“Dom, have you figured out how the fuck you’re going to get that shrew alone?” Chris asked softly, pulling me out of the fucked-up thoughts moving through my head.
Marcus, having heard Chris’s questions, stopped making eyes at a group of chicks that looked like with a flick of his finger would have been pulling up their skirts for a quick go before class to hear my answer. I wish I had one to give. Two weeks later I was no closer to figuring out what made this girl tick than I was the day Dad had handed me her file. Had it been any normal chick I would have already fucked her until she begged to tell me what I wanted. Unfortunately with this chick I couldn’t say two words to her without wanting to strangle her, never mind get her in my bed. And not to be conceited, she wasn’t stupid enough to think that someone that looked like me would be chasing after a girl that looks like her. Hell, the only thing that made sense for a guy like me to be after her would be to get my homework done.
Ah shit. Smiling my first smile in weeks I pushed myself off the tree and went to join my sister and her friend. The girl must have radar for danger, because as I approached her head popped up, and she looked right at me. Maria was still jabbering on, not even realizing that her little friend was no longer listening. The longer little miss Tori looked at me the paler her face became, and the more her eyes began to dart, as if she was looking for an escape. Schooling my face into my most charming smile, I quickly took a seat next to her before she could bolt. The boys, seeing what I saw, quickly moved behind her so that she was blocked in. Knowing that Maria was about to give me shit I hurried to make my move. “Hey, big sis, I got a problem that I need your help with,” I said, in my most charming voice.
Maria narrowed her eyes. “What do you need, Dom?”
“I’m having a little problem with my calculus class and was wondering if you could help me,” I said.
Horrified wide eyes greeted my request, as I knew they would. Poor Maria had lasted a whole two times trying to help me with homework when I was younger. An experience that she liked to say still gave her nightmares today. Not that I didn’t know my shit and couldn’t do my work, but it was the way I did it that frustrated her. See, for all of Maria’s flightiness, there was one thing she was very serious about, and that was her schoolwork. Anyone that was not as meticulous as her drove her crazy. Watching her innocently as she furiously thought of a way to save herself I glanced over at Tori, which drew her gaze and caused it to stick. Bingo. I had to hold in my grin as I saw Maria’s eyes narrow and become calculating until they finally became wide-eyed and innocent. Here we go.
“Dom, I would help you in a minute. You know I would, but with my homework load—it’s just impossible.” Stopping as if she was having a thought, she turned to little Miss Tori. “But I have a great idea. Tori was planning on signing up to tutor and she’s great in calculus, so instead of her going and helping some complete stranger she can help you.” Maria announced this to the horror of her friend. Completely ignoring the girl, who was furiously shaking her head no, Maria charged on. “Now she’ll meet you tomorrow night at 7:30 at your place. I’ll take her myself so she knows where it is. Than the two of you can work out a schedule from there.”
Maria stood up quickly after her announcement and grabbed her bags. “Come on, Chris. We have to run. Our next class is about to start. Tori, I appreciate it so much you helping my little brother. It’s such a relief. I’ll see you a little later in English lit,” Maria called over her shoulder.
Trying to keep a straight face I gave Tori my best rejected-puppy-dog face. “You don’t have to help me if you don’t want to,” I said quietly, causing her stunned gaze to leave the retreating form of my sister and snap to me.
Narrow eyes looked at me. The girl wasn’t stupid. She knew that she had just been played but she couldn’t figure out how. She stood up and gathered her thing before gritting her teeth and speaking to me. “I’ll help you until I can find someone else to do it,” she muttered, before hurrying away.
Once she was out of sight I slowly let loose the grin I had been holding in. Looking over at Marcus I saw an answering grin that made me chuckle. “Make sure that she can’t find a replacement,” I said, earning a nod of acknowledgement.
“Maria’s a Salvatici,” Marcus replied. “She’s going to figure out that you manipulated her if she hasn’t already.”
