Unbound (The Dominator #3)

Chapter 8

8

I woke up alone in my Vegas hotel bed in the fancy six bedroom hotel suite overlooking The Strip. I woke to the curtains drawn tight, which they weren’t when we’d gone to sleep. Tommy must’ve closed them. I could almost pretend I wasn’t here. Almost.

Wait. No, I couldn’t forget it because of how I’d been the previous night. What a night. What an awful night. I took a shower, hoping to wash the ugliness it felt like I was coated with down the drain.

It didn’t work. I didn’t know what to expect from Tommy today.

When I emerged from the bedroom, I was dressed in a pink fitted tracksuit, hair up in a ponytail, and I had a coffee cup filled with decaf café au lait in my hand.

Someone had to have heard me in the shower, likely Sarah, or maybe Tommy and had deposited it on the dressing table in the bedroom. I sipped it. It was probably Sarah. It tasted like it had no sugar at all and Tommy rarely brought me a coffee but when he did, he always put sugar in it. I’d taken to putting sugar in my one daily decaf since becoming pregnant. If I had to give up caffeine for my pregnancy, I would take back sugar.

The suite was beyond nice, open plan, with a dining area, wet bar kitchenette area, large living space with that 12-seater white leather sectional, and two hallways that each had three bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms.

Tessa’s boys were on the floor, Antonio huddled with an iPad, Lucas, with his eyes on the big TV, a hackey sack that looked like a baseball in his little fist held against his mouth. Sarah and Tessa were on one end of the couch, Sarah playing on her phone and Tessa with her eyes on the boys. Go, Diego, Go was on television. Tommy was at the head of a table that was big enough to seat a dozen.

He had a plate of half-eaten food in front of him and I spied several chafing dishes lined up along the serving table behind him. That serving table was on a wall of windows that overlooked the Vegas strip. He was on the phone, looking like he was listening to someone, but his eyes swept over me and then he looked the way of the window and kept talking. I couldn’t hear him over the television.

Tessa gave me a tight smile.

“Lots of breakfast there, Chiquita,” Sarah said.

“Auntie!” Antonio said.

“Tee!” Lucas chimed in. He was not even two, Antonio three, and Lucas had one syllable names for most of us. I was Tee and Tommy was “Me”. Sarah was “Sah”. Antonio was “Toe” and Tess was “Ma”.

“G’morning everyone,” I greeted sunnily.

Tommy stood and pulled the window blind cord to close the drapes, blocking The Strip from my view. I walked right to him. He kept the phone to his ear, but his eyes hit mine.

I got up on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck. He bent so I kissed him on the mouth quick and went to move away. My mannerism was sunny but he’d know different.

He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze but his eyes were hard. He was angry but he was still giving me affection, likely a reward for my going right to him. We definitely had stuff to work out.

I gave him a tight smile and moved to the table filled with food and put my cup down as I lifted the lids off chafing dishes to see what was there. I made up a plate of fruit and pancakes. By the tall stack of dirty plates and cutlery, evidently, I was the last person to eat breakfast. It was after ten o’clock. After that long and rough night, I could’ve stayed in bed longer, but thought of Tessa out here with the boys and just wanted to lessen her burden in any way I could.

Tommy ended his call with, “Right, later.” He put his phone down.

I’d felt his eyes on me the whole time I served myself.

He spoke up. “Gotta go deal with some stuff so girls, there’s a lady named Suzette coming with dresses for you girls to try on.”

I looked at him.

“She’s the one who you saw last time we were here. She’ll be up here in about two hours with some racks and she’s having someone come with her for hair and all that shit. I’ll be back in time for dinner. Sarah’s talking to room service to arrange dinner for before we leave, around eight thirty. Baby, I’ll be in our room making a couple more calls. Come in when you’re done breakfast. Gotta talk to you.”

“Kay,” I said.

He got up and disappeared back into the bedroom with the phone. Tessa turned her attention back to the television.

His demeanor was all business. I knew that was partly because of me and partly or probably mostly because he was getting geared up for revenge.

My eyes moved to Tess as I forked up some cantaloupe.

She had her eyes aimed at the television but it was clear to me that she was staring off into nothing, lost in unpleasant thoughts.

I took a few bites and, without much of an appetite, I moved to her. I sat down and touched her shoulder and she jumped about three feet.

“Sorry,” I jumped back. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Sorry, Tia. Miles away.” She gave her head a shake.

“Tee!” Lucas climbed up onto me and I cuddled him on my lap and blew a raspberry on his chubby cheek. He squealed with delight and grabbed my face and tried to do the same. A raspberry sound came from his throat instead of his lips and because he didn’t get it quite right, I wound up with baby slobber on my cheek.

Tessa gave us a bit of a watery-eyed smile while I tickled her son. He climbed back off me so I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze but didn’t say anything. She swallowed painfully and blew out a slow breath.

Tommy’s head popped out the door of the bedroom we were using and he crooked his finger at me. He wasn’t smiling. Tess reached for her son and I moved to the bedroom and closed the door behind me.

He sat on the edge of the bed and crossed his arms. “Didn’t I tell you to come here after you were done?”

“I wasn’t done. I was just speaking with Tessa,” I returned, crossing my arms.

“Get over here,” he ordered.

My scalp prickled but I moved toward him, wiping my still wet cheek with my shoulder. He pulled me onto his lap and had my ponytail. He pulled it a little so that my mouth was an inch from his. But his eyes weren’t angry; they were searching mine.

“Your head still fucked up?” he asked.

Emotion surged through me. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck.

His arms came up around me and he held me tight. After a minute, he let out a little sigh.

“I’m sorry, Tommy.”

“Forget all of it for today, okay? Can you try?”

How could I forget all that crap? I was a horrible witch to him the night before. And then I turned into a psycho. I was living in the past, letting it drag me down, drag him down when he had so much to figure out for us.

He rubbed my back sweetly and said, “Today, we got a serious pest problem and I’m exterminating it. You and me have shit to talk through after last night but baby, I need my head in the game today so let’s just draw a line under all that ‘till we get home. It was too late to arrange another stylist, so I hope Suzette won’t trigger you again.”

I lifted my head and kissed his soft lips. “I’m so sorry, baby. That was really shitty of me to lay on you last night with everything you’re–”

In my defense, he made me talk about it. He pushed until I did. I couldn’t hide my emotions from him; he read me so well.

“Shh. Stop,” he hushed me and kissed my lips while he cradled my jaw in one hand. “That’s not drawing a line, Tia. Let it go today. I don’t wanna fight with you when I got all this shit to deal with. I love you. More than anything. Let me sort this shit out, okay? Be here for me. Just be my girl, taking care of me like you usually do. We’ll figure this out after. Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“We have shit to sort and I should not have brought you here amid all the stress we’re under, you were right about that, and I take responsibility for that setting you off, but that said, I meant what I said last night. Counseling for you, too. Maybe even both of us together, too.”

“You want that after finding out Oliver was scheming?”

“I never would’ve said it six months ago but yeah. I think you and me need a little help. Maybe we’ll never get completely over our problems but last night was no way to deal. Agree?”

I nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. I was having flashbacks yesterday and it screwed with me.”

“Flashbacks of what?”

“Mexico flashbacks. And of stuff between you and me that was… rough. From the beginning. From when we were here.”

“I get it. Right now, we go forward and I don’t want you fucking stressing. You just grow our baby.” He put his hand on my belly. “Don’t know much about that part but doubt stress helps.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t.”

He caressed my belly some more. Whenever he touched my belly, it made me melt.

“Tonight, dress to the nines for me. I want you and Tess to pull out all the stops.”

“I’ll do my best.” I smiled, a little misty-eyed.

He kissed me and pulled us to standing and then swatted my butt. “Go. Eat breakfast.”

I got up on my tippy toes and put my arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry.”

I really was. I was so twisted up about it, even still, but I hated that I’d hurt him last night, that I’d added to his stress when he already had so much to deal with.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he ordered.

“I am.”

“Always.” He flexed his jaw.

“Forever, baby.” I kissed him on the jawline and then kissed his neck.

“Take care of Tess today.”

I nodded.

