DOM: Alliance Series Book Three, page 13
What the hell?
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel.
I really felt like I had a good idea of who Valentine was, but her reaction to all of this has me second-guessing some things.
Deciding we could both use a little air, I flip on my blinker and move across the scattered traffic to take the next exit. The car behind us follows.
Val doesn’t say anything as I take a series of turns toward a large, well-lit gas station, but that’s not a surprise.
I pull up in front of an open pump and turn off the vehicle.
Val holds her phone out toward me.
“You want me to hold that for you?” I ask.
For the first time since standing in King’s entryway, Valentine raises her eyes to meet mine. They’re red rimmed and dull and have me gritting my teeth.
She looks between me and the phone still in her hand, then slowly lowers it. “You aren’t going to take it from me?”
I turn in my seat to look at her better. “I’m not taking away your phone.”
“Oh.” She sounds confused, then looks out the windshield. “Can I use the bathroom?”
What?
“Yeah, Valentine. You can use the bathroom.” My confusion matches her own. “You’re not a prisoner.”
She sets the phone back on her lap. “Can I go home, then?”
There it is.
I shake my head. “You have a new home now.”
“But I don’t want to go with you anymore.”
Her words shouldn’t sting. Obviously, she doesn’t want to go with me anymore. I can’t blame her. But I still don’t like to hear it.
“That’s too bad, Shorty.” I purposefully use one of my nicknames for her just to piss her off. “You already emailed your boss and told him you were moving to Chicago. It probably wouldn’t look good if you changed your mind on such a big decision twenty-four hours later.”
Anger blooms in her cheeks, and it’s so much better than the despair.
“I have my own income,” she argues. “I can get my own place. I won’t even tell King. You can still keep your precious deal.”
“That’s not how this works.”
Seeing one of my men at the back of my SUV, I hit the button under the steering wheel to unlock the little door over the gas tank.
The click is audible, and Val’s eyes dart to the side mirror.
She’s fascinating to watch as her eyes narrow while she takes in the details.
When she leans forward to get a better look in the mirror, I know when she sees it.
Val spins around in the seat to look out the back window. “Is that my car?”
“Uh-huh.” I unbuckle myself, then reach over to unbuckle Val.
She jerks back from me so violently she hits the back of her head on the window.
“Jesus, Val.”
She makes a sound of pain as she hunches her shoulders.
And then I get it.
And then I get mad.
“I wasn’t gonna fucking hit you,” I growl, and it sounds like more of a threat than a promise.
“Well, I don’t know!” Val’s voice is high pitched as she reaches up to rub at the spot on her head.
“I’m never going to hurt you.” I work to steady my tone.
But Val replies with a broken laugh. “Oh, won’t you?”
She’s aiming for sarcasm, but it just comes off sad. So damn sad.
This isn’t going well.
“Have I ever been violent around you?” I try to use reason, wanting her to understand.
Val drops her hand from her head to stare me right in the eyes. “I’ve never even met you.”
I’ve never even met you.
Her words have rolled around in my head for the last hour and a half of our silent drive.
She’s wrong.
And as I pull into the parking garage below my building, I decide it’s time to set her straight.
CHAPTER 19
Val
Dom turns the engine off, and quiet descends around us.
I didn’t bother trying to figure out what part of downtown Dom lives in. I’m not familiar enough with the city for it to matter. And I’m guessing he has a pretentious penthouse, so I’m sure I’ll be able to look out the windows and figure out where I am.
I may still be ignorant about what exactly being the head of the Chicago mafia entails, but I’m assuming it involves massive amounts of money.
Dom climbs out of the SUV, and I want to slap myself in the face.
It seems so obvious now.
That’s why he didn’t bat an eye at the armed guards outside King’s gate.
Probably also why that guard pulled his freaking gun out. He must’ve recognized Dom.
Love that I’m apparently the only person who doesn’t know who Dominic is.
My door gets yanked open, startling a yelp out of me.
An angry-looking Dom leans into the open doorway, crowding me as he reaches across to unbuckle me.
This time I don’t flinch. I just freeze.
His scent has been filling the car this whole time, but his leaning across me brings it right to my senses. No avoiding it.
As Dom starts to pull away, he grips my knees and spins me on the seat.
I should protest. Slap him. Something. But I’m too surprised to react.
Hands still on my knees, Dom drags me forward until my butt is ready to slide off the seat.
Geez, someone is in a hurry.
But instead of letting me slide out to the ground, Dom moves his hands to my hips and yanks me to him, lifting me out of the vehicle.
My body reacts on its own. Arms wrapping around his neck. Legs circling his waist.
Unwanted heat spears through my body as he digs his fingers into my sides. And he takes two steps to the side before shoving my back against the vehicle.
“Put me down,” I try to snap, but it comes out weakly.
“No.”
I unhook my arms and push at his chest.
