Anthony’s eyes widened in understanding that Dominic was giving him a chance to save his life and legacy.
Dom let Antony make the first move, but when he took off, Dominic reached the gun first, sweeping it up into his hand, and pulling the trigger before the soon-to-be past enforcer had even reached the table.
Uncaringly, he watched Anthony fall backward from the bullet hole placed neatly between his eyes. Then Dom moved around the table, coldly jerking the coat off the still warm body, desensitized to the drops of blood on the huge collar.
Dominic slid the thick, brown leather jacket onto his broad shoulders before going to the door.
Turning the lights off, Dom slipped out, walking slowly down the steps, in plain view of anyone who had looked out their window or down below after having heard the gunshot. No one would be brave enough to snitch on him, especially with the mantle of protection he was wearing.
He had just taken out Lucifer’s enforcer, becoming the third most powerful man in Blue Park.
Fourteen
Blue Park Definitely Has Its Perks
Dominic, Age 23
Hangin out with Luke tonight.
Dominic read the text message he had received from his ten year old brother Cassius before sliding his phone back into his pocket and getting to the task at hand. Placing the nozzle into the gas tank of his car, Dom clicked the handle instead of watching the pennies flip away on the meter.
Screeching tires had him looking over as a city bus came to a grinding halt and a sixteen-year-old kid who he recognized getting off the bus.
As the boy walked across the parking lot, he sighted him.
Keeping his face aloof, Dom didn’t return the infectious grin the boy treated him to as he drew closer.
Please, not toda—
“Hi, Dom!”
“How’s it going, Marco?” He decided to be polite to the kid, even though he wasn’t particularly in the mood for small talk.
Marco grimaced. “Would be better if Dad didn’t need me to come stock the cooler before I got home, but I can’t complain.”
The boy didn’t know how lucky he had it to have a father like Carlos. Dom would freeze his balls off in Siberia if he was given a choice of parents.
“I better get inside before he runs out of cold beer during rush hour.”
Giving the boy a slight nod, Dom removed the nozzle from his tank, following the lanky teenager inside and leaving Lucifer’s car unlocked. No one was stupid enough in this crime-infested neighborhood to touch the car that Lucifer rolled around his domain in. The only reason he was allowed to drive it was because his father thought fueling the vehicle was beneath him. Soon though, Dominic would have a car of his very own.
He had seen an ad in the local newspaper for the body of an old Mustang and bought it. All his spare time and extra cash went into fixing it up to get it back to its mint condition, and now he was really close. Then his days of walking all over Blue Park or hitching a ride from his father would be over.
Entering the gas station, Dominic picked out an assortment of candy that his brothers and Kat would divide between them and even grabbed an extra bag for Cassius to take to his friend’s when they hung out at the park down the street. With his hands full, he made his way to the front of the store to get in line to pay, using his own money. Lucifer studied every purchase on his card. If he didn’t approve the charge, then he would take double the amount of the purchase out of his paycheck.
Dominic eyed the man standing in front of him, noticing the jeans and black shirt before him might have been simple, but they were a lot nicer than the worn-out ones usually worn around here. Looking up, he watched the man turn his head slightly toward him and recognition dawned.
“Slumming it today, Lucca?” Dom asked, feeling stupid when Lucca glanced down at the amount of candy clutched in his hands and raised his brow.
“Passing through.” Lucca shrugged, starting to advanced forward as the line toward the cash register moved and giving him a cold shoulder under what Dom would bet was at least a fifty dollar T-shirt. He could buy a pack of five of the same shirt at their local Walmart for eight bucks.
Dominic automatically looked toward the glass door when he heard the jingling bell as another customer entered. The man had a wild look on his face when he barged forward, ignoring the waiting line as he shoved his way past him, then Lucca, before thrusting aside an older woman.
“Give me your fucking money!”
Well … shit.
Dom saw a flash of gunmetal as the robber pointed a gun at Carlos across the counter. The owner quickly began opening the register, taking out the cash inside.
Neither Dominic nor Lucca made any move to stop the robbery, seeing another man outside, blocking anyone else from coming in. Dom would let them leave, then track down the fuckers when he didn’t have to worry about Carlos’s face getting shot off by the robber who looked coked out of his mind, already trying to get his next fix.
Lowering his hands, he held the candy lower to his waist and waited for the robbery to play out, seeing Lucca was doing the same.
“Dad, I’m done. You—”
Startled, the robber turned at the sound of Marco’s voice as the boy came from a side room to go behind the counter, unaware his father was being robbed.
The muzzle of the gun turned toward the boy, but before the robber could pull the trigger, he found a booger the size of 9mm shoved up his nose.
“Put the gun down,” Dominic instructed the robber coldly, feeling the burning bite of a bullet that hit his upper arm. Unfazed, he pulled the trigger, splattering brains and gore around the counter and ceiling.
Tightening his hand on the grip of his gun, Dominic turned in one motion toward the door and the robber’s accomplice, who had fired the bullet at him.
The man wasn’t so high that he didn’t recognize who he had just shot and who else was standing by the counter. Pure fear flashed across his face before he took off running.