I leaned back in the chair. “She knew what I was doing as soon as I looked at Tori. Maria’s playing her own game, Marcus. She thinks I want Tori and Maria wants to keep her friend. Knowing Maria, she’s probably already planning my wedding.” I smiled at the disbelief in Marcus’s face. “She could have arranged the tutor session for tonight. She didn’t because she wants to have time to fix Tori up. Their last class tomorrow ends at four thirty, but she set the time for seven thirty.”
Marcus looked at me like I needed my head examined. “Christ Dom, Maria couldn’t think you’re interested in that girl. She’s a nightmare. Maria’s seen the girls you fuck and they sure as hell don’t need a bag over their heads.” He shuddered slightly. “Hell, I wouldn’t even have the stomach to fuck her. You should have asked for hazard pay for this job.”
Christ, I didn’t even want to think of what I was going to have to do. But for the family I would suck it up and do my duty. Looking over to the girls that were still lounging around, trying to catch our attention, I smiled. I might have to suck it up for the family tomorrow night, but tonight was a different story. When I crooked my finger at our little audience they all but fell over one another to get to us. Yeah, tonight I needed something. Maybe two or three somethings.
Chapter 4
I couldn’t believe Maria had volunteered me to tutor her asshole brother. That bastard did this on purpose. I know he did. I just couldn’t figure out how or why. Shit, I only told Maria I had planned to tutor to explain my absences. I never had any intention of actually doing it. I was going to have to get out of this quick. It shouldn’t be too hard to find someone to take my place. The girls around here practically followed Dominic and his boys like they were rock stars. Not that I could blame them, I could see their appeal. It’s just I knew firsthand what a handsome face could hide. My oldest brother Enzo had been handsome, may he rot in hell. Oh yeah, he had been handsome—also vindictive and insane. A real sociopath who took extreme pleasure in torturing those weaker than him. Just like our father.
In fact my dead bastard brother Enzo was still torturing me. The final gift from that piece of shit was something so horrific that I still wake with screams on my lips each night since I first forced myself to look at it. Once I forced my mind to accept what I had seen I began to plan. It was hard to arrange everything without my brother Nero and my grandmother realizing what I was doing. They had watched me for so long, trying to protect me from Enzo, that now even though he was gone it was so ingrained that it had become a habit. It took me almost a year to find out everything I could about Enzo’s longest and most famous victim, Angelica Gagliardi, the daughter of Helen and Michael Gagliardi. Angelica had been thought killed, along with the rest of her family, in a hit that shook our world.
Helen Gagliardi, nicknamed Helen of Troy for her beauty, had once held the men of our world within her delicate hands but like her namesake, that beauty led to the ruin of not just her, but her whole family. Everyone assumed that the hit was a power play, and even when the Gagliardi family learned the truth after Angelica finally revealed herself to them, they continued to let everyone think it. Because the truth of what happened that night long ago would lead to a war of epic proportions between the families. The only reason I knew the truth was because Enzo left it with me to torture me—as if he wanted to brag in death of what he couldn’t in life. I still remember the first disc I watched with Angelica’s name on it. The images were burned into my soul. She was maybe ten at the time, and Enzo, being his usual sneaky self, had hid himself in a closet to record it all.
The young girl had raced to her mother’s room, screaming for hel
p, only to find her very pregnant mother being brutally gang-raped by some of the most powerful members of the underworld, my own father included. They made her watch for hours before my father dragged her away from the nearly dead body of her mother. She was payment for his part in the coup led by her uncle Lorenzo in a bid to take over their family. Enzo had followed them through a passage and had recorded the child killing our father and then her own uncle before racing ahead to hide once again in her dying mother’s room and watch the girl cut the babe from her mother’s womb. The last words Helen Gagliardi spoke to her daughter were of vengeance and that girl took it to heart.
