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Dante was shocked at all the words that had just flown out of Victoria. He had never heard say more than a short sentence when she spoke. But this wasn't what surprised him the most. She had only known Dante for a short period of time. When he thought about how long it's been, he came up with not even a week. She only knew a very small portion of who Dante was. Mainly bad things, but not enough to know if he would change or not. It seemed to him that things have rushed by. That things had been moving fast, but he didn't think it moved this fast. After taking in everything that she had said, his mind finally processed an answer. "You know Victoria. I could say so many things right now." he shifted in his seat to face her. "How do you know if I'll change? How do you know that I'll only care about money? You don't." Dante changed his voice to sound nicer, but his words were still blunt. "If that were the case, then I would already be that way. I got everything that I have three years ago. Which means if I were to change it would have already happened. You wouldn't know this since we just met." Dante cleared his throat and kept his composure. "I'm just now starting to better myself. I'm just starting to get on my feet. Yeah you seem like a great friend and all, but we are no where being close enough for me to not go on with my plans because of what you think." Dante stopped. His took in a deep breathe and let it out. "To be honest people think I'm foolish. Even I think so. Why? Because of what I'm doing. Because I'm willing to take the risk of going this far with someone that I have just met. But I'm a risk taker, and I don't care about things that seem foolish because those may be some of the smartest things in the world." Dante turned off the radio and made sure the car was in park.

"I'm sorry for being blunt about things. But this is how it's going to be. Either I go about my plans and you join me or I got on about my plans without you." he sighed a bit after saying this. "Would I like to help you out and make things better for you? Yeah. Would I want you to join me? Yeah. I can't help to see such a nice girl suffer in such a cruel world. And I'd hate to pass up the opportunity on growing closer and wonder if I missed out." Dante turned back and put his back against the seat. He sat there in silence for a few minutes. "So what's it going to be Vicy?" Dante finally asked her.

"And you think I belong here?'" Dante said as he started the car back up. He revved the motor a couple of times before slowly pulling away. He thought for a few minutes before continuing. "Maybe this environment will do us some good. It's safer and I assume not a lot of things are tolerated here." He put the gps back on before continuing along the way. He checked his watch and noticed that he was behind schedule. The drive and the talk took longer than expected. The hour that they did have to blow turned into only fifteen minutes now. "We only have fifteen minutes now." Dante followed the roads and came to the center of the town. He went into a residential neighborhood. It was a small nice area with house surrounded by large yards. He finally found the house that he would be looking at and pulled into the driveway. As he turned off the car and put it in park he peered out at the large brick house. It looked as if a family of four could live in it. Apparently his mother thought he would be living with more than one person. But sure did know the correct definition of beauty. Everything looked perfect from the cobblestone walkway to the tan bricks of the house. As he peered out an older woman opened the front door and waved.

Dante opened his car door and stepped out. The click of it shutting seemed to be the only real thing in this neighborhood. He looked over at Victoria and gestured for her to follow. Dante began to slowly walk up the walkway to the house as he looked around the yard. He wondered what his mother was thinking when she picked this out. He began to suspect that she picked out her dream house instead of one to Dante's likings, but hardly anyone knew what Dante liked except for Alex and Aria. He would've been happy with a small house in the suburbs across town where he was at now, not one in the suburbs of Eastern Heights. He went up to the door where the small older woman stood. She was a shorter lady, maybe early 50's, with a very elegant suit on. It didn't look like anything you would find in the town he lived in. Just another thing to add to the fake feeling.

"You must Dante Reynolds. My name is Michelle Santos with Coldwell Realtors." the woman with a French accent outstretched her hand. Dante shook and gave a friend hello. "I showed your mother the house a few weeks back. Such a nice woman. She really enjoyed it and thought it would be perfect for you."
Dante spoke up finally, "By the looks of it out here I would have to say a little too perfect. It's a little overwhelming to be honest."
The woman smiled. "Your mom told me to expect this. But trust me you'll fall in love with it by the end of the tour."
"We'll see." Dante said as he peered inside the house.
"Well let's begin the tour then."

The woman stepped inside and Dante followed. He waited by the door for Victoria to step inside.

((I'm going to semi time skip so I don't have to describe the whole house. That's a whole lotta work and I'm kinda lazy :/ ))

Dante stepped over the small ledge below the door. Once inside he came to the side of Victoria and behind the relator as they stood in the foyer. The house rooms that Dante could see were painted in nice vibrant colors that matched the flooring. Most of the rooms that he could see had wood floors with a few excepts of carpeted ones. The foyer had gray and white tile like design to it. "At least it's up to my mother's standards." was all that Dante could say as he stood next to Victoria.

"Maybe it'll live up to yours Mr. Reynolds." the relator said as she gestured him to follow.
"I doubt it." Dante said under his breathe.

---time skip---

After slowly going from room to room, hearing the fine details of each, the relator finally led Dante back to the backyard. She carried her clipboard in her arm as if she was going through a checklist of what she had left to do.

