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When only silence and no violence met his demand, he got his answer.

If only he had turned around, he would have seen the pride in his father’s eyes. It was the kind of pride a king saw in his prince—of the promise that one day the prince would uphold the family name.

Going back down the steps, tears streaming down his face, he thought about how he had escaped his father’s wrath this time, but Dom knew he was walking a fine line.

Lucifer got off by having control over people; his children being his ultimate victims, seeing them as his property. Dominic needed to subdue his father’s dominance somehow.

Unfortunately, when he asked not to be put in the closet, as to not leave Katarina defenseless, it meant he couldn’t protect Angel and Matthias any longer.

He’d chosen.

Staring at his sleeping brothers on the blanket spread across the cold, concrete floor, the tears on his cheeks fell in droplets onto his old, ratty T-shirt. The two would only have each other to protect, and he wasn’t sure if both would survive Lucifer.

He wiped the tears with the back of his hand and went up to the old crib. Picking up the baby girl who was awake and happily content, he held her in his arms and fed her the bottle.

It was inexplicable the way he felt about her as he looked down upon her. All he knew was he loved her very much already, and she was worth protecting.

He didn’t know how yet, but he knew in his gut that Katarina would be more valuable to the Luciano name than he and his brothers would ever be.

Even if it cost them Matthias’s life.

Six

The Little Shit Could Count

Dominic, Age 13 - 17

Dominic ran down the basement steps from his first day back at school; it used to be his haven, but now his thoughts were about Kat and if she was safe while he was away.

Scrunching up his nose when he reached the bottom, he looked at DeeDee, who was passed out asleep on his sister’s tiny bed. Seeing that Kat was fine, playing with her toys, he went over to DeeDee to shake her awake.

“I’m up!” the older woman popped herself up like the rising dead from a crypt.

“I’ve told you a billion times not to smoke down here around Kat.”

“And how many times have I told you I take orders from your father, not you?” she snapped at him with a bit of a slur in her voice.

Dominic’s bushy brows furrowed, giving her a deadly look that had her taken aback.

“And when my father steps down, whose orders do you think you’ll have to listen to?”

“Well—” DeeDee swallowed, her dry throat making her sound even more hoarse. “—I didn’t smoke in here; you’re just smelling me.”

“Six.”

Both Dominic and DeeDee turned their heads to Katarina, who was playing with her blocks.

“One, two, three, four, five, six!” Little Katarina clapped, proud of herself. “Six sticks!”

Going over to his baby sister, he bent down so she would look up at him. “What did you say?”

“Six blocks,” DeeDee said with a nervous laughter. Going over to where they were, she began counting the blocks. “Look, one, two, three, four”—when she ran out of blocks, she counted two of the same ones over again—“five, six!”

“That’s right, honey. Good job! You’re so smart.”

Dom rolled his eyes, but little Kat was the one who shook her blonde head.

“No. Four blocks,” Kat said, pointing to her blocks. “Six sticks.” Kat brought her fingers to her mouth, mimicking the way she had seen DeeDee smoke.

DeeDee’s face instantly dropped its fake smile.

Dominic stood back up and folded his arms across his chest.

“I wasn’t aware the little shit could count,” she said through another fake smile. “Let’s be clear. I promised I’d watch her and keep her out of your father’s hair, not that I’d turn into Saint Mary while babysitting her.”

“DeeDee,” Dominic called after her as she walked away and started up the stairs. “If you stop the smoking around her, take care of Kat right from now on, and keep my father away from her, then I promise, when I get power in this family, I’ll release you.”

“Release me?” she whispered.

Dom pointed to his nose, closing one of his nostrils to breath in quick with the open one. “He gives you just enough, doesn’t he? To keep you coming back? That’s the only reason you put up with his shit, isn’t it?”

She didn’t say a word, but the deadly grip she held on the hand rail told him he wasn’t wrong.

“Lucifer doesn’t give you the high you want, though, does he? He gives you the hit that you need to function, but not enough to fly.”

DeeDee rubbed her nose, practically salivating at the thought of her precious white powder.

Dom took a step toward her, promising her the world with his hazel eyes. “You do as I ask, and I promise, one day, you won’t need him or his shit for your fix anymore.”