“If shit gets awkward or tense, we’ll leave,” I promised. “I don’t want to ruin your party.”
“Okay, we still need to talk though. Like, are you moving back to Philly?”
“Yes.” This answer caused Chelsea to squeal again.
“I knew it! Go hang with your man, we’ll catch up.” She resumed cutting vegetables and shooed me out of the house.
When I stepped outside, I saw that Dominic had already commandeered the grill and was flipping burgers. Walking up to stand beside him, I slipped a hand in the back pocket of his jeans. “Did you volunteer or kick Derek out?”
Dominic laughed and handed me a bottle of beer. “I revealed the Grabano secret to juicy burgers and he handed the spatula over.”
I gave him a sideways glance and he laughed again. “Just kidding, Nat. I offered so he could be a host. I don’t really know anyone here.”
“That’s nice of you.” Standing up on my tip toes, I kissed his cheek. “I’m glad you’re cooking anyway. Last time I was over for dinner, the steak was completely charred on the outside and practically raw on the inside.” I shuddered at the memory.
“Oh thank God you’re manning the grill,” Chelsea said, walking up behind us, she carried a vegetable platter and was looking all sorts of domesticated with an apron on over her orange and white print sundress. She glanced around the small patio and yard, spying Derek in the back by their garden shed. “I don’t have the heart to tell him he can’t grill for shit. Collin was supposed to do it, but he’s not here yet.”
“Well, you can relax as your guests will live to talk about the party,” Dom winked at her and flashed his dimples. Chelsea smiled up at him, her cheeks flushing. Turning to face me she mouthed, “Wow” and pretended to fan herself, which made me almost choke on my beer.
I stayed by Dominic’s side and replenished his beer as he grilled burgers, steak tips, chicken breasts and veggie burgers. A few of Derek’s friends, who I knew through Jason, came up to say hi but kept it brief. A few women hovered nearby, eyeballing Dominic, so I made a point to kiss him as frequently as possible. Jason stayed off to the side and ignored me. As the afternoon faded to evening more people showed up and the alcohol really began to flow. Dominic was driving so when the tequila shots were passed around, I had a couple. I didn’t notice how drunk I was until I went inside to use the bathroom and tripped over the small lip of the track for the sliding glass door. Placing a hand on the kitchen counter, I took a few seconds to steady myself before walking down the hallway.
I didn’t hear Jason come in behind me.
Chapter 46
Natalie
“I can’t believe you’re back together with him,” Jason slurred. His voice was so close that I yelped and spun around. He stood less than a foot away, close enough I could smell his beer breath. “You sure move on fast.”
“If you remember, I hadn’t moved on from him in the first place.” I turned to go into the bathroom when Jason grabbed hold of my upper arm and held me in place. I struggled and he tightened his grip.
“Let go!” I went to kick at his knee, but he sidestepped.
“I’m not done talking.” He leaned close and I caught a whiff. He smelled like he’d slept in a distillery. In all the times I partied with Jason, I’d never seen him this wasted.
“I don’t have anything to say,” I attempted to pull free again and only managed to fall back against the wall. A framed painting rattled with the force. Jason seized the opportunity and pinned me. Memories of Marco holding me against a wall and of Mr. Genovese forcing me into submission by practically cracking my head open flashed through my mind and I felt my lungs tighten as panic set in.
“Does he know?” Jason’s intense aquamarine eyes, what I once thought were his best feature, were now bloodshot and blazed into mine.
“Know wh-what?” I stammered, trying to draw breath and maintain control.
“About the deal?”
“No. Now let me go,” I said in as forceful of a tone that I could muster. He didn’t release me right away, but he did lessen the pressure on my upper arms.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!” A deep voice bellowed, echoing down the hallway. Instantly, Jason backed off and I leaned against the wall, shaking and trying not to lose my shit. Dominic stood at the entrance to the hall, his fists were clenched and his chest heaved with controlled aggression. His jaw bulged and his nostrils flared as he looked from me to Jason. At that moment I thanked the stars that he’d left his gun in the glove box otherwise Jason would be dead, not that I didn’t want to kill him at that moment.
