Unbound; The Dominator III

by DD Prince

  “Leo Denarda called me this morning. Demanded a meeting tonight,” Ben switched gears, looking to me. “Recommended you attend.”

  “Recommended?”

  “He did. His words. Tell Tommy Ferrano that I recommend he show up.” Ben sipped his drink, “It’s on neutral territory, a nightclub just off the strip. I have half a dozen bouncers who can accompany us and keep the peace.”

  “You go. Let me know the gist. He wants a meet with me, he can reach out directly and request that. My response to that request will be a reflection of the way his request comes across.”

  It’d also happen only after I had a chance to scout the planned location, or choose it. And bring my own muscle. With a sniper planted, his weapon pointed at Denarda the entire time. Just in case.

  Johnny shook his head, “He’ll see that as a sign of disrespect, Tommy. You really wanna poke him like that?”

  “Ask how many fucks I give,” I clipped, “That disrespect is not unearned. That slimy little cheap-suited fuck hasn’t earned the time of day from me and if my suspicions are right and he’s fuckin’ with shit back home, he’s gonna feel the opposite of my respect. Right where it hurts.”

  “Shit back home?” Ben asked.

  I shook my head, “Forget about it for now. I’m still confirming. You take the meet and lemme know the gist.”

  The subject got dropped and our meeting went on and we dealt with the things we needed to, final numbers and plans for the launch of Fete. There was PR happening and we’d be having adult industry big-name entertainers flown in for it.

  I wasn’t planning on attending the opening night events. They were trying to talk me into it but bringing my pregnant wife into that scene? The alternative of going stag? Probably not a great idea. I told them I’d think about it.

  Dare and I didn’t want to be in this business long-term because of some of the people it’d tie us to, but based on associations and the past as well as the façade we were trying to keep up, it was the only thing that made sense for now.

  John needed this, he’d taken some financial hits in the past few years. I’d help get it going and then in a year, maybe two, we’d sell our shares back to John and Ben.

  I got a ride back to my hotel from one of Ben’s drivers, calling Tia on the way. She answered on the third ring, her voice small.

  “Hello?”

  “Sleepin’ baby?”

  “Mm. It’s okay. How are you?”

  “I’m good. On my way back to my room, crashin’ early. Just wanted to see how you’re feeling.”

  “I don’t know yet. I guess I’ll find out when I finally get my head off this pillow.”

  “You been in bed all day?”

  “No. I got up and got stuff done for the party tonight and then I decided to take a nap after I made all the food. Shit. I slept a long time.”

  “I’ll call you later then. Sarah still there?”

  “Think so. I’m gonna take a shower, girls’ll be here soon. Love you. Call me before you go to sleep?”

  “Yep. Have fun. Love you, baby girl.” I entered the hotel and tucked my phone into my pocket and then stopped near a bank of elevators, leaning over to fix my shoelace. From the corner of my eye, I saw something that tweaked me. An older guy, trench coat. Comin’ up beside me. He halted when I bent and then he skirted the couple walking in front of him, quickly walking by me, disappearing around a corner in a way that felt unnatural.

  It might’ve been nothing but I’d learned over the years to trust my gut. Trench coat done up like that indoors in the fuckin’ desert? I’d lay bets he was following me. And packing. But for who? Denarda? Or, I was being followed by Zack’s fed buddies?

  I hit the button for the elevator. One opened immediately. I got on it and hit buttons for the second, third, fifth, and twenty eighth floors.

  I let the doors open and close on the second floor and then got off on the third, crossed the long hallway to the other end and then climbed up to the fourth floor and called the elevator. Whoever was watching me wouldn’t know which floor I’d gotten off on, unless they had the elevator camera feed hacked.

  As the elevator climbed to my floor, I texted Nino.

  “Come to Vegas. Get on the next flight. Arrange security detail for me. Double security for Tia. Tail the goof and toss his house. Thinkin’ he might’ve put out a hit on me.”

