Dominic (Made Men Book 8)

by Sarah Brianne

  Sure, he might have started their little flirting game, but she damn sure finished it.

  At first, Dominic wanted her to pay for what she’d done to him, make her realize the mistake she made by proving she felt something for him. But now his own game had turned on him, bringing back everything he felt for her in a rush.

  Maria was fucking cruel. He had seen her with Ted-Teddy-Todd, or whatever the fuck, knowing she had turned him into a helpless puppy, but he’d bet everything he fucking had that she hadn’t flirted with him like that to get her way. That was not flirting; that was a con. She was no woman; she was one of the best conmen he had ever seen. Maria had just led him on—on a criminal scale. Sure, he might’ve led her on a bit, too, but he was actually going to fuck her, if that was what she wanted, because that was damn sure what he wanted!

  The only goddamn reason Dominic had fallen for it was because in no way had he thought Maria would make him walk through the front fucking door of Dante’s business to fuck his daughter and risk his life ….

  Banging on the door, Dom roared, knowing she could damn well hear him. “You’re going to pay for thi—”

  “Girl trouble?” was asked from behind him in a cold but cunning voice.

  Violently snapping his head back toward the man he knew, he made his eyes into slits. “If I did, I wouldn’t take girl advice from you, Ted Bundy.”

  Lucca, who stood in the doorway to his place, gave him a sly grin. “Wasn’t Ted Bundy married?”

  Dom told him what he thought of that by flipping him off. “I better get to walk out of here, or so help me Go—”

  “You will,” Lucca assured him with a nod.

  Starting to walk away, Dominic shot the underboss a serious look. “Prepare your men for the bad news.”

  Lucca slightly drew his brows together. “What news?”

  “That Maria Caruso is mine.”

  Maria walked into her place, satisfied, with a smile on her face. Ignoring the beating on the door, she walked up the stairs, humming a tune to drown out Dom’s heated words that suddenly stopped.

  Dominic had tried to play a game that Maria had invented. Sure, it wasn’t fair, as the scales were slightly tipped in her favor, but it sure had been a hell of a lot of fun.

  Hell, even Maria was second-guessing leaving Dom out in the cold. Her harmless flirting was no longer harmless when she ignited a fire within, but that strange little lie that Dominic told her in the elevator had officially stopped her from making a mistake she could regret ….

  This penthouse was the biggest one in the Casino Hotel, as it was built large enough for the Caruso family. She and her siblings had grown up between here and their family home, but Maria had always preferred it here. She’d thought it was fun navigating through the casino as a child; sneaking into the secret one in the basement when she wasn’t allowed had been even more fun. The sneaking around had stopped when she turned eighteen, and even though it wasn’t legal for her to gamble, she was able to gamble in the illegal one underneath. Being here made her feel closer to what she dreamed of, being in the mafia world and not outside of it—because she was a woman. This penthouse also had more personality and her favorite view in the world—Kansas City.

  Walking into her bedroom, she dropped down on the edge of her bed, taking off her heels, then laying back on her silk sheets, wanting to see something before she got ready for bed.

  Maria grabbed her phone and typed in the episode of The Walking Dead that she and Cassius had been watching when Dominic had made him to turn it off.

  Fast-forwarding through the episode, she got to the part right before he changed the channel. When she saw the gun fire, she jumped when she saw who it hit.

  Maria could watch anything. Her cold, dead heart kept her from even reacting from the scariest of jump scares to Old Yeller getting shot. But this scene was too real as she watched the blood drip down his face.

  The character was a young boy named Carl … and the bullet had gone right through his eye.

  The elevator was already open and waiting for him when he made it down the hall and passed the guard Ed. And when he turned to get on the elevator there was another Caruso waiting.

  Dominic did a full stop, staring at the blackish-blue eyes of the brother who had been taken away from him—Salvatore.