"Well Mr. Reynolds," she paused for a quick second, "what do you think?"
"Do you want my honest opinion Mrs. Santos?" Dante bluntly said.
"It would be nice." she said back picking up on Dante's character.
"It definitely lives up to my mother's standard and I can see why she picked it. But it's more than what I was looking for." Dante crossed his arms. "Granted the neighborhood is nice, almost too nice to be honest, and the landscaping is beautiful. Everything is beautiful. It's very large and is most likely worth the cost. But I could never use this house to the fullest effect. I mean it's only going to be me and possibly someone else, not an entire family." Dante said in a nice and professional manner.
The woman was taken back for a quick moment. "Well I can see where you're coming from. Could you possibly have more people move in with you?" she asked him.
"I can't even stand to live with myself to be honest. I couldn't picture putting other people in that situation." Dante chuckled.
The woman gave a small and short laugh before continuing. "Well then I sorta have some bad news. See when your mother came and toured the house a few weeks back she told me that it would be for you, and that she wanted the very best for you. She also said that you needed a change of environment-"
Dante interrupted the woman as she was talking. "Look. I'm not one enjoys hearing back stories. If you have bad news then tell me." Dante was very outspoken and didn't care how the woman felt. He hated when people play games and beat around the bush.
The woman's eyes widened in surprise. "Well after the tour your mother asked if was still on the market. And I said that it indeed was still on the market." the woman hesitantly said.
Dante's heart sunk after that comment. He knew what the woman was going to say. Anger started to show itself in Dante's heart and he had to push it away. "She put in her offer didn't she." He didn't need to ask it in a question.
"She did."
Dante cut the woman off again. "Was their a reply to it yet?" Dante asked her.
"They accepted it. I was supposed to give you the keys today You're mother already signed the papers."

Dante walked out the door to the back yard. Feelings overwhelmed him as with each step. Anger, confusion, sadness, rage. The woman called out from the house, "I'm sure she had the best intentions. It's a great place Dante." He came back inside and sat at the table. The woman sat down at the table with him. "How much did she pay?" Dante asked without looking up. She checked her clipboard and gave him the news he didn't want to hear. "Two-hundred. Believe me you received a really good deal." the woman reluctantly said. Dante nodded as he looked up at the woman. She put the keys in front of Dante as she stood up. "I have another client to meet with. Call if you have any concerns or questions. Here's my card." She walked past Victoria and out of the house. Dante continued to sit at the small table used when realtors showed houses to potential clients.

Dante looked up at Victoria and back down. He began to speak and with each word that he said he grew angry. Not because of having to live in the house but because of his mother's selfish act with Dante's money. "That," Dante paused to search for an appropriate word but ended up saying the first word on his mind, "that selfish b***h used my savings on something that only she likes." Dante stopped talking and thought about what he just said. "I shouldn't have called her that." He continued to say how he felt. He wasn't really telling Victoria but more of telling the air what he thought. "She used my investments from the past two years. Two long years of not spending a dime, because I hoped to finally use it to get myself on the right track. Get myself where I wanted to be, but ended owning a place where I regret having to live." He paused again to collect his thoughts. "Granted without her idea and plans and without her taking over and doing what's best I wouldn't have that money, but still, I'm the one who had his friend die in his hands. I'm the one who had to suffer and for that I received money. So shouldn't I get a say so in how it's spent?" Dante stood up and paced the kitchen. "She probably thought, 'Oh it's not that much. He still has the settlement that Alex's mom gave him plus some investments. I know this will be good for him' She's always thinking about herself and the false ideas of who and what I am."

Dante grunted in anger at the idea of this. He began to wish that he wouldn't have received anything in the first place. He wouldn't be in any kind of situation that he's in now. It was supposed to benefit him, not destroy him. Dante walked in silence. Every step that he took seemed to leave a hot foot print behind. He finally calmed himself down and sat at the table again. He looked at Victoria, hoping that he hadn't scared her with another fit of anger. "Vicy. What am I supposed to do?" he laughed a little bit. "I don't even know why I asked that because how would you know. How would anyone know." He was quiet for a few minutes as he looked around the kitchen. "Sometimes I wish my mother would treat me as an adult and allow me to make my own decisions instead of acting as if I'm still a child lost in a giant world." Dante picked up the key and placed it in the pocket of his jacket.

We just don't realize it? Dante thought to himself. He was pretty sure he would realize it and so would everyone else. He pushed the comment away and walked into the other room. He wasn't sure if she was ready to leave or if she needed to get away from something. He walked into the room without saying a word but noticed her clenched fists. He wasn't sure why she would be upset or angry, but he had ideas though. It wasn't hard for Dante to make people angry. Heck, even he made himself angry sometimes. "What's the matter?" Dante said as his footsteps were echoed by the wood flooring. He didn't bother going up to in case she just wanted space.

Dante looked down at her fists. "So those are fists of happiness then?" he said as he stood in place. He looked back up and met her eyes. He took a few steps forward but still left room in between them. He didn't see why Victoria would lie to him especially over something like that. The anger that he did feel earlier was slowly going away. Instead of those spots being filled with happiness, a more content and numb feeling took seeped in instead. A feeling of neither happy nor mad nor sad, but just contentment.

Dante looked down to see Victoria uncurling her fists. He looked back at her and caught sight of her brown eyes. The were truly beautiful for being such a dull color. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so." he reached into his pocket and took out his car keys. He shook them a little bit, and headed towards the door. He hoped Victoria got the hint. "Shall I take you back home? Or do you not work today?" he asked her while he opened the door and leaned on the frame as he waited for her.