Long Live the King (An Italian Mafia Romance Duet #2)

by Ws Greer

  “Well, at least I know I was right about something,” I reply. I sit up in the bed as best I can, trying not to put too much pressure on my leg and shoulder. “But you said that was for starters. There’s more?”

  Frankie’s muscles stiffen as he prepares to answer.

  “Yeah, there’s more. As much as it fucking sickens me, there’s more.”

  I swallow hard as the temperature in the room feels like it just went up twenty degrees.

  “As I was finishing talking to Big Sal about Victor and the Commission, I got a call from one of my guys who works in the St. Louis Police Department. He says they got a call about a fire in an abandoned house in E. St. Louis, right off the bridge.”

  My heart nearly explodes in my chest, but I can’t do anything now but listen to Frankie tell me what I already know. I was worried he’d run into this info, and it turns out I was right.

  “He tells me when they finally put the fire out,” Frankie continues, nearly snarling with anger, “there was almost nothing left. Except inside, there was a body. Tommy’s body.”

  Suddenly, Frankie reaches his hand up as fast as a lightning strike and rips the gun from the holster. He aims it at my face, his grip tight on the handle, and his finger trembling on the trigger.

  “You knew Tommy was dead!” he snaps. “When I asked if we should tell him, I could see it in your face, you knew he was already dead. It wasn’t about trust for me, it was about Tommy already being gone! Now you better tell me what the fuck happened to Tommy.”

  He’s shaking with anger and confusion, but the danger of him pulling the trigger is very real. I feel the usual heat building up inside me as I swallow hard and think carefully of how to explain this to him. Frankie is loyal, and he’s confused. A boss killing the underboss without permission or reason is not something that would sit well with an old head like him. I try to remember that as my anger from the fact that he’s pulled a gun on me boils in my stomach like lava in a volcano ready to erupt.

  “Yeah, I had a feeling you’d find out about Tommy,” I begin, speaking quietly. “And I had a feeling you’d be a little pissed. I can understand that. I get it. But, I need you to understand that he left me no choice.”

  “That’s not a good enough explanation,” he barks.

  Frankie is so distressed from having pulled a gun on me that he’s shivering like it’s cold in the room. He’s so mad he has veins popping out of his neck and forehead. He’s so focused and blinded by his anger that he never hears Alannah open the door to the bathroom. He doesn’t hear it until she chambers a round of her own and the sound echoes off the walls of the small motel room.

  “Put the fucking gun down, Frankie,” Alannah says in a soft tone. So soft and menacing it puts a smile on my face.

  Frankie freezes. He leaves his gun aimed at me, but he tries to look over his shoulder with just his eyes. Alannah stands behind him holding a twenty-two, her eyes ablaze with the anger of a woman who has had enough. She’s tired, and she’s willing to do anything to bring this to an end, even if it means killing Frankie right here, right now.

  “I should’ve known you didn’t leave,” Frankie comments. “But if he doesn’t start talking, I guess we’re all gonna die in here tonight.” He adjusts his eyes back onto me, waiting for me to explain, but when he looks at me, he sees I have a nine millimeter of my own trained on his face.

  “Okay, Frankie,” I begin again. “I know you’re pissed right now, and like I said, I can understand that, but we both know that pulling a gun on me isn’t a good fucking idea. If I didn’t need you, you’d already be dead. If I didn’t believe that I could trust you, I would’ve already pulled the trigger while you were focused on Alannah. But I didn’t. We’re in a tight situation right now. I didn’t call you here to kill you, but you’ve taken it to that level by pulling that gun. You know me better than that. So, we can either all kill each other, or you can let me explain why this situation is so fucked up. I’m not gonna lie to you, but I can’t make you believe me. I killed Tommy in that house because that’s the house he took Alannah to when he kidnapped her and held her hostage. He took her there because Alannah figured out he was the one who took Victor’s truck. He was the one who took Victor’s money, and he was the one who shot Dan and killed Raphy. It was Tommy all along, and when Alannah put the pieces together, he was gonna kill her too. You know I couldn’t let that happen.”

