Truth or Dare; The Dominator II (29 page)

I listened without saying anything. I wasn’t sure if he was telling me he killed his father or his brother did it or someone else on their orders but he was, in essence, telling me that he and his brother were responsible.

Dare seemed to be studying me and the effect of his words.

“This is something that’s not talked about. Ever. There are people in my family that suspect why Pop really died but it’s not discussed. Don’t bring it up. Don’t ask questions. It will never ever be discussed. You’re going to be around my family so you need a little of the backstory.”

My heart lifted. Maybe it should’ve dropped because of the secrets he was revealing. But it lifted because this meant he saw himself with me long term. That’s what it had to mean. He was telling me his secrets and hoping I could handle them. Could he handle
my
secrets? Could I bring myself to tell them to him? I didn’t think I could.

“You don’t want a bunch of gory details but you know my Pop was a partner at Kruna so you can imagine the kind of man he was. Let’s just say he was dark. He was power hungry and did not hesitate to snuff enemies out. He didn’t care if you were blood, if you were one of his children even. If he saw you as anything but loyal you were dead to him. My sisters don’t know a whole lot about the details and they, Tia, and you don’t need them but know that our family is on the road to change. I’m in the middle of selling off most of the family business piece by piece to get us out of being so closely tied in with organized crime, racketeering, you get the picture.”

I nodded.

“Okay, here’s where you’re gonna be a bit shaken up, I think.”

I braced. He put a hand on my cheek and didn’t let go. I leaned into his palm.

“I found out when I came to Kruna for you that Lisa, my Pop’s widow, she was a Kruna slave. I never knew. Pop didn’t tell us.” He stroked my cheekbone with his thumb, staring right into my eyes.

I blinked. Then I gasped as it sunk in.
Monalisa
. I
said it out loud
, “
Monalisa
?”

He nodded solemnly and rubbed my back with his other hand.

“I asked her to come over tomorrow. I thought you two could…you know, talk.”

I was dumbstruck. Monalisa was like a celebrity to me.

“All this, does it make you wish you never met me?”

My eyes darted from the floor to his face, “Oh god, no. No way.” I wrapped my arms tight around his neck and put my head on his chest. He leaned back and spun so he was lying on the sofa and I was on top of him. I curled up on top, my cheek to his chest, and I closed my eyes and listened to his heart beating.

I didn’t know how to feel. If he kept me I’d have someone nearby who knew what my life was like. Would that help me heal? Or would Monalisa and I just remind one another of who we really were, how dirty and tainted we were? She’d probably know some of what I’d been through in being broken. I’d know that she’d been through at least some of those same things.

I thought back to that day I met her, the way she stared at my throat, the way she didn’t smile. Now it made sense. I’d heard about her. I’d heard a lot about her. I modeled my A to B in the hopes of becoming like the girl that was my predecessor. I was told she was beautiful, graceful, could command a room or be completely obedient, she was a favorite among the patrons and the staff and other slaves, and her reward was to get married off to a powerful, wealthy, and handsome Master who never brought her back, who never even came back after he acquired her.

And here she was in Dare’s family, living a life, a real life, out on the town with Dare’s sisters, free. She didn’t have a husband any longer and she hadn’t been sent back. Dare’s sister had said she was pregnant, too. I don’t think she even had anything on her throat when I’d seen her.

“They didn’t want her back?” I asked, in awe.

“Pop specified Tommy and me as guardians in case of his death. Kruna bosses found that acceptable.”

“What did
you
specify?” I asked softly.

“I didn’t. Pop arranged you and they never asked me. I guess I’d better find out.” He reached to the coffee table and grabbed and then started to fiddle with his phone.  I went to climb off him to give him space but he gripped me tighter, “Don’t go,” he said softly. I closed my eyes and nuzzled into his chest as he thumbed away on the phone.

I didn’t want to even think about him being gone. He was amazing, thinking about making sure I didn’t go back to them if something happened to him.

“A girl whose Master died was brought back,” I said softly into his shirt, “He hadn’t made a provision so she was brought back.  She committed suicide not long after returning.”

He put his phone down and put both arms around me and gave me a squeeze and then kissed my forehead. Against it he said, “I will make sure that they can never hurt you again, baby. I promise.”

I nodded.

He tipped my chin up so that I had to look at his face. His handsome strong jaw, his stormy blue eyes, his beautiful mouth.

“I don’t make promises lightly. You should know that. But I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. Okay?”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and laid on him while we quietly watched TV for the next little while.

Dare

I texted Stan and told him to call me from a secure line the next day at 9:am to find out about provisions made for her. He called me back a few hours after that to say that Pop had listed himself for her and since Tommy and I were his heirs it’d default to Tommy if something happened to me. Stan asked me about the upcoming partner summit and I told him I’d get back to him in a few days with an update about whether or not Tommy and I would attend. He said he’d attend for us if we couldn’t make it. Then he and I discussed some of the business he was working on dealing with for us. Stan was proving himself to be valuable, at least. We needed to keep him busy and on our payroll so that he’d be loyal. At least I hoped he would be. I had to play my hand close to the vest in case he wasn’t. I considered asking him about Lisa and why he’d never said anything about the fact that she’d come from Kruna but decided to talk that over with my brother first, to ensure he and I were on the same page about how to play that. If Stan couldn’t be trusted I didn’t want him to know I had suspicions. Maybe Stan didn’t even know. Pop never let anyone in the world have all of his truth. You got bits and pieces, no matter how close to him you thought you were.

