by S K
Melania laughed as she cast an indulgent smile Jaxon's way. "Oh, he's harmless, Angelo. Like a pet I find myself amused with for the moment." When Jaxon frowned at the comparison, Melania blew him a kiss and patted his face.
"Melania…"
"It's not just about her," Jaxon cut in, apparently feeling it was time to make his presence felt. He was having a distinct case of deja vu. This was the same way Angel and his father had talked over him as if he wasn't important enough to even acknowledge. This time things were going to be different. "As you said, you already know what I want, Angel. Melania's reasons are her own. We have an understanding, she and I. She's going to help me gain control of DWC and in the process she'll be getting what she wants as well."
The chuckle that started out under Angel's breath turned into an outright laugh. "You really think she wants to help you, you stupid son of a bitch? Wow. Okay. Put that fancy education of yours aside for a moment. This isn't some business deal you're brokering from the comforts of a cozy office. Do you even know who she is? Do you have any idea? Melania Cruz looks out for Melania Cruz. After she gets what she wants, she'll cut your throat and tie your intestines around your nuts while you bleed out like the pig you are."
Melania, who had been studying her manicure and frowning when she discovered a slight flaw, glanced up when Jaxon turned to her with uncertainty written all over his face. She sent him a pretty pout and shook her head reassuringly. "Ignore him, mi dulce. He cannot be trusted."
Showing zero regard for her men who tensed and went on alert, Angel moved forward until they were only a step apart. "I'm going to ask you one last time what this has to do with you and why you're bringing Dominick into it."
"Fine. I'll give you one clue." Melania leaned close, placing a hand on Angel's chest and pressing her body against his. "Angelo, you know how much I love mi familia, si? I love them with a fierceness that burns strong and deep, the same, no doubt, as you love yours. My baby sister, Isabella, was the light of our lives. She committed suicide one year ago."
"My condolences. What does this have to do with my brother?" Knowing there was more to her story, Angel's expression never changed.
"She knew your brother, our Isabella. Very well. They met almost twelve years ago."
"Twelve years ago, my brother was in prison." A sickening dread began to twist and churn in Angel's gut.
"Yes. He was. It seems my sister and your brother formed some sort of alliance to take out a common enemy they both hated and wanted destroyed."
A lightening quick awareness flashed in Angel's eyes for just a moment. It was only there a split second, but Melania caught it.
"Ahhh...so you have some knowledge of this."
Angel slipped his hands in his pockets and walked over to the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. They were on the twentieth floor which gave them a panoramic view of the legendary Vegas nightlife that was famous all over the world. Like many large cities, it didn’t really come to life until the cover of darkness fell. It was an exciting place...but it also had a dirty, unsavory side that would draw you in and pull you underneath its turbulent mass of crap if you weren't strong enough to fight and stay on top of the currents. Luckily, Angel had become an adept, skilled swimmer a long time ago.
He turned back to Melania with a nonchalance he was far from feeling. "Julio Garcia."
"Si."
"And?"
"Any other time, I would have applauded your brother for getting rid of that dog shit. At first, I had no idea Isabella was involved with him. Had I known, I would've killed him myself. For some unfathomable reason, my sister thought herself to be in love with him for a while. Men were always her weakness."
"If you're opinion of him is low, what's your problem with Dominick?"
"He used my sister to get rid of Julio. He used her then discarded her when he had no further use for her."
"Melania, from what I gather, your sister was deathly afraid of the bastard. She hated him. My brother hated him. He was taken care of. Your sister knew exactly what was going down."
"My sister fell in love with your brother, Angelo. She thought when he was released they would be together. Instead, he disappeared out of her life without a word. Nothing!"
"Melania, I know my brother. I'll bet everything I own that he didn't lead her on. Dom is like me, he's a straight shooter, no bullshittin' around. If your sister caught feelings for him, then that's on her. She knew what the deal was from the beginning. And anyway, that's been over a decade ago." Suspicion lighting up in his eyes, Angel tilted his head. “Why are you bringing all of this up now?”
