12. Dominic
Dominic
"Don't forget about me, tonight," I recall June saying this morning when I kissed her goodbye.
All I ever think about is her, how could I forget?
I threw our date together last minute, but she's right in insisting we get more time together.
It's not that I don't want to, I've just been a bit preoccupied with tracking down the man responsible for ordering her hit and disrupting our business.
I hate that I can't be honest with her, but the less she knows, the better.
It's safer that way. As long as Simon keeps his word and protects her like his life depends on it, she will remain out of harm's reach.
I drag the edge of the baseball bat across the concrete and approach the man tied to the chair in the middle of the room.
“How do you feel about your knees?” I nudge him in the chest and lift his chin with the bat.
“Or those teeth of yours.” I step closer and reach for a pair of pliers off the tray.
I shove them into his mouth and yank one of his molars out as he whines and moans.
He hacks bloody spit onto the floor next to me. “You fucking psycho. I don’t know anything.”
I discard the tooth on the tray and set the pliers back in their place.
“That’s the thing, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.
” I take a deep breath and exhale. “Just between you and me, I don’t give a shit if you die.
I’ll stay here all day ripping you apart piece by piece.
I’ll pluck every tooth from your head. I’ll peel your fingernails off one by one.
I’ll break every single bone in your body until you tell me what you know.
Or you die. It’s as simple as that. And if you think for a second that I won’t enjoy it, you’re wrong.
Oh, I’ll get great satisfaction in watching you suffer. ”
“You’re fucking sick, man!” the guy cries out.
“I never said I wasn’t.” I grab the hammer and kneel before him, tugging his shoe off his foot and looking up at him. “Do you have anything you’d like to tell me?”
“Go to hell, asshole.”
I drive the thing back and slam it down onto his foot, crushing every bone it comes into contact with. He screams out but it only fuels me to hurt him even more. Eventually, he will break, but in the meantime, he's going to be a fun one to crack.
Despite him thrashing in his seat, I manage to yank his other shoe off.
“You’ll probably never walk again after this.
But, once I’m done with you, walking will be the least of your concerns.
” I steady my aim, hesitating to give him an opportunity to speak.
When he spits in my face, I thrust the hammer down harder than I did on the other foot.
I stand, ignoring his cries of agony, and stroll over to the table with various torture devices.
I pluck a rag off the end and wipe at my face. “This is fun, no?”
I turn toward him, tears streaming down his red-hot cheeks. His face is somehow so pale yet so full of color. What a twisted contradiction.
“You’ll pay for this.” He moans, his head struggling to stay upright. “You’ll fucking pay.”
I toss the rag aside and consider his meaningless words. “I doubt that, but I appreciate your tenacity.” I scan the tools and assess my options. “I could make this quick if you’d like, all you have to do is use that voice of yours for something other than crying.”
“I’m dead either way,” he blurts out. “Why would I tell you a damn thing?”
“Do you not know who I am? Do I need to remind you of the rumors whispered about the man with no remorse? The one who takes great pleasure in inflicting pain.” I clasp onto the pliers again and go behind him, latching onto his index finger.
“This.” I press the thing under his nail and rip it from his finger.
"Is just another day at the office." I ignore his screams and crush the same finger. "I could do this in my sleep."
Once he finally gathers his breath, he says, “He’ll gut you like a fucking pig.”
“Yeah?” I lean down, my hand pressed against his shoulder. “All you have to do is tell me a name and I’ll give you a swift death. I’ll even let you choose.” I motion to the table behind me. “I’d probably pick a bullet in the head if I were you, but I’ll be kind enough to let you decide.”
“I don’t have a fucking name,” he yells at me. “Don’t you think I’d have told you by now?”
"No, not particularly. I haven't even really gotten started.
" I take the spoon-looking thing from the table.
"I think I'll pluck your eyes from your skull next.
Actually…" I toss it aside. "I think I'll get my hands dirty for this one.
" I unbutton and roll my sleeves up. "I wonder what the chances of you dying are?
" I pause and think this through. "Possibly high.
I may have to hold off on that and save it for later.
" I face him. "What do you want to do next?
What about electrocution? That could be fun. "
“Savini,” he blurts out. “Talk to fucking Savini. I don’t know anything else, but Savini does.”
I sigh and cross my arms. “Lorenzo Savini?”
He nods aggressively. “Yes. If anyone has any information, it will be him.”
One of our organization's most notorious hitmen.
A shadow like me that people fear. A man I respect because he's so damn good at his craft. He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, but he has standards, a set of moral codes and boundaries he doesn't cross. I never considered he would have anything to do with June’s kidnapping and torture because women and children are typically out of his scope of work. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know who did it.
“I am a man of my word,” I tell the man I’ve been tormenting. “Pick your poison.”
“Just shoot me and get it fucking over with. Please, for the love of?—”
But I don’t let him finish; I grab the pistol and fire a round straight through the center of his forehead and one in his chest for safe measure. “That wasn’t so hard,” I say to what’s left of his dead body.
I pull out my phone, dialing one of my saved contacts.
“Sir?”
"I need a location for Lorenzo Savini and a clean-up crew over on Ninth."
“I’ll have that to you immediately, sir.”
I disconnect the line and shove the device back into my pocket. I secure the gun into my side holster and unfold my sleeves, smoothing them out and putting them back in their place. On my way toward the door, I slide my arms through the sleeves of my suit jacket.
The drive across town isn't long, but the traffic is more than I hoped for. I check the time as I'm leaving my SUV, my head spinning with all the things I need to accomplish before night's end.
“Your keys, sir?” The valet holds out his hand.
"No, it stays there. I won't be long." I rush past him and into the hotel.
Ignoring the staff that attempts to greet me, I march across the polished floor to the restaurant beyond.