Things were shaping up alright with a few other areas but Tommy would help when he arrived and that’d make things a little easier on me. He was arriving the next day. Lisa would be spending time with Angel in the afternoon and then we were all having dinner at Luciana’s and Ed’s after Tommy & Tia arrived. After dinner Tommy and I could sit down and strategize about Kruna and a few other matters.

Lisa arrived just before noon. She came in with food from the restaurant for them for lunch.

Angel was sitting on a sofa when I answered the door and Leese and I hugged and then she went right to Angel and opened her arms while I put the food on the island.

Angel stood stiffly and let Lisa embrace her. She looked to me with her lip trembling. She held it together.

“You okay, baby?” I leaned over and put my arm around her shoulder as Lisa let go of her.

She nodded.

“I’m going to the office and then I’ll be back to pick you up later for dinner at my sister’s. Okay?”

She nodded and put her arms around me and sank in. I kissed her.

Lisa gave me a smile and I left the two of them alone.

Angel

Lisa and I sat quietly for a few minutes after Dare left.

“Wanna grab food?” she finally said, “I’m just so starving all the time so I brought salads in case you’re watching what you eat but I also brought stuffed cannelloni and bruschetta for me and for you, too, in case you’re not.”

“Mmm,” I said, “I’ve eaten non-stop since I got here. No salad for me, thanks.”

She gave me a knowing smile, “Food back there was
not
good. I was a glutton my first few months out.”

I pushed the pang away at the mention of
there
, “I don’t even want to step on the scale. I’m afraid of what I’ll see.”

She nodded, “Throw that fucker off the balcony. You owe it to yourself to never step on a scale again.”

I smiled big at her. The morning ritual with Cleo at Kruna included weighing us as well as inspecting for adequate grooming and hygiene.

“I, unfortunately, have an OB/GYN who wants me on the scale at every appointment.”

“At least you’ll get something awesome out of the deal at the end,” I said.

She put her hand to her belly and she beamed with joy, “Yeah.”

We walked to the island and unpacked the food.

We ate quietly but there wasn’t any real awkwardness. Afterwards, she said, “I am here if you ever want to talk. I don’t know if I’d have any real words of wisdom for you but if you have questions or want to talk about anything, I’m here. I was there nearly six years and I’ve been out over two so if I can help, let me know. Even if you just wanna talk, vent, whatever.”

“Same,” I said.

She broke into tears.

I panicked a little and then rounded the island to go to her and put my arm around her and she put her head on my shoulder and started sobbing.

“I’m su-supposed to be here h-helping you,” she sniffled.

I patted her back gently, not sure how to reply.

“I’ve had a really good life since getting out. Tom was amazing to me. I loved my life with him so much. I’m so glad that I get to have a piece of him, you know? This baby? I can’t wait to be a mother and have someone to really love. And it’s so hard because I miss him and what we had but no one wants to talk about him because of some of the things he did but I was his and he treated me like gold.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said.

“And I get to have his baby and I get to stay here. Dario and Tommy are making it so that I don’t have to go back and now I have you, you’ll be like a sister of the heart, someone who knows my secrets. Secrets I haven’t been able to tell my best friends, Tess and Luc, because of what it’d make them think of their father.” She was crying harder, “Fucking pregnancy hormones,” she said while wiping her eyes with her napkin.

“It’s okay.”

“I’ve been holding it all in. Tom and I never talked after the wedding about Kruna.” She whispered the word
Kruna
like it was a dirty word.

“He told me on our wedding night that it ceased to exist for me. And that was an order. He wanted to pretend it didn’t exist so that I could be healthy, move on, you know? I got to bury it and pretend the cover story was the actual truth. But now meeting you and knowing Dare and Tommy know,” she sniffled. I passed her another napkin from the napkin holder on the counter.

“Thanks,” she said, “It’s so hard. Part of me wants to keep it buried and another part is so glad that I have people in my life who know the truth, who know who I really am. My name isn’t Monalisa. My name is Shayla. I’ve said that name twice in five years, you know? Only twice. But that’s who I am. I should be Shayla Ferrano, not Lisa Ferrano. My mother is dead. My father is dead. My husband is dead. But I have this family here and half of them don’t know who I really am.”

I nodded.

“What’s your real name?”

I shook my head, “I can’t.”

“You’re not ready.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready. They said if I ever uttered that name again…”

I let that hang, unable to finish that sentence.

“I know,” she said and was quiet for a minute, “When I told Dare my name the day he confronted me to tell me he knew the truth I felt my whole body shiver. Like they could hear me say it and would swoop in any second and take me back.”

I shuddered.

“Want to tell me your story?” she asked.

“No.”

“It’s okay. Do you want to know mine?”

“No.”

She could’ve gotten upset at that but she didn’t. She nodded and patted my shoulder, “Ever want to, you’ve got me. You ever want to ask me questions, do it. You ever want to sit and pick over the bones of the bad guys? I’m all for talking smack.”

I was quiet for a beat and then, “I could maybe do
that
,” came out in a whisper.

She laughed.

I laughed.

“You wanna start?” she invited.

I shrugged and winced, “I don’t know if I can even…”

“C’mon, it’ll be therapeutic for us both,” she dabbed at her eyes.

I chewed my lip for a second and then I mouthed, “Cleopatra.”

“Cleo? Fucking demon bitch,” Lisa said.

“Oh my god!” I breathed and covered my mouth, my whole body tense.

She sat up straighter and with her palms she pulled her cheeks back so that her skin was super tight and she pursed her lips, “You? You up two pounds you fat pig. Oh my god, two pounds! You fucking cow, you. You drink too much cum you dumb bitch, you?”