Their Father Called Me Family, So His Four Sons Made Me Theirs novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: Salt Opens
Dario's POV
At six o'clock on Friday I paid my bartender a hundred dollars to go home.
He looked at the bill, then at me, then at the black dress hanging on the back of my office door.
"The boss is having a night?" he asked.
"The boss is having a very important meeting."
"With who?"
"With the future of this club," I said, and held the front door open for him.
Salt opens at nine.
For three hours it was mine, and it was empty, and I was sweating through a perfectly good shirt.
I had been telling jokes for thirty-five years, and I had never once been nervous before a woman walked in.
She came through the back at ten past six in Nico's gray sweater and her own boots, with her hair tied up.
She had been sleeping in Nico's spare room for five days.
I had been sleeping on his couch, and so had Marco, and Luca had slept in his truck outside the building on principle.
"Hi," Gemma said.
"Hi, Prestia."
"You look terrified," Gemma said.
"I look incredible. This is my terrified face."
She laughed, and the sound hit the empty room and kept going.
I took her hand and walked her across the dance floor to the little stage by the DJ booth.
A single stool sat there under a single light.
I threw the switch behind the bar.
Every light we owned came on at once, the white and the amber and the blue.
The mirror ball began its slow turn, and the whole club lit up around her.
"Dario," she said, laughing. "What is this?"
"I only ever see you in dark rooms. I wanted you in everything I've got."
She stood in the middle of the glitter with her mouth open.
"Sit," I said.
She climbed onto the stage and sat on the stool.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Their Father Called Me Family, So His Four Sons Made Me Theirs are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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