Long Live the King (An Italian Mafia Romance Duet #2) (27 page)

“We can’t wait for Frankie,” Dominic replies. “We just have to trust that he’s gonna have the car ready to go. All we need to do is get there. We gotta trust him, babe.”

Dominic wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me into him. I lay my head on his chest and feel his heart beating just as fast as mine is. He’s nervous too, but he’s going to be strong for me, even if he has two bullet holes in him. He’ll protect me no matter what, and my strength feeds off of his.

“I still don’t know if I can,” I reply, closing my eyes to steady myself. “I know he told us his plan, but I just don’t know. This has gotten crazy.”

“It has, but we’re on the verge of ending it. We’re gonna take our baby away from all of this shit. We just gotta keep it simple. We get to the Lumiere, grab the passports, then we get to River City where Frankie will have the car waiting with all our bags already in it. We don’t overthink it, we just make it happen. Keep our heads low, and get to River City. Once we’re in that car, we put this shit far behind us. All
three
of us.”

Dominic places a hand on my belly and gently rubs it. As hard as it is to believe, I know he’s serious about this. I never thought he’d be willing to get out of La Cosa Nostra, not in a million lifetimes, but it’s actually a reality now. If I ever questioned his love for me, I know the answer now. He’s willing to change his life in more ways than I can imagine. He’s willing to do a complete one-eighty to be with me, and risk his life in the process. The look in his eyes at this moment reminds me of how close we are to pulling it off. I’m so close to having Dominic Collazo without all the crazy shit that has plagued us since we met. I get to have him to myself. If we pull this off, I won’t have to share him with the mafia. I have to hold on to that thought if I’m ever going to get through tonight.

“Okay,” I reply weakly. “You’re right. We’ll never get what we want if we don’t make this happen. So, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Dominic flashes a smile, and he doesn’t seem the least bit worried. I embrace it, and we both head out the door. I pull my hat down low and go to check out of the motel while Dominic flags down a cab. He’s wearing loose black sweatpants and a large gray t-shirt with a gray hat and boots. He still looks like Dominic, but it’d be much more obvious if he was rocking one of his suits or a fancy button-up and slacks. I say as little as possible to the old guy at the counter as I take my receipt and quickly walk out of the motel to the waiting cab.

“Lumiere Place,” Dominic says to the cab driver, and the journey begins with a light press on the gas pedal.

I feel my nerves pulsating beneath my skin as we enter the city, and it feels like it only takes us sixty seconds to get to the Lumiere. I see the big, blue windows reflecting the night lights of St. Louis and the boats in the river, and it usually makes me feel good. I normally have a sense of calm when I approach Lumiere Place, but tonight is different. Tonight, the Lumiere is like a haunted mansion, waiting to trap me inside its doors, but the monsters within it aren’t ghosts and goblins, they’re real people and they mean to do us real harm.

“Down into the garage,” Dominic says to the cabbie, and we avoid the congestion of the entrance to the casino. Once the cab stops and we pay the driver, I feel more anxious than ever. Dominic places a hand on my shoulder to steady me. “Alright, this is it. This is where we create our own destiny. It’s just the three of us now. You ready?”

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m ready. I love you, Dominic.”

“I love you. Now let’s do this.” He places a soft kiss on my lips, and for some reason I can’t understand, it feels like it’s going to be for the last time.

We open our doors and make our way to the elevator. The garage is completely silent, and it terrifies me. It’s too quiet.

The ride up to the room is uneventful, as we expected. We rarely stayed at Lumiere Place because Dominic chose this casino to conduct business meetings only, but we do have some of our stuff here. The reason we’re here now is simple—passports. Dominic always did a great job of making sure he would never get caught with his pants down. He kept most of his belongings in River City, but he made sure he didn’t keep everything there, just in case something happened and he needed to make an exit. Just in case something like this happened.

I wait in the elevator while Dominic runs into the penthouse and grabs what we need. I can hear him rummaging around inside, and my heart beats a million miles per minute until he finally returns, holding the two little booklets. He smiles at me as he steps onto the elevator and we make our way down to the first floor, where we plan to exit.