Through Enzo’s videos I learned the truth of Angelica Gagliardi’s life. The girl had been no man’s victim no matter what was done to her. She single-handedly hunted and viciously killed every man that had been there that night. Though there were no videos of those kills there were ones of Enzo’s torture of the girl through the long years. In each one he praised her for her kills, naming them and the ways they had died as the girl watched on, as if amused. Enzo’s death was very clear to see in her eyes. And kill him she did. Joe, Enzo’s henchman, recorded a video describing the way she did it. He was as sick as his master, and he made sure that it joined the other videos left for me.
It was that last video that started my plan. I had to meet this woman. A woman that had defied all odds, and not only survived, but thrived. I started by researching her victims. I even met some of the families left behind in the guise of searching for a husband. While some were like my own, forgetting the poison fruit of their tree, others still sought the killer, looking for vengeance.
It wasn’t hard to find Angelica. Word of her resurrection spread like wildfire through all of the families. The story put out by her family was that the girl had had a form of amnesia and had only recently realized who she was. While most didn’t believe it, especially when she reappeared with her brother Michael, they in no way suspected the truth. Hell, most actually thought that her uncle Angelo had kept her hidden as her parents had to make sure that she wasn’t stolen. They were only finally bringing her out because it was time for her to marry. Many were angry that she was given to Lucca Salvatici as a bride. Like her mother they coveted her not just for her beauty, but for the fortune and empire that came with her.
The Salvatici family was well known in our community but more than that I had heard about them before, because Enzo was supposed to marry the only daughter of the family. Unfortunately, like everything Enzo touched, Maria was tainted. Tainted by his insanity and greed. Tainted by his single-minded obsession to obtain a woman that wasn’t his to have but belonged to Maria’s brother. In a bid to dispose of Maria and keep her dowry he tried to have her killed but instead she was brutally raped before escaping certain death.
The odds had to be astronomical that the two women Enzo had tried to destroy would come together as family. I researched Maria for a long time. As with all of Enzo’s victims that I knew about I tried to find them to make amends. After the first few I learned not to let them know who I was, because no matter what I said the terror of just my name would send them to the brink of insanity. With Maria, though, it was different. If I let her know who I was her family would most likely kill me before I got anywhere near Angelica, or Angelica would kill me herself. I knew that it was insanity to want to meet this woman face to face but no matter how hard I tried to talk myself out of it I kept finding myself doing things that brought me closer to it.
When my spies reported that Maria was going to college I knew that this would be my chance. Carefully I arranged everything I would need before arranging my disappearance from my family. Now here I was, and with the exception of today’s little hiccup it couldn’t have gone better. Getting in with Maria had been beyond easy. She took one look at me and for some reason decided I was her friend. I felt bad at first. Usually beauty hid something rotten beneath, but not with Maria. She was beautiful inside and out. The only reason I was able to keep lying to her was because I kept telling myself that it was for the best. Now I was even lying to myself. Watching Maria these last weeks made me realize that she was normal. After everything done to her she was normal, so why wasn’t I? What was wrong with me?
I was so lost in this thought that I didn’t see what was going on around me but I felt it as I slammed into a guy so hard that I landed on my ass. Dazed, I looked up into a pair of brown eyes. “Are you OK?” he asked, as I stared like a total moron.
I pulled my eyes away, my cheeks burning with my embarrassment. “Um yeah, I’m ah, I’m so sorry,” I finally mumbled, wishing that the ground would open up and take me.
“It’s all right. Let me help you up.” He laughed softly, gripped my arm and pulled me to my feet. “I’m Tony,” he said, holding out my bag that I didn’t realize he had. I reached out to take it and was stopped when he pulled it slightly back. “And you are?”
I had to be the biggest loser on the planet. “Tori,” I stammered. What the hell was wrong with me? Quickly grabbing my bag from him I murmured out a “Thanks,” and rushed to get away. I wasn’t quick enough. It took two of his long-legged strides to catch up with my hurried five.
“You know you’re the first girl I ever met that tried to get away like I had the plague.” He joked easily, keeping pace with me. Yeah, I bet I was. I’m sure that one look at him usually made them drop their panties and ask questions later. “So is this your first semester?” he asked with a charming smile that made me want to bolt quicker.