He backed up and moved to the closet and grabbed his jacket. “She’s in her head, but I talked to her before you got up and gave her the rundown for tonight. She sees that slimy fuck, she’s liable to flip but I talked to her. Keep a close eye. I’ll have Dex and Nino watching her closely, too.”

“That could be… real hard on her. Maybe it’s not the best idea in light of what he did.”

“I know.” He flexed his jaw angrily. “I thought about what you said so I gave her the out. She’s a Ferrano. She’s gonna look at him not looking beaten or broken. She wants that.”

I nodded.

“You’re a Ferrano now, too. You hang in there with me. We’ll get to the other side of this shit and my goal is that you’ll live easy. You, our baby. I mean that. Somehow.”

I nodded again. God, I really hoped so.

He kissed me slow and sweet and then swatted my butt again. “Breakfast. Go.”

I was wearing a little black ribboned dress with thin strips of black crepe material and strategically placed strips that were black and sheer. It fit me like a glove. It was off the shoulder and my belly wasn’t yet showing but I’d pigged out all day long so I figured it wouldn’t be long before I popped. Who knew what this baby would do to my body, so this might be the last time I’d feel this foxy in a little black dress.

Tommy didn’t make it back in time for dinner, but the rest of us ate heartily with a huge spread brought by room service that was again put in chafing dishes so that the bodyguards could eat whenever they were ready, which they were doing in shifts.

I wore very high black metallic heels with crisscross straps. My jewelry consisted of emerald cut jade studs and a simple choker with a matching teardrop shaped gem that dipped into my cleavage.

Said cleavage was serious. With my pregnancy, my boobs looked extra big, like all the food I was eating was going straight there.

My hair was silky straight, hanging straight down my back, my usual longish side-swept bangs pulled back away from my face in a couple of little twists held in place with black sparkly jeweled bobby pins.

I’d had my make-up done in dramatic red lips and smoky eyes.

Tess dressed in a red floor-length fitted dress with a plunging neckline, a very high front slit, and long and loose flowy sleeves to hide her bandaged arm. Suzette took one look at her arm and picked the right dress just as she’d done when she’d seen my bruised neck when she dressed me for that night we were here last time. She had a knack for it. God knew what she thought of us, though. She remembered me and was very nice and didn’t act like anything was odd.

Tess had on strappy silver sandals and a gorgeous up-do with some curly pieces loose. We both tried to paint smiles on, but it was probably obvious that we weren’t feeling it.

A sex club. A sex club with that asshole there. Tess hadn’t talked about what’d happened, except for one very troubling thing she said to me in the bedroom. I had the feeling she was trying to push it away so I didn’t push for any information.

When she got dressed and inspected herself in the mirror, she had a different look in her eyes. Steeled, hard. I think she’d started getting angry. She was going to be facing her rapist and she was digging deep to find her fire.

“One good thing. At least he raped me from behind so I don’t really have his face burned in my memory.”

That made my belly churn. “You’ll recognize him, though?”

“Yeah. Big ears, bad clothes. Beady eyes. I’ll never smell Polo cologne again in my life without hurling.”

“That’s Leo Denarda. I met him once. He looked at me with this awful, sleazy look. I don’t look forward to seeing him again.”

“I do.” She blotted her lipstick on a tissue.

“Yeah?” I was a little, no a lot, shocked.

“Yep. When I see him and meet his eyes, I’ll see fear. He won’t see fear from me. He’ll see a confident smirk on my face, because we’ll both know my brother is going to fucking annihilate him. You gotta be pretty fuckin’ stupid to fuck with Tommy Ferrano. LD, the motherfucker, is dead meat and he deserves it.”

She reached for the glass of wine she’d brought in to drink while the girl was doing her hair and downed the rest of it, heading out of the room.

Tommy came in as she was leaving the room. He pulled her into the hall and was saying something in a low voice. He kissed her forehead and whatever he said, I caught the look on her face before she turned and left my line of sight. He’d given her something that made that fire burn even hotter.

He turned and was taking me in and another sort of fire was burning in his whisky-colored eyes as they swept over me from head to candy-apple red toes and then back up to my candy-apple red lips again. He bit his lip and gave me a carnal look. He crooked his finger at me and my feet moved to obey.

He shut the door.

I said, “Did you eat? You wanna grab a shower while I make you up a plate?”

He grabbed me by the hips and pulled me to him. Even though he wasn’t all dressed up yet, he still looked as hot as always. He was wearing a dark button-down shirt, dark jeans, and a blazer.

He touched my face with his left hand and I turned into his touch and kissed his wedding ring. His wedding ring seemed to ratchet up his hotness factor for me multi-fold. Despite how I’d felt the night before, how I was still toiling a little bit with my emotions, that ring just set off fireworks deep in my belly.

He kissed me passionately, giving me a little tease of his tongue before backing away an inch and looking deep into my eyes.

“Mm. I’ll be the envy of every man in the joint.”

I smiled and wiped lipstick off his bottom lip with my thumb. He kissed the pad of my thumb.

“I am always the envy of every woman when I’m on your arm.”

“You good?” he asked.

I nodded with confidence. “You need me tonight, I’m there for you. I’m pushing the other stuff out of reach. It’s out there. Way out there.” I gestured with a wave of my hand.

“Good girl.”

“I love you.”

“Love you so much, baby girl.” His fingers tightened on my hips. “And I am fucking you in that dress later. Fuck,” he eyed me appreciatively, “Can’t wait to bend you over and peel this up to your stomach. I hope you’ve got a treat for me under there.” His eyes moved to my cleavage. “Damn.” He let go of my hips to grab my boobs into both hands and squeezed while making a hungry sound.

“I do. Very sexy lace undies and bra that match.”

“Your undies and bra always match.” He gave me a big smile.

“It’s one of my things.” It was. I would stay home and cancel something to do laundry before wearing mismatching bra and underwear for a night out.

“And I love it. Gotta get my shower. Fix your lipstick. Put lots on. I’m gonna smear it real good later.”

He winked and then as he hit the ensuite bathroom door, I said, “Tommy. Don’t shave.”

He was just barely stubbled and it was very, very smokin’ hot.

He smiled and raised his brows.

“I wanna feel those whiskers on my inner thighs later,” I told him.

“Your wish is my command, wife.” He winked and shut the bathroom door behind himself.

More mortification washed over me. Me and my behavior the night before? I had acted like a lunatic. I couldn’t say I felt much better. I hated all that we were in the midst of, but I was feeling terrible about dragging it all up given all that Tommy had going on.

I’d adapted his habit of using sex as a frustration outlet. I guess he’d taught me that. I’d started doing that even before we got married but it was becoming more and more of a concern.

I needed to fix it.

But how could I do that when I was in the middle of this mess that was our lives? I felt like the frog in Frogger, trying to get across the road without getting squished to being unrecognizable in the process. And now it wasn’t just me crossing that road. It was me with my little tadpole.

I closed my eyes and listened to the shower running, thinking that no matter what, no matter how much I loved my husband, no matter how much our situation tried to screw with my head, this little tadpole would come first. I had to get my shit together.

We were taken, in a huge pearl white stretch SUV limo, to the Fete opening, which was on a gated property a little bit of a drive outside of the Vegas city limits.

Tommy put Tessa on Dex’s arm and Nino and another guard named Will shadowed us. The guards were as dressed up as we were so no one would really know who was and wasn’t a guard in our group.

The place was crawling with press from the adult entertainment industry and when we got out of our limo and found ourselves on a red carpet, camera flashes went off and nearly blinded us.

Outside, it looked like a medieval cathedral. Inside, it was lavish. The front lobby was sumptuous with a large marble reception desk. We were greeted by Ben and Olive Goldberg.

Olive gave Tess air kisses after being introduced and hugged me and it was definitely lingering too long for my comfort level, but I tried to go with the flow.

John Lewis and his wife Kate (aka: Katie Cupcake) were there, too, looking as put together as Posh and Becks, as always. Ben gave a quick tour for the benefit of me, Tess, and Kate. The place was very much like what I’d imagine a boutique hotel somewhere in Paris would be like. But there was a whole lot more than guest rooms.

