Dominic (Benedetti Brothers 2)

“I want to go,” Gia said to me.

“You didn’t answer me. Did you want his tongue—” Angus asked again.

She flew at him, knocking the bottle and our full glasses over before I caught her. Two men standing behind Scava drew weapons.

“Put those away for Christ’s sake,” Scava ordered, picking up his napkin.

Gia struggled against me, but I held her tight. “This isn’t the place,” I said.

“You’re a sick, sick man,” she told him. “You want to give me a gift? You know what I want? I want for you to turn the gun you’ll use to kill him and put the bullet in your own head instead.”

I handed her off to one of my men. “That’s enough,” I told her. “Take her to the car.”

Angus sat there wiping at the bloodred liquid staining his clothes, his face, his hands.

“Let me down,” Gia cried. “Let me go.”

Once the door closed and Gia was gone, Scava looked up at me.

“I know you were involved, Angus. I know you’re the one who ordered Mateo’s killing and hers. Your nephew didn’t do it, though, not out of the goodness of his heart, of course. He wanted her humiliated. He wanted the woman your son loved degraded.” I shook my head. “Gia’s right. You are a monster. But you’re right too. We all are. You don’t go near her again, understand? She’s under my protection.” I knew my choices. The realistic ones.

“She isn’t a threat to me.” He nodded and stood. “We go back to the way things were when your father ruled?” He held out his hand.

I looked at it. The thought of touching it meant I betrayed Gia.

I met his eyes, hard and flat, exactly the way I felt. I fisted my hands at my sides.

“No, old man. They don’t.”24GiaWe didn’t talk on the drive back, and when we got to his father’s house—his house now—I went to the stairs. Feeling Dominic’s gaze burn into my back, I stopped two steps up and turned to face him, although I couldn’t quite meet his gaze.

Angus Scava was right. We were all monsters. I’d seen what Dominic was capable of. And I knew James had been the same, no matter what I tried to make myself believe. And me, I wanted vengeance so badly I was willing to do what they’d done to me, to my brother, back to them.

An eye for an eye. A life for a life.

Who was I?

Seeing Victor like that, I thought it was what I’d wanted. I thought I would be satisfied. But it only left me feeling empty and ugly and sick.

“Like attracts like.”

I was as much a monster as all of them.

“I want to go home.” I’d go back to my mother’s house, move back in with her until we could sell it, and move away for good. Far, far away. Although I knew as hard and as far as I ran, I’d never be able to escape myself. My name. My skin.

Dominic nodded once, but I saw how his jaw tightened.

“I’ll arrange it.”

He took a step toward me, but I shook my head and backed up.

He stopped.

“When?” he asked.

“As soon as possible.”

He seemed taken aback. “Tomorrow?”

I shook my head and took the two steps back down. “Now.”

He looked surprised. “You need to pack—”

“Pack what? Clothes that don’t belong to me?” I felt my lip tremble and my eyes fill with tears, but somehow, I managed to stop the shuddering that wanted to overtake me. Somehow, I held those tears at bay.

“What he said, it’s not true, Gia. You’re not a monster. You’re not—”

“Please…just don’t.”

Dominic averted his gaze, then took a key out of his pocket. “Turn around.”

I looked at it and touched the collar around my neck, which seemed to press heavier against my skin. I’d forgotten it. I’d forgotten all about it.

I turned and lifted my hair up. When his fingers brushed my skin, I shuddered. The sound of the tiny key sliding into the lock sounded as loud as a large iron key turning a Medieval lock, and then I was free. The weight was gone. I was no longer his.

I felt cold, and when I wrapped my arms around myself, Dominic took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I let him and for a moment, we just stood there, watching each other. The draw to slide into his arms, to press against his chest and let him hold me was so strong, but I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t.

He turned to one of his men.

“Take her where she wants to go,” he said.

The man nodded and walked toward the door.

Dominic took out his wallet and opened it. “You’ll need money.”

“No. I don’t want anything from you.” It would only be another moment before the tears fell and drowned me. I needed to get out of there.