Dominick slams a heel on Nick’s knee, the crack audible even as Nick cries out in agony. I see Rivaldi men tensing, but this isn’t a matter they can involve themselves in. Dom is beating the shit out of his own man. Besides, they know I’ve got the drop on the whole room, my pistol in my hand but not drawn yet.
Dominick trusts that I’m watching the room, a huge move on his part, He ignores the gathered men, instead addressing Nick, his voice rising in anger. “Even once I admitted that someone in my organization had to have been in on it, I didn’t want it to be you. You were the good soldier, I thought. But it lined up. It was you. Did you even try to catch him when you pursued him? I doubt it.”
Nick is trying to crawl away, but Dominick stomps on his right hand, twisting his heel to get every finger. The bones sound like twigs being broken, and Nick collapses, rolling onto his back and cradling his ruined hand to his chest. “Dom—”
Dominick grabs Nick’s shirt, pulling him face to face. “I trusted you, Nick. And you repaid me with betrayal, working for the little mice and their hired gun. For what? Money? Power? You think they’ll trust you when you’ve already turned once?” Dominick sneers in disgust. His voice quiets, the amount of control scarier than if he was raging. “Not killing you today is a kindness for the years of service you did give me. But if I ever see you again, I will kill you.”
And with the final threat, Dominick lands one last powerful punch to Nick’s nose and blood splatters. Dominick drops him, reaching into his pocket with his clean hand to retrieve his handkerchief and meticulously wiping the blood away.
I reach down, taking Nick’s gun while Dominick finishes up, turning back to Sal and sounding like nothing’s happened. “I’ll leave this trash for you. Not sure he’ll be of any use to you with a bum knee, fucked trigger finger, and buyable loyalty. But he is your man after all. I trust there won’t be a repeat of this issue.”
Sal looks from Dominick’s stone-cold eyes to Nick, groaning in agony on the floor, and seems to realize that he’d severely underestimated just how smart and how batshit-crazy Dominick really is. “No, Mr. Angeline.”
Satisfied, Dominick walks out the door, stepping over Nick dismissively. I wish I could do the same, but the anger in me is too much to bear. Nick is part of the machine that put my Angel in danger.
I can’t do anything about Sal right now. I can’t get my hands on the hitman the way I’d like, but I trusted Nick and Maggie trusted Nick. He was the guy I thought was my most trusted coworker.
So I give in, kicking him as hard as I can in the gut with my steel-toed boot. Nick screams, curling protectively into a fetal position. He probably deserves more of a beatdown, but I’m done.
I follow Dominick out, getting behind the wheel to drive him back to Petals. Outside, we stay silent until we pull away. “Shane.”
“Yes?” I ask, looking up into the rearview mirror. If he did want to kill me, this would be the best time. He could shoot me through the seat. He’s buckled in, and we’re not going that fast.
Dom’s eyes meet mine in the mirror, icy grey and hard. “I wanted to handle that myself. It was necessary for an appearance of strength and knowledge,” he explains, finally answering the question I’d asked in his office when I checked in with him last night. The conversation had led to some rather unsightly conclusions after I reviewed the remaining security video and we’d talked through different possibilities of what happened. “The hitman on the other hand . . . if you would like, you may have your turn. Or I can take care of that as well. Your choice. For now though, let’s go back to the club.”
Back to Maggie.
Chapter 25
Maggie
I pace back and forth in the apartment, trying my best not to get freaked out. When Shane told me last night that he was going with Dominick on a mission to hopefully prevent the war that could ruin the city, I begged him not to go. I was nearly paralyzed with terror that it was a setup by Dominick.
But Shane said that he and Dominick talked things through, and he felt like he needed to back Dom’s play. He also promised he’d be safe before we made love and he left a few new souvenirs along my skin.
But since they left, I’ve been jittery with nerves that I’ll never see him again. Knowing I need to keep busy, I give up pacing and decide to check in with my regular life . . . the one I had before everything went so haywire.
I can’t believe that Dominick’s let me have access to a computer, but he did. After our first night here, I gave Allie my keys, and she went to my apartment, coming back with some clothes and my laptop. Dominick didn’t even ask to go through my files. “Maggie,” he said, “anything you have that you’ve already published can’t be pulled back, and anything you have in there that you could publish, I trust you won’t.” He said it kindly, but the threat was apparent in his simple words.
A quick run through my email deletes most of the spam, but there are several from Jeanine at work. She’s left several voicemails on my phone that were forwarded to my email program too, but after two, I turn them off. It’s best to go straight to the source.
I grab the burner phone Shane left me, dialing into the office and waiting for the receptionist to transfer me to Jeanine’s office line. I get lucky. I’m not left hanging on hold for long.
“Jeanine Matthews.”
“Hi, Jeanine. It’s Maggie. I wanted to call to—”
Before I can even get my greeting out, Jeanine interrupts me, her voice crisp and hard. “You have some nerve calling in like this. You drop off the face of the Earth, don’t return my calls or meet deadlines for nearly a week, and now you just call in? You should’ve just stayed gone.”
She’s mad. Still, some professional instinct guides me to try to patch things up so I’m not leaving under the pall of job abandonment. “Ma’am, I had an emergency and I couldn’t call in or check emails for a while. I’m back now and trying to catch up.”
Jeanine stops her rant, greed tingeing her voice. Toss her a sniff about a headline, and she’d let me get away with murder. “Anything story-worthy?”
If only she knew, but she thinks I’m just a strip-club waitress looking for celebrity gossip. She has no idea about the depth of how things go at Petals, who Dominick is, or any of the things I’ve learned over the last few days. And this is a story I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Dominick’s shown me some trust. I’m not stupid enough to betray that.
“No, just a family emergency.”
It’s not really a lie because the people at Petals are my family now, and while it might take me awhile, I plan on regaining their trust, if that’s possible.
Jeanine sighs, annoyance making her drag it out longer than usual. “Unacceptable, Miss Postland. We have standards, the least of which is that you turn in quality work on time. Abandoning your job and your duties cannot stand. You’re fired,” she jeers, obviously enjoying the opportunity to shut me down. “I wish you all the best in your future waitressing endeavors.”
I’m not surprised. I figured this would be coming, even told Shane as much when we discussed it. But now that it’s real and actually happening, I thought I might be upset. But all I feel is relief . . . free. And it’s a bit funny that she thinks getting fired is such a big deal, considering I’m on the run from a hitman trying to kill me. Losing a crappy job is the least of my concerns.
Instead of laughing like I want, I clear my throat, but still, my voice is light, maybe even hinging on giggly when I respond. “I understand, Jeanine. If you could please have the HR department mail me my last check. My apologies. It’s been interesting working for you.”
It’s as close as I can get to telling her that she’s a shrew whom people mimic at the office. Hanging up, I let the laughter overtake me. “I’m fired!” I cheer as I throw my hands up and laugh uproariously. “Bwahahahaha, I’m actually fired!”