There was a large auditorium for theater type shows and a smaller one as well. There was a restaurant and a gorgeous rooftop patio with Olympic sized swimming pool and gardens. There were a few dozen overnight rooms as well as experience rooms, too, and Ben explained that he would show us a few, as there were some done alike.

One of the rooms he took us into was set up like a replica of the Fifty Shades of Grey red room, but it was done in purple. There was another room with a big canopy bed as the centerpiece but there was a swing hanging from the top of the canopy.

“Each room offers privacy or options for voyeurs,” Ben explained. “You can see those who are watching you, you can have utter privacy, or you could have a two-way mirror where you are left to wonder if you are being watched.” He said all this professionally and nonchalantly, as if he were giving an ordinary tour of a regular old hotel.

Another room was a big wooden room that looked, at first like a sauna but with small and larger portholes on the walls. It didn’t take long for me to realize that porthole was not the right name for these holes. There were holes in the wall with clipboards above each hole, where Olive explained a photograph or other information would be hung. She opened a sliding door to reveal the other side. Some holes had benches with straps and it didn’t take much to figure out that women or men could be positioned or even strapped against those holes in any potential direction / position.

Katie Cupcake fake-clutched her not-fake pearls and laughed and bumped shoulders with me. Tess was wide-eyed and Tommy was stoic. It couldn’t have been comfortable to take this tour with his sister.

Another room was a big bed, in essence. A bed for about twenty. It was clearly an orgy room.

A room was designed like outer space where you could role play in an alien scenario.

There were costumes for the guests or costumes for cast members employed by the club that could create scenarios. Sex with a werewolf, sex with a sexy vampire, whatever scenario you wanted, they would try to make it happen for you. I saw a room with racks and racks of costumes.

Tours would happen throughout the evening, first for the press, and then for invited VIP guests. A theater production would be put on afterwards with a cocktail party and then some of the rooms would be open to whomever might want to partake.

“This tour is for you, but the next rounds will have staff posing and role-playing in these rooms during the tour for effect. Tommy asked that we leave that out of this tour. Some people like to watch, some to be watched. We cater to those who want to be a submissive, those who want to be dominant. We offer training courses for potential Doms and subs alike. We have shows. We have parties. You can hire someone to fuck you. You can apply to do the fucking. You can simply watch. We cater to all fetishes. This is another toy room.” He opened a door.

“What’s that?” Tessa asked me, pointing at a Sybian. I only knew what it was due to my bit of research around BDSM when Tommy and I got back from Mexico.

Kate started to answer, “You sit on it and…”

“Never mind,” Tess interrupted, round-eyed. She’d figured it out.

“That’s a Sybian and that’s the flogging area. You can be flogged or watch someone be flogged. You can even ride the Sybian while swings are lowered around you with others on them,” Ben explained.

The tour went on and Tess was quiet but wide-eyed and pink-cheeked. She was having trouble hiding her reactions, but I couldn’t read whether she was embarrassed, intrigued, or just trying very hard to not show what she was thinking.

The place was set up as the ultimate fantasy place. You could describe your fantasy to a fantasy planner to find out what might be possible. And it probably would be!

I was kind of wishing we’d seen the tour with the actors, but I got how that’d be weird to see with Tommy’s sister in tow. Still… I felt a little bit of a whoosh of dampness between my thighs at one point and squeezed his hand, making his eyes hit mine and some sort of promise twinkled deep in there. I returned the look with my version of the same. I didn’t know if my eyes twinkled or not too, but judging by his reaction, I think I got my point across.

As our tour ended, Ben and Olive excused themselves and left us to go walk through the next group, which consisted of the others in the group of investors accompanied by dates.

Myself, Tommy, Tess, Dex, Nino, and Will, plus John and Kate were in a large but very classy bar area where waiters circulated with champagne and fancy nibbles. The room began to fill with others as groups who’d gotten their tours trickled in. Cocktail hour would be followed by the theater production, followed by more cocktails before we’d leave. Others would stay for festivities, but we were definitely not staying for that part.

Tommy assured me we’d leave as early as possible, though we’d see the show and it’d be risqué. I’d told Tess that day about the show I’d seen here last time and figured it’d be along those same lines. Where Tess and I would typically giggle through an uber-sexy description of an event, she was quiet and stoic as I awkwardly explained.

A waiter moved to us, clearly knowing who we were as the others were given champagne and I was given a virgin Bellini.

Tommy was at my side, his arm protectively over the back of my chair, and to some he might seem casual. To me, I could see that he was alert, actively watching our surroundings. He positioned himself in a way that protected me and allowed him to see both exits in this bar.

Tessa sat beside me and she finished her glass before any of us had barely made a dent in our beverages. She looked a bit flipped out. It was a lot to take. Sex club opening where she might see the guy she had to be having nightmares about.

Nino and John Lewis were keeping the conversation going. Nino was good at it, too. He kept things moving so that anyone with eyes on us would see us as behaving no differently than the other groups that were in the room, not as if we were watching for a specific person and not that our group contained armed bodyguards. Katie was charming and flirty with everyone and kept engaging me in conversation about my pregnancy, regaling me with stories of her five pregnancies, one being twins.

She looked amazing for having pushed six humans out so I joked I hoped I could keep my shape after one baby.

After Ben and Olive escorted in the second group of investors, John Lewis and Katie joined them at another table and ordered drinks. Although I got the impression that Katie would’ve preferred to sit with us, I’d seen Tommy and John exchange pointed looks so had the feeling things were choreographed a certain way.

The room filled with more and more people as tour groups entered and well into our second drink, close to when we were to attend the theater show, I felt Tommy straighten. I looked at him and saw his eyes aimed at the door. Tessa got up from her chair and said, “I need the ladies room. Tia?”

“Wait,” Tommy said, his eyes not leaving the door. I glanced in that direction and saw Leo Denarda moving into the room with a very pretty blonde on his arm.

His eyes moved in our direction and he snickered as his eyes hit Tommy and then purposefully moved to Tommy’s sister. Leo’s eyes traveled the length of Tessa’s body and he licked his lips in an oily and perverted way. Tessa saw him and her body locked tight. She glared. He jerked his chin casually at her and then his expression made my skin crawl.

Tommy’s demeanor would seem cold but impassive to anyone around, but I could feel the energy in the room change, to a level I could only think of as “Danger.”

Other than his eyes looking hard and stone cold, the rest of him was completely still. He took a sip of his drink and put it down and he stared at Leo Denarda.

Tessa stared at Leo as if he was something she’d wiped off her shoe and then leaned over and put her mouth to my ear and whispered, “Look at him, look right at his crotch, and then laugh.”

I didn’t feel good about it, because I didn’t want to do anything to antagonize this situation but I did what Tess had asked. She bumped my shoulder with hers and then Tommy said, “G’head. Dex? Show the girls to the ladies’ room. Staff bathroom, to the right of the bar.”

I kissed Tommy’s jaw and he squeezed my hand but his eyes never left where Leo stood with his date, getting served champagne. His lip was curling just a little and then his face transformed. He gave Leo the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Ice Cream Parlor Hottie smile and my heart skipped a beat.

He was going to kill that guy. Murder. Cold blood. Lots of blood.

My heartbeat was in my ears and I felt a little light-headed. I moved behind Tess, who’d grabbed my hand, Dex behind me, and he steered us toward the employee’s ladies’ room, which was not far away from our table. I suspected that this was intentional so that we wouldn’t have to pass Leo.

Once we were inside the bathroom, she grabbed me and held me tight. I hugged her. She was shaking.

“It’s okay. You did good. No, you did great, Tessa. We’re almost through this,” I told her.

She started to hyperventilate. I rubbed her back and when she seemed to be settling down a little, I let her go. She started breathing harder so I dashed into the stall finding what I’d hoped would be there. In the stall there was a dispenser of small brown paper bags. I grabbed one.

“Wanna try to breathe into this?” I held it out.

She shook her head and grabbed the counter edge at the sink with both hands and stared into the mirror at her own reflection and hunched, blowing air out.

We knew Leo Denarda would show.

One of his men had agreed to help out tonight with the promise of support of his taking over Denarda’s role once the fuckhead was taken out. That man had been the rest of that organization’s choice to take over when Denarda’s uncle died.