Lucca made it out the door first since he was closer, but Dom was on his heels as the accomplice ran like hell, trying to disappear down the street. The fucker was sprinting, not high enough not to know he was dead man if he was caught. He had gotten far enough away that he had nearly reached the end of the block. If he managed to get around the corner, he would be able to disappear from sight. The man could have been a fucking Olympic runner; he was moving so goddamn fast that Dom could only make out the color of his red T-shirt.
Lucca raised his gun to fire, but Dominic didn’t hesitate a beat.
“Don’t,” Dom said as he raised his gun alongside Lucca’s. “He’s mine.”
The bullet that left his pistol at the speed of light fired before Lucca could sight his fleeing target. The man could have out run the fastest person alive, but he wasn’t going to beat a bullet.
He suddenly stopped running midair, dropping to the ground facefirst.
Lucca slowly lowered his gun and turned, staring at Dominic hard with his blue-green eyes. “You shot him in the head.”
“Yes, I wanted him dead,” Dominic said simply. Placing his gun back at his waist, he made a smart-ass remark to the man who had been made at seventeen. “I didn’t think you’d be opposed to it.”
Lucca looked back to where the body had landed, seeing how far away it was. “But it only took you one bullet.”
“Lucky shot.” Dom shrugged it off, then quickly changed the subject. “You could have saved me the bullet if you had caught him.”
“I don’t know a man alive who could have caught that fucker,” Lucca told him, not insulted in the least. Putting away his own gun, he went back to staring him down.
“Maybe,” Dominic agreed with a smile, unable to resist saying the next words. “But you woulda had a better shot of catching him if you put down the cigarettes once in a while.”
Sure, Dom might’ve been lucky that Lucca had already put his gun away before making that comment and that Carlos had come out and was heading towar
d them.
Carlos didn’t have to ask if he had taken care of the other robber trying to steal from him. “I called my brothers. They’ll help me clean the mess up. You go. We’ll take care of them.”
Dom nodded, already seeing the body being lifted off the sidewalk sown the street and shoved into the trunk of a car. His ass wouldn’t be back in Lucifer’s car before he would receive a call, asking for payment for hiding the body. This side of the tracks, you had to make money anyway you could, and hiding one of the Lucianos’ victims was easy money.
Dominic buttoned the cheap jacket he wore, unconcerned that he had just taken two lives or that the cops would show up any minute. What cops the Carusos didn’t own, the Lucianos did.
Lucca intently watched the interaction between the two men, his face a blank mask. Taking out his wallet, he then gave Carlos a wad of bills before going back to his Cadillac without a word.
“You need me to take a look at your arm?” Carlos offered.
“It’s just a graze,” Dom said, aware of the stinging pain for the first time.
About to return to his father’s car, he stopped when he heard Marco call out. The boy was coming out of the store, carrying two grocery bags filled with candy and chips.
“For you. Thank you.”
Taking the bags, Dominic gave the teenager a curt nod as Lucca pulled away from the pumps. Curiosity about what the Caruso boss’s son was doing on their side of town gave him a brief spurt of worry, but then Dominic dismissed the thought. There was nothing here that the Carusos would want. Hell, even the Lucianos didn’t want to be here.
Holding the bags in one hand, he used his other to take out another gun, giving the untraceable gun to Carlos.
“I don’t even know how …,” Carlos started to protest.
Dom gave the father a telling look at Marco. The owner was just fucking lucky he wouldn’t have to plan a burial for his son.
“Then fucking learn.”
Stepping out of the car, Lucca entered the back of the funeral home, scaring the lone night shift worker almost to death.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked, taking a hit of his cigarette.
The worker swallowed hard before slowly nodding.
“The body that was brought in discreetly earlier, where is it?”
It was like you could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to figure out who he was scared of more, the man before him or the devil. Making the decision that was going to, at least, let him live five minutes longer, he gave in. “I-I was just about to throw him in.”
Smoke poured from his mouth with each word. “Let me see it.”
Quickly, the worker took him to the room; it felt like entering hell. Stepping inside, he went up to the dead body that was laying on the gurney in the middle of the room.
“Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Caruso?” the guard asked nervously.
“No.” Lucca grabbed the cigarette from between his lips and extinguished it in the bullet hole that was right between the robber’s eyes. Watching the little puff of smoke float up, he took a step back. “Throw him in.”
The worker hurriedly went to the head of the table, then slid the body into the waiting fire.
Pulling out the almost empty pack of cigarettes from his back jean pocket, Lucca reminded himself that he needed to get more since his first run to the gas station hadn’t ended so well. Holding his last one with his lips, he took out the little pack of matches from his front pocket that had Kansas City Casino Hotel written on it. Flicking the little stick, it caught fire instantly, making a large flame that died down as he held it to the end of his cigarette. Lucca killed the match with a shake of his wrist as he watched the flesh in the kiln light up, burn, then slowly fall to ash.
“Our little secret?” he told the guard, taking out his wallet and handing him some cash.
