Chapter 17
DOMINIC
Even back when I was a kid, I knew what sort of animal her father was, but hearing her tell me what he did to her, locking her away like that, it did something to me.
I couldn’t do what he did to her. I couldn’t hurt her that way, no matter what happened in our past. She deserves better. She always has.
But I have to be careful around her. I can’t let her get to me. I won’t allow her to ruin the plan my brothers and I have carefully set into motion by tempting me with her body and ruining me with her tears.
I know she wants out of here. I know what she’s trying to do. But I can’t let her leave. She has no idea what’s waiting for her beyond the comfort of my home and she doesn’t want to know.
Once I’m done with her, she’ll be gone. Far enough where I can’t be tempted to get a taste of those luscious lips and every other place in between.
I have to get the aftertaste of Chiara off my tongue before I bury myself deep inside her the way I’ve been tempted to. She makes me crazy. There’s a fire within her that ignites my very soul, making me want her with sheer depravity.
No woman has ever spoken to me the way she does. She’s different than the rest. I want to kill that fiery spirit while cultivating it and helping it grow. I like her fighting back, but I fight harder and a lot dirtier.
Rubbing the back of my head, I keep the focus away from Chiara and on the mission at hand.
“How long?” I ask Miles, our head of security and the driver of the van my brothers and I are in. He’s the only one of my men I truly trust.
“Five minutes out, sir,” he says over his shoulder.
Miles is excellent at his job, an ex-sniper who was once a Navy SEAL. All the men who work for me have high-level military backgrounds. For the kind of shit we’re involved in, only the best will do.
He makes a quick left as I scan the faces of the other two guys here. Another eight men are in the van behind us, heading for the strip club, not knowing what awaits, but ready for anything.
After I left the house, I prepared for tonight with my brothers and our men at Enzo’s. I can’t do shit at my place with Chiara there, and Dante can’t either, with Raquel at his place.
The van stops, arriving a quarter of a block away from the club with nothing but trees and lanterns lining up the quiet street. The crickets are the only ones awake, and we want to keep it that way.
One of my tech guys in the other van was in charge of killing the camera frequencies within a three-mile radius. Every Ring cam, dash cam, every fucking cam you can think of has been dead for hours.
“Sir, we’re positioned,” Roger alerts me through my walkie-talkie. “We see some movement inside. Two men so far. Both armed.”
Roger is one of my most lethal guys, probably from his days as an Army sniper. He also runs a mixed martial arts school by day, but no one knows exactly what he does for me at night.
“Stand by,” I say.
“Ten-four.”
“We’re going through the back,” I tell my guys. “Keep your masks and gloves on at all times. Kill any man inside.”
My brothers and the rest of the guys pull down their black face masks, semi-automatic pistols in hand, and another two strapped to each of their bodies.
I like these weapons. I remove mine from the duffle bag on the floor.
Faro has good taste. The irony of using his own guns on his people doesn’t escape me.
We exit the van, taking slow, measured steps to the back of the club. A few men from the other van wait inside on standby, watching for possible threats.
Our boots crunch over the gravel, and as we near the door, I peek inside through the glass window on the door, finding two men pacing back and forth, nine-millimeters in hand.
But they don’t see us yet. They’re not close enough.
They’re positioned around the middle, by the bar where I first spoke to Chiara.
I gesture with two fingers, alerting everyone of what I see.
Faro must’ve seen me grab her from the camera footage at the club and sent his people here. I wanted him to know. There must be more men hiding inside.
I take out the keys I stole from her and carefully place one in the door, turning until I hear a click. And in the silence of the night, it sounds louder.
Ominous.
Dante and Enzo are on the other side of the door, with the rest of the guys spread out behind us.
I nod once, giving them the signal to be ready. Shoving the door open, we rush inside as the men shout in alarm.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
We start shooting, bullets flying past my head. Three more men run out from the doors leading to the back of the club, firing round after round.
One bullet flies past my ear as I duck and kneel, firing at one son of a bitch right in the calf as I go down.
He screams in agony.
“You piece of shit. You’re all dead,” the capo I now recognize as Mikey threatens. “Faro will have all your heads.”
Still on my knees, I point my gun at his torso. “Good night, motherfucker. I’ll make sure Faro pays you a visit.”
I pop him in the chest. He finally shuts up.
One down.
My eyes fly around the room, the pulse in my neck pounding with fury, matching the rage inside my heart. I want all of them dead. Everyone who’s ever worked for that family will die.
Dante shoots another one dead, while Enzo’s punching some soon-to-be sorry son of a bitch off of him, the man’s gun on the floor.
I rush for it, picking it up. Enzo makes eye contact, and as he slightly shoves the guy off to the side, I fire at the asshole on the back of his skull. He falls on top of my brother.
“Fuck, man,” Enzo mutters, pushing the dead weight off completely. “Did you have to kill him right on top of me?”
I give him my hand and pull him up. “Maybe I should’ve left you there and had him rearrange your face.”