  Taking a step onto the elevator, Dom didn’t say a word, and neither did Sal, as he put in the code. They might’ve had the same blood, but this brother, Dominic didn’t know.

  He likes to kiss Lucca’s and my father’s asses.

  One of them, he semi put his trust into, but the other didn’t even have his respect. If Sal kissed Dante’s ass, then blood brother or no, Dominic couldn’t trust him, no matter how badly it hurt him.

  His siblings were his only weak point. It would be naïve to think Sal wouldn’t use him, especially with what Lucifer had done to him. Truthfully, Dom wouldn’t blame him. Sal had an origin story that rivaled his, and until Dominic figured him out, Sal was no brother of his.

  Both watched the elevator door slide close.

  Keeping his head forward, he looked at the numbers that began to fall as he broke the tense silence. “How’s it going?”

  “Can’t complain.” Sal gave a quick spin of the keys in his hand that was hooked on his finger. “You?”

  Dominic gave a little shrug. “Could be better.” That was an understatement, compared to what Maria tricked him into believing he should have been doing right now.

  Dom missed the little tug on Sal’s lips as they continued their silent journey, the only noise in the tight box was the sound of the keys clashing into each other with each twirl.

  Nearing the end of the ride, Sal gave the keys in his hand one last spin around his finger, catching them so the only thing that could be heard was his voice. “So, Maria, huh?”

  Dominic looked away from the digital display above the doors to look over at a smiling Sal, knowing exactly what he meant. He answered just as the door slid open. “Yep.”

  Putting his eyes back forward, Dom walked off the elevator.

  “Dominic ….”

  He stopped, turning back to look at The Great Salvatore who was beginning to disappear as the doors slowly started to close. Dominic didn’t know if the look on Sal’s face was one of pity or delight.

  “Good luck.”

  Maria awoke in the middle of the night, not from one of her good dreams—the ones she’d had of Kayne and Dom—but from a nightmare. Feeling wetness on her pillow, she sat up and touched a finger to her cheek. It was … wet?

  She had been crying in her nightmare. Only, it hadn’t been a nightmare. Maria’s mind replayed the scene over and over again of the car blowing up and Leo losing an eye.

  Watching the scene from the show had drudged up all the feelings of hate, fear, and loss that she made herself subdue. It was as though Dominic had known it would affect her. He had gotten mad at Cassius when he didn’t change the channel, because he had wanted to spare her feelings.

  As badly as Maria hurt him, Dominic didn’t want to see her hurt.

  Her choices were now coming back to haunt her.

  Maria grabbed her phone off her nightstand, hitting the contact that had once put a smile on her face. It went right to voicemail.

  “This is Kayne Evans. Leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

  Beep.

  She was silent at first. Hearing the voice of a ghost who she thought she loved brought a single tear to her eye.

  “You lied to me, Kayne.” Maria clutched her black heart as she rocked on the bed. “How could you do that to me?”

  The ding from his nightstand had him reaching over to pull out the cracked phone that had disrupted the darkness.

  One new voicemail.

  Putting it up to his ear, his heart sank as he listened to the woman he loved cry into the phone over another man.

  Darkness fell over him again as Dominic clicked off the phone.

  Twenty-Ni
ne

  Where Would I Even Sit?

  Dominic sat in the back corner of the pizza restaurant, watching people enter and exit the establishment. Not yet seeing who he was meeting, he reached for his cell phone to see what time it was … again.

  Hearing the sound of the tiny bell, he lifted his hazel eyes to the door. It felt like déjà vu watching the woman enter. She had hardly aged in the ten years since he last saw her.

  Dom immediately stood up, seeing her serious expression turn into a smile when she glanced around the restaurant and saw him rising from the booth against the wall. Dom couldn’t be sure because of the distance separating them, but he thought she gave a small sob as she rushed toward him.

  Catching her easily when she threw herself into his arms, he gave her a light hug. “Good to see you, Bristol.”

