Long Live the King (An Italian Mafia Romance Duet #2) (23 page)

Alannah and I smile together as she shows me the positive pregnancy test. A tiny part of me wishes Tommy and my mother were alive to hear the good news, but their deaths are a reminder of how violent this lifestyle is, just like my father’s death. I don’t want my child to grow up in La Cosa Nostra—just like my mother didn’t want me to.

“You know this changes everything, right?” I ask her, and she smiles again—the most beautiful smile there is in this world.

“Yeah,” she replies. “But how? What are we gonna do now? There’s a lot that’s still unresolved.”

“Yeah, there is. But nothing is more important than you and our baby. You two come second to absolutely nothing and no one. I’ll give my life protecting you. So, the first thing we’re gonna do is make some phone calls in the morning. It’s time to start resolving problems, the first being Victor Fronzo. Then, you and I are gonna put our heads together and figure out how I can do the impossible.”

“The impossible?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “We’re gonna figure out how I can get out of La Cosa Nostra.”

Alannah

I
wasn’t sure if I should tell him. Last night, I sat on the toilet in our bathroom holding the pregnancy test, waiting for the results, when I heard Dominic letting out brutally heartbreaking sobs. In all of our years of knowing each other, I’ve never seen Dominic cry, so when I heard it, I knew he was going through something harder than I could imagine. He sounded hopeless, and I felt beyond terrible for him. He lost his best friend and his mother in one night, and the future doesn’t look so happy either. I could hear the despair and misery pouring out of him. It had built up to the point that he just couldn’t hold it inside anymore, and I couldn’t stand listening to it.

So, when the test came back positive, the first thing I thought was how incredible it is, but the second thing was when would be the right time to tell Dominic. Should I wait until we’re in a better place—until all of this craziness dies down and we’re comfortable? What if that day doesn’t come for another three or four months? What if things get worse because of this drama with Victor and the Commission finding out about Tommy’s death? I realized that there was a possibility that things weren’t going to get better anytime soon. So, as I heard him sobbing uncontrollably, I decided to try to give him a bit of sunshine. I knew I was taking a risk—that telling him about the baby might make things worse for him right now, but I also thought it could make things better. I thought it could be a rainbow at the end of his storm, and as it turns out, I was right.

When Dominic found out about the pregnancy, I watched him change from the inside out. His face shifted slightly, but I knew it was a big deal. The culmination of all of the events in one day ending with the positive pregnancy test changed his entire idea of what it meant to be alive. He rubbed my stomach as if I were already showing, and the look on his face was different. It was like he was thankful. Like he was thanking me for saving him from something, even though he was still going through so much.

After I told him about the baby, his demeanor changed. He didn’t grow meaner or colder, he became tougher, more focused. When we climbed into bed together, it was like he didn’t want me to be even an inch away from him, and he pulled me closer if our skin ever got separated. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is, but even this morning when we woke up I could feel it and see it in him. He’s still Dominic, but it’s like he has this aura around him now—the semblance of a king. A king who cares more about the lives of his people than he does his own.

I watch him as he walks into the bathroom and washes his face, just before standing in front of the sink and staring at himself in the mirror. His shirtless back is riddled with muscles and bruises from yesterday’s clash with Tommy Two Nines, but he’s like a warrior returning home from battle after a glorious victory. His face has a slight smile of pride as he looks at himself before splashing water on his face again. Once he brushes his teeth, he looks in the mirror and sees me watching him in the reflection.

“Good morning,” he says with a smile, as he turns around and starts to walk towards me. He’s wearing nothing but his boxer briefs, so I get the perfect view of his body and his manhood pressed against his underwear as he approaches.

“Morning,” I reply as he reaches me and leans over to kiss me. The soft touch of his lips on mine is like an espresso, jolting my skin to life. “So, what’s the plan today Don Collazo?”

He flashes a broken smile at the name, but it looks pained, as if he isn’t so fond of being the don of the Giordano family right now. It’s something I’ve never seen in him before, but I can’t say I’m surprised. After what’s gone on these past few days, who would want to be a part of any of it anymore?

“To set everything right,” he replies, still holding on to that pained smile. “All I want to do is make sure everything’s safe across the board. Then we can go from there.”

I know what he means when he says that. Last night, to my surprise, Dominic brought up the idea of getting out of La Cosa Nostra. Now, anyone who knows anything about the mob knows you don’t just “get out” of La Cosa Nostra. That’d be true if you were a small-time guy, but it’s especially true for a boss. If you’re the boss, the only way out is prison or death, and some of them are still very much involved even when they’re in prison. Although Dominic didn’t want to get into the details of how this was even possible last night, he was adamant about it, and apparently still is this morning.

I don’t press the issue right now because I know this is going to be one step at a time. We’re going to have to take baby steps if this is ever going to work, and I’m not so sure that it is, even as I watch Dominic grab his cell phone and place a call to Frankie.

Dominic

“I
t’s me,” I say into the phone when Frankie answers. “We’ve got some issues that need to be addressed.”

Alannah sits on the bed next to me with a pained look of apprehension on her beautiful face. She’s nervous, but I’m not. I’m going to make this work.

“Okay,” Frankie says first, then, “Where are you, Dominic?”

“I’ve been out and about all night, but a lot has developed and we need to talk. Nobody else needs to know shit, either. This is just for you and me.”