"Some things came to light after Isabella's death...things that showed me without a doubt your brother was one of the ones responsible for her taking her own life."
"What things, Melania?" Angel was fast losing patience, and his irritation could be heard in the shortness of his words.
"In due time, Angelo. In due time. Just know that your brother will pay as the others have for what he did to my sister. Your brother took Isabella away from me. Now I'm getting ready to take him away from you."
Chapter 37
Your brother took Isabella away from me. Now I'm getting ready to take him away from you.
Those words had barely cleared Melania’s lips before Angel headed towards her in long, angry strides. When one of her men tried to step in his path, Angel delivered a quick jab to the man's throat, bringing him to his knees in an instant. Angel's pace never slowed, his eyes remaining fixed on Melania.
Reaching her, he clamped a hand around her throat and lifted her by the neck until she almost dangled on her toes. Melania's men pulled out their weapons and aimed them straight at Angel at the same time Angel's men whipped out theirs, a gun in each hand, and directed them at Melania's men.
Angel's attention did not stray from the woman in front of him. Although she struggled and gasped for breath, she held a hand up telling her men to hold their fire. A perverse sense of pleasure covered her face. Melania enjoyed pain. It was like foreplay to her. The fact that it was being inflicted by Angel brought her to an elevated state of euphoria.
He'd always been so good at giving her what she needed...
"Melania listen to my words and hear them well, hm? If anything happens to my brother or his family, if one precious hair is harmed on their heads, know that there is not a rock on this earth you can slither under that I won't overturn to find you. What happened to your sister was unfortunate, but it's a potential consequence of the world she chose when she became involved with Garcia. Dominick was thrown into this through no fault of his own. If you want vengeance..." He leaned closer until his face was inches away from hers. "Come after me."
Angel released Melania and tossed her back as if she were little more than a rag doll. Her men caught her before she hit the floor and held her upright until she pushed them away. Jaxon stood staring at them, not knowing what to think about the situation he'd suddenly found himself in. All he'd wanted was his family's company back. Melania said she had business with Angel, but she never went into what that business was and he hadn't asked.
Massaging her neck, Melania gave Angel a slow smile. "I understand perfectly, Angelo. But where would the fun in that be?"
Furious beyond belief, Angel pushed his words out through gritted teeth. "Really, Melania? You think this is a game? Well, let me give you some incentive to take things a little bit more seriously. I knew you were up to something, so until I could find out exactly what you were planning, I took out a little insurance."
Melania looked on with wary suspicion as Angel pulled out his cell phone and called a number. The confident expression on her face slipped a notch as she waited.
"Put her on," Angel ordered to the person on the other line.
He hit a button to put the call on speaker. A rough, gritty male voice whispered to someone else in the room with him. "Say hello. She's waiting."
Seconds later, an obviously frightened woman called out tentatively. "
M-Melania?"
Horror and fear flooded Melania's face. "Mamá! Mamá!!"
"Melania?" Melania's mother began screaming and speaking in rapid fire Spanish. Melania tried her best to calm her mother and reassure her that everything would be fine.
"It's okay, Mamá...wait...Mamá..." Melania paused and put trembling fingers to her temple as the hysteria in her mother's voice grew. "He won't hurt you...Mamá, stop crying, por favor...I promise, everything will be…"
Angel hung the phone up before Melania could finish. "Mamá?" Frantic eyes met Angel's before she visibly made an effort to calm down. "Where is she, Angel? What have you done to her?"
"She's fine. Whether or not she stays that way is up to you. Let's talk. This is what I want you to do, Melania. You're going to forget any and everything even remotely connected to my brother. Your mother hasn't been hurt, this time. But you have a false sense of security when it comes to your mamá. You might think you can protect her every second of the day, but you can't. The same way you can get to my family, I can get to yours, any time I like...including your mother."
