Chapter 8
-------- Association Not Ended-------------
"Hey, I am still waiting to hear all about my best quality." Lulu smirked.
Dante was looking at her with such concern and heartbreak. When Dante finally started to speak, Lulu begun to think that maybe she didn't want the answer. "Lulu the way you love and protect the people you love is highly admirable. That is why I have to do this."
"Do what?" Lulu said louder than she meant to. It came from frustration and nervous energy. Her instincts were in high gear, her stomach in knots, she knew what came next was nothing good.
Finally answering Lulu, Dante explained. ``I can`t stand by and be the cause of nearly everyone you love being mad at you, blaming you because of me. When Sonny is arrested, which will happen in the next week or so, I need to make sure you are not collateral damage. I can`t have you being blamed or torn in a million pieces because of me. I shouldn`t have let you be put in the middle of this; But I just couldn`t help myself when it came to you. It was a pull I could not control. But I care too much about you to not all least try to lessen the blow and try to reduce the strain that is about to fall on you. What we have started here, and don`t start with the there is "no we" motto you have adopted, because what we have or had is amazing. `` Dante is smiling, but Lulu can see the water in his eyes. ``We have to end any association we have now. `` As Dante finishes he is struggling to breath.
Lulu`s hands had dropped from Dante's face half way through his speech. She could not believe after everything; the chase, the opera, confiding in each other, and the near death experiences, that he thought things would end just because he said it. He obviously did not know Lulu as well as he thought he did.
Lulu was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained her composure, and stood to her feet with her hands on her hips. ``Association! `` Lulu nearly yelled. ``I am not some associate you met while you played mobster. Besides that, who made you my decision maker? Wasn't it you just moments ago saying how strong and resident I am? So I can handle what people say or do when this all comes out. I made that decision long before now. When I decided to keep your secret I knew what came with that. And it was my decision to make. Not yours! You remember that day in Sonny`s office when I didn`t know what he was going to do to you, when I thought I had blown your cover? I knew that day I would keep your secret no matter the consequences. And you have proven that I have made the right decision. If you think you can just walk away now, you are a coward. And I don`t think you know me as well as you think, because you would have realized that I am far too stubborn to give up on something or someone I believe in. So I refuse to accept that you are proposing. Association not ended. `` Lulu finished, taking her hands off her hips crossing her arms in front of her, a pose meant to display complete refusal.