  I’d not only have Nino arrange security for me but he’d also have Leo Denarda tailed as well as search his office and his house. I entered my hotel room with my gun drawn. The room was empty. But I wasn’t taking any chances. I packed up my shit, changed into jeans and a hoodie with dark glasses and sneakers, and then I switched hotels and checked in under a fake name.

  ***

  It was the next day. I was in another meeting with John, Ben and the other investors for Fete. Ben said Denarda had cancelled their meeting after the start-time. So, my guess? He saw I wasn’t there and that’s why he cancelled.

  As we were wrapping up our meeting, I got a call.

  Nino and a few other of our guys were checking out Denarda’s place and his office and had nearly gotten caught by Denarda’s security. Nino found a fucking Ferrano inner circle flowchart on the fucker’s home office wall. Tessa’s picture was circled.

  He’d called her immediately to tell her to stay put so he could get additional security for her but she hadn’t answered so he called me to tell me he’d have her tracked down. I called her cell. The phone went straight to voicemail. I called Sarah’s cell. Voicemail again.

  I phoned the house,

  “Hello?”

  That was Lisa. Shit.

  Lisa and I hadn’t talked much since her meltdown. She hadn’t been back from her retreat for long and had revealed her secrets of her origins to the girls.

  Tia had been there and filled me in on how it all went down, how Tessa and Luciana left without letting Lisa off the hook. My sisters were in shock and Dare and I had talked it over. We knew that given time, they’d welcome her back into the fold. Hopefully Lisa knew that, too.

  Dare’d told me he’d talked to Lisa and said she was doin’ okay, despite the shock from the chat with the girls. Tia and Angel were being a good support to her, as was Sarah. Though Sarah was pretty fuckin’ angry lately, knowing the truth about all that her girls had been through. She treated all of them like daughters and took it as a personal affront that anyone would hurt those girls.

  “Hey. It’s Tommy. You good?” I half prayed she wouldn’t answer that question with more than a yes.

  “Hi. Uh. Yeah, Tommy, I’m good. Um… you?”

  “Not so good. Listen, Tessa there?”

  “Oh, I’m not sure. I think Sarah has the boys.” The volume of her voice got lower and I heard the click of heels on floor and then outside noises, “Wait, she’s got Luc’s girls in the backyard. They’re playing in the snow. Tessa’s boys must be at daycare. I don’t know where Luc and the baby are.”

  “Snow?” I asked.

  “We got some overnight. You out of town?”

  “Yeah. Business. But things need to go on lockdown. Need to find Tess immediately.”

  “Oh, uh, you texted her?”

  “I called. No answer. Luc isn’t there in another part of the house or something?” Fuck. Both my sisters unguarded.

  “I’m not sure but I don’t think so. I’ll ask Sarah.”

  “I need to talk to Sarah,” I started and then changed my mind. If Lisa was gonna continue to a be a member of this family, we had to get over this awkward dance and she needed to be able to act quickly in a crisis, “Scratch that. I need you to keep things calm at the house and keep Sarah and the kids there. Find out where Luciana is and text me. Anyone else there?”

  “Dex is around somewhere, I think. Unless he is over at your house. He’s been back and forth today. Tessa might be at the restaurant. She’s been helping Eddy with prep a few days a week.”

  “Right. No panic, all right, but stay there until you hear from m
e or unless I give Dex a change in orders. Yeah?”

  “Okay,” she answered softly.

  “I’ll get word to you guys when things are cool. Ask Sarah about Luc and text me. I need you to be cool and collected, Lisa.”

  “Got it,” she replied and her voice sounded sure.

  Me? I wasn’t sure about her yet but Dex was on her heels and reporting to me and Dare that she seemed adjusted since returning from her retreat. I wasn’t fully convinced but she was getting some leeway from me.

  I’d had a brief text discussion with Tia last night and first thing this morning to check in. I called Tino, who was overseeing security for the house, and told him what was up as well as to make sure he got someone to catch up with Luciana pronto to make sure she was okay. He called back to confirm all was still well.

