by Ws Greer
Alannah has an arm around my waist while mine is draped over her neck, holding on for dear life, but each step feels like a giant knife being twisted in the hamstring of my left leg. Couple that with the sharp, burning sensation in my left shoulder from the bullet lodged there, and my entire left side feels like it’s being stabbed with syringes that have fire inside of them. I wouldn’t be able to do it without Alannah here to help me, but with her, I manage to make it up the first flight, only to stare up at the second flight with nothing but discouragement.
By the time we’re up to the third floor, I have sweat pouring down my smooth face, and my formerly-nice shirt has been soaked through with blood and perspiration. Even Alannah is sweating and breathing like she just sprinted a mile, but she’s as determined as ever to get to the room. We hobble across the concrete balcony to room three-twelve, and I standby, trying to maintain my balance on one leg while Alannah uses the key—shaped like a crown—to open the door. I push away the desire to laugh at the fact that this motel is still using actual keys on their doors, and throw my arm around Alannah again as we complete our struggle and make it to the bed. I let myself collapse onto the mattress while Alannah closes and locks the door behind us. We made it. Finally.
While I lay on the bed, Alannah walks around the room, doing her best inspection before finally sitting down beside me. First, she looks at my shoulder, wincing at the sight of the blood with tears in her eyes, because my pain is her pain. I watch her as she inspects me, thinking about what set of her nursing skills she can use to fix me up, and I feel nothing but pride and love for her.
This woman is incredible. I watch in pure adoration as she starts to unbutton my shirt so she can get a better look at the wound to my shoulder. She looks so concerned, and I can’t help but marvel at her level of commitment and love for me. Since we met, she’s seen some pretty terrible shit. She’s been kidnapped twice and shot at twice, yet here she is, concerned about my wounds, caring for me when she should be thinking about herself. She’s an angel, and I’m truly the luckiest son of a bitch in the world for having her. I need this woman in my life like I need air to breathe, like I need my heart to beat in order to live. She’s everything to me, and now she has my child growing inside of her, so now she’s everything to me and my child. Our child. I’m truly astonished by her very existence.
“This one isn’t so bad,” she says just after removing my shirt and investigating the wound on my shoulder. “It’s a graze, albeit a deep one. Let’s have a look at the one in your leg. Gotta take these pants off.”
I’d like to make a joke at that statement, but when Alannah starts unbuckling my pants, the pain of the hole in my leg shoots out in all directions, ending at my toes and reaching all the way up to neck. I struggle to choke down a scream, biting down on my lip as she slides the pants all the way off and forces me to turn over so she can get a better look.
“Shit, this one is bad,” I hear her say once I’m settled and burying my face in a pillow to keep her from seeing me grimace. “The bullet’s still in there. I’m gonna have to get it out, Dominic.”
I push my face deep into the bleach-scented pillow and prepare myself for the pain that’s coming. Alannah doesn’t wait for me to respond, she just plunges her fingers into my leg and starts fishing for the bullet. I bury my face into the pillow so hard it hurts my nose, while Alannah struggles to get her fingers deep enough to touch the metal lodged in my leg.
“I’m sorry, I know this hurts,” I hear her say, but her voice is muffled for some reason.
I feel light-headed and hot all over, and I squeeze the pillow to try keep from moving too much, but the pain is becoming unbearable. Alannah pushes her fingers down even further, and even though my eyes are closed, I start to see tiny white sparks popping into my vision.
“I can feel it. Almost got it,” Alannah says to let me know the pain won’t be much longer, but it might be too late.
The white sparks in my vision become bigger and brighter, and my breathing is becoming labored as the pain sends blazing fireworks through my nerves. I start to let out a scream, but before the sound can become audible, Alannah shifts her fingers again, and the white sparks fade into nothingness.
My eyes begin to flutter, slowly revealing the ugly motel room: brown and green comforter, tan-painted walls, dim light in the corner coming from the bathroom, hideous wooden desk in front of me, occupied by the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Alannah. She’s wearing a plain white t-shirt and black leggings, with her brown hair in a ponytail. A black and blue St. Louis Blues jacket rests on the back of the chair she’s seated in, and a white hat sits on top of the desk in front of her. Even with her back to me while she watches the small TV, she’s breathtaking. She glows like a goddess that can’t be denied, even in my groggy state.
“Hey,” I mumble, just as I look down and see that I’m still wearing nothing but my underwear, and my leg has a white bandage around it.
Alannah turns around and flashes her exquisite smile.
“Hey, you’re awake!” she replies, her voice highlighted by her excitement. “I’m sorry that was so painful. Are you okay?”
Alannah gets up from her chair and walks over to the bed, sitting on the edge next to me as she rubs my face with the palm of her hand.
“Oh yeah,” I say with a grin. “Better now.”
“Well, I gave you some medicine to help with the pain, so you should be feeling better by now,” she answers. “I didn’t even realize you’d passed out until I was done.”
