They were right.
I was as invisible as a piece of furniture to them most of the time. While someone was always watching me, the others leered only from time to time, and I watched as Joey dealt himself one card too many and slipped the extra up his sleeve. It was a move so slick I doubted any of them noticed, but from my lower vantage point, I caught the movement.
I followed Domenico around as he talked to some of them, and I caught the small start of a smile once, which was startling. The scar made him so imposing, especially in combination with the scowl that always seemed to be plastered on his face, but talking with them, he was more relaxed.
Angular features, fit body, and striking eyes—I was suddenly aware of how attractive he was.
Odd.
Very odd. Why would I notice that about the man who had me locked away?
There was a scramble as yelling and screaming came from the floor below. All the men went on high alert, getting up, and some even grabbing for their guns. Domenico stepped out of the shadows, and a few men stepped in front of him.
“Shut the fuck up!” someone growled, but the wailing continued.
“It wasn’t me! I’m telling you, I didn’t do it!”
A man in a crisp dark suit emerged from the floor below, pulling a bound man by the arm. The men relaxed, making it obvious they were familiar with him. The sniveling continued as they awkwardly made their way toward Domenico. I couldn’t take my eyes off the man in the suit, his aura similar to Domenico’s.
He threw the bound man to the ground, landing him at Domenico’s feet.
“I didn’t do it, I swear. Please, sir.”
“I believe you were looking for this,” the man in the suit said.
“Thank you, Javier,” Domenico said as he motioned to Marco, who pulled an envelope from a case. “Give my thanks to Malcolm.”
“You owe him.”
“I know.”
At that Javier left, leaving the bound man crying and kneeling before Domenico. He glanced in my direction and paused. There was something about him that was familiar.
“Only one?” Javier asked as he stared at me.
“Inventory is low right now,” Marco replied.
Javier stared a beat longer, then was gone.
“I didn’t…I didn’t…” The sniveling man quivered on the ground.
Domenico’s eyes narrowed on the man, his body rigid, muscles coiled tight.
“Oh, but Elio, you did.” Without warning, a wave of energy burst through him and his fist connected with Elio’s face, sending him down to the ground.
I jumped and pressed back into the bars of my cage. While I’d always felt the alarm of danger in his presence, that he was a beast about to pounce, I hadn’t seen it.
The men righted Elio, and Domenico pulled a chair over to sit in front of him, his arms resting on his thighs. “You stole. You lied. You sold. Worst of all, you betrayed the family.” Another swing of his fist, another righting of Elio. “The family you swore an oath to. You were a made man.” Domenico pulled a gun from behind him, and my eyes widened.
My heart slammed in my chest. I may have had ties to the life, but I’d never been witness to what I knew was about to happen.
Above all, you did not betray the family.
Without thought, I crawled to the other side of the cage, my chest clenching.
“Trusted.” Domenico pulled the slide back, loading a round.
“Please, Dom. It wasn’t me. I swear.”
“Do you think I execute with no evidence?” he sneered. “I don’t take this task lightly, Elio. You were one of my most trusted, but you got greedy.” Domenico’s eyes seemed to glow as he held the gun in front of him. “And greed is a sin I can’t abide.”
Three loud booms fired off, and I felt a fine mist on my skin. Elio slumped to the ground, blood spilling from his chest.
A ragged breath left me, and I glanced down to my hands, my breath speeding up at the red droplets that clashed against my skin. My eyes widened, and I turned back to the gruesome scene in front of me and the lifeless body lying not ten feet from me.
“Fuck,” Domenico hissed. “Clean this up. I don’t want anything left.”
“The river?” one of the men asked.
Domenico shook his head. “Leave him on his porch with a rose. Remind his wife what is on the line.”
Again with a rose? Knowing what I knew about my father’s world… knowing that a rose was the calling card of the family my father worked for, I was sure my suspicions were correct.
“What about the cops?”
“She knows if she wants to live she knows nothing. And I want every trace gone, including every droplet that hit her.” He pointed to me. “Scrub everything.”
Marco watched the men as he stood at Domenico’s side. “I told Javier to bring him here.”
“It’s fine.”
“I know you don’t like doing that here.”
“Because it makes a fucking mess.”
“And it usually riles the girls up.” Marco looked at me, but I was still sitting in shock. “She’s shaking.”
“Send Roman to get her some food.”
They spoke as if I wasn’t there, as if I wasn’t staring at them, but I couldn’t look away. I was trapped, locked onto the man who was intimidating every moment he was in the building.
I’d just watched him kill a man with a casual ease. It wasn’t his first, nor his second. No, Domenico had long ago made his first kill.
Marco nodded and headed off while Domenico disappeared into the shadows but reappeared a few seconds later. He headed toward me with two bottles in his hand.
“Drink this,” he ordered, pushing a bottle of Powerade through the bars.
I stared at him, unable to move, unable to think of anything other than the man he’d shot. It shouldn’t have fazed me. I knew the sort of people who held me, but I’d never watched someone be killed before.
He blew out a huff of air in aggravation before pulling keys from his pocket and opening my cell. “Don’t even fucking think of trying anything unless you want me to hurt you.”
Like I could if I wanted to. Real fear had me in its clutches for the first time. The reality of where I was finally sank in. He stood in front of me, and the shaking kicked up another notch. Another huff with a roll of his eyes and he squatted down in front of me, setting the other bottle down and twisting the top from the Powerade.
“Drink this, or I’ll make you drink it.”
I stared at the bottle, unable to respond. For some reason I couldn’t shake it off. I’d been stupid to think that my fate was so far from Elio’s.
Ella Delgado was a nobody who wouldn’t be missed if she were killed or sold as a sex slave.
Fire burned my skin, and I drew in a hissing breath of surprise. Domenico’s hand rested on my neck, thumb moving across my jaw, tilting my head back.
I was frozen in a completely new way when our eyes met. The eyes that always seemed to glow captured me with their clarity and seemingly never-ending depth.
He gave nothing away.
Cradling my head in his hand, he pulled on my chin with his thumb, parting my lips. I blinked, thinking he was going to pour the liquid into my mouth.
A heartbeat, then another passed as our eyes locked before he took a swig from the bottle and pressed his lips to mine.