“On your left,” Enzo warns with a head gesture, as another four men come for an attack.
How many fucking people do they have back there?
Boom.
Boom.
I shoot one in his eye, ducking as the other fires at me, while Enzo takes care of the other two.
My shoulder burns, but I ignore the pain, firing two more rounds at the one who just tried to take me out.
He drops to the floor, blood gushing out in spurts from his neck. Standing over him, I fire another bullet into the center of his chest.
He’s definitely dead now. And as I watch the blood seeping out of him, I realize the bullets have stopped.
It’s quiet now.
“Fuck!” Dante growls behind me.
I rush over, finding two men dead beside him.
He clutches his left arm, his lips peeled back, teeth gritted, face twisted in pain. “I’m hit.”
“Let me see,” I tell him as I start to gently pull at the sleeve of his hoodie until his arm is free.
Blood leaks from the top of his arm, right below the shoulder.
“Shit, we have to get you to Raquel. She’s the closest.”
She’ll know how to treat this shit. I remove my hoodie, wrapping it tightly around the wound, applying enough pressure to stop the bleeding.
“Let’s load up and get the fuck out of here!” I shout to my men.
Looking around, I find they’re all still in one piece. Relief washes over me.
As Enzo and I grab Dante, we hear whimpering. A woman’s voice.
What the fuck?
“Did you hear that?” Enzo asks, his eyes narrowing, voice low.
I nod, pointing toward the bar with my head.
Go, I mouth.
He nods back in understanding, and as another of our men takes over holding Dante steady, Enzo makes his way toward the sound.
He takes a few slow steps, and then he leaps over the bar. That idiot is reckless. If I didn’t have Dante, I’d kill him. She could have a fucking gun back there.
“Get away from me!” the woman yells, tears evident in her tone.
He holds out his palms as he peers down. I can’t see her from my view.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” he promises. “Come on out.” He reaches a hand for hers. “I’ve got my brothers out there, plus a bunch of the men who work for us. We swear we won’t do anything to you.”
“I don’t care! You need to leave now before I blow your fucking brains out.”
So she does have a weapon. He’s lucky she hasn’t used it yet. Or, she’s lucky, I should say. I’d shoot her dead if she killed my brother.
“As much as I love a hot woman with a weapon, especially when that woman is you, you need to stop pointing that thing at me, Joelle.” He smirks.
He knows her?
“Fuck you, Enzo.”
Well, that cleared up any confusion.
He casually leans against the bar, his arms now crossed over his chest like they’re having a friendly chat. “You should know by now the main reason I come here is for you. The way you own that pole…” He grunts like he’s picturing it. “Damn, girl. You’re like a snake on that thing.”
I knew he came here with Dante, but I didn’t know he was making friends with strippers. Not that I’m surprised.
I’d pay to see that kid settle down. I’m not even talking marriage. I mean like a girlfriend. But with the life we’ve been dealt, none of us can have that. Not yet. Not until all the blood of our enemies spills across our feet. Not until we can leave the past and live in the present.
“How about you put that gun down and come out with us?” Enzo tells her. “I’ll drive you home.”
“I’m good here,” she counters. “You can go.”
“Okay, sure, babe, you stay.” He backs off the bar. “But it’d be a real goddamn shame to see all that beautiful skin turn to a crisp when we burn the place down. Wouldn’t want all that talent to go to waste.”
“Fuck you!” she yells.
He shakes his head in mock disappointment. “Such a pretty mouth saying such dirty things.”
And before she can say another word, the sound of what I think is the gun landing on the floor splits the air.
He quickly leans down and out of view.
“Don’t fucking touch me, you asshole!” she screams.
Enzo groans, and there’s the sound of shuffling and movement. Finally standing back up, he clutches the arm of a woman, about our age, with wavy blonde hair and light blue eyes.
“Asshole?” he asks accusatorily, with his other hand flat against his chest as he faces her. “That was me being a gentleman. If I were an asshole…” He fists her hair, pulling her face close to his. “I’d drag you out by your throat.”
She narrows her eyes with venom, steeling her chin as they both glare at one another.
“Come on, man. Dante needs help!” I shout.
He finally looks at me. “Yeah, shit. My bad.”
He yanks her by the arm and brings her around from the bar, finally joining us. When he’s next to me, he bends over to my ear.
“Do you realize who we have?” he whispers.
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s the Bianchi brothers’ favorite toy. And she makes them a crap ton of dough.” I can see the gears turning in his brain.
“What do you wanna do with her?”
I already know the answer to my question.
“I wanna keep her. What better way to fuck with them? We burn their club and take their favorite girl.”
“Fine. She stays with you.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way. I have a feeling she and I will have lots of fun together.” The smile on his face is deadly as he yanks her closer to his side.
She groans with displeasure, refusing to look at him, staring straight ahead at my men.
Once I get Dante into the van. I return to the club with a few of the men and burn every inch of that place until it goes…
Boom.