The guy had been like a son to the uncle, but Leo was blood-family, so it’d been a problem in their organization. It was a small organization compared to most players in Vegas, but they owned some big construction contracts in Nevada and had some strong ties with politicians as well as had pull in the bookie business.

The organization was worried Leo being at the helm would fuck that all up. And he’d already taken away from their livelihood because they never got the Fete build, but the guy we’d brought over to our side was going to be in a solid position for his powerplay after Denarda was out of the picture. And he’d benefit from being a subcontractor in Nevada for the Ferrano Enterprises construction arm.

He’d let a mutual acquaintance know that he was very unhappy with the state of play, so we used that to our advantage. Someone on the other side had been there when Leo Denarda got Ben’s invite to the Fete launch.

It’d been delivered only two days before, but we’d made it look like a courier problem that had delayed it. The envelope was beat up, there was a fake waybill attached that was backdated if Denarda tried looking it up online. Leo might be suspicious but he could come without losing face, which would be perceived as important to a guy who thought he had any face in Nevada or anywhere else.

I saw the look on his ugly mug when he spotted my sister. He’d tried to hide his surprise, the smug look died on his face. And he’d given her a chin jerk like they’d been old hook-up buddies or something. The smug bastard hadn’t flinched through that part. Either he wasn’t surprised that I’d gotten her back, someone had gotten that news to him (which would be really fucking bad but I doubted it), or he didn’t give a fuck and thought he was untouchable.

Or else, he had what he believed would be another ace up his sleeve.

We’d had Ben increase security, add another layer of vetting through Hal, Zack Jacobs’ man for staff for the opening, and there were cameras everywhere. If something went wrong, we’d be able to pinpoint how it had happened. I’d not only had a GPS in my wife’s engagement ring, but we’d had Tess wear a watch that had a GPS as well.

We also had Leo’s limo driver being switched out for one of ours. He wouldn’t be going back home tonight. His two bodyguards, who I’d just had a text message about stating they were directly outside the bar giving death-ray eyes to my other guards. They’d be put out of commission, too.

I was uncomfortable with how long the girls were taking to come back so I looked over my shoulder at Dex. I could see him standing outside the employee bathroom. I touched my index finger to my wrist and jerked my thumb toward the door.

I looked back in Denarda’s direction and caught a look on his face that set my teeth on edge. He put his drink down, grabbed his date’s hand and they moved quickly out of the room. Too quickly. Nino didn’t wait for my ‘go’, he immediately moved to follow.

I sipped my drink. My phone rang with a blocked number. I rejected the call and looked over my shoulder toward Dex.

I didn’t like that I couldn’t see the girls so I jerked my chin at him and said, “Now.”

Dex knocked on the door to the bathroom but at that second, the lights flickered as the room shook with a vibration that hit me in the depths of my gut. The bar area, to the left of me and not far from the alcove that led to that ladies’ room where my wife and sister were, it exploded. Something scraped my face and temporarily disoriented me.

I saw an orange flash that accompanied the deafening sound of glass smashing, wood splintering, and people screaming. Screaming filled the crowded space.

The now darkened space was filled with smoke. I immediately moved toward where I knew Tia and Tess were and before I got too far, moving through people and wrecked furniture and falling down ceiling and light fixtures, there was a second explosion. It was happening over by the entrance to the bar, where we’d come in.

As the sound of that explosion and debris crashing around me pierced the air, I’d gone to the floor, turtling. When I rose, pieces of wall and ceiling falling all over me, there was coughing and screaming. Dust and smoke in the air was filling my lungs.

I glanced behind me and saw flames by that doorway. My eyes started to burn, but I had a single-minded goal. Get to Tia and Tess.

Leo Denarda deserved more credit than he’d been getting. Priority one: my wife and sister. Priority two: make Denarda pay. Fuck, I hoped that Nino and our other guys had managed to get away from that doorway in time and that our guy had him in the limo.

I moved through people and debris, smoke clogging my lungs, but determined to get to the girls. I felt for my phone in my tux jacket pocket and squinted through feeling half blind to use the phone’s flashlight to light the way.

I could see people who were hurt and some who weren’t moving among the debris. The bar was half blown apart, some pieces of ceiling were down and there was stuff coming through from the floor above the bar. The alcove that led to the restrooms had people and furniture and other shit blocking it. I carefully moved through it.

“Can you help me? I think my leg’s broken,” a small female voice asked. I saw the black and white cocktail waitress uniform of one of Ben’s servers.

“I’ll get help. I have to get to my pregnant wife in the bathroom. One sec.” I started coughing, eyes still burning, mouth filled with dust, throat itching like fuck, but I kept moving forward. She was talking to me as I moved, sounding in pain but still talking. I had no idea what she was saying because my wife and sister were all I could think of.

I heard more voices and saw spotlights from people’s phones coming through the dust and debris from multiple directions. The dust was settling a little bit but that fire by the door was spreading. People coughed, I heard weeping, both male and female. My cheek was wet, cut or something, but I was otherwise okay.

I fucking prayed that the girls were all right.

I walked right into Dex and he grunted. He was half slumped against the wall and half against the bathroom door under a collapsed bunch of shit, including a beam. He opened his eyes a little. “Someone got her, Tommy. Can’t…”

My heart stopped.

“Who? Fucking who?”

“Tia. Guy got her, climbed over me, was gonna shoot me, I played dead. He got her and went that way.” He pointed deeper into the alcove. “I tried but I couldn’t get up. Tried to c-call.”

His cell was on the floor beside him. He coughed and winced. Dex looked rough. Worse than rough. His playing dead must’ve been convincing.

“Tess?”

“Didn’t see her come out.”

I kicked shit out of the way that was partly blocking the door and pushed my way in. The bathroom was dark.

“Athena! Tess!”

“Tommy!”

That was my sister. I panned the light through the space until I found her, on the floor. She got up, holding her face.

“A guy came in here and dragged her out in the middle of that. What happened? A fire? An explosion?” She was coughing and she was suddenly in front of me. “He pistol whipped me!”

“Fuck!” I grabbed her hand and checked her cheek. With my phone’s flashlight I could see it was bruised but she looked okay otherwise.

It was clearer in here, but my eyes and lungs were still burning. I fumbled with the phone and found the app with Tia’s GPS from her engagement ring. She was not far. She was showing as right with me.

“One sec, Tess. One sec.” I shoved out of the room. Tess moved with me and crouched by Dex, who was trying, feebly, to get up, but he was half buried under debris. Further into the alcove was a supply closet.

“Stay here, Tessa. Tia!”

I heard my girl scream. The supply closet.

This part of the alcove was dark but unhindered, so I grabbed the knob. Locked. I slammed my shoulder against it, while drawing my gun from my lower back holster.

“Tia!”

“Tom-mf!”

Someone fucking had her in that closet.

I slammed my shoulder against the door again and it gave. I got in. A guy, my age, in a waiter’s uniform, who I didn’t know… he had a gun to her head and was using her as a shield.

Seeing a gun against her head again, a-fucking-gain? It took me right back to that moment with my pop. Her eyes were huge and on me. This little fucker had to fucking die and after he was dead, Leo Denarda would die a very slow and extremely painful death.

“I’ll kill her! I’ll do it, Ferrano. Back off.” The guy was wild-eyed.

My gun was pointed at him. His was pointed at her.

“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded, holding my gun steady.

“Leo hired me to nab her. I got no beef. It’s just a fuckin’ job. Buddy, we gotta get the fuck outta here, though. The bomb!”

“You detonate the bomb?”

“Fuck no. I’m in here, cornered. Why the fuck would I do that? Move. I gotta get outta here. Lower your gun or I shoot her and then shoot you before we blow the fuck up!”

“Give her to me and you can go. I give no fucks.”

“Bullshit. I know who you are, man!”

“I don’t give a fuck who you are. Give me my wife and fuckin’ go.”

Tia looked frightened out of her mind.

“Baby, it’s okay.” I told her. “Buddy, you hired to take me out?”

“No. Just to grab her. There’s a third explosion coming. I don’t have much time. I gotta–” He looked at his watch.

“Third?”

“There were two in quick succession planned and then I have ten minutes to get out. It’s been at least three, four minutes. I saw you–”

“Leo’s in my hands already so there will be no blowback for you not grabbing my wife. Get the fuck outta here.”