“Okay. What about Tommy?” Frankie asks, and my heart bursts into a frenzy.

I brush it off and move right past the mention of Tommy’s name. “Just you and me, Frankie. I’m gonna call you again in an hour to tell you where to meet me.”

“Okay, Dominic,” Frankie says. “But why all the secrecy? What’s going on? What happened?”

“Make sure you’re alone in an hour.”

I hang up the phone and Alannah is staring at me, wide-eyed.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“You think you can trust Frankie after what happened with Tommy?” she asks, revealing the cause for all of her concern. The thing with Tommy has her all shaken up.

“If I’m being honest,” I begin. “I don’t know if I can trust him or not. After all I’ve been through in my life, I know not to trust anybody in this lifestyle. Tommy proved that.”

“Then why are we involving him? Can’t we just move away?”

“You know we can’t,” I reply, making sure not to sugarcoat anything. She needs to know how real the threat is. “If we run, they’ll find us. The Commission would put a contract on my head as big and bright as the fucking sun, and every gangster in the world would be hunting us down. It just doesn’t work that way in Our Thing. I just got something deep down inside of me that believes Frankie just might be the only loyal guy in this family.”

“But how can you be sure?”

“I never can be, but he knew my dad. They were like brothers, and I think that means something to Frankie. If I’m wrong, so be it.”

“So be it? That’s it? What does that even mean?”

I look into Alannah’s eyes, and I know she knows what it means, but I’ll tell her anyway. She needs to hear it.

“If I’m wrong about him, I’ll have to kill him.”

Alannah’s shoulders slump when she hears the words, but she can’t be surprised, not after all we’ve been through. If we meet with Frankie and he turns out to be against us instead of with us, I wouldn’t have any other choice. Alannah just needed to hear the words so she can prepare herself for having to watch it unfold. Hearing about death is one thing, but seeing it is something completely different.

I see the dread on her face as I walk into the closet and start grabbing clothes, but she follows my lead and gets herself up to take a shower. The uneasiness is still lingering on her face as we finish up and wait for the elevator to reach us.

I stand next to Alannah wearing a white button-up with gray pants, and I can’t help but feel like she’s staring at me as we wait. I look over, and sure enough, her eyes are locked on my face.

“What?” I inquire.

“Are you bringing anything?”

I let out a chuckle as I realize what she’s talking about. “The guns are in the car, babe. Relax, I got this.”

I watch her breathe a sigh of relief as I lead her into the elevator, and it takes us down into the garage where all of our cars are parked. We make our way to my Challenger and hop in.

Time to go to work.

We pull out of the basement garage onto the busy streets of St. Louis, and my brain instantly goes into lookout mode. The tall buildings of the city tower over us and somehow look much more intimidating this morning. My eyes bounce from vehicle to vehicle, surveying the street for anything that looks suspicious. I take a mental note of everything I see so I can double check once we’re further down the road and make sure we’re not being tailed: Cadillac, Denali, Mustang, Civic, Cadillac, BMW, Taurus. I even try to glance inside each one to see if I recognize any of the drivers to be the suspicious faces of mob guys ready to make a move. Alannah is quietly looking around too, but neither of us sees anything that’s a cause for concern.

After about ten minutes on the road, I pull out my cellphone and call Frankie again

“Hello?” Frankie answers after two rings.

“You alone?” I ask before saying anything of importance, just in case.

“Yeah, Dominic. What’s the plan?”

“Meet me in the garage at Isle of Capri in thirty minutes,” I tell Frankie, then I hang up without giving him time to respond.

“Why thirty minutes? We’re only ten minutes away.” Alannah asks, with a furrowed brow.

“I know, but we need to get there before he does, so I can make sure he shows up alone.”

Alannah nods her head in understanding as I veer onto the highway towards Isle of Capri. Every time I think of the Isle, I can’t help but remember what happened the first time I took Alannah there, when a goon walked up to the window and started shooting at us, sending glass shards and bullets flying through the restaurant. He didn’t hit us, but he hit an innocent bystander in his attempt on my life. It was a really bad way for Alannah to start her life in St. Louis, but my crew found the shooter later, and I’m sure he and Tommy are burning side by side in hell.

I hold out hope that we can avoid the same fate at Isle of Capri this time around, as I pull up to a stoplight at the bottom of an exit ramp off the highway. I do another survey of the surrounding cars as my anxiety suspicion up again: Ford Escape, Tahoe, F-150, Denali, Honda Accord, Lexus. I don’t think any of them look familiar, so I relax and press the gas.

We enter the city, and Isle of Capri is only a couple of blocks away. I can even see the sign for the casino two stoplights ahead of us, and I almost feel at ease for the first time during the ride over, as we reach the second-to-last light. I do another survey just in case: Denali, Lincoln Towncar, Explorer, Expedition, Supra. None of them look familiar except one, and I feel my brow furrow as I look at it. Directly behind us is a Red Lincoln Denali. The driver has his sun visor down, obscuring his face, but I can tell he’s a big guy.

Am I being paranoid? Did I see a Denali tailing us when we left River City, or did this one just happen to pull up as we came to this stoplight? I don’t know for sure, and I don’t want to alert Alannah for no reason, so I decide not to say anything right now. The light turns green and I drive away, the red Denali still directly behind us. There’s only one light left before we make the turn into the garage at Isle of Capri. Just one more light.