“What do you mean?”
He studied me as if taking my measure.
“What they did to your brother, to you…What do you want?”
I understood what he was getting at, and I steeled myself, knowing exactly what I wanted, knowing who I was, what I could live with. I turned to the buffet and filled my plate, then sat down beside him to eat. He nodded and picked up his fork again.
“Salvatore and Lucia had to catch their flight home. They asked me to tell you good-bye.”
“Did he…” I shook my head. I didn’t want to ask. Of course he’d finished the job Dominic started.
“My uncle is dead if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Do you believe what he said? That it was Angus behind it all?”
“Dying men are desperate men.” Dominic looked at me. “But I’m not sure. I wouldn’t be surprised and wouldn’t put it past Angus.”
“I want to meet with him.”
“With Angus Scava?” Dominic seemed surprised at that. “What about Victor? We’ll go up the ranks, Gia. Deal with them one at a time.”
I shook my head. “This is for me. Your uncle, he owed you. But this is for me.”
He considered this, narrowing his eyes, studying me closely.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“I know. I’m very clear, in fact.” I picked up my fork and turned my attention to my plate.
23
Dominic
I watched Gia all that day and the next. Truth be told, her quiet was a little scary. I had expected her to be more frazzled, more like a woman, I guess.
Like a woman.
I sounded like an asshole. I’d never been attracted to weak women. In fact, only two women stood out for me in the string I’d been with. Isabella and Gia. Two strong women. Two women with an agenda. Two women you did not want to fuck with.
I meant it when I told her I’d do the dirty work of killing. I wasn’t sure what she expected out of this meeting with Scava. She had to know she couldn’t just walk in there and kill the motherfucker. We’d meet in a relatively public place, but we’d both be armed. And we’d have soldiers around us who were armed. But I didn’t ask her what her agenda was. She was determined and had her own history with Angus Scava. I’d be there with her to protect her, but I’d let her do what she needed to do to make her peace.
“You’re watching me.”
She sat beside me in the back of the fortified SUV on our way to the restaurant.
“You’ve been watching me for the last two days.”
“I’m curious.”
“Are you nervous?”
I shook my head. “No. I do want to be sure you’re going to get what you want out of this. If you told me—”
“No, Dominic. This is mine. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Fair enough, but if I feel like you’re overstepping—”
“It’s mine. You told me you’d help me, and I just need you there with me. I need you to carry me a little, or at least let me lean on you. I’m trusting you with that.”
We pulled up alongside the curb of the Italian restaurant, a place Scava owned. It was trendy and popular, and the food sucked, in my opinion. Angus Scava would be inside already. I saw two of his men standing beside his sedan parked at the end of the street.
I turned to Gia, taking in how the tight black dress hugged her, how the heels made her legs look longer. She’d let her hair loose tonight, and it hung down her back. Her eyes shown bright, seeming almost to dance tonight. Alive and buzzing as if adrenaline pumped through her even as we sat there.
I touched the flat of my hand to her heart.
“You’re nervous.”
“Will he know that?”
“No. Not unless he touches you like this, and if he does that, it’ll be the last thing he touches.”
That made her smile.
“You know how to keep your face impassive.”
She nodded.
“I won’t leave your side,” I said.
“Thank you.”
I knocked on the window, and the driver opened the door. I climbed out and saw that my men were already lined up, the number I’d brought matching the number Scava had brought. I didn’t expect war, not tonight, but I knew from years of experience to never be caught unprepared.
I helped Gia out and led her toward the entrance, noting every eye on the street that turned her way, liking it. Liking that every man who passed wanted her on his arm. Knowing every woman felt a little pang of jealousy as they pretended not to notice her.
A man opened the doors, and we entered, followed by two of my men. The space was large and modern but completely empty of patrons tonight. Only a few staff I could hear working in the open kitchen, and Scava sitting at the far booth like he was fucking king.
“Why is it empty?” Gia asked.
I had an idea. “Privacy,” I said, leaving out anything else I suspected.
Angus Scava smiled. He watched us enter, his gaze sliding over Gia as we approached. Sick prick. He was old enough to be her fucking father. Hell, he would have been if his son had stayed alive long enough to marry her.
I felt a note of possession at that. A hint of jealousy. Which was ridiculous, considering James was dead.
“Gianna.” He stood when we neared. “Pleasure to see you.” He took her hand and kissed her knuckles, then straightened. “You look enchanting. My son had wonderful taste.”
She only looked on coldly.
I cleared my throat. Scava turned to me.
“Dominic.”
“Angus.”
He gestured toward the booth. “Please. I’ve taken the liberty of choosing the wine. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all as long as you take the first sip,” Gia said.
Angus chuckled as we sat, and the waiter poured. He made a point of picking up his glass, swooshing the dark red liquid around and inhaling before drawing a long sip.
“I’m still alive,” he said to her.
She still didn’t touch hers, but I picked mine up and sipped.
“My condolences, once again, Dominic. I hear your uncle passed not too gently last night.”
