At this point Dom was not even surprised by Pete's question. It was only natural that Pete, knowing what happened would ask if he had feelings for Lia. Luckily for Dom, the answer was very simple.
"No, I do not have feelings for Lia, never had and never will." replied Dom simply.
Pete did not know why he unconsciously found himself letting out a sigh of relief at the reply. He had not even noticed how tense he had felt before Dom's reply.
To be honest, Pete still felt as if he had a rival in Dom, after all, the two women he could boldly say that one he had loved, and two he loves now both loved the same man.
Pete did not mean to say that he felt insecure with his presence in Lia's life, but he was a man, he could not help but think about all the other men Lia had had in her heart as one point in time.
Even though she had assured him that she loved him now, he could not help but do some digging of his own. Call it his inner policeman at work, but he preferred to come to the conclusions on his own.
"Now, I cannot lie that I was never aware of the fact that she had some sort of feelings for me." said Dom.
"But I did tell her on several occasions that I could never pursue any sort of relationship with her." said Dom as he was being honest. There was respect between them both being men. Dom could boldly say that he knew Pete's reasons for asking these questions and he did not blame him one bit.
If he was in his same position, he would have definitely asked the same questions. It was not a matter of being possessive, rather it was a matter of feeling confident and sure about your place in your current relationship.
"I loved her like a sister... she was to me, like my sister, I treated her the same way I treated Lulu, does that answer your question?" asked Dom.
"It does... thank you." replied Pete.
"You're welcome." replied Dom with a smile.
"So let me guess, you dislike the fact that I'm with Lia just like Natasha does?" asked Pete, he said it like a statement but it surely sounded like a question to Dom.
"No, not at all, I have no reservations at all." replied Dom honestly.
"Look Peter, I trust you, and I trust your judgement." said Dom.
"If you are with Lia, it means that you truly love her, that you really see something in her, and although I cannot see or understand your reasons for being with her now, despite everything, I know that a man such as yourself would never do anything to hurt those who he truly cared about." said Dom.
"Now, what you choose to believe it all up to you, as for me, I wish you nothing but happiness in whoever you choose to be with, regardless of if the person you happen to be with used to be a close friend or not." said Dom.
"I see..." replied Pete as Dom smiled and walked back to his desk.
"Yes." he replied as there was silence once again for a while before Pete uttered some words that Dom always knew but never thought that he would hear.
"Were you aware that I had feelings for Natasha?" asked Pete suddenly, he himself was surprised that he had said what was on his mind, but he figured that what was the point of keeping everything silent?
They were finally having a conversation that they should have had ages ago, before he ever married Natasha.
Pete felt that if he truly wanted to be serious with Lia and love her the way she deserved, he had to tie up all loose ends.
He was sure of himself, he truly no longer felt anything for Natasha other than deep love and respect for their years long friendship. He had finally gotten over Natasha, he wanted nothing, absolutely nothing to get in between he and Lia's relationship.
"I was aware." replied Dom knowingly, even though he never showed it, he was fully aware of the fact that Pete had feelings for Natasha, he was not sure if Natasha was aware, but he certainly was.
"When did you find out?" asked Pete.
"Before we got married, your involvement and opposition of our marriage was much more than you just being a good friend, although that was part of it... you had feelings for her." said Dom.
"And you didn't say anything?" asked Pete.
"What was there to say? You are Natasha's friend and she loves you, I never saw you as a threat because I respected that you had feelings as well. I was unsure if Natasha was aware, but I was sure that if she was aware, you would not have been as close as you were." said Dom.
"So I completely understood your dislike for me, especially when what happened happened, you thought that I was complete scum, which I was... I hurt Natasha a lot, and I admit to that." said Dom as Pete felt calm within him, he had gotten the answers that he had needed for a long time now.
"Well we are past that, although you were scum, and you are a jerk." said Pete as Dom chuckled at the insults thrown at him, he was not the slightest bit offended.
"You're still Natasha's husband, and more importantly Joy's father. You might be scum, but you are a good father, and I know that you know how to best fix things between you and Natasha." said Pete.
"I will take that as a compliment, thank you Peter." said Dom as he smiled.
"Don't flatter yourself Dom." replied Pete with a scoff as Dom laughed.
"I have work to do, and I'm sure you have the same, goodbye." said Pete.
"Bye Pete." said Dom as he smiled and Pete ended the call and Dom shook his head and laughed.
That was an unexpected turn in his day, it was kind of fun, he liked the little interruption he got today, he felt somewhat energized to focus on his work again.
As Dom returned to working he suddenly heard a knock on his door as he answered that the person come in.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" asked Dom in surprise as he looked up only to see his mother walking into his office.
"A good afternoon to you too Dominic, you don't seem happy to see me." said Margaret as she sat down on the couch and Dom stood up to meet her there.
"No it's not like that at all Mom, good afternoon, I was just surprised to see you here, that's all." said Dom as he smiled and Margaret hummed.
"Right." she said as Dom smiled and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Yes Mom, don't be upset, how are you?" asked Dom as he smiled and sat down beside his mother.
"I am fine Dominic." said Margaret as she smiled.
"So what brings my lovely mother here all alone to my office today?" asked Dom as he smiled and Margaret chuckled.
"I'm not alone, your father and Grandfather came along with me, but they are still back at your house, your father wanted to apologize to Natasha." said Margaret.
"Ahh I see, and how did that go?" asked Dom.
"Very well actually, I just quickly rushed here so I could run my errands before we have to go back home." said Margaret.
"Which brings me to the main reason I am here, have you asked Lulu how much progress she has made planning the joint event party we are going to have?" asked Margaret as Dom sighed, he had completely forgotten about that party that Lulu was in charge of planning.
"We have been postponing it for far too long now, first a week, and now two weeks, if we want to get this done we need to get it done." said Margaret as Dom nodded.
"I completely agree with you mom, but the thing is, the party skipped my mind, I haven't even checked on Lulu's progress and she hasn't sent me a report." said Dom as he sighed.
"You see, that's why I had to come all the way over here to make sure things are in order. Lulu did ask for my help, but I am worried, I haven't seen her really working on it as she should." said Margaret.
"Dominic do you really think that we should let Lulu handle such a huge event? After all, it might be daunting and too much for her to handle." said Margaret in worry.
"Well I think Lulu will be fine mom, she can handle this, I believe in her." said Dom.
"You really think so Dom?" asked Margaret in doubt as Dom nodded and smiled.
"I know so mom, Lulu is very capable, and she is working hard on planning this party, besides, I already assigned this duty to her, if I was just to suddenly take it away from her, she will certainly be upset." said Dom as he knew his sister well, and he didn't want to cause any trouble between them at all.