  I got a text from Lisa, saying Luc had the baby at the doctor’s for a check-up and Dex told me he was having security meet up with her. Tino said that at my house, Tia and her friends were eating breakfast. I told him to subtly get rid of them and hustle Tia over to Pop’s house. I scrolled to my brother’s contact details and called him.

  Dare answered. He and Angel were in Italy and they were at a restaurant for dinner. They’d spent the day at the hospice with Dare’s mother Annette, seeing Dare’s stepfather. Some girls would’ve complained about going to see her new husband’s dying step-father on their honeymoon but not my brother’s girl.

  Like me, he had lucked out in the wife department. Not that it was easy; seemed like real love never fucking was easy. And also not that either of us were worthy of everything we got from our women. I know I certainly wasn’t.

  I cut my brother off when he was clearly not picking up on my vibe and kept talking about whatever, like we were just shooting the breeze. I told Dare the gist of what was up but we figured there was no point in him cutting his honeymoon short until we knew exactly what was what. I told him there was bullshit with Leo, told him about the chart, and said Tessa was off radar and that we were on it. I let him go, saying I’d keep him posted.

  I got a text from Tino,

  “Your girl needs to cut the sass.”

  Shit.

  I called Tia,

  “Baby. End the party. You’re needed with the girls. Now.”

  “Tino’s trying to drive the girls home already. We just got up and-we’re only half way through--”

  “Tia. You’re all going on lock down. Get off my fuckin’ phone and listen to Tino,” I snapped.

  She usually respected Nino, knew he didn’t fuck around, so her attitude with Nino’s twin was surprising since Tino wasn’t nearly as friendly as Nino.

  “Oh,” her voice went small, “What’s wrong?”

  “Do it now, Athena. Gotta go.”

  “Kay,” her voice went smaller, “Love you.”

  She hung up before I could reply.

  Tessa

  I was leaving the daycare, where I’d just dropped off Antonio and Lucas for the day.

  I was heading to Venezia for prep before the lunch rush. I’d started helping out a few days a week; my brother-in-law was having some staffing problems and he needed the help. He had very high standards. His kitchen was like Hell’s Kitchen. He had fired three people last week for their laziness.

  I’d gotten married and had the kids young but I’d had babies while going to cooking school. I was a trained chef and I needed the distraction of something outside my father’s house and my pain. Venezia was just the ticket.

  Being at home all day long felt a bit smothering at times. Sarah meant well but she was always in my business and up in my space. And then things had gone weird with Lisa since the ‘big reveal’ so cooking in a busy kitchen allowed me to focus on something other than the thoughts twisting and turning in my brain and my broken heart.

  I was still learning how to be a single mother, still healing from losing my father and my husband. Still helping my sons cope with life without their Daddy. And now I was also reeling from the latest…the bombshell Lisa dropped on me and my sister.

  My relationship with my best friend was a lie. My father was worse than we thought and believe me, we already thought he was going to have a heckuva time getting past the pearly gates.

  We knew more than we were given credit for but Lisa rocked our already precarious world in a bad way with the truth about her relationship with Tom Ferrano Sr.

  Normally, Luciana and I would put our heads together and pick things apart for hours or even days after a drama, big or little.

  However, the day Lisa told us, tears in her eyes, who she really was and how she’d really met our father, why she was enrolled in culinary school with me? We then listened to our new sister-in-law, Angel, tell us how she met Dare and what her story was, how she and Lisa had come from the same awful place.

  The way our new sister-in-law was when we first met her? Timid and jittery? Lisa wasn’t like that at all. But I guess it made sense how Angel’s sudden appearance meant some sort of delayed reaction with Lisa. We first thought Pop’s death was hitting her late. There was Tommy’s wedding and all that we’d been through. Getting home and then having nothing going on gave us all too much time to reflect.

  We knew the miscarriage had devastated her, beyond measure. But now, in hindsight, I could see that Angel’s appearance was the start of Lisa unraveling.

  Lisa gave us a bunch more facts and then said that her counselor had helped, that Dare and Tommy arranged for her to go to some retreat and that put her on the road to healing. She said she knew she had a long road ahead but invited us to ask questions if we had any. She also said she never thought poorly of our father, that he rescued her and had treated her like absolute gold.