  My words hit Frankie right in the chest, knocking him off balance. He blinks quickly, like he’s trying to bring his world back into focus. He’s caught between two guns and a ton of fucked up information.

  “Bullshit,” he snips. “Why would Tommy do that? He had no reason to fucking do that.”

  “Because my mother told him to,” I interrupt, feeling embarrassed by the fact. “She dug herself into a hole she couldn’t get out of by asking Tommy to help her remove me from power. She didn’t want me to end up like my father, and that thought attached itself to her brain and wouldn’t let her go. Even when the two of them realized their plan was obviously flawed and wasn’t thought out at all, they were already in too deep. I think deep down, Tommy saw it as a way for him to become the boss of the Family, and once the ball was rolling, there was no stopping it. He didn’t kill Raphy because he wanted to, he did it because he had to. My mother gave him an idea, and he took it and ran away with it. She confessed it when I confronted her, then she killed herself.”

  “That’s insane. That just can’t be true,” Frankie says, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “It is,” Alannah chimes in, still aiming her weapon at the back of Frankie’s skull. “Tommy was totally fine with getting Dominic killed, and ended up getting himself killed instead. We had to do what we had to do, Frankie.”

  “This is bullshit!” Frankie snaps. “Goddamn it, everything is falling apart. If that’s true, then you should’ve gone to the Commission with it, Dominic. Once they find out about Tommy, they’re gonna have every wise guy in the Midwest looking for you. They probably already have a contract on your head, not just for Victor to ice you, but everybody in Our Thing. You shouldn’t have killed him without telling the Commission what he did, now it’s too late. And if I don’t kill you now, they’re gonna kill me. They’ll think I was a part of this whole thing, and I can’t let that happen.”

  Frankie tightens his grip on the gun, and I can feel myself waiting for the sudden blare of the gunshot and the impact of the bullet zipping into my body. My finger tightens as well, ready to fire off as many rounds as I can before my world goes dark. Alannah has tears in her eyes, but I know if Frankie pulls the trigger, she will too. Everything will end right here in this hotel room, unless I do something. I’ve got to get control of this craziness.

  “Alannah’s pregnant,” I shout, hoping it’s enough to stop Frankie.

  He scrunches his forehead and exhales.

  “What?” he says, rattled by my words.

  “Before you left, you asked what had changed about my circumstances. Well, that’s what it is. Alannah’s pregnant with our child, and everything is different now.” I repeat.

  Frankie lets his eyes drop down to the floor, thinking about what I just said, and I know this is the time to continue.

  “Listen to me, Frankie,” I go on. “I never let myself admit this until now, but there’s something you should know. Leo was wrong. When he chose me to be his successor, he was wrong. It should’ve been you. You should’ve been the boss of this family, not me. You deserved it more than anybody else, and I know for a fact that everybody in the room that night was prepared to back you as the next boss. I don’t know why he chose me, but it should’ve been you.”

  Frankie stares at me, and I can see anger washing off of him, but he’s fighting to keep it. He has a lot to be worried about if he helps me, so I know I have to convince him. If I don’t, I’ll have to kill him.

  “I don’t want this life for my kid,” I continue, looking Frankie in the eyes. “I don’t want to have to keep running
for my life, and dodging bullets while holding my baby. I don’t want Alannah looking over her shoulder for some asshole who’s willing to hurt her just to hurt me. I don’t want to be the boss anymore. I want out. I want out so I can raise my child the way my parents should’ve raised me. I want my family to be safe. And I want you to be the boss after I’m gone.”

  Frankie thinks on it for a second, then he lowers his gun to his side. Alannah and I, however, don’t lower ours.

  “What you’re talking about is impossible,” Frankie finally says after a long pause. “This is La Cosa Nostra. You can’t just up and leave, Dominic.”

  “I know that. Not without your help.”

  Frankie’s eyes bounce around the room as he thinks about everything I just said. After a long moment of silence, he finally looks up at me as I lower my gun.