The plan is to make sure we never leave a place the same way we came in, because we already know Victor has a crew in the city waiting to spot us, and if someone saw us come in through the garage, they’ll be waiting there for us to exit. So, we come in through the garage, and plan to exit right out the front door. The plan is that they don’t see us come in, so they’re not looking for us when we exit. As the elevator reaches the lobby floor and we pull our hats even lower, I feel myself shaking with anxiety. I have to steady myself, because there’s no time for mistakes. We have a price on our heads, and I can’t let my fear win. So, I take Dominic’s hand in mine as the doors slide open. We step out of the elevator and make a quick left towards the exit, but we don’t make it two steps.

“Dominic?” we hear a voice say from behind. Dominic ignores it as he clinches my hand even tighter and picks up the pace, but whoever is calling his name isn’t giving up. “Dominic, wait!” he shouts, and we have no choice but to turn around, because if we don’t, he’ll say Dominic’s name louder and tell everybody in the casino we’re here.

We turn around to find Jimmy Costello standing in front of us wearing gray pants and a black leather jacket. The look on his face alerts me, but I’m already on edge, so I don’t know if it’s him or just my nerves causing so much concern.

“Jimmy,” Dominic says in a hushed tone. “What is it?”

“Did you get my text earlier?” Jimmy asks. “I went by River City to see if you were there, but you weren’t, obviously, so I came by here to try to track you down. People are saying a lot of fucked up shit, Dominic. We need to do something about this. What’s all this shit about Tommy?”

“I don’t really have time to explain all of that right now, Jimmy. I gotta go,” Dominic says, doing his best to keep his tone even-keeled.

“Wait, I don’t understand,” Jimmy replies. “People are saying you killed Tommy. And the Commission wants you dead. They’re willing to give the guy who kills you a million dollars for it. That’s a big chunk of change, so you must’ve really pissed them off. This is serious. I tried to call Frankie, but he ain’t answering his phone either. So, now that I got you right here, I ain’t letting you go until you tell me what’s going on. Let’s go up to the conference room so we can figure out what the next move is gonna be. You can send Alannah back to River City until we work this out. Gotta make sure she’s safe, right?”

Jimmy glares at Dominic with a strange look in his eye. A blind man could see that he isn’t trying to get Dominic alone just to talk about a plan going forward. A million dollars is a lot of money to pass up, and when that much money is on the line, loyalty doesn’t exist.

Dominic and Jimmy stare at each other for far too long. Both of them know what’s going on, but they’re waiting to see what the other does, which is something we don’t have time for. I feel Dominic let go of my hand as he and Jimmy lock eyes. I take a step back.

With a jolt, Jimmy disregards the civilians in the lobby and reaches into his jacket pocket for his gun. Dominic sees it coming, and grabs his hand before he can secure the weapon. The two of them dance around in a circle while the commotion draws the attention of every person in the lobby, including someone who looks too familiar as he stands up from a chair next to the entrance.

Dominic, too distracted by his fight with Jimmy to notice the huge bald man at the entrance, finally decides to stop the struggle. He lets go of Jimmy’s hand and swings a monstrous punch at the capo. Dominic’s fist lands on Jimmy’s jaw, sending him stumbling backwards, and Dominic knows if he hesitates, Jimmy may get the upper hand because of the wounds he suffered yesterday morning. So, he takes advantage of Jimmy’s loss of balance and hits him with another solid punch to the face, knocking Jimmy to the floor.

“Dominic, we need to go,” I scream as I recognize the bald man at the door to be the same guy who put the holes in Dominic in the first place. It’s Giovanni, and the goon that’s with him is already running towards us and only a few feet away.

The goon is a skinny Italian with a gun in his hand, running full speed when he collides with Dominic, sending them both crashing to the floor. I let out a scream as the goon gets up with quick reflexes and jumps on top of Dominic, gun in hand. He’s obviously underestimated Dominic though, because as he tries to aim his weapon, Dominic grabs a hold of it and pushes the barrel to his throat. He pulls the trigger and the lobby goes into a panicked frenzy at the sound of gunfire, while the goon falls to the floor with blood shooting out of his neck like a leak in a pressurized pipe. Dominic pushes the kid off of him and gets up like he hasn’t just shot a man through the neck.

