Page 99 of He is Poison
“I would!” Saliericried, leaning toward Seth, her only ticket to freedom. “If I knew you, Iwould. It was a misguided choice.”
Seth looked at her andthen back into Dom’s eyes, squeezing his palms into fists. And this was themoment when Dom understood Seth wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t cut out for the rolehis father wanted for him.
“She has to die.”
“Okay,” Seth whisperedwith a deep breath and took a step forward, awkward as if he was wondering howto approach a porcupine. He would have let her go if he had the chance, Dom wassure of it. But that couldn’t happen.
“Seth, look at me.”
Seth followed the orderwith that mopey look on his face. How was he ever to succeed at this job withhis emotions so obvious all over? Maybe they should take an acting classinstead of target practice?
Domenico sighed and dugthe tip of his shoe into the floor. “You can go if you want. I can do it foryou.”
Seth nodded and took twosteps back quicker than Salieri could utter another sob.
“Make me a smoothie,will you?” asked Dom to make Seth feel useful and to give him a different focusthan pondering on what he left Dom to do.
Seth nodded, his breathalready hitching. “Sure,” he muttered and was out the door before Saliericontinued her vomit of lies.
“It’s not my fault. Heblackmailed me to do it,” she cried, curled up in her corner.
Domenico pinched thebridge of his nose as he closed the door. He hated it when women screamed.“Shut up, you lying cunt.”
She looked up at him,swishing her hair back defiantly. “It’s true. He—” her voice shook, and shemoved closer on her hands and knees. “He raped me and said he’ll come back if Idon’t do those few e-mails.”
Domenico couldn’t helpthe chuckle that left his chest at that story. “Doesn’t sound like him. He’s asmuch of a fag as you can get.”
The undeniable look ofutter panic on her face gave her away in an instant. But Dom didn’t need thatanyway. He knew she’d say anything to slip out of this, the little slimy eel.
“I’m sorry, I just…” Hermind had to be overheating by now, because she couldn’t think of a new lie.
“Any last words, mydear?” asked Domenico, cracking the bones in his knuckles. The way she cringedand cowered gave him no other satisfaction than the sense of doing justice toSeth and their Family. He had no sympathy for a greedy woman willing tosacrifice others in order to pursue her own plans. She deserved to die.
“Fuck you!” Salierisquealed with fire in her eyes. Now, at the edge of her grave, she was gettingfeisty on him? “You and your fucking smoothies! You thought that was funny?That I don’t deserve even this much respect? Who are you anyway? Doing all thedirty work for that puss-brain? It was so fucking easy to lure him in with apromise of a cheap hen house, for fuck’s sake! What is he, twelve?” She hissedlike a cornered cat, finally showing her true colors.
He stepped toward her,grabbed her head, and twisted her neck with a silent crack. That was it, easy-peasy.All it took was a bit of knowledge and calm. Even Seth could do it if hetrained on animals first.
Domenico stretched,letting the body slump to the wall, and looked around the small room. How thehell was he supposed to deal with this mess?
He exited the cell andwent straight for the kitchen, looking for his lover. He wanted to reassure himthe deed was done and that he didn’t have to worry anymore. Seth greeted himwith a tense smile and a big glass of strawberry smoothie.
“Look, I even found astraw in the cupboard.” He gave a nervous laugh, pointing to the white strawwith a tiny paper strawberry attached. Domenico felt his body relax, and hewalked right into Seth’s waiting arms. Seth wasn’t puss-brained, he had beensheltered from the environment he was supposed to navigate in the future. Thewoman deserved what she got for setting him up like that.
“Looks good.”
Seth hugged him close.“I’m sorry, Dom. I wanted to do it, I really did,” Seth wasn’t half as good atlying as Salieri.
“No, you didn’t,” saidDomenico. He stood on his toes to kiss Seth’s forehead and sucked on the strawto taste the thick nectar, just as good as everything Seth had made for him sofar.
Seth avoided his gaze,even though he didn’t pull away. “Okay, I didn’t. And then I’m sorry I didn’t.I’ll do better next time,” he said quietly. He’d be better off making moresmoothies instead of trying to break people’s necks.
“Don’t worry about it.”Domenico rubbed Seth’s back and reached into his pocket to withdraw the cellphone. “It’s fine.”
“At least she told uswho it was. We can get the fuck out of here.” Seth leaned into the touch as ifhe was made to be a part of Dom’s body.
Domenico sighed,mentally slapping Angelo for getting involved in something like this, but therewas nothing he could do about it. He chose Silvio’s number.
“Hey, we’ve got somespring cleaning to do,” he said when Silvio picked up. Those bodies needed tobe disposed of. He sipped on some well deserved strawberry smoothie. “We havefood.”