“Natalie,” Dom said in an eerily calm tone. “What deal and what don’t I know? You have one chance to tell me the truth. One. Fucking. Chance.” He glared at me and I gasped at the anger twisting his face. My knees started to shake even more, but I refused to collapse so I relied on the wall to hold me up.
“I wasn’t completely honest with you about why I broke up with Jason.” I paused to swallow, my mouth and throat drier than a communion wafer. “After Victor was shot and holed up at my apartment, Jason took it upon himself to try to get me away from the mafia.” I glanced over at Jason who was watching Dominic warily. Taking a deep breath, I continued. “Jason’s dad is a lawyer and he had him draw up a WITSEC agreement with Phillips.”
“He what?” Dominic roared and started to charge down the hallway. Shit, fuckitty shit, I wanted to avoid this. I jumped in front of Jason with my hands up to act as a human shield. It worked since Dom came to a stop, his fist raised and ready to pummel. “You’re defending him?” Hurt darkened his green eyes and he took a step back like I had hit him.
“This is why I didn’t tell you!” I cried out. “I don’t want anyone else to die. I knew you’d think Jason was a risk to the organization and kill him. So I turned down the deal, because I’m not a fucking rat, and broke up with him.”
“Do you love him?” Dominic asked and his question surprised me.
“What? No! I never stopped loving you.” I cautiously approached Dominic and his stance loosened. I reached for a fist and uncurled his hand, entwining my fingers with his. “I can’t be responsible for any more death. Do you understand?”
He exhaled and his features softened when he looked down at me. Cupping my cheek with his free hand, he tilted my face then lowered his lips to mine. “I understand, baby. For you, Jason gets to live.” I fell against him with relief and that’s when the tears surged forth.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Dominic ordered and I felt Jason rush past us. Dom circled his arms around me and held on as my body shook with sobs. “I should have killed him for touching you. Are you okay?” he asked, separating us enough so he could inspect my body for damage. Fortunately, for Jason, I had come away from the altercation unscathed. Dom wiped a tear from my cheek. “I won’t let anyone touch you like that ever again.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry for not telling you about the WITSEC deal. That’s why Agent Phillips was so up my ass. He thought he’d get me to crack eventually, but there was no way in hell. I’m not a rat.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Now, if you or Grant piss me off, I can’t make any guarantees,” I teased and Dom choked out a laugh. He waited for me while I went to the bathroom and when we emerged from the hallway holding hands, Chelsea was waiting in the kitchen with her arms crossed.
“Glad to see I don’t have a crime scene to clean up,” she said giving me a stern look that reminded me of her mother.
“Sorry about that, Chels. It just kind of happened.”
“It’s okay. I heard the shouting and came in to run interference. Collin just showed up and is sober so he took Jason home.”
We said our goodbyes and headed out after that. It was a quiet ride home, but not uncomfortable. I was emotionally exhausted and ready to leave California behind. Chelsea was building a nice life and would be okay without me. Now it was my turn. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Dom lifted my
hand to his lips, placing a kiss on the back. “I told Grant you’re coming home to Philly,” he said.
“You did? And what did he have to say about it?”
“He’s happy and so is Miranda. They’ve missed you too.” I smiled at the thought of being around my family again and any doubts about my decision faded away.
Chapter 47
DOMINIC
Natalie had drifted to sleep shortly after we made love, but my mind refused to shut down. Looking down at her peaceful expression, I brushed away a stray hair that was stuck to her full lips. Caressing her arm, I checked again for any bruising from Jason, but her skin was smooth, soft and blemish free. I wanted so badly to snap that fucker’s neck when I saw him manhandling her. Then she defended him, fearlessly stepping in my warpath. She definitely had a fighter’s spirit and that made me love her even more. She mumbled something unintelligible and shifted slightly, snuggling closer against my body.