  “You, too.” Bristol closed her eyes. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I missed you too.” Pulling her back to arm’s length, he stared down at her. “You look good.”

  “I wish.” She looked over him just as critically. “I see why I fell in love with you in grade school. You’ve become better looking in your old age.”

  Dominic rolled his eyes at her, then motioned for her to take a seat in the booth. Sliding in across from her, he turned to look for the waitress, catching her attention before turning back to Bristol.

  Ordering a pitcher of beer and a medium pizza, he waited until the waitress was gone before he nodded toward her left hand. “No ring? I thought you would be married by now. The men in Florida must be stupid if they let you get by them.”

  Bristol gave him a sad smile. “I haven’t had the best of luck with men.”

  He gave her a smile that was just as sad, knowing what she meant. “You didn’t love me, Bristol. You felt sorry for me, and when I didn’t need your pity anymore, you latched onto Kayne. You thought you could fix what was broken in us and, in return, you were hurt.”

  “I wasn’t hurt,” she denied with a waver in her soft voice.

  “Weren’t you? I don’t blame you leaving Blue Park after graduating, but you haven’t even been back to visit, not even for the holidays. I had to look at my phone twice to make sure it was you who texted me to meet you here.”

  Bristol gave him a smile. “This place brings back good memories for me. Do you remember coming here and working on our projects together?”

  “I remember,” Dom told her. “But I also remember when we stopped coming here because of Kayne.”

  “I was trying to make you jealous,” Bristol admitted as the waitress approached with their beer and pizza. After the waitress left, Bristol stared down at the pizza instead of looking at him. “You put me in the friend category, and you weren’t budging me from that spot. I thought, if I could make you jealous enough, at least it would be a step forward. Instead, I took seven steps backward and stupidly lost our friendship.”

  Pouring both of them a glass of the frothy beer, Dom tried to think of something to say without hurting her. Once upon a time, he wouldn’t have understood the pain of jealousy, but Maria had shown him the agony firsthand that night she spent with Kayne.

  Bristol reached out, tapping his left hand before he could touch his beer. “I don’t see a ring on your finger, either.”

  “I haven’t had the best of luck with women either.” Dom quickly changed the subject from his personal life. “So, what brought you back to Blue Park? How long are you stayin—”

  “I’m moving back.”

  Dominic almost dropped his beer. “Why in the fuck would you do that?” He could see her disappointment at his reaction as Bristol reached for her mug of beer. “I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”

  “It’s okay, Dom. I know you didn’t have the same feelings for me that I had for you.”

  Taking the plates, she placed a large slice on one, setting it in front of him before taking a smaller slice for herself. “I hope it tastes as good as it used to. I’ve been imagining how good it would taste since I got off the plane.”

  Dominic took a bite as she began eating hers. “How’s the pizza?”

  “Better than I remembered,” Bristol said, taking another huge bite.

  “You gonna tell me you’re moving back to Blue Park because of the pizza?” he jokingly asked, taking another slice for himself.

  “No. I’m moving back because my mother told me Kayne is dead.”

  This time, Dom did drop the contents in his hand, the pizza hitting the plate. “Why does it matter if he is alive or dead? Was the breakup that bad?”

  “Pretty fucking bad,” Bristol admitted, grabbing another slice. “That’s why I had to talk to you before word gets around. I don’t know how many people Kayne told about our breakup, and once news gets around that I’m back, I don’t want you to hear any rumors before I have a chance to explain.”

  “What rumors? We aren’t in high school anymore—”

  “I didn’t come home back home by myself.” Bristol paused. “My son is with me.”

  “Your son? Why would that matter …? ” Dom trailed off, seeing her embarrassed expression. The wheels finally clicked in place. “Kayne’s the father; that’s why you waited to come back until after he died.”

  She swallowed hard as her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. “Yes.”

  “Oh …,” he said slowly.