Melania screamed in outrage. She reached over and snatched the gun from the hand of the man standing beside her then pushed the muzzle against Angel's left temple. One of Angel's men quickly directed his aim at Melania but Angel only smiled and continued talking.
"You know me, Melania. You know me very well. I will start a bloodbath and massacre your whole got damn family...starting with your mamá. Then, I'll pick the rest of them off one by one. I won't even need a reason. I might wake up one morning and get pissed off just thinking about this shit and order a hit on that baby brother of yours whom your family dotes on. He's a senior at UCLA now, isn't he? What's his name? Antonio? Or who's to say I won't have a fucked up day and order my men to go after your older sister who lives in Los Cabos. Or her husband. Or any one of her six children..."
"You son of a bitch," Melania whispered as she realized exactly how much he knew about her close knit family. "Do not think this is over, Angelo. I swear to you it is not. You might have won this round, my friend, but the war is far from over. You'll see me again. I promise you."
"For your sake, I hope I don't. Because, Melania, if I see you again, then I'll start believing you just disregarded everything I've told you today. Let's be clear. The next time I lay eyes on you, I will kill you."
Lifting his hand to the gun, he calmly pushed it away from his head, and swung his attention to Jax. "And that goes for you as well. I advise you to get far, far away from here. The fact that you're my half-brother is the only reason why you're not dead already. But that's your last free pass. Don't ever come near Nikki again."
Giving them one last lingering look, he slipped a pair of shades on and headed for the door. His men followed behind him walking backwards, their guns still aimed at Melania's men. He'd just opened the door when she called his name. Angel turned around slowly and stared at her without speaking.
"I've changed my mind, Angelo. I think I'll give you one last clue. Or call it....how did you put it? Incentive." She reached in the pocket of her dress and pulled out something the size of a postcard and brought it to him. She held it out until Angel impatiently grabbed it out of her hand.
Glancing down, he saw it was a photo. In that moment, his world tilted on its axis. He blinked several times, praying that he wasn't looking at what he instinctively knew to be true.
As he continued to stare at the picture, Melania's throaty amusement filled the room. Her confidence restored knowing she now had leverage of her own, she blew him a kiss.
"Adios, papi. Until we meet again."
Angel's grip tightened on the photograph then slipped it in the pocket of his jacket. His features composed, and revealing nothing of what he was thinking, he left out without another word. Melania's laughter drifted behind him.
As he walked to the elevator he pulled out his cell phone. When the other end connected, he didn't waste time with small talk. "I'm on my way to pick you up. I'll be there in thirty minutes. Be ready."
Chapter 38
Almost an hour later, Angel and Dominick were in the back of Angel's luxury car being chauffeured around by Dre. After Angel finished telling Dominick about the visit with Melania, the silence in the air was thick with tension. Angel's mind was working furiously, knowing the rest of what he had to tell his brother was going to change his life forever.
"I don't understand." Confusion blanketed Dominick's face. "What does she mean I'm one of the people responsible for Isabella's death? I haven't seen Bella in years. I mean, like you told her sister, we were both using each other, a means to a common end. The last time I saw her, she was fine."
Truly perplexed, Dom shook his head and stared blindly out the window. He hadn’t thought about Isabella in a long, long time. She was part of a past he'd put behind him. Those years from the ages of sixteen to twenty-one seemed like they happened to a different person a lifetime ago. Sighing from deep within his chest, Dom thought back to that particular period in time...
The first time Dominick laid eyes on Isabella had been in the visitor’s room at the minimum security prison where he was serving out the remainder of his sentence. He was sitting at a table with Chino, one of Angel's foot soldiers, but kept his attention on a beautiful woman several tables away. Her name was Isabella and she visited Garcia religiously every weekend without fail.
The two of them watched each other for months. Dominick had noticed her interest in him on the first few occasions he’d seen her, but he kept it movin'. He didn’t run from beef, but he didn’t go looking for it either. Isabella was trouble he didn’t need or want.