Dom presses me harder into the side of the SUV as he lets go of me with one hand so that he can catch both of my wrists and press them to my chest.
My cleavage heaves against his knuckles as I try to catch my breath.
“Just hold still,” he demands, but my focus locks on his hands. Those big, strong hands, covered in ink.
It never even crossed my mind that he was a gangster. But knowing what I know now, I don’t know how I didn’t see it. His eyes, the ones I thought were full of so much history, really are. But it’s a darker history than I imagined. His calloused palms. The skull permanently drawn into the middle of his chest. The confidence.
How did I miss so much?
“I don’t know how much you know about your brother’s life, but mine is much the same. You’ll have a driver everywhere you go. And a bodyguard who will accompany you when you leave the car.”
“What?” Someone escorting me, too? “No.”
He shakes my hands a little. “Yes.”
“I can’t have a bodyguard come with me to work.”
“He’ll wait in the lobby.”
“You can’t—”
“I can.” Dom leans closer. “You’re in my city now, remember? I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
“You…”
Dom shifts his body, and I can feel him.
I can feel him pressing between my legs.
My body doesn’t know that we don’t like him anymore.
I try to close my legs, but his hips are still between them, so I just end up tightening my thighs around him.
“Put me down,” I whisper.
“Not yet.” Dom brings his lips just inches from mine. “If I give you another ring, will you wear it? Or will you throw it out another window?”
I look down at the hand he’s using to hold my wrists and see the plain gold band on his finger.
He left it on.
And it fits him perfectly.
And he brought the rings with him.
Because he planned this.
I remember the look on his face earlier when I asked him if he was drunk, too, for our wedding night.
“Answer me, Val.”
An awful suspicion sneaks into my brain.
I meet his eye. “Did you drug me?”
He doesn’t so much as blink. “Will you wear the ring?”
Anger finally breaks through the hurt inside me.
“Did you fucking drug me?” I snap.
Dom stares back at me. “Yes.” Then his mouth cracks into a smile. “Will you throw the ring out a window?”
“Yes.” I bite my teeth together to keep from screaming.
The man just admitted to drugging me like it’s nothing.
“Alright, then.” Dom slides my body down his. “Let’s go upstairs.”
CHAPTER 20
Val
I’m not even surprised by the private elevator with only one button for the PH level. Figures.
The car ascends rapidly before opening into a small hallway on the top floor of the building. There’s only one door. But there is a second elevator, which must have access to another part of the building.
With little choice, I stand beside Dominic, who has my backpack slung over his shoulder, while he presses his whole hand to a black screen next to the door.
I briefly wonder if he uses Nero’s company for his security system when a heavy thunk announces the door unlocking.
I try to keep my expression unimpressed when we enter Dominic’s condo, but it’s hard.
The space is huge. Industrial looking, with concrete floors so dark they look black and exposed metal on ceilings that have to be thirty feet high. All of which is overshadowed by the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows on my left, running the length of the space.
On the far side of the great room is a hallway that runs along the wall of windows and disappears out of view. And next to that hallway is an exposed flight of stairs leading up to another hallway on the second level.
Night has fallen, and the city skyline beyond the glass is breathtaking. But I refuse to move closer to admire it.
I’m still staring, though, when a shadow moves on the other side of the glass, making me jump.
“Just one of my men,” Dom explains, seeing where I’m looking.
And I realize there’s a door hidden in the windows, meaning there’s some sort of outdoor patio space here at the tippy top of the building. Just the thought of being out there, that high up, makes me want to hurl.
When I tear my eyes away from the glass, I notice that we’re not alone in here either.
A man is sitting on one of the couches between us and the windows, and another man is standing in the kitchen directly in front of us. He’s on the other side of the large marble island, but I can still make out the gun on his hip.
It’s almost funny—the black shirts, black pants, and matching serious expressions… But this is my life, for now, so that makes it less amusing.
“So we share our home with your army?” I ask, making my tone as bland as possible.
“No one sleeps here but us,” Dom answers. “What would you like for dinner?”
The question is so bizarre I don’t answer right away.
“Valentine,” Dom prompts.
“I want to go to bed.”
“You need to eat.”
I fist my hands at my sides. “You need to let me go to bed.”
Dom moves closer, his chest nearly touching mine. “Or what?”
“Or… Or I’ll steal one of those guns off one of your guys and shoot you.”
I don’t think I could actually get a gun off someone, but if I did, I’d definitely shoot him.
The edge of his mouth pulls up. “Where would you shoot me, Shorty?”
I narrow my eyes. “Your shin.”
Dominic barks out a laugh.
And it pisses me off.
“You wouldn’t be laughing with a bullet in your shinbone,” I snap and stomp toward the set of stairs, assuming the bedrooms are on the upper level.
Dom’s chuckle follows me. “I’ll give you that.”
I’ll give you that. I mouth the sentence before catching the movement of the guy outside again.