I didn’t let the gun go but lowered it a little and watched him. I was good at the quick draw. I hated lowering the gun, putting her at any risk whatsoever but we were at a stalemate. The guy looked freaked. He was not a pro and he was flipped out. His plan had obviously gone south if he’d grabbed her in the bathroom before a bomb blocked his way out with her. The supply closet had no windows. If I recalled correctly, there was a set of restrooms on the other side of this large c-shaped bar and that side probably had a fire exit.

“Shit is south. Everything is fucked!”

“Help me out and I’ll take care of you,” I assured him. I looked him right in the eye. “Give it all to me, I’ll take care of you. Leo’s in my guy’s hands so you’re good. I get that it’s just a job. Turn this thing around now, man; this is your only chance.”

The guy looked at me a beat and then looked visibly relieved, “Didn’t know about this bathroom. There’s a fuckin’ exit beside that other one on the other side of the bar. Someone fucked up. Figured she’d go there. Eyes were on her. As soon as she went to the ladies room, bitches always do that, head to it in groups. She goes, Leo leaves. Bomb one. Then bomb two blocking the door into that bar so first responders have trouble getting in and maybe it takes out you and his other enemies. Bomb three happens ten minutes after, giving me that ten to get her out and to Leo before number three. If I can’t get her out, I’m to bail before ten minutes. But she’s on the wrong side and this closet wasn’t a fuckin’ exit!”

“Any mention of my sister?”

“Your sister. No. Was that the rangy chick in the bathroom with her?”

“Let’s find our way out of here. Who’s detonating bomb three and from where?”

“I dunno; only know we’re runnin’ outta time!”

“Let’s go, man.” I waved toward the door and reached for Tia’s hand. He’d had his arm hooked around her neck. He instantly let go of her and she grabbed me and we went to move out. I turned around and shot the fucker in the face. Tia screamed as he dropped.

“Shh.” I pulled her with me back out into the alcove.

My eyes were still fucking burning a little, but it was dissipating. I heard sirens moving in. I called Nino. He answered on the first ring.

“T! Fuck man.”

I heard sirens even louder in the background. Good.

“Nino, third bomb happening in less than five minutes. Maybe much less. Don’t know from where.”

“Fuck. I’ll tell the fire department.”

I was at Dex and my sister. Two guys were pulling the boards off Dex and he was now free. But he wasn’t moving.

People were moving a little. Some, anyway. I didn’t know where this bomb was detonating from or how bad this was gonna be. I needed to get us the fuck out. I saw we were clear to get behind the bar. There was shit on the floor. Broken bottles and glasses, light fixtures dangling, two people lying on the ground looking dead or unconscious but there was still space to get around them. A couple people had their phones on and the space was illuminated a bit.

“That way; there’s a fire exit by the bathrooms on the other side of this bar.” I hoped that was right.

Dex was in rough shape, but I hauled him over my shoulders, fireman-hold style.

“Athena, hold the back of my jacket. Don’t let go. Contessa, hold Tia’s hand.”

Tia was bawling and rubbing her eyes but she followed my directions and grabbed my jacket and my sister’s hand and I moved through the area behind the bar at the same time as firefighters moved in through the area over at that emergency exit, their helmet lights illuminating the space even more. The place was a fucking mess and there were definitely casualties above and beyond the fucker I’d shot.

I called behind me, “Everyone who can move, move out this door.” I called to the two firefighters, “A guy over there told me there’s a third explosion happening, and it could be any minute, ten minutes after the second explosion.”

The firefighter’s back straightened and his eyes went wide. And then with Dex over my shoulder, Tia and Tess at my back, we moved outdoors.

Paramedics moved to us immediately, pushing a gurney. Someone helped me get Dex onto it. He was now unconscious. Nino moved to me.

“Where is he?” I muttered under my breath.

“Got ‘im,” Nino said low, his face stone as he took in the wreckage that was visibly coming out of Fete in the arms of firefighters.

Tia was still holding my coat; Tess was still holding Tia’s hand. I turned around to face them. They both looked a little bit disheveled, but otherwise whole. Thank God Tia being out of the way for the first and second explosions was a part of that fucker’s plan.

“Good,” I said to Nino, turning around to take my wife into my arms.

She was still bawling. She was also shaking. I took my filthy tux jacket off and put it on her shoulders as she cried into my chest.

Nino put his arms around Tess and hugged her. She was crying, too, watching Dex get wheeled toward an ambulance. More ambulances were coming.

“Move away from this building,” I said, and we all moved back. I didn’t know whether John, Kate, Ben, Olive, or any of the other investors were still in there, but there were more emergency vehicles arriving.

This place was rural, it’d take time, time we might not have. I wanted the girls away from this area. Our limo was still here, so I moved the girls to it and led them inside.

“Don’t. Don’t go back in there!” Tia grabbed at me frantically when she realized that I wasn’t getting in.

“I won’t. I won’t, baby. I’m just seeing what’s what. Gotta talk to the cops. You okay? Anything hurt?”

Her hand moved to her stomach and she grabbed the fabric of her dress there.

“No. No I’m not hurt. My ribs a little from his gun that he pushed…but no. The room shook and we heard the booms, but I didn’t get hurt. That guy that grabbed me was rough with me but I’m… I’m okay.” Tears streamed down her face.

I kissed her on the lips and caressed her belly, then kissed her nose and then her mouth again.

Thank fuck.

“Pull out to the main road,” I said to the driver. “Fast. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“No, Tommy. Wait. If it blows up–” she started, but I shut the door and stepped back. I saw her looking at me through the window. She looked frantic and pounded her fist on the window as the car moved out of the way. I saw her shouting at the driver, but he was following my orders to move her away.

We were about eighty feet from the building and people were being pulled out. There were a lot of people outside the place already, people who’d obviously been evacuated already and several people held their phones up, filming.

Firefighters began moving the crowd back and unrolling yellow tape. I saw a gurney come out with Johnny on it, oxygen mask on his face. He was unconscious and not looking good. Fuck. I ran my hands through my hair.

Nino jogged to where a couple cops and Ben stood. He was all right. Good. His wife was with a group a little further back. I told them all to move back some more and we got behind the fire truck.

Minutes ticked by and I watched from what I hoped was a safe distance with Ben, Olive, and two other investors who hadn’t been in the bar area during the explosion.

A third bomb had not gone off. Either it wasn’t happening or Leo Denarda had to give the order but he couldn’t give any orders because my guys had him. Multiple ambulances were on the scene. All of my people were okay. But I felt sick to my stomach when I heard Olive say to Ben that they hadn’t seen Johnny’s wife Kate.

I was out of my mind with worry. The limousine sat idling on the side of the road a half mile away from the Fete building. The driver told us that the limo was armored as well and was trying to be soothing but in a bossy way because I was having a flip out and I think he knew he had to keep us safe and stop me from doing something stupid, like running toward the building to find my husband.

I didn’t know if that was just our luck that we were in an armored car or if Tommy had planned it that way, but I was not soothed by anything. I was sick with worry and sick with the images I’d seen.

One minute, I’m trying to calm my sister-in-law down and the next minute there was this shaking boom that I felt deep in my bones.

We couldn’t get the bathroom door opened to get out but by the sounds and smells I knew there was some sort of explosion and there was also fire. The fire alarms blared a second and then everything went dark. Tess and I had debated what to do and then finally, she pushed against the door and it wouldn’t move. I pushed too but I was pretty sure there was a person against it. I’d heard a grunt.

“Dex?” I’d called out but he didn’t answer and then a waiter came in, bringing all sorts of dust and smoke with him. I couldn’t see him well as we had only our phone lights, but mine dropped to the floor the wrong way so wasn’t giving off much of a glow. He grabbed me and started pulling me toward the door and I knew instantly that the guy wasn’t here to help.

We began coughing as that dust filled our lungs and I screamed and tried to pull away so Tessa started fighting him off. I was trying to fight him off, too, but he was a big guy. Tess got her shoe off and hit him on the side of the head with it. He swore at her and then struggled and hit Tessa in the face with a gun before dragging me with him.

