15. Dom
Dom
I drag my tired body through the front door, my mind still reeling from the clusterfuck at Antonio’s.
The meeting started about Con and then about my son, Dante’s wife’s pregnancy, and then the night turned into a shit show when Lia broke into his house with a gun.
She had all the intentions of killing Antonio and it turns out I was on her list for tonight too.
My chest tightens remembering how Antonio’s face had hardened as he knocked the gun from her hand. “It’s time you knew the truth.”
The revelations of the night brought everything back. How I was secretly in love with Aurora Morelli when we still lived in Italy.
Not that I ever told Antonio how I wanted her for myself. She was betrothed to his brother, and I was married. I had my twin boys, Dante and Rafe by then.
I could never betray my calling.
I couldn’t betray the Syndicate or my father.
A soft voice drifts down from upstairs—Amara’s. So like her sister’s was when she asked questions before she learned her fate.
My hands shake.
“Fuck,” I mutter, running a hand over my face.
She’s got the same way of looking right through people, seeing what others miss. Just like her sister did.
Just like her mother.
But Amara’s only eighteen years old. Too young, too pure for someone like me. A man with blood-stained hands.
Why the fuck did I let her rile me in the pool?
And why the hell did I tell her she was mine?
Worse than all of that.
Why did I act fucking jealous when I found out Caleb had touched her?
Despite my thoughts, my fists clench thinking of Caleb’s tongue between her thighs. My best friend. He should never have gone so far.
The betrayal burns hot in my chest. I should put a bullet in him for daring to lay his hands on her.
But his daughter, Poppy’s face flashes in my mind. That sweet girl has already lost her mother. I can’t take her father too. But the thought of Caleb near Amara makes me want to tear him apart with my bare hands.
I pace the marble floors of my entrance hall. There has to be another way to make him pay. Something that won’t orphan an innocent child.
“Hi Dom. You okay?” Amara asks as I step into the living room.
“I thought you were upstairs?” I say. “I heard you talking to someone.”
She smiles. “Yeah. I was talking to Milly. She was letting me know she’s at the casino in Brisbane and asked if I wanted to meet her there.”
“Are you going?”
Her eyes connect with mine as she shakes her head. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I will be after I have a whiskey.” I head to the bar and pour myself a large drink and then take a sip of the whiskey, letting the burn wash over me as I study her face.
Amara sinks into the couch, her long legs crossed beneath her. She tries to look casual, but the tension in her shoulders betrays her.
“How was Antonio?” she asks, feigning interest, but I can see right through her act.
“If you’re wondering if he’ll do something about Con, the answer is no. Antonio told me Con had his reasons,” I reply, keeping my tone even.
“Okay. I’ll just keep away from him.” She leans forward, those blue eyes on me as she bites her lip before asking, “Are you going to be home late after your meeting at Angels and Sinners tomorrow night?”
“How do you know about the meeting?” I narrow my gaze, watching for any flicker of deceit.
She hesitates, fidgeting with the hem of her tank top. “I overheard you guys talking.”
I set my glass down hard enough to make her flinch. “What did you overhear? Or were you eavesdropping?”
Panic flickers across her face.
“I—uh...just heard someone mention it,” she stammers as tears flood her eyes.
My heart races as I see right through the cracks in her facade.
“What’s really going on?” I keep my voice soft. I know she won’t talk if I’m harsh with her.
Her lips tremble before she bites down on them, holding back whatever truth she hides behind those walls.
“I just know something big is going down at the club,” she finally blurts out.
“Really. Then you tell me, Amara. What’s happening tomorrow?”
She swallows and reaches for my hand. “Honestly, nothing.”
I jerk it away and grab her throat instead, forcing eye contact. “What the fuck are you doing, Amara?”
Tears spill down her cheeks, and despite everything inside me screaming to keep my distance, my heart breaks for this girl who seems so lost. But I need answers.
“Amara.” My voice drops to a dangerous whisper. “What do you know?”
“I...I just overheard someone mention it,” she lies again.
“No you didn’t.” My frustration flares like wildfire. “Tell me the truth. You were asking questions in the pool and now you're fishing. Now fucking tell me what is going on.”
She blinks back more tears. “I–I’m being blackmailed. I have to get information about you.”
“By whom?”
Her head shakes violently as if willing herself to forget. “I don’t know. It’s on my…”
“On your what?”
“On a website I use for—” She hiccups back a sob and wipes her cheeks frantically with trembling fingers. “The person found me on it and I…”
“Someone is blackmailing you to get information on me.”
