Page 25

Kayne might have been the best fighter at Blue Park High, but he was no match for Dom, who had been trained by the best fighter in Blue Park period. His secret sparring with Anthony had done him well over the years.

“See?” Dominic spoke low but deadly right into his ear. “You don’t want to meet me in the pit, Kayne. I’d break your precious undefeated record in—what was that?—” Dominic pretended to count how long it took to place him in this position. “—three seconds?”

Kayne tried to push off the locker with his free hand to get out of the hold but was unsuccessful.

“I’ll kill you!” he roared furiously.

Grasping his hair tighter in his hands, Dom moved his head back an inch until he could slam Kayne’s face back into the locker’s little outward slits. “Then I hope they lock you up next to your dad in prison.”

“Dominic, please.” Bristol touched his shoulder as she cried for him to stop.

Seeing the tears that were starting to well in her eyes, he softened his grip, deciding to let Kayne go … for her.

“Of course you’ll listen to your little lovesick bitc—”

Dominic took Kayne’s pinky finger from the hold he had at the boy’s back and snapped the tiny appendage in two. “Next time will be your hands.”

Kayne, Bristol, and the crowd that had gathered all either screamed, winced, or gasped at the suddenly quick sound of the bone breaking.

Knowing the teachers were making their way through, Dominic finally let Kayne go.

“Why the hell would you do that?” Bristol yelled at him through her tears as she went to Kayne, who helplessly held his broken fingered hand to his chest. Three horizontal cuts started to ooze blood, now accompanying his black eye. “What is wrong with you?”

Confused, Dominic took a step back, pain striking him right in the chest at seeing his friend pick her shitty boyfriend’s side, the boyfriend who had just insulted her in front of the whole school. Hell, the only reason Kayne even went out with her was to piss Dominic off and to try to make him jealous. He’d had it out for Dom ever since they were kids and got in that silly, little fight on the playground. He almost couldn’t believe Bristol, until he saw the fear in her eyes.

All these years, she had never believed he was anything like the reputation his last name made him out to be. Now that she had seen it for herself, Bristol looked at him like the rest of the world saw a Luciano … as a monster.

Nine

Lucifer owns every dump I take

Dominic 19

“We good?”

Dom placed the two wadded stacks of bills in his thin jacket pocket. “We’re good,” he answered, rising from the table, then slinging the last of the drink that Anthony had given him.

The older man laughed when Dom took a gasping breath at the fire hitting the back of his throat. “That’s what happens when you drink the good shit.” Anthony chuckled. “I didn’t give you the crap I pour when your old man comes along with you.”

Dominic raised a brow at the contempt that Lucifer’s strong arm didn’t bother to conceal, drawing another chuckle from Anthony.

“Kid, if I was afraid of bad-mouthing Lucifer in front of you, I wouldn’t have taught you how to hold your own when he goes off the rails.”

Both of them knew, if Lucifer noticed that the two of them had became friends and Anthony had been teaching him the dirtier art of fighting, Lucifer wouldn’t haven’t trusted him to collect the money owed to him from the businesses and poor suckers that Lucifer shook down.

“You hate the punk-ass motherfucker as much as I do,” Anthony noted.

That wasn’t a shock. What was surprising was Anthony admitting out loud the contempt he felt.

“You’re just as trapped as I am,” Dominic stated, seeing the man’s hatred burning, which had Anthony refilling his glass. Usually, Anthony made an effort not to exhibit the contempt he felt, just as Dom did himself. Tonight, Anthony wasn’t keeping his words in check.

“Lock, stock, and barrel, Lucifer owns every dump I take.”

“What does he have on you?” The weariness etched in the lined faced of the only one of Lucifer’s minions who had tried to help him when he had seen the beatings Lucifer inflicted on him. Sneakily, Anthony had taught him the ins and outs of the jobs he carried out for Lucifer, as well the fighting tactics that would at least give him a chance of defending himself against his father.

Anthony picked up his drink, taking a generous swallow before slamming his glass back down. “Kid, when you decide to take your old man out, I’ll tell you. Until then, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like you can help.”

Anthony was right; he couldn’t. Dominic had his hands full just keeping his brothers and sister breathing under Lucifer’s merciless rule.