a conversation. 

It’s late when we finally leave, and I feel my tiredness pulling on me. I get tired so much easier, it seems, and Sade just smiles at me and rubs my expanding belly. I just snort a short laugh and shake my head. I’ve been doing that a lot tonight. 

The valet brings the car around, and he helps me get in. Then, when he's buckled up, we head for home. I decide maybe now, with us all alone in the car with no one else around to hear a conversation, it would be a good time to have one. 

“Sade, is Tomilino your father?” He turns his head to look at me sharply and then looks back to the road. 

“Why do you ask that?” He didn’t say no or yes; he was fishing, which made me know my thought was correct. 

“He doesn’t treat you like an employee; he treats you like you are his son,” I say bluntly.

Sade exhales a deep breath. “Yes, he’s my dad. We don’t really advertise it because it could cause issues with the family, but yes. I am his heir when he passes the torch of the business, so you honestly need to understand that anyway. I will have to tell him about how observant my wife is.” 

“Well, that right there leads me to my next question. Is our family involved in illegal activity or something? They act like a mob family or something.” Again with the jerk of his head and then the return to looking at the road. 

“Wow, okay. I guess this is another thing we need to talk about. You would already know all this if you remembered your life after Derek married your mom. Derrick was a Russo; he did the books for Tomilino. He was lower on the totem pole, so he wasn’t very involved in the family business. Now, I’ve always been very much involved, and now, even more so since I will be the heir when Tomilino retires.” I nod. 

He looks at me for a moment again. “What do you think about that?” 

I shrug, “Honestly, I have no idea right at the moment. I just watched the way everyone interacted tonight, and it was rather obvious with the way everyone defers to him, the way all of them try to kiss his ass and get his favor. I was wondering how much of the gallery owner's enthusiasm had to do with my painting and how much was because it was Tomilino.” 

Sade chuckles at some of that, “I guess I need to pay better attention, but I have been a part of this for so long that all of the posturing is commonplace to me. Now, as far as your paintings, that is all, you baby. My suggestion is to put them out there, let the public decide, and then you will be able to see it has nothing to do with Tomilino.” I sigh and nod. 

“Did my mom know about Derek before she married him?” Sade nods.

“Yes, honestly, that is one of the reasons she married him, I think. I think she missed having the money and the lifestyle she had as a kid and young woman. Derek afforded her that.” I nod, thinking about all of that. 

“Is what you do dangerous?” He smiles. 

“No, baby, what I do isn’t dangerous, really. I used to do dangerous things, but now, since I am learning to take over, much of my job is all administrative, honestly. So, while having the name Russo, and having the clout and power do have some inherent dangers, for the most part I am well protected from any potential danger. The other incident was a fluke, and now we have you better guarded so that won’t happen again.” I just nod and decide to leave it alone. 

I have quite a bit to mull over and think about. So, for right now, I decide I don’t want to ask any more questions. I do see Sade watching me like he’s waiting to see what my reaction is. When I figure it out, I’ll let him know.