  “Okay,” he says with a sigh. “You want out, I’ll help you get out. After all your father and I went through coming up in this game, it’s the least I can do. I think I owe him at least that much.”

  “Wait a minute,” Alannah cuts in. “Five seconds ago, you were ready to put a bullet in his brain, now all of a sudden, you’re ready to help us. How do we know we can trust you?”

  Frankie straightens up his body as he shoves his gun back into the holster, then he finally turns around and faces Alannah. He has a glare in his eyes I’ve never seen before, one that makes me feel uneasy about what’ll happen next.

  “Answer me,” Alannah snips, still pointing the gun. “How do we know you’re not gonna shoot him in the back as soon as we walk out of here? Huh? How do we know we can trust you?”

  Frankie faces Alannah and stares down the barrel of her gun without a hint of fear in his eyes as he speaks.

  “You don’t, but I don’t see that you have a choice anymore.”

  Alannah

  Jimmy: What the fuck is going on Dominic? I just got word that there’s a million-dollar contract on your head. And Tommy’s dead? What the fuck!?!

  “Who’s that?”

  “It’s Jimmy. The word’s out about Tommy. The Commission pulled the trigger on me. Everybody’s gonna be after us now. We gotta go. Now.”

  “But shouldn’t we wait for Frankie or something?” I ask, suddenly feeling a sense of worry I hadn’t felt before now. Now that it’s about to happen, I’m terrified. Everything is riding on this moment.

  “We can’t wait for Frankie,” Dominic replies. “We just have to trust that he’s gonna have the car ready to go. All we need to do is get there. We gotta trust him, babe.”

  Dominic wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me into him. I lay my head on his chest and feel his heart beating just as fast as mine is. He’s nervous too, but he’s going to be strong for me, even if he has two bullet holes in him. He’ll protect me no matter what, and my strength feeds off of his.

  “I still don’t know if I can,” I reply, closing my eyes to steady myself. “I know he told us his plan, but I just don’t know. This has gotten crazy.”

  “It has, but we’re on the verge of ending it. We’re gonna take our baby away from all of this shit. We just gotta keep it simple. We get to the Lumiere, grab the passports, then we get to River City where Frankie will have the car waiting with all our bags already in it. We don’t overthink it, we just make it happen. Keep our heads low, and get to River City. Once we’re in that car, we put this shit far behind us. All three of us.”

  Dominic places a hand on my belly and gently rubs it. As hard as it is to believe, I know he’s serious about this. I never thought he’d be willing to get out of La Cosa Nostra, not in a million lifetimes, but it’s actually a reality now. If I ever questioned his love for me, I know the answer now. He’s willing to change his life in more ways than I can imagine. He’s willing to do a complete one-eighty to be with me, and risk his life in the process. The look in his eyes at this moment reminds me of how close we are to pulling it off. I’m so close to having Dominic Collazo without all the crazy shit that has plagued us since we met. I get to have him to myself. If we pull this off, I won’t have to share him with the mafia. I have to hold on to that thought if I’m ever going to get through tonight.

  “Okay,” I reply weakly. “You’re right. We’ll never get what we want if we don’t make this happen. So, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  Dominic flashes a smile, and he doesn’t seem the least bit worried. I embrace it, and we both head out the door. I pull my hat down low and go to check out of the motel while Dominic flags down a cab. He’s wearing loose black sweatpants and a large gray t-shirt with a gray hat and boots. He still looks like Dominic, but it’d be much more obvious if he was rocking one of his suits or a fancy button-up and slacks. I say as little as possible to the old guy at the counter as I take my receipt and quickly walk out of the motel to the waiting cab.

  “Lumiere Place,” Dominic says to the cab driver, and the journey begins with a light press on the gas pedal.

  I feel my nerves pulsating beneath my skin as we enter the city, and it feels like it only takes us sixty seconds to get to the Lumiere. I see the big, blue windows reflecting the night lights of St. Louis and the boats in the river, and it usually makes me feel good. I normally have a sense of calm when I approach Lumiere Place, but tonight is different. Tonight, the Lumiere is like a haunted mansion, waiting to trap me inside its doors, but the monsters within it aren’t ghosts and goblins, they’re real people and they mean to do us real harm.