Realizing that I wasn’t going to get rid of him, I stopped. I looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m not smart. I know that I look bookie, but it’s just a look. If you need someone to do your assignment for you, you better keep looking,” I said, waiting for him to walk away.
Dancing eyes filled with laughter met my announcement. “Well somehow I doubt that. Not that you don’t look bookish, but that you’re not smart.” I rolled my eyes and started walking away again. He stepped in front of me. “I, on the other hand, have a GPA of 3.6, so I’m OK on the homework front.”
Then why the hell was he talking to me? Laughing at my confused expression?
“This is my first semester here so I was rather lamely trying to make small talk and meet people.”
Now I felt like an ass. Well, more of an ass than before.
He saved me from my embarrassment: “Why don’t we try this again? Hi, I’m Tony Mason.”
I smiled because I couldn’t help it. “Tori Smith,” I said, taking the hand held out to me.
“Well Tori, where are you headed?”
I shook my head because Christ he was hot—dark hair, dark eyes, built and he had to be six foot. “Math 101.” I laughed, earning a huge smile.
“Well, what a coincidence. I was just heading there myself,” he said.
“Not to say you’re shallow or anything, but why the hell would a guy that looks like you be interested in talking to a girl that looks like me?” I asked.
“What does that matter?” he said, actually looking confused.
Was he for real? Shit, he had to be gay. It was the only thing that made sense. I felt better now that I had come to that conclusion.
“Come on, Prince Charming. I’ll walk you to class so the unsuspecting populace doesn’t get knocked down so you can meet new people,” I joked, earning a mind-blowing smile that almost fried my brain. This boy was lethal, but unlike the men in my world I doubted he was dangerous. And a non-dangerous hot guy was just what I needed to start to overcome my fears. Besides no one here knew who I was, so what harm could there be in making a friend?
Chapter 5
Shit, my head was pounding. I pushed off the bitch that was sprawled across me and got out of bed, ignoring her mumbled protest. Pulling on a pair of discarded sweats I stumbled my way to the kitchen, stepping over the bodies that were in my way. When we had invited these bitches back to our place to party I hadn’t expected them to bring half their sorority. Granted the after-party was something to give
a guy wet dreams for a month, but now I just wanted them all gone. The whole place reeked of sex. Someone needed to open the windows and air this place out.
I pulled a beer from the fridge, sat down and tried to clear my head. Blearily focusing on the clock across from me, I almost winced when I saw that I had to be at the campus in a little over an hour to meet Maria. Sal would be pissed if we were late to meet her. I had to get the guys up so we could clear the place out and get moving. I pushed myself up from the chair, holding in the groan that threatened to explode from my throat, and made my way to Chris’s room. He was a bastard in the morning, but Marcus was ten times worse, and I couldn’t deal with it this morning. When I pushed open his door I would have laughed at the scene before me if I weren’t trying so hard not to puke. Three naked chicks and Chris where sprawled across the bed. I leaned against the doorframe to hold myself up. “Get up!” I yelled hoarsely, causing my head to spin. Fuck me.
I looked at the bed and saw that they hadn’t even stirred. Screw this shit. I stumbled to the bathroom and grabbed the first thing that could hold water and filled it. Fucker should have got up when I told him. I threw the water at Chris and stepped back quickly.
He came up swinging. His movements threw the girls from the bed. Groaning and moaning came from the floor while Chris looked around wildly. When his eyes landed on me, he lunged. But before he could get more than a few steps he lunged in a different direction—straight for the bathroom. I could hear the retching. I moved to the closed door and slammed my fist against it. “Wake Marcus up when you’re done and clear this place out. We’ve got to go in about an hour.” I told him smiling grimly at the mumbled cursing that sounded between the retching. Ignoring the bitches on the floor I went straight to my room, hoping that they didn’t heave all over. That was definitely a smell we didn’t need to add to the mix. Back in my room I saw that the chick in my bed was up.
Dominic (The Family Book 2) Page 2