“Yes!” The worker seemed so relieved, he looked like he was about to cry. “Please, no cash necessary.”
Snapping his wallet closed, Lucca smiled with a little tilt of his lips. He couldn’t help but think how easily it was for Dominic to get rid of the body without even trying.
Blue Park definitely has its perks.
Fifteen
You’re Next
Dominic, Age 26
Dominic kicked in the heavy metal door, even with the heavy package he was carrying on his shoulder.
The men had all been lined up in their spots but didn’t dare look away from Lucifer, who sat on his throne behind his wooden desk.
“You’re late! Where the hell hav—”
His father’s voice had boomed through the warehouse, but stopped the second he saw what his son was carrying. As Dominic strode in, the line of men gasped and whispered throughout the space while their jaws dropped.
Dominic passed his usual spot in line, going right up to Lucifer’s desk and dropping the dead body he carried in with a hard thud onto the paved floor. Then Dom turned, taking his place right in the middle of the front of the line.
Slowly, Lucifer stood, leaning over his desk and looking at the lifeless man. Then he slowly sat back down.
The man by Lucifer’s side had gone pale, as white as his eyes that looked toward the door for escape.
“Try it, and I promise your death will be painful.” Lucifer didn’t even have to look at him to know what he was planning. He continued in his cold voice, “Now stand in front of me and tell me why I should show you mercy.”
Gino shakily left the Luciano boss’s side and went around the desk to face him. “I-I-I tried everything I could to find him, but I knew if I didn’t tell you I took him out soon, you would …” He gulped as clear images came to his mind. Gino, who had started out brave, now begged on his knees as he stammered on, “I swear to you, I was going to kill him! You were never supposed to find out, and it was going to be like nothing ever happened once I found where he was hiding. Please, Lucifer, I beg of you, demote me or cut off my fucking hand, but please just show me mercy!”
Lucifer was silent for a moment. Then his voice was not as cold when he spoke. “I’ll give you mercy, Gino.”
“Thank you!” Gino’s tears turned into ones of relief as he brought his hands together in prayer while he stood back up to take his coming punishment like a man. “Thank you, Lucifer.”
“Well, I might give you mercy,” Lucifer began as he folded his hands before him, his long fingers interlocking, “but my son will not.”
Dominic took a step forward, out of the line. Then, marching to the front of Lucifer’s desk, he stepped over the dead body he brought in of an undercover cop trying to end both mafia families of Kansas City.
Gino didn’t even dare run, but his cries and eyes pleaded with the devil’s son for mercy when he stood in front of him. “Please, Dom, show me mer—”
In a flash of light, Dominic took the dagger off his father’s desk that every Luciano made man, including himself, had used to give their blood oath as they spoke the Omertà. It took only another flash of light for the dagger to meet Gino’s neck. His hazel eyes watched the life slowly leave Gino’s eyes as Dom swept the blade across his skin. The blood flowed down his neck, covering the front of his white, buttoned-up shirt and stained the gray concrete black when a puddle began to form. Dom put the old antique back in its place before Gino’s body fell to the floor.
“Lucianos”—Lucifer slowly rose, presenting with his hands out wide, his proud voice echoing once more throughout the warehouse—“meet your new … underboss.”
Dominic turned to face the Luciano men as, one by one, they lowered their heads and bowed. As the last one displayed his respect, Dom walked to the spot Gino had once stood, taking his place at Lucifer’s side. He looked out at the men from his new position before he slowly looked to the side to see his father on the throne.
You’re next.
Sixteen
Lucca, Angel, and Drago
Dominic, Age 28
The second Dominic’s phone rang, he answer
ed it, not having to speak before his father’s voice came through the line.
“Get everyone to the Switzerland warehouse now.”
When the beep met his ears, Dominic’s hair stood up on his arms, instinctively knowing that today was the day. He quickly put his matte black Glock, the one his father had gifted him with after becoming the underboss, back together in ten seconds.
“Kat, get back down to the basement, and if you don’t hear the special knock, you hide under the bed,” Dominic told his sister who was no longer little anymore, as they had just celebrated her eighteenth birthday with donuts.
Looking to his youngest brother when Kat hurried to the basement, he gave him clear instructions. “Cass, get the duffle out of the closet and load it up with the money on the table. Watch the window, and if any car other than mine pulls up, get Kat and sneak out the back. Put as many miles as you can between you and this city and don’t ever fucking come back. Do the same if I don’t text you our codeword in three hours.”
Cassius nodded before disappearing into the hallway to go get the duffle bag.
“What is it?” Angel asked on behalf of both twins who stood antsy nearby.
“It’s time,” Dominic said, putting the Glock behind his back. “Suit up.”
Without another word, both Angel and Matthias grabbed the guns that had yet to be cleaned off the table before going to where they kept the bullets. They were now in their early twenties and had become made.
Dominic threw on his brown leather jacket that he still wore every day. It was old and worn but, somehow, the huge collar made it look regal on him.
Adjusting the sheepskin collar, he said a silent prayer for him and his siblings.
Dominic (Made Men Book 8) Page 11