I take one look around the various patrons and spot my target in the back corner.
I almost overlook him in his nearly concealed position, but my eye is sharper than the average person's.
Upon my approach, he stands. “Mr. Adler.” The man, about ten years my junior, extends his hand.
Pressed suit, similar to mine, lesser quality. Greying beard and that familiar murderous glimmer in his eyes I know all too well.
“Mr. Savini.” I shake his hand firmly, his grip matching mine.
“What can I do for you? It must be of great importance if I’m graced by your presence in person.” He motions for me to sit.
I unbutton my jacket and slide into the booth. “I believe you have information that could prove valuable to me.”
He sits across from me. “I see. And what might that be?”
“Before I speak freely, I must ask that you tread lightly with what you choose to do with it.”
Savini nods curtly. "Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Adler. I assure you; I have no reason to betray your trust. It's within my best interest to maintain our professional relationship."
"It's my understanding that you have your own reputation.
That's why I feel confident you'll grasp my concern about the situation.
" I swallow and ignore the strong desire to keep my fucking mouth shut.
I won't gain any insight if I don't follow up on any possible lead.
And after I pulled Magnus away from his date to chase a dead-end, I have to keep pushing if I want to finally uncover the truth about who is responsible for hurting her.
“Please, continue,” he tells me.
“I’m sure you’ve heard stories of what happened at the council choosing ceremony.”
Savini bobs his head. “I was there.”
“Ah, so you witnessed the shooting, and then the aftermath of it all.”
“Yes.”
“That woman, the one who was shot, she means a great deal to me. In our line of business, you can comprehend how significant and dangerous that is.”
“Absolutely.”
“That wasn’t the first time her life was put in danger.”
Savini raises his eyebrow, clearly intrigued by where this story is taking us.
“Not too long before that day, she was kidnapped and tortured. She was innocent then, and she remains that way to this day. She’s not a part of this world, she’s just someone caught in the crossfire of a war that was never meant for her.”
“And you’re trying to locate the man who harmed her?”
“No,” I shake my head. “He’s been dealt with.” I take in a breath and exhale. “I’m trying to find the person who ordered the hit. He has evaded me, and I will not rest until he’s brought to justice.”
“I see.”
“She was lucky enough to escape with her life, but with him still lurking in the shadows, I cannot afford to allow him to live.” I consider how much more I should tell him but decide to leave it there.
He doesn’t need to know that this same man is also disrupting routine shipments and picking off my men left and right.
“You love this girl?”
“Does that part matter?”
“No.”
“She didn’t deserve what happened to her. I understand that being with me causes countless other threats to pop up, but this one is of great urgency.”
Savini rakes his hand across his beard. “I don’t have immediate information for you, but that doesn’t mean I cannot find it for you. I’ll do some digging and see what I can locate.”
“And in return?”
Savini checks his watch and glances up at me. “I could use your influence on something urgent. You don’t even have to do anything, just ride over there with me and your presence alone should be enough.”
“You’re sure you can get me a name?”
“Nobody hurts a woman and gets away with it. You have my word.” He extends his hand across the table to solidify our agreement.
“Let’s go.”
He said it would be quick. An in and out job that wouldn’t take long.
But when the ignorant little strung-out drug runners refused to stop harassing the women at the local strip club, Savini and I had to get our hands dirty.
The smartest of the bunch ran as soon as I stepped out from behind Savini’s shadow.
A few stragglers smacked each other, loudly whispering amongst themselves and questioning whether I was real or not. Some of them evaded us, too.
But then there were the stupid ones. The fucking idiots who decided to get cocky and pull out their guns and take a handful of the strippers hostage.
It wasn’t the cleanest operation, but Savini and I managed to slaughter every single remaining fuck boy with only a few injuries to the women. We worked well together, our backs to each other as we maneuvered through the dimly lit place to eliminate each of our targets.
I had shot the last one in the leg, his scream rippling through the air.
He dropped his gun and clutched at the gaping wound as I shoved him onto the sticky floor and punched him over and over until blood dripped down my face.
I rose from his dead body, and the women who were cowered in the corner gasped.
Savini reassured them that I would bring them no harm and told them to leave. He threw a quick bandage on the last woman’s arm where a stray bullet grazed her and told her to get to the hospital. He shoved a fistful of cash into her hand and turned toward me.
“Are we good?” I had asked him.
He nodded and I left, which brings me to the here and now, where I’m speeding across town and running every red light to get to the woman I did this all for. The one that’s going to fucking murder me for being late.
I burst through the garage door and into the house.
Magnus and Simon stop chatting and look right at me.
Magnus is the first to speak. “You can’t go up there. Not like that.”
“You don’t understand, I have to.” I glance at the clock, noting the three hours that have passed since when I told her I’d be here.
Simon puts his hand out to stop me. “Look in the fucking mirror, Dom.” He nudges me toward the one near our bourbon bar.
Blood streaks my cheeks and speckles my hair and beard. My knuckles are tender and painted red, too. The shirt that was perfectly pressed earlier today is now ripped and destroyed, stained with remnants of the evening.
“She’s already made it clear she wants to be left alone.” Magnus comes over and slaps me on the back. “Your best bet is to get yourself cleaned up and beg for forgiveness when she cools down tomorrow.”
“I didn’t mean to…” I don’t finish my sentence, because if being here was what I really wanted, I would have been.
I might think I’m doing this all for her, but it’s pointless if I lose her in the process.
If I must lose her, I’d rather it be this way than in death. I’d rather her hate me than be dead.
I can live with that, but I can’t live with doing nothing when I know her tormentor is still out there.
The only way to salvage this entire situation is if I come clean and tell her the truth about why I wasn’t here.
But what if even that isn’t enough to bring us back from the cliff I’ve thrown us off of?