  After a long and awkward silence, after her tale was told, after Angel spoke, she asked again,

  “Do you want to ask me anything?”

  I shrugged. Luc started to cry. Tia hugged Luc. Lisa started to cry. Angel hugged Lisa. I just sat there, numb. Not hugging anyone, not wanting to be hugged. Not crying. Lisa reached for me, but I gave her the hand and said, “I need a minute.”

  My eyes were the only dry ones at the table. I’d already spent so much time crying in the previous few months that I guess tears were in short supply.

  We wrapped the lunch up then. Eddy packed our food to-go because we’d barely touched our meals what with the drama being spilled after appetizers, Lisa telling us, through tears, how much we meant to her, telling us how much it meant being welcomed into our family. How sorry she was that she wasn’t able to tell us the truth before then, how keeping that secret was so ingrained that it took everything to even say it aloud.

  I just kept nodding, I think. But I was feeling like I was about to have an anxiety attack so I needed air. I think I kept saying I just needed air and finally got up to go get some.

  As I was putting my coat on, she told us that she’d understand if we didn’t want anything to do with her from now on. She also said that there were things we didn’t know, security-related issues, that meant that she had to play the part for a while, that we had to keep it secret or all of our lives would be in danger.

  “As soon as it’s safe for me to go, if you want me gone, I’ll go. I don’t want to go. You guys are my family. But I will if you want me to.”

  Luc and I stared, in shock. What we didn’t do was tell her whether we wanted her to go or stay.

  “I just need some air,” was what I’d said and I’d gone outside. My brother Dare stopped me from getting in my car. He’d just shown to pick up Angel and took me and my sister in his SUV instead, saying he’d have someone bring my car home later. He went in to get Angel and Luc and I sat there. I didn’t say bye. I was too… I don’t know.

  As he drove, he lectured us about the importance of keeping it all quiet.

  Luc had started getting emotional, bordering on losing her shit, asking what he was gonna do about a place like that existing, a place that had fucked over his wife and Lisa, two members of the Ferrano fa
mily.

  Dare had told her to shut up,

  “Shut up, Luc. Listen to me. I told you after Pop died, Tommy and I would find a way to get us all clear of his shit and I wasn’t joking. It’s just takin’ a bit to finesse and we keep getting roadblocked.”

  He went back to talking to us about keeping our mouths shut.

  I couldn’t even talk to Bianca about it. As close as she was to our family, like another sister to us because her father was our father’s business partner for years, keeping our mouths shut meant keeping them shut completely.

  We didn’t have to be told twice; we might’ve been called spoiled and oblivious mafia princesses by bitches who didn’t really know us, but we had Ferrano blood running through our veins.

  As much as we busted Dare and Tommy’s chops at times, they were authority figures in our lives, had been since they were teenagers. Well, Tommy always. When we were small, he always had this dark and authoritative presence in our lives.

  It took teenage hormones and for me to grow into my inner diva to stand up to my oldest brother. I joked all the time that he was a puppy dog under that angry demeanor but really, he wasn’t a puppy unless the puppy was rabid and a Pitbull.

  I’d said it a few times hopefully, trying to crack his wall, but until he’d met Tia he rarely even cracked smiles around us. He was protective and he was smart and serious and we knew that our family was in the midst of some messy circumstances and we knew when our brothers, either of them, meant business. This was business time. Dare and Tommy were the law, just as Pop was when he was still here.

  Luc wanted to be dropped with me at Pop’s house, where I now lived. I hadn’t been able to cope after Jim and Pop died so I’d moved back to my old room, my boys in the adjoining bedroom that used to be Luciana’s, and my house sat as it used to, before my husband died.

  I’d just taken our clothes, the kids’ toys, and left. I was sure my houseplants were all dead. Mail piled up. I didn’t know if anyone stopped by the house and did anything with the grass or the pool. I hadn’t had the ability to even care.