“He was a liar and a traitor. He got what liars and traitors get.”
He cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. “You’re as direct as your father.”
“You did some business with my uncle?” I asked.
“He and my nephew were involved in some things,” he said, his eyes catching Gia’s as he sipped.
I felt Gia tense beside me.
“Where is Victor?” she asked.
“I didn’t think you’d want me to invite him, considering.”
“Can we just cut this bullshit?” she spat out. “You talk like we’re all here having a friendly drink, but we’re not.”
I smiled. “She’s direct too.”
“You’ve changed, my dear,” he said to her.
“You’ve opened my eyes,” she replied.
Angus snapped his fingers, and we looked up. A door opened, and two men walked in, Victor between them. He wasn’t quite standing on his own. Instead, he was hunched over their shoulders and being kept upright, his head lolling from side to side, his face bruised, his feet dragging as they walked forward.
Gia gasped. I held her hand under the table.
“My nephew made some poor choices,” Angus said. “Concerning what happened to your brother, Gianna, you have my apology. And you’ll have Victor’s, well, you would except that he can’t really talk at the moment.”
“I’m going to be sick,” Gia said.
“No, you’re not,” I told her.
“Not woman’s work, this, is it?” Angus remarked. “Gianna, in an effort to make amends for what my nephew did to your brother, I’d like to offer you a gift. Would you like Victor’s tongue?”
“You…you’re sick!”
“No, only a man who punishes liars and traitors. You see, Victor t
hought it would be a good idea to try to save his neck by sliding a noose over mine.” Angus’ face changed, a look of disgust crossing it. “I don’t like federal agents on my doorstep. Family business is family business, isn’t it, boy?”
Victor’s only response was to grunt when one of the men beside him jabbed his elbow into his ribs, which I assumed were broken. At least, considering the bruising on every visible part of him, I imagined they must be.
“I know it was you. I know Victor was no more than your foot soldier,” Gia said.
“You know nothing.”
“How could you do it?” she asked. “You knew me and Mateo. We’ve eaten at your table. I’ve slept in your house. I was engaged to be married to your son. How could you order his death? How could you order mine?”
“I never did like seeing you upset, Gianna.”
“Are you so heartless? So inhuman?”
“I loved James very much, and had he lived, I would have accepted you as my daughter.”
“Why me, then? Why order my execution?”
He didn’t answer.
“You’re a monster. You’re a horrible monster,” Gia said.
“I don’t leave loose ends. You can’t in my business. In cleaning up my nephew’s mess, I found he’d left quite a few. James didn’t leave them either, by the way. I know you like to fool yourself into thinking he was somehow better than me, better than him—”
Angus pointed to me.
“But truth is, you’re surrounded by monsters, Gianna. And you attract them like flies. What does that say about you? What’s the expression? Like attracts like?”
“That’s enough, Scava,” I said, my eyes on Gia, who flinched at his words. I couldn’t tell what was going through her head. If she was buying his bullshit. I’d made sure she came unarmed. I wasn’t about to take a chance she’d do something as stupid as attempt to kill Angus Scava in the middle of his restaurant. “Get him out of here,” I said, gesturing toward Victor.
Scava nodded for the men to take Victor away.
“I want to go,” Gia said to me.
“You didn’t answer me. Did you want his tongue—” Angus asked again.
She flew at him, knocking the bottle and our full glasses over before I caught her. Two men standing behind Scava drew weapons.
“Put those away for Christ’s sake,” Scava ordered, picking up his napkin.
Gia struggled against me, but I held her tight. “This isn’t the place,” I said.
“You’re a sick, sick man,” she told him. “You want to give me a gift? You know what I want? I want for you to turn the gun you’ll use to kill him and put the bullet in your own head instead.”
I handed her off to one of my men. “That’s enough,” I told her. “Take her to the car.”
Angus sat there wiping at the bloodred liquid staining his clothes, his face, his hands.
“Let me down,” Gia cried. “Let me go.”
Once the door closed and Gia was gone, Scava looked up at me.
“I know you were involved, Angus. I know you’re the one who ordered Mateo’s killing and hers. Your nephew didn’t do it, though, not out of the goodness of his heart, of course. He wanted her humiliated. He wanted the woman your son loved degraded.” I shook my head. “Gia’s right. You are a monster. But you’re right too. We all are. You don’t go near her again, understand? She’s under my protection.” I knew my choices. The realistic ones.
“She isn’t a threat to me.” He nodded and stood. “We go back to the way things were when your father ruled?” He held out his hand.
I looked at it. The thought of touching it meant I betrayed Gia.
I met his eyes, hard and flat, exactly the way I felt. I fisted my hands at my sides.
“No, old man. They don’t.”
24
Gia
We didn’t talk on the drive back, and when we got to his father’s house—his house now—I went to the stairs. Feeling Dominic’s gaze burn into my back, I stopped two steps up and turned to face him, although I couldn’t quite meet his gaze.