“Time to go,” he says to me, as he takes me by the hand and leads me towards the back of the building. Security comes rushing towards us, so Dominic and I have to speed our way through the oceans of people just trying to go about their daily lives. We rush into the casino and weave through the slot machines and poker tables, but we can hear footsteps close behind us. I take a moment to glance backwards and see Giovanni in hot pursuit. Security must’ve stopped to check on Jimmy and the dead goon on the floor, but Victor’s hitman is still coming, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. Being as big as he is will do that all by itself.

After crashing into a waitress holding a tray of drinks, Dominic and I find a door in the back of the casino. It’s an emergency exit, but I think this qualifies as an emergency, and we push through it, setting off an alarm that blares through the gigantic building. The people behind us don’t know what’s going on, but they don’t waste a second heading for the exits, creating the perfect roadblock between us and Giovanni. As the door starts to close behind us, I steal a glance backwards and see the large man throwing bodies out of his way as he starts to run towards us.

“We have to go faster, Giovanni is coming,” I yell to Dominic, who does his best to pick up the pace. He struggles through the pain of the bullet hole in his leg and manages to break into a half-run, but the pain is obvious on his face.

After the casino, we find ourselves in an alley, because that’s just our luck. It’s dark and quiet, with large dumpsters on each side for the casinos that use it to discard trash. I can see the pain on Dominic’s face as we try to run towards the lights on the busy road at the end of the alley, and I know if we don’t take a quick break, we won’t make it there before Giovanni comes through the door right on top of us.

“Over here,” I say to Dominic, pulling him towards me.

We crouch down behind one of the dumpsters and hope we’ll have some luck on our side for once. Our breathing is heavy and my heart may give out any second now, but the rest is needed. Dominic is in excruciating pain, and I can see blood soaking through the back of his pants. River City is only a few blocks away, but Dominic is gonna need my help to make it there.

While I think of a way to get to the street to flag down a cab, I hear the door to the casino finally open. I can’t see who’s coming, but I know it’s Giovanni. He was faster when he came after us the first time, but maybe he knows Dominic is hurt so he doesn’t bother to waste his energy.

The footsteps stop as soon as the door closes. Giovanni is obviously searching for us, and I hold my breath, hoping he’ll just go back inside when he doesn’t see us. When I hear his footsteps start up again, coming towards us, I know we don’t have that much luck. The footsteps come closer, and I make eye contact with Dominic. He’s obviously weakened, but he’s about to make a move. I shake my head, telling him not to do it, but I see it in his eyes. The decision’s been made, and there’s no stopping Dominic once his mind is made up.

“How much of a bitch have you become, Dominic?” a voice says that I think I recognize. “Hiding with your girlfriend? Wow. I thought you were a boss.”

Dominic doesn’t respond verbally, but I watch him pull the nine millimeter out of the holster under his shirt. He moves slowly so he can’t be heard as the man walks past where we’re seated. We can both see the back of him now, and he definitely doesn’t look as big as Giovanni. I think it’s Jimmy, but I’m not sure, and Dominic doesn’t care.

Completely disregarding my hand on his arm, pleading with him to stay hidden, Dominic gets up and steps out from behind the dumpster. He aims the gun at the back of the man’s head and holds it there.

“Jimmy,” he says in a cold, uncaring tone. Jimmy stops in his tracks, but doesn’t turn around. He knows it’s over for him. “Who’s hiding?” Dominic says, just before he pulls the trigger and fires a bullet that enters the back of Jimmy’s head and exits the front of his face. Jimmy instantly collapses, and blood pools under his lifeless body at Dominic’s feet.

“I never fucking liked you anyway,” I hear Dominic say to Jimmy’s corpse as I step out from behind the dumpster and get an up close view of Jimmy’s body.

The two of us look down on him, and I’d usually feel regret over something like this, but I know if Dominic didn’t kill him, he gladly would have killed us. So, there’s no regret. There’s nothing at all. It’s us against the world, and I stand next to Dominic with pride. But it’s short-lived, because in an instant, the door behind me bursts open and Giovanni steps into the alley.

I feel his oversized arm wrap around my neck and I see the pistol he’s holding aiming at Dominic. His breath is heavy and labored, and his sweaty skin sickens me, but I’m frightened. I’m scared and pissed that he got the drop on us, but it happened, and I don’t know what we’re going to do to get out of this.