She nods slowly, another single tear tracks down her cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
“Show me.”
“What?” Her eyes widen in disbelief.
“The app.” My voice hardens as urgency fuels me now. “If you’re telling me the truth I can find out who this person is.”
“I can’t,” she whispers, fear lacing her words.
“You can and you will.”
“But you’ll see me in lingerie,” she protests weakly.
I arch an eyebrow.
“I’ve seen you in a bikini, Amara.” My grip tightens slightly as desire mixes with protectiveness in a dangerous cocktail. “Now show me.”
I follow Amara to her room, stepping inside the pastel colored space.
She keeps it tidy. That I like. I can’t stand messiness, whether it be in my view or in my life.
She strides to her laptop, her gaze meeting mine as she powers it up.
“How long has it been going on?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Before my birthday—” She thinks a little more. “About a month before.”
“And you never thought to come to me?” That hurts after everything I do for her.
She loads a picture on the screen and shows me.
“If you didn’t kill me.” She points at a man on the website. “He was never going to allow his dirty secret to get out.”
I look at a picture of Amara sitting with Mayor Anderson and grind my teeth at seeing his hand squeezing the top of her thigh.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Did you do something with him?”
“God, no.”
I narrow my eyes as I stare at the picture and then at her. “What were you trying to do downstairs, Amara. Seduce me?”
She swallows and nods. “I’m sorry, I know it’s sick but SweetJustice told me to.”
“Is that the blackmailer’s user name?”
“Yes.”
“Open your messages and let me read everything.”
She does as I ask. Her fingers quickly work on the keyboard. When I see the conversation she was in and ask, “You’re leaving me?”
She gasps. “It’s—”
“Your way out of here. From this situation.”
“The only way. Either you’d kill me when you found out I betrayed you tomorrow night, or my life will implode when my secrets are made public.”
“Oh, Amara.” I pull her close, the warmth of her body pressing against mine, grounding me.
“I’m sorry.” She trembles, and it shatters something inside me to see her tears glisten under the soft light of her room. “I never wanted to betray you, I promise.” Her voice wavers, and it cuts deeper than any blade.
“Shush.” My lips brush her cheek, tasting the salt of her tears.
“Are you going to help me?”
“Do you have any idea who it is?”
She shakes her head, eyes wide with fear.
“All I know is Caleb’s brother is a detective.
That Con hates me and vowed retribution if I spoke about him.
” She points at the picture on the screen.
“I know I met the mayor, but honestly it was only for lunch, but somehow the blackmailer thinks it’s more. ”
I nod.
"And now this…"
"What the fuck!" I growl when she shows me a picture her me and her in the pool, looking too close for comfort.
“I'm sorry. I just need to give him something…anything. If you can give me a half truth, something to pacify SweetJustice. Something to set him up…”
“Good girl.” I admire her quick thinking, even in this chaos. “Let’s give him something to salivate over.”
Her eyes widen. “Really. You’re going to help me.”
“I am.”
She throws herself at me and presses her lips against mine like she’s not in control of her body right now.
Then an adorable squeak releases from her throat.
I still as she slowly drops her hands to her sides and murmurs, “Sorry.”
“I’m not.” I smile. “I want your lips again.”
“You do?” Her hesitation lingers just a moment before she leans in, pressing those soft lips against mine. Her trust ignites something fierce inside me. The need to keep her safe.
She pulls back slightly, watching my reaction, but I need more.
With one swift motion, I lift her effortlessly and lay her down on the bed, the softness of the sheets contrasting with the tension in the air between us.
“From now on,” I murmur as I hover over her, “you’re mine.” The words hang between us like an unbreakable vow.
Her breath catches; I see a flicker of fear mingled with a lot of desire in those blue depths.
“And while I’m fucking you,” I continue, my voice dropping to a low growl, “I’ll decide what you need to say to that blackmailer.”
She doesn’t really know who I am or what I’m capable of.
“You’re going to have sex with me?” Or perhaps she does.
“Do you want me, Amara? Or have I read the signals wrong?”
I watch as she processes my words, every muscle in her body tense before she nods slowly—the silent agreement hanging in the air between us.
"I do."
"Good girl." I shouldn’t do this, but I lean closer, ignoring every thought I have that this is wrong.
"I'm not really am I?"
“You are. Now do you trust me?” My voice comes out rougher than intended, but this is no time for games or pretenses.
“Yes,” she breathes out.
“After today,” I say, lifting her tank top over her head, and watching her tits spill out, “you’re mine. Nobody else’s…only mine.”