Angus Scava was right. We were all monsters. I’d seen what Dominic was capable of. And I knew James had been the same, no matter what I tried to make myself believe. And me, I wanted vengeance so badly I was willing to do what they’d done to me, to my brother, back to them.
An eye for an eye. A life for a life.
Who was I?
Seeing Victor like that, I thought it was what I’d wanted. I thought I would be satisfied. But it only left me feeling empty and ugly and sick.
“Like attracts like.”
I was as much a monster as all of them.
“I want to go home.” I’d go back to my mother’s house, move back in with her until we could sell it, and move away for good. Far, far away. Although I knew as hard and as far as I ran, I’d never be able to escape myself. My name. My skin.
Dominic nodded once, but I saw how his jaw tightened.
“I’ll arrange it.”
He took a step toward me, but I shook my head and backed up.
He stopped.
“When?” he asked.
“As soon as possible.”
He seemed taken aback. “Tomorrow?”
I shook my head and took the two steps back down. “Now.”
He looked surprised. “You need to pack—”
“Pack what? Clothes that don’t belong to me?” I felt my lip tremble and my eyes fill with tears, but somehow, I managed to stop the shuddering that wanted to overtake me. Somehow, I held those tears at bay.
“What he said, it’s not true, Gia. You’re not a monster. You’re not—”
“Please…just don’t.”
Dominic averted his gaze, then took a key out of his pocket. “Turn around.”
I looked at it and touched the collar around my neck, which seemed to press heavier against my skin. I’d forgotten it. I’d forgotten all about it.
I turned and lifted my hair up. When his fingers brushed my skin, I shuddered. The sound of the tiny key sliding into the lock sounded as loud as a large iron key turning a Medieval lock, and then I was free. The weight was gone. I was no longer his.
I felt cold, and when I wrapped my arms around myself, Dominic took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I let him and for a moment, we just stood there, watching each other. The draw to slide into his arms, to press against his chest and let him hold me was so strong, but I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t.
He turned to one of his men.
“Take her where she wants to go,” he said.
The man nodded and walked toward the door.
Dominic took out his wallet and opened it. “You’ll need money.”
“No. I don’t want anything from you.” It would only be another moment before the tears fell and drowned me. I needed to get out of there.
“If you ever do—”
“I won’t.”
“Gia.” He started to reach out then changed his mind. “You’ll be safe. You and your mom. Scava won’t come near you.”
I nodded. I couldn’t speak.
I shifted my gaze down to my feet and clutched his jacket closer to me. I would keep it. I would keep this one thing of his.
“You’ll always have my protection. Anything you need.”
I looked at him one last time, memorizing his face, his eyes that studied me so closely, so carefully, eyes that seemed to want to draw words from me I could not say, not now, not ever. Eyes that saw the things I felt, the things I should not feel. That held a tenderness I only saw when their gaze fell upon me.
Without another word, I went to the door. The man opened it, and I walked out of the house. I didn’t look back, not when he closed the car door, not when we drove away.
I didn’t know if he watched me go but I knew he cared that I had left. I knew he hadn’t expected that. But I couldn’t think about those things. I couldn’t. Not if I wanted to be able to go on.
25
Dominic
I went immediately into the study and shut the door. The house already felt different. Empty.
I took a seat behind the desk and opened my laptop.
It was better that she left. Better for her. What could I offer her? Life as my—what? Wife? I couldn’t condemn her to that. Gia had been born into this world, but she could get out. She needed to get out. For all her talk of vengeance, she couldn’t stomach it, couldn’t take the reality of it. I knew that. I did. I think it’s one of the things that drew me to her. As fierce as she was, inside her, the light of her innocence burned bright.
In a way, I sought absolution.
She was clean.
And I had no business dirtying her, no business staining her with my sins.
I opened the desk drawer and took out the letter Effie had written me, picked up the phone, and dialed. I only checked my watch after it started to ring and realized it might be too late to call her, since it was past ten at night.
But then she answered.
“Hello?” came her little voice.
I smiled, tears warming my eyes as my heart thudded.
“Hi, Effie. It’s me, Dominic.”
“Uncle Dominic! You called!”
I heard her elation, and it felt so fucking good.
“Well, you made those delicious cookies, how could I not?” I said. There was a pause. She didn’t know what to say, how to proceed. “Effie, I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to call. I’m very sorry, and you don’t have to say you forgive me. I just want you to know I made a mistake, and I hope I can make it up to you now. I’m going to do everything I can to do that.”
“Oh, Uncle Dominic.”
I heard her sniffle.
“I’ve already forgiven you, silly. I just really miss you.”
“Me too, honey.”
“Where are you, Uncle Dominic?”
“I’m in New Jersey, but I am planning a trip to Florida very soon.”
“You are?”
“Yep. I just have to talk to your mom to arrange some things. Maybe you can show me around?”
“I’d love that! And I’m a great tour guide. I know everything around here. Hold on!”
Dominic: a Dark Mafia Romance (Benedetti Brothers Book 2) Page 20