  “Down into the garage,” Dominic says to the cabbie, and we avoid the congestion of the entrance to the casino. Once the cab stops and we pay the driver, I feel more anxious than ever. Dominic places a hand on my shoulder to steady me. “Alright, this is it. This is where we create our own destiny. It’s just the three of us now. You ready?”

  I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m ready. I love you, Dominic.”

  “I love you. Now let’s do this.” He places a soft kiss on my lips, and for some reason I can’t understand, it feels like it’s going to be for the last time.

  We open our doors and make our way to the elevator. The garage is completely silent, and it terrifies me. It’s too quiet.

  The ride up to the room is uneventful, as we expected. We rarely stayed at Lumiere Place because Dominic chose this casino to conduct business meetings only, but we do have some of our stuff here. The reason we’re here now is simple—passports. Dominic always did a great job of making sure he would never get caught with his pants down. He kept most of his belongings in River City, but he made sure he didn’t keep everything there, just in case something happened and he needed to make an exit. Just in case something like this happened.

  I wait in the elevator while Dominic runs into the penthouse and grabs what we need. I can hear him rummaging around inside, and my heart beats a million miles per minute until he finally returns, holding the two little booklets. He smiles at me as he steps onto the elevator and we make our way down to the first floor, where we plan to exit.

  The plan is to make sure we never leave a place the same way we came in, because we already know Victor has a crew in the city waiting to spot us, and if someone saw us come in through the garage, they’ll be waiting there for us to exit. So, we come in through the garage, and plan to exit right out the front door. The plan is that they don’t see us come in, so they’re not looking for us when we exit. As the elevator reaches the lobby floor and we pull our hats even lower, I feel myself shaking with anxiety. I have to steady myself, because there’s no time for mistakes. We have a price on our heads, and I can’t let my fear win. So, I take Dominic’s hand in mine as the doors slide open. We step out of the elevator and make a quick left towards the exit, but we don’t make it two steps.

  “Dominic?” we hear a voice say from behind. Dominic ignores it as he clinches my hand even tighter and picks up the pace, but whoever is calling his name isn’t giving up. “Dominic, wait!” he shouts, and we have no choice but to turn around, because if we don’t, he’ll say Domi
nic’s name louder and tell everybody in the casino we’re here.

  We turn around to find Jimmy Costello standing in front of us wearing gray pants and a black leather jacket. The look on his face alerts me, but I’m already on edge, so I don’t know if it’s him or just my nerves causing so much concern.

  “Jimmy,” Dominic says in a hushed tone. “What is it?”

  “Did you get my text earlier?” Jimmy asks. “I went by River City to see if you were there, but you weren’t, obviously, so I came by here to try to track you down. People are saying a lot of fucked up shit, Dominic. We need to do something about this. What’s all this shit about Tommy?”

  “I don’t really have time to explain all of that right now, Jimmy. I gotta go,” Dominic says, doing his best to keep his tone even-keeled.

  “Wait, I don’t understand,” Jimmy replies. “People are saying you killed Tommy. And the Commission wants you dead. They’re willing to give the guy who kills you a million dollars for it. That’s a big chunk of change, so you must’ve really pissed them off. This is serious. I tried to call Frankie, but he ain’t answering his phone either. So, now that I got you right here, I ain’t letting you go until you tell me what’s going on. Let’s go up to the conference room so we can figure out what the next move is gonna be. You can send Alannah back to River City until we work this out. Gotta make sure she’s safe, right?”

  Jimmy glares at Dominic with a strange look in his eye. A blind man could see that he isn’t trying to get Dominic alone just to talk about a plan going forward. A million dollars is a lot of money to pass up, and when that much money is on the line, loyalty doesn’t exist.

  Dominic and Jimmy stare at each other for far too long. Both of them know what’s going on, but they’re waiting to see what the other does, which is something we don’t have time for. I feel Dominic let go of my hand as he and Jimmy lock eyes. I take a step back.