Page 42

“There’s not much of him left. He’s better off dead. He serves no purpose to me anymore if he can’t hold her precious body dow—”

POP.

Blood droplets splattered on him from Lucca pulling the trigger on the gun he had aimed at Giovanni’s head.

“Kill them!” Lucifer ordered his men, but Dom stood still as the men behind him looked around, trying to decide who to follow.

His father screamed louder, “What are you doing? Kill them!”

Dominic watched Dante closely, seeing what the Caruso boss would decide, but then he looked at Lucca.

“She’s yours?” Dominic asked, wanting to see something.

Lucca’s blue-green eyes told him all he needed to know before he said, “She’s mine.”

Dante finally spoke. “Step aside, Dominic. Let us take those who should be held responsible for their crimes, and no one else will have to die … today.”

“I SAID KILL THEM!”

Hearing his father’s deranged voice, he hoped it was the last time he’d ever have to fucking hear it again.

It’s time.

Lowering his Glock, Dom dropped it on the ground, then took a step to the side to let them through. Then, one by one, Lucifer lost his power as every Luciano man dropped their weapons, letting the metal hit the floor before stepping to the side themselves.

The power and fear his father had created now fully rested on Dominic’s shoulders, which might’ve felt heavier, instead … he finally felt free.

He had done it, and the funniest part was that Lucifer had done it to himself. Dom hadn’t even had to get his hands dirty. Though he had wanted to be the one to kill Lucifer, he wasn’t going to be able to get his hands on him since Lucca clearly wanted him so badly.

Dominic smiled at the thought of Lucifer in the boogieman’s hands.

Sometimes, reality was better than dreams, after all.

Dominic walked up the steps of the home that now belonged to him. Opening the door to the only room upstairs, it was the best bedroom in the house. It wasn’t tiny and the small attached bathroom made this room the most desirable. The only downside was the darkness; the only light came from the single triangle window.

Passing the threshold, Dom could feel the ownership of the room pass to him and now, it was time to make good on a promise ….

Dominic entered the room and approached the bed. He stared down at the older woman passed out who reeked of perpetual booze. Kicking the mattress that sat on the floor, she began to stir.

Raising up on an elbow, her tipsy bloodshot eyes barely opened at first.

“DeeDee…” Dominic’s voice was cold as he reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and kneeled down before her.

The alcohol and sleep wore off quickly. Instinctively knowing that something had happened, DeeDee stared back at the boy she watched turn into a man.

“So, do you want help?” Raising his hand out of his pocket, he dangled a little baggie in front of her face that was filled to brim with her precious white snow… “Or, do you want to fly?”

Giving away his father to die was easy, but having to agree to the terms the Carusos demanded was not.

The first term had them handing over fifty percent of their profits.

The second would cost a Luciano woman’s life, as one would be chosen to marry a Caruso to mingle the blood of the two families to cease any future wars.

The third had ensured the first two terms by keeping Angel as collateral until the terms were met.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Gunshots rang out, piercing the ears of the living and the skulls of the dead.

Dominic and his siblings thought the third agreement would be the hardest. It turned out they were very fucking wrong.

“You promised me!” Katarina screamed at him, uncaring of the many women who stood in their living room. “You promised me I wouldn’t have to go back down there ever again!”

“I know,” Dominic told her painfully and regretfully, not wanting her to have to go to the basement even for just a moment. After Lucifer’s death, he had promised to never make her go down there again, but he was already breaking his promise. “But, please, it’s only for a little bit.”

Kat shook her head vigorously, trying not to cry. “No.”

“They’re here,” Matthias yelled from the window, seeing the black Cadillacs pull up.

“He will choose you if he sees you, I know it.” Dominic’s voice started to break. “There will be nothing I can do. They’ll kill Angel if I don’t let them have you.”

When Lucca walked through the door minutes later, Dominic instinctively knew he was fucked. They had kept Kat a secret from the Carusos, but there wasn’t much the underboss didn’t know in this city.

Lucca only scanned the line of Luciano women before he went searching the house. Dom’s heart sank when he opened the basement door and went down. His last hope was that Drago, the Caruso that his father had shot in the chest five times and almost sent to his deathbed to get his hands on Chloe, wouldn’t choose his baby sister.