“Come or I fuckin’ shoot ya.” He pushed the gun barrel into my ribs, and my mind was filled with fear for my unborn baby while I wondered if Tommy got hurt. I couldn’t fathom anything worse than hurt; it was too frightening.

When the guy got me out of the bathroom into what was looking like a hellhole, phone lights shining from multiple places in the bar but I could barely see, he climbed over Dex’s prone body, pulling me along with him.

I’d cried out looking around, trying to see what was around us, which was a mess. Stuff dangling from the ceiling. Smoke. A horrible burnt smell. Something by the door to the far end of the place was on fire and I could see a few people moving around and hear people who were clearly hurt.

“Tommy!” I’d screamed out and the guy who had me covered my mouth, lifted me, and pulled me quickly into another room as I saw what I was pretty sure was Tommy’s shape, back behind a bunch of debris but making his way in my direction.

There was another boom and then we were behind the closed door of a supply closet. The guy had his hand over my mouth and the gun in my ribs again, pushing into my ribs to the point of pain. And then I heard my husband calling my name. Tommy was close.

I bit the guy’s fingers and that got me enough room briefly to scream for Tommy before the guy smacked me on the mouth and then put his hand over my mouth again.

And a few very scary moments after that, yet another gun to my head, before I saw my husband kill that guy. That guy who gave us info that might’ve saved us. But then Tommy killed him. Like he’d killed his father for pointing a gun to me.

This guy had hit Tess in the face with his gun and dragged and threatened me and my ribs did feel bruised. He’d smacked me in the mouth, too. He’d agreed to help us and gave us info and Tommy didn’t know the guy had struck me in the face but maybe Tommy had killed him for putting the gun to my head.

He’d promised me in the dark after nightmares that no one would do that again. He’d had so many dreams that I imagine had to do with Tom Sr. putting that gun to my head and the pointing it at me when Tommy shot him.

And all those people hurt, on the ground, crying or not moving was streaming like a movie through my mind. Tommy put us in a car and where on earth was he now?

I kept praying he wasn’t about to be blown to smithereens by that third explosion. I couldn’t even think about him being in there with that happening, I wanted to claw my way out of that car and run and save him.

Me, saving him? It was crazy-talk, but I was overcome with this urge to get to him, to drag him away from that building.

After a really long time, with no explosion sounds, thankfully, he and Nino were approaching us and I was bawling with relief, wanting to barf, wanting to shake some sense into him for leaving me sitting for what felt like hours.

The driver stepped out and Tommy spoke to him and then the driver, Tommy, and Nino all got into the car and as we pulled away, he turned towards me and I immediately crawled into his lap and threw my arms round his neck. He held me close. And his body was shaking.

I looked up at his face, thinking he was shaking with relief for a second but then I saw something very different from relief. It was absolute rage.

I wanted to back away; his face was that scary, but he had me by the back of the neck and he crushed his mouth to mine briefly, his whole body tight and vibrating, his eyes ablaze, an inferno of anger.

“In your seatbelt, baby,” he said, his voice like scratchy gravel, and he physically set me beside him and buckled my belt. Tessa buckled up, her eyes on her brother, and then they moved to me and I had the feeling we were having the exact same thought. Tommy had never looked this angry. Never.

“What about–” I started to ask about Dex, the other explosion, all of it, but Tommy’s hand hooked around my neck and he pulled me sideways and put his mouth to my temple hard and then let me go. I shut my mouth. It wasn’t the time for questions.

Tessa’s wide eyes moved to the window, and I saw a nervous swallow move down her throat. Her hands were trembling. I looked at Nino and his expression was pretty similar to Tommy’s. We drove for a while until stopping in a warehouse parking lot.

“Stay here a minute. I’ll send Will out for you,” Tommy said.

I was about to ask where we were and where he was going, and it took a second for me to remember who Will even was, but I could tell it wasn’t a good idea to utter a word.

He got out of the car and strode, with purpose, Nino beside him, to the door, which was opened by someone on the other side. They disappeared inside. My belly dipped with more fear.

Tessa and I stared at one another. I chewed on my bottom lip.

A moment later, Nino was back with Will, who I hadn’t seen at the event after we’d had our tour. He’d been behind us until we got into the bar.

He was walking with Nino toward the car and then the door was pulled open.

“Girls, follow me,” Nino said.

It felt straight out of a movie. We walked down a long, dingy gray hallway, through double doors, multiple clicking sets of dress shoes echoing. Then we walked through a door and were in a loading dock area. Leo Denarda was looking very black and blue, sitting taped to a chair. His face and tuxedo shirt were bloody.

Me and Tessa stopped inside the door. There were three big men in the room that I didn’t recognize.

Tommy was standing over Leo, looking fiercely angry, looking ten times angrier than even that morning when someone tried to shoot us while we were having sex a few days after he’d rescued me from Juan Carlos Castillo in Mexico. His tux jacket was still over my shoulders. Tommy stood there, his bow tie undone, his shirtsleeves up.

“Contessa,” Tommy said angrily. “Here.”

Tessa moved with confidence toward her brother. I was a little confused for a second and then it dawned. She was facing her rapist and she wanted to strut like he hadn’t hurt her, hadn’t beaten her down.

“What did he do to you?” Tommy folded his arms and looked at his sister.

She straightened her spine, standing beside Tommy, not three feet from Leo, and said, “He had me drugged and kidnapped, he mutilated my arm with an Xacto knife, he raped me, and then he sent me to an auction to be sold.”

“An eye for an eye sounds about right,” Tommy said. “You want to carve him?”

“No, but I’ll watch,” she said.

This was so calmly executed that I knew two things. One: he must have told her this would happen. He must have promised her that Leo Denarda would get what was coming to him. And two: she was definitely a Ferrano, made of the same tough stuff as her brothers. She was holding it together remarkably well.

Tommy, wearing a pair of black gloves, leaned over and used a knife to pierce Leo’s tuxedo jacket sleeve and then he ripped it away and took the knife and stabbed downwards. Leo screamed deep in his throat behind the tape over his mouth, his eyes wide, his face swollen and bloody.

Nino moved in and grabbed Leo’s wrist to steady it and Tommy curved the knife on his forearm. I felt bile rise in my throat. I heard another scream as Tommy kept carving. I couldn’t see anything but blood gushing but it seemed like he carved more than Tessa’s initials.

“How did he rape you?” Nino asked, lifting a long metal pipe up off the ground in his own gloved hands, and I heaved a little as puke rose in my throat. It was audible. I swallowed it back down and turned away and cradled myself.

“Will?” I heard Tommy’s voice, “Help my wife. Don’t let her fall.”

I felt an arm go around me. I looked at Will’s face. He looked a little green and unsteady, too. He was young, my age or so, and he was new to the team. What a way to get initiated.

“From behind,” Tessa said, and her voice cracked, “I was on a sofa on my stomach.”

“Untie him, Neen, bend the fucker over that table,” Tommy said.

I buried my face in Will’s shoulder so I wouldn’t have to look.

Oh God.

I sobbed.

“Athena!” Tommy called. I looked over my shoulder at him and saw as he was untying Leo.

“You can step outside the door for this. Tessa? Your choice.”

“I’ll stay,” Tess said.

Will helped me out and sat with me in the hall, our backs against the wall.

I heard voices. I heard my husband’s in an angry, accusing tone, but I didn’t know what he was saying. I heard Leo grunting out in pain behind the mouth tape. I heard Tess shout, “fucking animal” and then Nino, “How do you like that you little motherfucker?”

I pulled my knees up and buried my face in them, forgetting that I was in a little black dress.

The little fucking goof needed to hit the button for the third explosion, but my guys had nabbed him first. We’d gotten his chauffeur and bodyguards immobilized and then we’d driven him here where he’d been interrogated by his uncle’s right-hand man. That guy had also beat the shit out of Leo Denarda, but all I gave a shit about was the fact that the fucker was conscious when I got to him so that he’d feel my wrath.

Carve my sister’s arm with your initials? I carved her initials on his arm and then a giant F on his torso for Ferrano. And then Nino, who loved Tess like she was his sister, particularly because of Tess’s relationship with his wife Bianca, drove a rust-coated metal pipe up Denarda’s ass.