  “Kayne broke up with me the day I found out I was pregnant. He told me it was because I was getting too serious and he was leaving for college. He said it would make the break easier.” Bristol gave a bitter laugh. “I knew he wanted his freedom to do whatever the hell he wanted to, so I gave him his freedom.”

  For once, Dominic actually felt bad for Kayne. Being sent to his grave without even knowing he had a son was harsh.

  “You still should have told him, Bristol.”

  Looking down at her plate, her voice cracked as a single tear slid down her face. “I know.”

  Reaching out, Dom took her hand ….

  Ding.

  Maria knocked on the front door in a hurry, still knocking when it opened.

  “I need to speak to Dom.”

  It was the second day in a row she’d shown up on their doorstep. The first time, she failed. Now she was trying to make things right so she could sleep in peace for once.

  “He’s not here,” Cassius told her.

  “When is he going to be back?” It was midday, and he could take all night again. “It’s important.”

  Cassius looked toward the driveway. “Well, I could take you to him.”

  “Thanks,” Maria answered gratefully, relieved she wouldn’t have to wait all night to clean her conscience.

  Yesterday she didn’t know what the hell she was doing, but today, she felt strangely antsy to see him, and she didn’t like the feeling.

  Walking down the driveway, she headed toward the passenger side door of the car parked there, having taken a taxi here yet again, but when Cassius didn’t go in the direction and instead grabbed a bike, Maria looked at him strangely. “What are you doing?”

  Cassius straddled it, balancing the metal between his legs. “Taking you to see Dom.”

  “Uh, no.” Maria shook her head matter-of-factly. “Why can’t we take this?”

  “That’s Matthias’s car, he’ll kill me, besides I haven’t bothered to get my permit yet.”

  “There is no way in hell I’m getting on that thing. Where would I even sit?”

  “Right here.” Cassius patted the handlebars. “Do you want to see Dom or not?”

  Maria thought for several moments before she stomped forward in defeat.

  The young Luciano held out his hand. “Give me your heels.”

  Okay, now this was going too far. Her shoes never came off her feet for anything. If they did, then that activity wasn’t for her.

  “Excuse me?”

  “If we crash, they’ll break your ankles. Come on.” He snapped a finger, trying to get her to hurry.

  “If we crash?” Maria
lifted a leg, pulling the first one off then the other, already regretting this. “How about you don’t make us crash?”

  “I’ll do what I can,” he told her, grabbing the shoe from her hand, then sliding the toe part of the stiletto onto the end of the handlebar.

  Her mouth dropped open, watching him shove it roughly into the handlebar so it would fit tightly. “Those are Jimmy Choo!” Holding her other one hostage, she continued, “I’ll just wear the—”

  “It won’t matter what the fuck they are”—Cassius snatched the heel out of her hand—“when they’re cutting it off your foot in the emergency room after your ankle snaps in half.”

  Maria slit her eyes, watching her newly most hated Luciano destroy her brand new Jimmy Choos.

  “Come on.” Cassius patted the handlebars again, this time with a slight tilt to his lips.

  “I can’t believe you don’t have a permit.” Maria turned, beginning to awkwardly place her ass on the uncomfortable handlebars. All her brothers had been on the DMV’s doorstep on their fifteenth birthday.

  “And where’s your car?” he asked, holding the bike in place for her to safely get on. “Aren’t you like twenty-five?”

  I’m twenty-two, you little shi—

  “I liked you better when you didn’t talk as much,” Maria grumbled. Placing her bare feet on the foot pegs that stuck out from the center of the front wheel, she thought about how this didn’t feel safe at all. “You know, I didn’t think you’d be above breaking the law ….”

  “I’m not.” Cassius placed the sole of his shoe on the pedal. “But there’s one thing you should know if you’re going to be with Dom.”

  “I don’t— AH!” Maria’s protest turned into a scream. She held on for dear life when he suddenly kicked off, sending them down the driveway

  “You don’t fuck with a man’s car.”

  Thirty

  Ah … Shit