“I didn’t know I had passed out until I woke up just now.” We both laugh together, and it feels good to be able to laugh with her. Seems like it’s been a while. “Where’d you get the bandages? And I noticed you’ve changed clothes.”
“I left while you were asleep.”
“You did what?” I snip, suddenly shocked. “What the fuck did you do that for?”
“We needed supplies, Dominic,” she answers. “And it was honestly probably safer without you.”
“Maybe, but it’s a big risk to take. I need to be there to protect you.”
“Maybe that’s true,” she answers, smiling at me. “But if I didn’t get those bandages and the medicine you needed, you wouldn’t have been able to protect me later. I needed to heal you, we needed clothes to change into, and we needed the guns I grabbed, too. We have all the stuff we need now, and nobody saw me. We’re fine.”
“But did you go back to River City? Because I’m sure Victor and Giovanni are all over that place, just waiting for me to show up.”
“No, I went to Hollywood,” she answers, which settles me down a little, because most people don’t know I own Hollywood Casino & Hotel, because I don’t stay there very much. I do have a penthouse in that casino too, so Alannah made the right move by going there. “I took a cab and made him wait for me in the basement while I went to the penthouse. Then I had him drop me off at another hotel, and I got a different cab to bring me back here. I covered my tracks, babe. You don’t have to worry about that. Plus I had a hat on, pulled really low so people couldn’t see my face. We’re good.”
Alannah leans in to kiss me, and it feels so good to have her skin on mine. I breathe a frustrated sigh of relief and try not to worry about how she went out without me. She’s a brave woman, and it makes her even more beautiful.
The bandages on my shoulder and leg are wrapped tight, making moving a bit difficult, but I manage to sit up in the lumpy bed and rest my back on the headboard. The coldness of the wood feels good on my hot skin.
“So, after all that’s happened,” Alannah begins again, changing the subject. “What are we supposed to do now?”
I take a second to think about the answer, and when it comes to me, I know she won’t like it.
“I’ve still gotta meet with Frankie,” I reply, bracing myself for her response.
“What? You just got shot because you tried to meet with Frankie! How do you know he’s not the one who set you up?”
“So you don’t think Frankie had anything to do with what happened today?” she asks with fury in her voice.
“Nah. Well, I’m not sure. But I need to know for sure, and there’s only one way to find out.”
“What the hell for?” Alannah snaps, standing up and glaring down on me as she lets out a loud sigh. “I know you’ve been involved in this world your whole life, but history has not been kind to people in the mob. Your mob family is the one who’ll kill you. You can’t trust any of them.”
“Thanks for the lesson on La Cosa Nostra, but I already know that,” I reply. “But I also can’t do this on my own. Look at me. I’m all shot up, and I can’t even defend myself right now, let alone you. I need an ally.”
“I’m your ally. We are your allies,” she says as she begins to rub her belly. “We have a baby on the way, Dominic. I don’t want to run for my life anymore. I don’t want to be afraid anymore, not for me, and not for you. And I don’t wanna have to raise this baby alone because its father got killed. I don’t want this life anymore. It’s time to change.”
Tears start to fill Alannah’s eyes, and it’s like a kick in the gut. I know she’s right. This life isn’t the kind of life I want my children to have, and I have to do everything I can to protect it. I have to protect both of them, but I can’t do it on my own. If I want out of La Cosa Nostra, it’s going to take something drastic. It’s going to take more than just me.
“You know I love you, Alannah,” I say to her. “You have to believe me when I tell you there isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do to protect you and our child. Nothing means more to me than that. Nothing. And that’s why I gotta call Frankie.”
“You can’t trust Frankie.”
“I think I can. Like I told you before, Frankie was around when my father was still alive, and I think he’s the most loyal guy we have in the Family. I’ve known him my entire life, and I don’t think that bond can be broken. He’s gonna help us get out of this. I got a feeling.”
“You might trust him, but I definitely don’t.”
“You don’t have to. All you gotta do is trust me,” I reply. “Trust that I will always protect you. Trust me, Alannah, please.”
She stares at me, and I can see the anger, frustration, and disappointment in her eyes. She wants nothing more than to be done with all of this. Finding out she was pregnant changed everything, and rightfully so. It changed everything in me too, which is why I’m making this happen.
She takes her hand off of her belly and uses it to wipe away her oncoming tears before exhaling loud enough to be heard through the thin walls.
“Okay, Dominic,” she says, just as she walks over to the table and picks up my cell phone.
It takes about an hour for Frankie to arrive. When he knocks on the door, my heart pounds in my chest. I’m laying in a motel bed with my leg and shoulder bandaged, and the medicine Alannah gave me for the pain still has a grip on my mind and motor skills. The grogginess weighs me down and the gunshot wounds have left me nearly motionless for the moment. This isn’t the state to be in if something goes wrong, so my heart keeps pounding with anxiety.
Alannah opens the door slowly, and Frankie surveys the room before he steps inside. He looks around like he’s expecting someone to pop out at any moment, before stepping up to the foot of the bed and looking down at me.