My sister stood there, cool as a cucumber, throughout the entire event. I’d watched Tessa her whole life and even though she’d say that I kept my distance, I knew her. I knew that despite her stone-cold face, she was wrecked on the inside.

I’d given her an out. She could spit in his face and walk away. She could carve her initials herself. She could simply leave the little fuck in my hands and know that he would pay for what he’d done to her. She wanted him to hurt. She wanted him dead. She told me herself that she wanted him raped up the ass dry and that she wanted to watch. And then she wanted the fucker to lose his dick and die.

I was more than happy to take the order from her.

She stood there while he got ass raped and after the fucker’s asshole was bleeding, she calmly kissed me on the cheek and then went out to join Will and Tia in the hallway. Nino used the blood and shit-coated pipe to beat that little shit between his legs until there probably wasn’t much left but a mangled mess of what used to be his dick and balls between his legs. I moved in and said a couple things into his ear, then moved to look right into his eyes while I slowly slid that boxcutter blade across his fucking throat.

I didn’t have to call JC, my usual clean-up guy, who did have help here in Vegas. Denarda’s uncle’s crew was happy to stay on hand and clean up the mess.

Tess had come into the hall and sat beside me. I lifted my head out of my knees and looked at her and she started to quietly cry. I hugged her and she clung to me until Nino and Tommy emerged from the room. Tommy’s face was bleeding. And there was blood on his tuxedo shirt. He held his hand out. I took it, got to my feet, and held it as we all walked out of there.

Things were eerily quiet on the limo ride back to the hotel. He and Nino sat there with a tub of baby wipes and wiped blood off calmly, as if they’d done this a hundred times.

We didn’t touch; he didn’t look at me. He stared out the window, his chin resting on his palm, elbow propped up on an armrest built into the door. I sat, my hands in my lap, the rest of me numb.

In addition to sore ribs, I was vaguely aware of soreness on my lips, likely from where that guy had smacked me in the mouth.

Nino and Will got out of the limo first, Nino taking a grocery bag filled with the used wipes with him.

“What’s going on?” Tess asked.

“Nino’s making sure we’re safe to go up.”

Nino was back a few minutes later, leading us inside.

Back inside the suite, Tommy said, “Get to sleep, if you can, girls.”

He kissed my mouth and then put his lips to my forehead and held me there for a second. He let go and tucked my hair behind my ear.

“I’m gonna check on Dex, Johnny, find out about everything. Go to bed. We’ll probably head home a few hours after we wake up.”

Tessa grabbed me and hugged me and then she hugged her brother.

“Thank you,” she said into his chest.

He kissed the top of her head. She wandered toward her bedroom.

Sarah poked her head out of one of the doors and by the look on her face I knew she could tell we hadn’t had your average night out.

“They’ve been in bed since 8:30. No worries, Tessie.” She looked to us. “You need anything, youze guys?”

“Naw, Sarah, go back to sleep,” Tommy said gently and walked to the kitchenette area and started washing his hands.

I turned and woodenly walked to our bedroom and shut the door. I went into the ensuite, stripped, took a fast shower, brushed my teeth, put on a nightie, and climbed into bed.

What a night.

What a horrible night.

God, I hated Vegas.

Tommy was climbing into bed. I’d been sleeping. I don’t know how, but I fell asleep almost the second my head hit the pillow. I had a moment of feeling immensely grateful as my eyes drooped and I knew I wouldn’t have to lie there for hours mulling over the events of the evening. I knew it’d come later, but I was grateful for the temporary reprieve.

“Eyes on me while I fuck you,” he demanded and I gasped in fear as he’d startled me.

I opened my eyes and squinted against the brightness of the room. The bedroom lights were on.

He’d had a shower; I could smell the soap on him. He pulled me from my side to my back and he was on top of me, dragging the nightie over my head, mumbling something about my clothes.

He looked at me darkly. I groggily rubbed my eyes.

“Huh?”

He started rubbing between my legs. His mouth closed around my nipple, he sucked hard, then let go and looked into my eyes again.

My clit buzzed.

“I want your eyes on me, Tia.” His fingers circled my clit, making me go wet, and then he was guiding his cock to me. I looked deep into those whisky eyes as my hands went to his shoulders.

By the look in his eyes I knew he needed me. The night we’d had? The fears? The stress? He needed me. I needed him, too. My husband, a man who murdered one and probably two men tonight was going to fuck me. Rough. My eyes fixed on my name on his chest. He loved me enough to put my name on his body, over his heart. He was moving to me as soon as that explosion happened. He was driven by his need to protect me.

My eyes moved from his chest to his eyes again and I saw the tension. He seemed ready for me to fight, like he’d fight back if I tried to deny what he needed to take. But I didn’t want to deny him. I wanted to give him what he needed.

To say that I didn’t like the idea of murder was an understatement. I hated it. But Leo Denarda was responsible for that explosion and had people died? It sounded bad and the Fete cocktail lounge was such a mess that I suspected it had to have resulted in death or serious injuries at the very least. The place had been jammed wall-to-wall with people when Tess and I had gone to the bathroom.

I had seen people buried under rubble and some of them weren’t moving. Dex had been unconscious. We’d stepped over people who were unconscious or maybe dead. I’d seen at least a couple of people partly underneath rubble.

How many people had died because of Leo tonight? And Leo had hired someone to kidnap me. Tessa had already had to be rescued. She’d been raped and her body permanently marred, mutilated by that guy. And he definitely wanted Tommy dead; I had no doubt about that.

Tommy needed to kill Leo Denarda or order his death. That was for certain. I hated that I’d been there. But I understood. And I hated that, too.

Tommy was moving inside me, looking into my eyes. I was looking right back into his. His expression was dark. It was also unapologetic. He was communicating with me right now, telling me that he did what he had to do.

I couldn’t pretend it didn’t bother me, but I was going to be there for him. I cradled his jaw in my hand.

He was always trying to be here for me. Always. Rescuing me, protecting me, avenging me, avenging Tess, keeping us safe.

“I love you so much. Thank you for rescuing us tonight.”

“I love you, too.”

He said the sweet words, but his voice was not sweet, it was filled with something else, something that made him flex his jaw.

He slowed his pace, going deep with each slow thrust of his hips. He kept my eyes locked with his while he put his thumb between my legs and to my clit, keeping at it until I moaned in ecstasy, and then he groaned as he came inside of me, still not losing the edgy expression when he rolled away and ran his hands through his hair.

I thought we’d curl up together and fall asleep after that. I got up, went to the bathroom to clean up, and came back to bed but then he grabbed me and kissed me hungrily, is lips moving down my body, kissing, licking, and nipping until he moved down between my legs, growling, “Not done with you yet.”

He dragged me downwards, devouring my pussy with his mouth and fingers until he made me come again, my legs hooked over his shoulders, my fists clenching the bed sheets, his tongue in me, his thumb in my ass.

He was so determined, like it was his sole quest in life to bring me to orgasm fast and he did, lightning fast. So, after my fast arrival at a climax, coming so hard that I was trying to pull away and he wasn’t stopping, I pleaded, “Tommy, baby, too much!”

And then he was back up at eye level and moving inside of me again, again looking into my eyes with anger. He was still feeling a lot of what he’d felt in that limo and then in that warehouse with blood on him and on the floor. I could swear I still smelled the blood, it was still in my nostrils, in my lungs.

It was more than a little bit concerning that cutting Leo, watching him get his ass violated, and then either killing him or watching him die didn’t take his anger down all that far. Very concerning.

I started to drift after a while and then I felt his lips and fingers on my belly. My heart swelled. He wasn’t just feeling all that wrath for me; he was feeling it for us. Him, his family, me, and this little tadpole, too.

Finally, I think he slept.

I woke up to a tickle of Tia tracing the ink lines on my arm feather-light and then tracing the letters of her name on my chest. She did it, looking lost in thought, like she wasn’t even aware that she was doing it.

Immediately after feeling grateful I’d been able to get to her last night, the first thought I had was of Johnny.

Just before we left Fete, I’d seen the last body pulled out before they found the third bomb, which had been planted by the fire exit.

I found out later on that it was the body of Kate Lewis. Thirty-four years old, mother of six. Beautiful, vibrant, happy. John’s wife’s body was crushed when some of the ceiling fell and she and others were underneath. Being the tiny thing she was, she was under two other people, crushed by not just the debris, but them as well.

