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Finally satisfied he had humiliated him enough, Lucifer left.

Dominic’s hatred for him seeped out of his every pore as he watched his audience laughingly begin to exit. Dominic had learned his lesson on trying to outsmart Lucifer. He wasn’t ready to take him on… yet.

As both men put their coats back on, Dom stared at Anthony’s enviously, thinking back to how he had used it to lure him into trusting him. Both men created fear just at the sight of those coats; Lucifer in his fancy wool, Anthony in his opposing leather.

Stinking of sex, cheap perfume, and cherry incense, Dominic tried to drag his sore, exhausted body into his clothes. His eyes glittered in the dark room, trying not to let a tear spill.

Dominic didn’t know what hurt worse: the fact that his last bit of innocence had been taken away from him … or that he had been betrayed by his only friend.

Thirteen

The Day Dominic Broke

bRRing.

The house phone ringing had Lucifer answering.

Dominic never paid any mind to his father when he was on the phone, but he could feel the air in the house change, which had him listening in intently.

Looking at Lucifer, he could see his black eyes turn blacker, if that was even possible, as he stayed silent, listening to the other end of the phone.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lucifer answered as harshly as he was looking at his son, then slammed the phone back on the wall.

Adrenaline rushed through Dominic’s veins, instinctively knowing that whatever was coming tonight was going to end very badly. The look on Lucifer’s face told him one thing, and one thing only.

He wanted blood.

Bravely, Dominic asked what he wished he didn’t have to. “Who was that?”

“The school.”

“Matthias, what did you do now?” he snapped over the loud shooting video game that he and his brothers were playing on the couch.

“Nothing!” Matthias nonchalantly yelled from over his shoulder.

It wasn’t until Angel had paused the game did he notice the shift in the air that his twin had already caught.

Even little Cassius, who had been intently staring at the TV as they murdered Nazi zombies, turned his head too.

“Not him.” When Lucifer’s skinny, pale finger pointed to the floor, the fear emanating from the boys was palpable before he even said the next word. “Her!”

Fuck. Dominic breathed silently to himself, already making a fist.

Angel stood up quickly, followed by a shaky Matthias. Little Cassius, however, looked back at the paused TV.

Dominic took a step forward, seeing the basement door was in Lucifer’s reach. “What did the school say?”

“They want me to come up there to talk about her grades. She’s fucking stupid, isn’t she?” Lucifer’s cruel words whipped him.

Dom’s jaw flexed, wanting to take the knife off the kitchen counter to slit his father’s throat for how he spoke about Kat when he didn’t know a single damn thing about her. He’d have him buried six feet deep by morning if he wasn’t still afraid the system would take his underaged siblings away. With Lucifer dead and Dominic not the head of the family yet, the fear his father put on the city would all be gone. The fear Lucifer instilled would turn to hatred, and the family would go down; there was no question about it. They would throw his ass behind bars. He was a made man now, and that was the consequence of being one … if you got caught.

“I should have never let you raise that child and gotten rid of it myself!” he roared. “Lucianos have never been dumb! We are the smartest people in this city, and you’ve let her taint the name!”

“Well, if you had raised her, you’d know she’s not dumb,” Dominic coldly told him.

“Clearly, she isn’t that fucking bright if I got a call, now is she?”

Dominic opened his mouth to tell him that his ten-year-old daughter, who he didn’t fucking want, was smarter than he would ever be, but he shut his mouth. He and his brothers kept that part about Kat secret. Not only did he not deserve to know his daughter was a genius, but Dominic was scared that Lucifer would feel inferior to her intelligence, making him hate her more.

“I thought so,” Lucifer spat before turning for the basement door.

I’m not going to let you get her again. Dominic swore to the devil and to God Himself.

“No,” Dom ordered, holding a tone that his father sometimes respected.

When Lucifer paused, he continued, making him a promise. “I’ll go to the school and handle it. You will not get a call again.”

Lucifer stared at the basement door for several moments with the tension in the room on high alert. “Fine.” He turned back around, heading out the front door. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

What the …? That’s it?

All the brothers let out a sigh of relief once the door closed.