Whatever. It shouldn’t be a surprise to his men that I’m not happy to be here. At least some of them were clearly in on the plot.
Since Dom doesn’t do anything to direct me elsewhere, I start up the stairs, keeping my hand on the black iron railing.
When I reach the top, I pause. The hallway is much longer than I expected.
Dom stops beside me. “Would you like a tour?”
I shake my head. The full gravity of my situation is finally starting to sink in.
This fancy penthouse… This city that isn’t mine… This is my life.
At least until I can figure a way out of it. But since I don’t want to get locked in like the prisoner he claims I’m not, I’ll play along. Better a gilded cage than a real one.
“Door at the end.” Dom lifts a hand to point at the wide partially open door at the very end of the hall.
“That’s my room?” I clarify.
“That’s where you sleep,” he responds.
I let out a sigh at his cryptic answer, positive it’s his room and that he still expects us to share a bed. “I think I can find it from here.”
I expect Dom to argue, but he doesn’t. He just holds my backpack out in front of me.
The sight of it shouldn’t hurt my heart so much. But it does.
I take it.
But neither of us moves.
“The airport?” My question is a whisper as I stare at the bag Dominic bought me.
I don’t know what I think I’ll get out of having every last shred of our history destroyed.
I shouldn’t have asked.
Dom’s fingers brush lightly over my ponytail. “Go to bed, Valentine.”
My feet comply, and I stride forward without sparing him another look.
I pass three rooms, then reach the door at the end of the hall.
Keeping my hand on the edge of the door, I push it open enough to step inside, then let it shut behind me.
The room is obviously large. And as I stare at the platform bed, nicely made in dark gray bedding and facing yet another wall of windows, I have no doubt that this is the master bedroom. Dom’s bedroom.
I will anger to fully overtake the pain that hasn’t left my chest since King revealed Dom’s identity.
I don’t want to hurt anymore.
Not tonight.
I carry my backpack to the open doorway on this side of the headboard and find a luxurious bathroom that runs the length of the room. Oversized double vanity. Huge glassed-in shower stall with marbled walls. A separate room with a toilet. And a deep soaking tub in front of another large window.
Does no one worry about people with binoculars around here?
When I turn around to shut the bathroom door, I find a giant walk-in closet hidden behind the door.
Sure, I’m being paranoid, but not wanting a peeping tom to catch sight of me on my first night here, I take my backpack into the little toilet room and change into my pajamas.
While I wash my face, I don’t think about how I packed my bag this afternoon while blissfully thinking I was about to start my happily ever after with my new husband.
While I dab on my under-eye cream, I don’t think about how Dom encouraged me to pack an overnight bag with a day’s worth of essentials because it might be hard to sort through your stuff when we get home.
While I redo my ponytail with more force than necessary, I don’t think about how Dom drove so calmly to King’s house, knowing my world was about to crumble.
“He’s an asshole,” I tell my reflection. “A total fucking asshole.”
The burning sensation behind my eyes lessens, just the smallest bit.
“He’s a slimy piece of shit. A total fucking jerk.” I forcefully put toothpaste on the end of my toothbrush. “I hate him.”
I hold on to my anger as best I can while I practically scrub the enamel off my teeth.
I spit into the sink. “He’s a… a… prick.” I slam my toothbrush down on the edge of the sink and leave it there. Just like I leave my dirty clothes on the floor. And my backpack open on the edge of the tub.
They are small acts of defiance in his pristine living space, but they make me feel better.
I found my phone tucked into the side pocket of my bag, not sure when Dom stuck it there, but I carry it with me to bed.
A band of recessed lights built into the crown molding surrounding the room gives a nice soft glow. But even without it, there’s enough ambient light from the city beyond the windows to light my path. Not that there’s much to dodge in this room. The bed looks bigger than a normal king-size mattress with a large padded leather headboard. Matching—simple but, I’m sure, expensive—nightstands flank either side of the bed.
As I walk around the foot of the bed, circling to the far side, I untuck the blankets. I don’t know what sort of person sleeps with their feet trapped like that, but it’s not me.
With nothing left to do, I climb into the bed and sit with my legs under the blankets.
It’s not even that late, but with winter almost here, it’s already dark outside. And emotional exhaustion is real and upon me.
But before I lie down, I have one more thing to do.
Letting out a breath, I turn my phone back on.
I owe King more of an explanation.
The screen is just lighting up when it changes to show an incoming call.
Savannah.
I groan.
I’m tempted to turn my phone right back off, but I sort of doubt this is the first time she’s tried calling.
Dragging the walls up around my heart, I hit answer. “Hey, Savannah.”
There’s a pause, followed by a noisy exhale. “Dammit, Val. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you forever.”
“Sorry.” I wince, feeling guilty all over again. “I was having a bit of a, um, moment, so I turned my phone off.”
“I’ll say,” she huffs. “Will you explain to me what’s going on? King hasn’t been real clear on the details.”