She, along with six other people, not including the fucker I’d shot, were dead. Some of them had their faces blown off. Ten other people had been hospitalized, a few critically, and Dex was one of the injured, although not the worst of the bunch. He had three broken ribs, a broken arm, a concussion, and a collapsed lung.

Johnny had a bad head injury and some severe bruising, but things were looking good for a full recovery, physically anyway. The guy had been my buddy for years. He was probably my closest friend. He’d been married to Kate for 14 years and was now the sole parent for their six kids. I was numb after getting that news but then started feeling a whole lot of shit.

I didn’t have it in me to tell Tia about it when I came to bed. I’d done what I needed to do to rid earth of that piece of scum before coming back to the hotel, finding out about Kate when I’d checked on things, and then I’d come to bed and fucked my girl. Twice. I nearly went back for a third time, feeling the need to keep that life-affirming connection with her, but she was exhausted after the first time.

I’d needed to hold her, feel her, make her moan for me. Because yeah, things were a bit fucked but I could’ve lost her. I could’ve lost her to the explosion or because that asshole that dragged her into that supply closet had taken her out of the building to deliver her to Leo Denarda. Who knew what he’d do to her?

My gut churned. I wanted to slit his throat all over again. He took my sister and fucked her over and I didn’t know if she’d ever be the same. Like she hasn’t had to endure enough already.

He could’ve taken my pregnant wife. And then he could’ve taken me, my wife, and my sister out. He’d have a price on his head for costing us money and costing Fete some bad PR if that’s all he’d done and no one had died. There was no way on earth he wasn’t getting dead for doing what he’d done.

I was relieved that she hadn’t rejected me when I needed her last night. It occurred to me that she might, being upset and seeing all she saw, not want one thing to do with me or my cock. It wouldn’t have gone well if she had pushed me away. I needed her. Badly. And thank fuck she seemed to sense that. Thank fuck she seemed to need me, too.

I had her there at that warehouse for two reasons. One: I couldn’t bear to think of her being out of range of my protection.

Two: she needed to know.

She needed to know that if anyone fucked with my family, they would pay. She had some sort of malfunction because of being in Vegas with all the shit swirling, but she needed to get a handle on it and come to terms with the fact that the man she was tied to for the rest of her life was not a white hat wearing guy. I was who I was and she needed to get to terms with it so we could move the fuck on.

No, I didn’t want to wear the shoes my father left for me to fill, but Pop made it pretty near impossible for me and Dare to escape this life unscathed. The men he was associated with would put out a hit on me and Dare if they thought he or I was anything but likeminded.

But also, it just wasn’t me. In my core, I was who I was. Maybe because of my life thus far and yeah, I wanted to be better for her, for our future kids, but when it all boiled down to it, she now knew I would put a knife to a throat, a bullet in a face, and order that someone get sodomized with a rusty pipe for fucking with what was mine or what was under my protection.

Anyone who knowingly fucked with me needed to be taken down.

“Hi,” she said.

I kissed her.

“Any word on Dex?” she asked, her face showing her worry.

“If nothing went wrong overnight, we’ll pick him up on the way to the airport. If they need to keep him, we’ll have Will stay with him.”

“Wh… what happened while I was in the car? What about the third bomb?” She scrubbed the stubble at my jaw with her fingertips.

“They found it and disabled it. Denarda had the three detonators on him so Nino had kept them aside. We still have them. Nino’s dropping them off to a friend in the police department.”

She traced my arm some more.

“People died, Tia.”

Her eyes moved to me; her lips parted, her finger stopped moving.

“I was afraid of that. How many?”

“Seven people. Including Kate Lewis.”

Her eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open.

“How?”

“She was crushed. A few died from internal injuries, being too close to the bombs, faces blown off, or their skulls getting crushed. Johnny ain’t in great shape but he’ll live. The news’ll say eight people but one of them was Leo’s goon, that fuck posing as a waiter who tried to take you.”

Her eyes filled up with tears and her hand covered her mouth.

“Poor John. My God, they have six children. Oh Tommy.”

She was crying into my chest. I put my arms around her and squeezed her tight.

Nino, Will, and the other guards watched the girls and the kids while I went to the hospital with another guard, just as a precaution. I stopped in and saw Dex, then John. Dex was banged up good, but he’d live. He’d be off work a while but he could come home with us that day.

John was staring off at nothing when I walked into his hospital room. He glanced at me. No, not staring at nothing. He was staring at the stark reality in front of him. The man was utterly wrecked with the loss of his wife.

I leaned in. “The fucker whose fault this was felt a whole lot of hurt before he left the world and descended to hell.”

John barely blinked through that news. I squeezed his uninjured shoulder.

“What can I do? What do you need, Johnny?”

“It wasn’t fast?”

“Nope. Real slow.”

John swallowed.

“What can I do?” I asked again.

“You already did it. Thank you.”

“Can I get you anything, call someone?”

He shook his head. “My father’s on the way. He’ll help make… arrangements.”

He kept shaking his head and shrugged, eyes looking off into space.

I sat with him a while and then I told him I’d call him in a day or two but he should call me day or night if he needed anything. He barely nodded.

I met with Ben after that, at his condo. He and Olive weren’t overly hurt physically, just a few scrapes like me, but they were devastated. Neither looked like they’d slept.

The financial end wouldn’t sting too much; the place was well insured. Rebuilding of that end of the building could happen once the cops gave it the all clear, which might take some time due to their investigation. And then there would be a grand re-opening that would undoubtedly get good coverage from the press since the story had hit the national news.

Olive was worried people would be afraid to come. Ben told her he had a good PR firm. Olive excused herself to say she wanted to call John’s house to talk to his mother again, who was there with the kids. Olive wanted to get John’s dad’s cell so she could go to the hospital and offer her help from here.

Ben and I talked and decided we’d reconvene in a few weeks, once John was ready to move forward. If he needed more time, I’d offer to be his proxy with the other investors, maybe. I’d do what I could to help him out.

John’s situation weighed on me. Felt like too much weight to even consider. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like to be him, but I wanted to take Tia and the rest of my family and shield them. Shield her from the fucked-up world around us so no one could take her from me.

On my way out the door, I texted my brother again. I’d talked to him briefly on video call a few hours earlier. He was in Thailand and I’d been vague but he knew the gist of what had gone down here. I was in the middle of sending the text when my phone rang. Zack Jacobs was calling.

“Yo,” I answered.

“Denarda?”

“Naw, man, this is Tommy. Wrong number.”

“Denarda? Status.” Zack’s voice had little patience.

I didn’t give a fuckin’ shit.

“What about him?”

“What happened to him? He dead?”

“I would know this information?”

“Investigation is done, Tommy. We’ve got enough to prosecute him for Tessa and for a whack of underage porn that’ll be found in his home once the warrant is executed. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to pin the explosions on him, too.”

“Is that so?”

“Fuck,” Zack grunted. “He’s dead. Isn’t he?”

“Maybe if he is dead, he died knowing that the footnote about him will say he had a massive collection of kid porn. Maybe the guy that killed him whispered to the sick fuck what it’d say in the papers in his ear or somethin’. Not that I’d necessarily know about all that.”

Zack didn’t reply.

“Where are you?” I broke the long and loaded silence.

“You know where I am.”

Thailand.

“All right, let’s stop asking questions we both know the answers to. You want something else from me?”

“Guess not at the moment,” Zack grumbled.

“We need to talk about Romero when we’re all back home. You told my brother you’d go the extra mile to help him find his sister-in-law.”

“And I did find her,” Zack said. “He won’t give her up and he’s untouchable.”

“We’ll see about that. Meantime, you need to make sure that things go well for my brother and his wife, Zack. We don’t want her to have to get on the stand and re-live her nightmare and we sure as fuck don’t wanna change names.”

“I’m doin’ what I can here, Tommy, but–”

“Do more. Including thinking on how to help my brother out with his sister-in-law problem.”

He was quiet.

“Gimme a really fuckin’ good reason to put you on a list of strategic relationships that I won’t feel the need to end, Zack.”

A beat of silence and then, “Right.”

I ended the call.