Until now.
He'd been transferred here from juvie after he turned eighteen, two and a half years ago. Although he’d seen many horrors in prison, especially to young inmates around his age, none of it had touched him, and he knew it was because of his brother's protection. Even so, Dominick never let his guard down. The hard knocks education of prison taught him to still watch his own back against those who weren’t easily swayed by Angelo’s influence.
Like Julio Garcia.
Seeing Isabella listening to something Garcia was telling her, Dominick was aware that she knew he was watching her, but her attention never diverted from the man she was visiting. However, when Garcia leaned to the side to scratch his leg, her eyes met Dominick’s in those few, brief seconds and exchanged an intense glance which scorched blazing hot across the distance. When Garcia straightened, she quickly looked down.
Garcia froze and turned around slowly to glare at Dominick with icy, dangerous eyes. Undaunted, Dominick didn’t turn away. He wanted the muthafucka to know he was staring at his woman, wanted him to see the message in his eyes he didn’t even attempt to hide; he planned on fucking the bitch. The threatening gleam that shone in Garcia’s eyes told Dominick he got the message loud and clear.
The battle lines between the two men had been drawn months ago when Dominick found his cellmate hanging from a beam in their cell, dead from an apparent suicide. Jonas Walters had been a sixteen year old kid, sent straight to an adult prison almost a year ago after he’d been convicted of murdering a cop, a crime he swore to Dominick he didn’t commit.
At first, Dominick kept his distance, determined to mind his own business. He was cool with a small crew of people, but he didn’t consider anyone a friend in this concrete jungle of steel bars and hopeless dreams, and that’s the way he wanted to keep it. He didn’t stick his nose in anything that didn’t concern him and turned the other way when he saw the animalistic atrocities committed in prison. He was here to do his three year bid then get the fuck out.
But something about the kid, who introduced himself as Tech, made him bend his own self-imposed rules. Tech explained to Dominick that he got his nickname because of his knowledge of computers and other electronic gadgets. Tech could build a computer with one hand tied behind his back and had the ability to hack into the most difficult, secured networks out there.
That’s how he’d gotten mixed up in the murder of an off duty cop.
Dom didn’t know why he took him under his wing. Maybe it had something to do with Tech’s age. He was the same age Dominick had been when he was locked up. The difference was, Angel had arranged for him to be sent to a cushy facility which housed juveniles under the age of eighteen. Otherwise, he could’ve easily been in Tech’s position. The Feds had been gunning for a twenty-five to life sentence. Same as Tech, he hadn’t been guilty either, but Dom knew the justice system didn’t give a lovely fuck whether a person was innocent or guilty. As long as they had someone…anyone… doing the time, they slept damned well at night.
Now, Dominick remained undaunted as Garcia continued to shoot visual bullets aimed directly at him. He wasn’t intimidated the way most of the prisoners were by him, just the opposite. Julio Garcia was of average height, but thick with bulky muscles. Tattoos covered every inch of exposed skin. He even had tats covering his shaved head. He wore a full mustache which trailed down to thinly outline his mouth then came together in a neatly trimmed goatee. Garcia almost never smiled. He was an imposing figure, no doubt, and was doing life for murder. He’d been in prison for six years. How he’d managed to get into a minimum security prison was anyone’s guess.
Prison gangs were as prevalent as country club memberships. Garcia was the leader of the infamous Ñetas gang and ruled with an iron fist. They were known for their viciousness and violence and maintained strict power and control over other inmates who weren’t protected or were seen as weak. Assaults and murders of inmates were an everyday occurrence and about a third of them were carried out on Garcia’s say so.
Dominick was well aware of the Ñetas' ruthless reputation. On the outside, there had been several run-ins between the Ñetas and Angel, but there was a tenuous truce between the two operations at the moment. Everyone answered to someone. Even Garcia. As much as he hated Dominick, he’d been ordered to stand down and keep his distance.