The knot of worry and pain that had taken up residence in my chest after I had pushed Natalie away was gone. I even breathed easier knowing she was safe and in my arms. She was moving back home too. What I thought would be a battle of wills had been unexpectedly easy. I killed people, did bad things for a living, but must have done something right to earn Natalie’s love.
Knowing sleep was never going to come, I watched Natalie for a few more minutes before slipping out of bed. It was almost 8:00 in the morning on the East coast and time to make some phone calls. Bending over, I grabbed my underwear off of the floor and slipped the briefs on before walking out to the living room, shutting the bedroom door so I didn’t disturb Natalie.
My first call was to Dante. Like the last time, I woke him up and heard a woman’s voice in the background. “Is that the same girl or someone new?” I asked him.
“What?” Dante’s voice was heavy with sleep.
“The woman I hear in the background…flavor of the week or are you getting serious with someone?”
“Hold on.” There was a pause, rustle of sheets and another soft murmur then I heard the click of a door closing. “Okay, now I can talk.”
“So, who is it?”
“Jesus, you’re worse than a chick, you know that?” he said with a laugh. “Alright, don’t say anything, but I’ve been seeing Allegra.”
“Allegra, really?”
“Yeah.” I pictured him shrugging and rubbing a hand behind his neck. “She’s cool. We’ve been hanging out.”
“Alright, man, that’s cool. I won’t say anything.”
With that out of the way, I filled him in on Natalie from how we got back together to last night’s revelation about Jason.
“That fucking dick! I’m surprised you didn’t kill him.”
“Trust me, I wanted to. I pictured choking the life out of him and feeling his throat collapse beneath my hands.”
“This deal he worked out with Phillips is dead though, right?”
“Yeah and it definitely died with Phillips. Speaking of which, any progress?” I hated being so far away from things, but trusted Dante, Grant and Miranda to run the business in my absence.
“I spoke to Demetrius yesterday and also Ji and Chan. They don’t know shit and respected your call on not taking Phillips out.”
“And you believe ‘em?”
“Yeah. Yeah I do.”
“Alright. Grant is going to meet with Egan. Let’s keep in touch.”
We hung up and I immediately dialed my attorney. Our conversation was brief. Seth hadn’t heard any more from the Feds since they confirmed my alibi. I asked him to draw up a business agreement for Natalie’s art gallery. She wanted to be legit and do it her way. Hey, if that meant she’d come home, I’d agree to anything she wanted. It made me sound like a big pussy, but whatever.
I got up and made a fresh pot of coffee. With a steaming mug in my hand, I sat back down on the futon with my iPad. I typed in the address of the warehouse in West Philly where the torched car was found, looking for any type of history that might provide a clue. The building had been abandoned for five years and based on the Google Earth view, looked close to being condemned. Big sections of the flat roof had collapsed and pigeons had invaded, the remaining roof was covered with enough shit to make the tar look like someone had spilled a large quantity of gray paint.
An old Philadelphia Inquirer article from 2009 mentioned the building had been owned by Mayo Wholesale, a food distribution company, but had gone up for public auction after the company folded. It never sold and had sat empty ever since. Another search into Mayo Wholesale was very enlightening and I knew who had been trying to fuck me over.
“You little cocksucker,” I hissed and snatched up my phone, calling the airline. With my flight booked to leave that evening and arrangements made for Dante to meet me at the airport, I went in to break the news to Natalie.
Chapter 48
DOMINIC
PHILADELPHIA
The plane touched down and I had all of my carry-on shit gathered before we reached the gate. I was up and moving as soon as the door was open, before the fasten seatbelt light had been turned off.
“Sir, you can’t leave yet!” The flight attendant called after me because I had shouldered past her. It was too late, I was already gone. Leo was waiting at baggage claim and he gave me a fist bump when I approached.
“Yo, good to see ya, man!” he said. “Dante’s out front waiting for ya. Go I’ll wait for your bag.”
