Once a week, Dominic picked up a bag of cash from Anthony, and he gauged the amount Lucifer had him transporting. The amounts increased equal to Lucifer’s trust. He just needed one large payout to help them disappear to a place where Lucifer couldn’t use his parental rights to drag the younger siblings back under his control if they were found.
Lucifer began walking toward an older house, expecting him to follow. Dom did. The unkept yard was just one of many on the block. Iron bars on the windows showed no one felt safe as the empty, dark sidewalks curved into a cul-de-sac. There were several cars sitting in the driveway. Dom recognized Anthony’s old, lime green Buick sitting in front.
Lucifer didn’t knock, going inside as if he owned the home. Walking in behind him, Dom was nearly knocked over at the strong scent of perfume and incense that had his eyes watering.
Taking in the crowded occupants of the room, he spotted Anthony leaning back on a worn sofa with a woman who had her top more off than on.
Anthony had been the lone man in the room before their arrival, as the crowded room was filled with women of various ages, sizes, and complexions, staring at him with listless expressions that had his skin crawling.
“Took you long enough to get him here. I had to keep Lacy occupied. She was getting bored,” his enforcer nonchalantly spoke, glancing toward Lucifer as he got off the couch.
Revolted, Dom was unable to hide his disgust when it was visually apparent that Anthony was aroused.
Dom turned toward his father. “What—”
The word had no more than left his lips when Dominic found Lucifer’s fist swinging, striking him on the side of his nose. The hard contact immediately brought him to his knees.
Disoriented, he brought his hand to his nose, feeling the rush of blood pooling out.
The women scattered to different sides of the room, getting out of harm’s way without a noise. Their silence exhibited this wasn’t the first time they had been exposed to sudden physical violence. Instinctively, they were making themselves unnoticeable to keep themselves safe the only way they could.
Lucifer’s face swam above him, filled with contempt, as he threw his foot out, hitting him in the ribs. “You think you’re more man than me?” Lucifer roared as he kicked him again.
Dom tried to roll away from the unprovoked attack, unable to fight back as it could cost Kat’s life.
“You think you can run from me … or worse, turn my men against me? You puke your guts out because you feel sorry for a street kid who would blow your brains out at a Caruso’s order. Boo-hoo! You’re too fucking weak to ever take me on!”
Vicious kicks, one after another, had Dominic gasping for breath as Anthony watched, making no move to interfere.
“You think you have the balls to take me down? Prove it!”
Dom felt himself jerked to his feet by Lucifer’s hand on the back of his jacket. Tossed forward, Dom hit a wall, making the whole house rattle before he was grabbed and forcibly led into a bedroom. Thrown down on a bed as he tried to gather his reeling senses, he saw Anthony and the woman had followed them into the room.
“Show me!” Lucifer yelled at him.
“I don’t unde—”
Lucifer bent over him, placing a hand on his throat to strangle what air he had left. “Fuck the bitch … Show me you’re man enough to take what’s mine.”
Lucifer expects him to fuck a woman in front of him?
Revulsion filled him once again at his deranged father.
Seeing Anthony sprawling down on a chair to watch, it finally clicked in his pain-filled brain why Lucifer was so furious. Anthony had betrayed him, and Lucifer wanted him to know.
“I’m not going to fuck her,” Dom gasped out as the woman came around the bed and get on next to him. He found nothing attractive about the woman, who Dom could clearly see was terrified.
“She’s not good enough for me, but she’s the right slut for you. That little pecker of yours has never been out of the barn door. It’s time he got out to play.”
Demented laughter filled the small room, making Dom want to vomit at what Lucifer was ordering him to do.
Feeling her shaking hand go to his trousers when she went to unzip them at his hips, he tried to jerk away from her touch. However, Lucifer tightened his hand on his neck, making bright spots appear in his eyes as his oxygen was cut off.
“You’re going to fuck her, or I’m going to kill you,” Lucifer commanded with a clenched jaw. “You’re going to prove to me you’ll do what I want, when I want, and how I want, or you’ll be watching what I do to your precious siblings from hell’s gates. I’ll make the boys into the soldiers I deserve and”—his lips twisted up into a frightening sneer—“I’ve already promised to marry the girl off to Anthony when she becomes legal. Without you around, I won’t wait. I’ll give her to him now.”