Chapter 29 #2
“Exactly. So I dug deeper. And found that all these missing women were quite young. Definitely under twenty-five. All of them were immigrants. Some of the families were paid off to retract their complaints, and three entire families are now missing. I went digging through his personal properties, and voilà. He’s got a property near the Catskills, and the fucker has a propensity for recording his activities.
Lucky for us, I was able to hack into all the security footage till about four years ago.
And the fucker has had too many parties with barely legal girls.
The recordings feature high-profile individuals engaging in illegal activities to the extent that they could potentially dismantle the state's justice system. If this footage were released to the public accidentally, it could ruin the lives of many high-profile individuals. The state attorney could avoid accusations from ordinary middle-class people. But you don’t mess with the reputation of high-profile people. Those sharks would eat him alive.”
Finally, my heart started to settle. Dominic was getting out of this mess. “So what’s the plan? Are we releasing the footage or blackmailing him?”
Sloane, who had been listening to the conversation, asked, “How about eliminating him altogether?”
Tara’s lips curled into a satisfied smile as if she’d been thinking the same. “We’ve killed people for less.”
My eyes met my girls, and my own smile slipped through. “You know it’s my favorite way to tie up loose ends.”
Sloane’s eyes looked behind me for a second before she met my gaze. “You go with your man. We’ll take care of the attorney.”
I had never not taken care of loose ends before. I hated feeling like I was slacking off or taking advantage of my girls. That somebody else was taking priority over finishing the job. “Are you sure?”
Tara gave me a warm smile. “He needs you more, Sami. We’re fine.
It’s just one guy. He’d be frazzled right now.
It wouldn’t take much to get him alone and slit his throat.
It would take even less time to blast all his crimes on the internet to see.
Cops will think someone from his close network came to finish the job.
Dominic would be off the suspect list soon after. ”
Sloane waggled her eyebrows. “See, Tara’s got it all figured out. Don’t worry about us. Your man needs you. Looks like it was his first kill.”
I looked at my man and found him talking quietly with his family. They finally had small smiles on their faces even though each one looked mentally wiped. I got up from the couch, thanked the girls, and made my way to the Parks.
I stepped into the cage and asked softly, “You all want to get out of here?”
Dominic turned back to look at the now cold, dead bodies of the three men and cringed. “Yeah. Definitely.”
The moment he was up on his feet, he rushed to me and pulled me into a crushing hug. I could feel his hands shaking at my back and his heart racing against my chest. I ran my hand down his back, soothing and caressing him to try to calm the adrenaline flooding his system. “Let’s go home, Dom.”
“Thank you.” His voice was a whisper, but I still heard the bone-deep gratitude in his two little words.
Once we stepped out of the cage, I turned to Sloane. “I need you and Naomi to go and drop Sophie and her parents off at their house safe and sound.”
“On it.” Sloane was up and leading the way upstairs while I followed the Park family at the back, keeping my hand in Dominic’s.
Once we were out of the basement, Dominic’s dad stopped in the living room where Naomi and Lena sat at the large table.
He turned and walked toward me. I immediately let go of Dominic’s hand as his father took both my hands in his.
“Thank you, Samaira.” He looked at all the girls.
“Thank you, all of you.” He turned back to me, and with tears shining in his eyes, said, “You girls are family now. You need anything, you call me. Or Dominic.”
I gave him a nod and squeezed his hand. “We will. Although Dominic has done enough for us, as it is.”
Dominic gave my waist a light squeeze as his dad nodded, and we all slowly moved toward our cars. While Dominic and I got into one car, Sloane, Naomi, Sophie, and her parents got into the other. After promising to call them once we were home, we made our way to Dominic’s place.
This time, I took the wheel. Dominic was in no condition to focus, let alone drive.
He had taken not one but three lives today.
No matter what crime someone had committed, it never felt normal to take someone’s life.
The world was filled with the most depraved monsters, and somebody had to be the one to slay them.
Dominic had killed three of those monsters today, extinguishing the lives of living, breathing creatures.
No matter how cruel those men were, no matter how much they deserved it, killing them still took away a part of your soul.
As if it were a punishment for deciding their fate rather than letting fate come to them.
I hated that he had to listen to Sophie recount those nightmares, that she had to look at her culprits and know that she was just a victim of a bruised male ego.
For her to bare those ugliest truths in front of her whole family took balls of steel and a shit ton of trauma.
Those men deserved to die. And I was so proud of Dominic for not shaking, not stumbling, not hesitating, for even a second before doling out justice.
I looked beside me to find his hands shaking on his lap as he stared outside the window.
In my personal experience, I was always left on a huge high after a kill, leaving me desperate for a fuck or an hour or two in a hot bath.
Those were the only two things that combated the violent paradox of the chill that seeped through my bones and the volcanic blood roaring through my veins.
It was a clash of adrenaline trying to escape my body, while my mind struggled to hold on to it, seeking a sense of control.
Slowly, I reached forward and grazed my fingers along his chilled hand that was still caked in dry blood. His eyes snapped to me, his face was streaked with blood splatter, and I gave him a small smile. I moved my hand in his and slowly brought it to my lap. “You okay?”
His palm squeezed my thigh hard as if that was the only thing holding him up. His eyes were a storm of darkness, violence, and need . “Park the car to the side.”
We were still closer to the safe house and way too far from the main highway or any population.
Just a long stretch of road, swallowed up by trees on both sides, the only light coming from the car’s headlights.
Knowing that we could easily get the privacy we needed, I slowed the car and drove it to the side.
I moved his hand from my lap to the apex of my thighs, at the burning hot spot that ached for him.
“You need me right now, don’t you, Dom? You can’t hold on till we get home? ”