I barely heard the last part as I made my way to the exit. Hot, swampy air engulfed me the second I stepped outside and I coughed at the thick layer of exhaust fumes from the idling cars and shuttles. Dante flashed his lights and I hurried over to his Escalade.
“Let’s go,” I ordered as soon as I slid inside. Dante pulled out, cutting off a taxi. The driver laid on his horn and Dante flipped him off. It was five minute drive on 95 before we were pulling onto Passyunk Avenue and just a few minutes after that we arrived at Vinnie’s Auto Body. Dante parked in the back and we hopped out. Vinnie was waiting for us and tossed Dante keys. “Grant and Joey D. are inside,” he said.
We followed him inside his garage which was strangely quiet. During the day a crew of at least fifteen mechanics swarmed the place and machines whined as they worked on cars. Only half of the fluorescent lights were on and cars were cloaked in shadows. Vinnie gestured toward a maroon mini-van with Delaware plates. It screamed soccer mom right down to the decal on the back window indicating the family consisted of a mom, dad, two boys, two girls and two dogs. “Your chariot awaits.”
Grant and Joey D. rose from chairs in the customer waiting area, each had a Styrofoam cup of coffee in their hands. We hugged before getting into the van and Grant handed me my gun.
“Are you sure about this, Dom?” Dante asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s end this thing.”
Joey D. put the van in drive and pulled out of the garage. It was almost three in the morning and the streets were quiet. This was good because what we were about to do needed to be done without any witnesses.
***
Joey D. slowed down and drove by our destination. A few lights were on inside and three cars were in the parking lot along with two Harleys. They were parked right out front, but the rest of the lot was empty. After driving past, Joey sped up and per my instructions, parked down the street under the canopy of a large oak tree. The street lights didn’t break through the foliage, helping to conceal the van in shadows.
After checking our weapons and securing suppressors to the muzzles, we stepped out of the van and made our way back to the building. I was aware that there were cameras outside and knew their locations. Four faint pops later, the cameras were toast. We rushed up the stairs, I tried the door, but it was locked. It took one bullet to disable the lock and then we were inside our weapons at the ready as we didn’t know what to expect. As soon I crossed the threshold a shot was fired at me and the bullet ricocheted of the cinderblock wall. Crouching down, I turned in the direction of th
e shooter and saw someone disappear around the corner at the end of the hallway. Movement to the left indicated another potential shooter was hovering just inside the doorway that led to the pub. I whispered this to Joey and he bolted out from behind me, sprinting down the hall like a track star. Before I could blink he dove into the doorway. We ran out after him towards the sounds of grunting. A familiar click caused the struggle to come to an immediate stop. Upon entering the bar, I noticed Joey D. had a man pinned. The man’s face wasn’t recognizable underneath all of the blood; it’s source a broken nose and busted lip. Another man stood over Joey with a gun pointed at his head. I surveyed to room to see Egan sitting at a booth with a shit eating grin on his face.
Without hesitation I shot the man holding the gun on Joey and he collapsed. This wiped the smile off of Egan’s face.
“So it’s going to be like that?” he yelled.
“Yeah, it fucking is.” I helped Joey up of the ground after he cold-cocked the man he had pinned, rendering him unconscious.
There were three other men in the room, plus the fourth who was still somewhere in the building. There could be more, that remained to be seen. Grant had gone off in pursuit of the first shooter and he appeared in the doorway seconds later. He nodded at me, letting me know that situation had been handled. Egan saw this exchange and stood up, cracking his scabbed and swollen knuckles. He wasn’t armed, but his men all had their gun trained on us and we on them.
“Da fuck, Dom? You come into my house, unprovoked, and start killing my men? We’re supposed to be business partners.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked him.
“Do what?”
“You know what.”
“Oh, that,” Egan laughed and started walking towards me. I gripped my gun tighter and narrowed my eyes. He stopped a few feet away from me and grinned. I’d seen the maniacal expression before when he was in the ring and had drawn first blood. “Do you remember that shooting when we first agreed to your business deal?”
Endings & Beginnings (New Mafia Trilogy #3) Page 31