“What the hell?” he whispers, either to himself or me, I’m not sure.
“Thanks for coming, Frankie,” I say.
“What the hell is going on, Dominic?” he responds as Alannah slowly walks behind him and sits down in the chair in front of the wooden desk.
“Well, I’m not one hundred percent sure what’s going on, to tell you the truth. All I can tell you is what happened, then we’ll have to go from there to figure out what’s going on.”
“Who did this to you?” Frankie replies, looking down at my bandages.
“Right after I called you and told you to meet me at Isle of Capri, Giovanni tried to whack me. We were less than a block away from the Isle when he pulled up next to us and started shooting. We had to get out the car and run, because he was a persistent motherfucker. We ran, and he chased us. Shot me in the shoulder and the back of the leg. Obviously, if Giovanni is shooting at me, the word was put out by Victor, which means he must’ve gotten approval from the Commission.”
Frankie lets out a loud sigh.
“If that’s true, it’s a serious problem to have, Dominic,” he says.
“Yeah, and it’s especially fucked up because that’s the reason I wanted to meet with you at the Isle in the first place. I was hoping to figure out a way to pay Victor. I wanted to settle it.”
“But he didn’t give you the chance, now he has to die,” Frankie growls. “Giovanni shot you, and he has to pay for that. Victor too, for ordering the hit. This is war now, Dominic.”
“If this were normal circumstances, that’s exactly what I’d want. But these ain’t normal circumstances.”
“What? They fucking shot you!” Frankie snaps. “They don’t get to live now. You don’t shoot at a boss and miss. They knew what they were doing when they started this shit, and now we have to organize and finish it. We need to call Tommy, and get our people together so we can retaliate.”
“We can’t,” I start, but I stop myself before I can say too much about Tommy. I’m not ready to address that yet. One step at a time. “I wanna kill Giovanni more than anything else, but like I said before, our circumstances have changed.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. Look at yourself, you’re sitting in a fucking motel with the lights down low, hiding because these fuckers are after you. St. Louis belongs to us, and everyone is gonna know you don’t fuck with the Giordano family. What has changed about your circumstances that you don’t want to hit them back?”
“You just gotta trust me, Frankie. We gotta play this smart,” I reply, trying my best to calm him down. “I hear what you’re saying, believe me. But the first thing we need to do is find out exactly what’s going on. First we get the information, then we use it to our advantage. I want to outsmart them, not do exactly what they’d expect. And when I say they, I mean Victor and the Commission both. For all we know, it’s us versus all of them. So, that’s why I need you. You’ve been involved with Our Thing way longer than me, and I know you can get the information we need. So, I need you to be smart about this, okay.
“I almost didn’t call you, Frankie. We’re having some serious trust issues over here, so it’s important that you handle this exactly how I say. I don’t want Jimmy involved, I don’t want Sal involved, and definitely not John.”
“What about Tommy?” he asks. “Tommy’s the underboss, and you’ve known him a long time, too. You don’t want him involved either?”
“I’ve known you my whole life,” I answer, deflecting away from Tommy. “And you were my father’s friend. The bond you and I have is unbreakable. You’re like an uncle to me, Frankie. I trust you, and you’re the only one I want working on this. So, don’t tell anybody where I am. Don’t even mention my name right now. Just find out if the Commission has put something in the streets about me. I need to see how deep this thing goes before I make another move. Okay?”
Frankie hesitates for a moment, obviously upset over not being able to retaliate yet.
“Okay, Dominic,” he says softly. “You got it.”
Frankie turns on his heel and starts for the door, but I stop him.
“Frankie,”
I say, “I trust you. You know that, right?”
Frankie glances at me, then Alannah, then back to me.
“Yeah, Dominic. I know you do,” he replies with his signature scowl, then he walks out the door, gently closing it behind him.
Dominic
“It’s open.”
Frankie pushes the door open slowly, looking around the room as he enters. He has a scowl on his face. Something in him is different than when he left, and I don’t have a good feeling about it.
I expected it, though.
“Where’s Alannah?” he asks, still looking around the room.
“She left. We needed some stuff from River City, so she had to go get it,” I reply, breathing a sigh of relief that my explanation keeps him from investigating the room any further.
Frankie nods his head as if he’s giving me some sort of approval, then he takes off his leather jacket, revealing a nine millimeter housed in a harness that wraps around his shoulder. He stands at the foot of the bed constantly nodding his head, convincing himself of something I can’t see. I feel my nerves starting to flare as he puts his hands on his hips and looks around the room, everywhere except at me.
“So,” I start, treading lightly. “What’d you find out?”
Frankie finally brings his eyes down to me, his mouth twisted into a sinister scowl as he lets out a loud exhale. This is definitely not the same Frankie that left the room a few hours ago.
“What’d I find out?” he repeats, nodding his head, working up the courage to say whatever he’s thinking. “Well, for starters, as far as Victor is concerned, you were right. Victor gave Giovanni the order to take a shot at you, and the Commission gave him the okay to do it.”