Dominic

Chapter 70 (Just revised)

All I could keep thinking was that I'd fallen asleep and was in some kind of nightmare,  but all too quickly reality set in and I knew it wasn't a nightmare, not something I could get away from or wake up from. 

Everything moved around me like the speed of light but my movements seemed to be in slow motion;  I could hear men yelling and running around, Beni barking out orders and somewhere in all the chaos a doctor and assistants showed up and that's when I realized I was still screaming out his name. 

"Doc, I don't want her catatonic but I need her calm" Beni shouted at the man and that's when I felt a prick in my neck causing a calming sensation to immediately wash over my body,  but my mind was anything but calm. 

I heard the doctor say he found a faint pulse and they had to move Dom now. I felt huge arms lift me from the ground, making my arms fall into my lap and that's when I saw his blood on my hands. 

"Dominic, oh God..." was all I could get out.  Beni was still directing the men on 'sterilizing' the warehouse.  I just kept mumbling Dominic and Dante's name over and over until Beni finally told me that he would explain everything once we got to Dino's. 

Why were we going to Dino's?  Oh yeah that's right, we have a hospital facility there.  I couldn't help but lean back into Beni's large chest, he wasn't Dominic, that's for sure, but I couldn't stop my body from obeying whatever it was they had injected me with;  I didn't know why I was still able to walk, albeit with help, but I could see myself walking into Dino's home and then I blinked and we were in the basement.

"Oh God Beni!" I heard Cassie cry as he sat me down on wobbly feet.  Wrapping her arms around me, she led me to the bathroom, had me sit down on the toilet and washed Dom's blood from my hands. 

"Sweetie, I brought some clothes for you to change into, you still had a couple of outfits here" she said. 

"Cass, what am I going to do?  I can't do this, I don't want to do this!" I cried to my friend.  Cassie stood and placed a kiss on top of my head and told me to get dressed.  I heard her talking to Beni just outside the door,  but couldn't focus enough to hear what they were saying;  my body moved robotically as I slipped the blood soaked clothing off, took the rag Cassie had left, washed the blood off my chest and thighs and then pulled on the shorts, tee shirt, socks and then shoes. 

I had to get this simple task completed because I needed an update on Dom, it was the only thing holding me together, this thin string of hope. When I finally managed to get the shoes tied, I stood up slowly and felt my stomach lurch;  throwing open the lid to the toilet I hunched over and dispelled all the contents from my stomach. 

My hand shakily reached for the handle to flush and then the faucet for water to rinse the rancid taste from my mouth.  Opening the door, I stepped out to about a dozen pairs of eyes on me, one being Valentina, Dom's mother.

"Oh sweetie, come her" she said comfortingly.  I went straight into her arms and while the tears fell violently,  my body didn't lose control because of the shot I'd been given earlier. 

"Valentina, what do I do?" I asked the woman softly. 

Valentina stroked my hair and said "What all Giossi women do, darling. We stay strong, we pray and we wait. I know it's not what you want to hear but this isn't the first time I've been through this with my son and I'm afraid it probably won't be the last, the catalyst here is that he has something to live for, not that he didn't before, but you have given him the extra strength he needs to fight his way back to us.  He'll make it, darling. I have faith and so must you." 

I tried to draw from her, taking her words to heart and using them like a mantra.  I leaned up and kissed the woman on the cheek and mumbled thank you before getting up and walking over to where Beni stood with Carlo.  I wanted an explanation now.

"Beni, please don't shut me out! I killed Viktor for Christ's sake and I kind of think that makes everything else moot" I gritted out, not meaning to sound like a bitch, but I certainly felt like one at this point. 

Beni just blew out a breath, shook his head and muttered "You're a stubborn ass, just like he is" he pointed towards the room where Dom was. "The plan all along was to trick Viktor into thinking that we had a massage parlor for sale, that it was in trouble and leaking money. We figured money, pussy and title is what he's been after. 

Then we made it look like Dante was tired of our organization and was looking to move up himself but couldn't do it under Dom's thumb; so he reached out to several contacts so Viktor would contact him and everything that happened in the warehouse was set up, except Dom getting shot.  I'm still looking into why that happened. 

Alexi and our men were all over that warehouse, plus you were never supposed to be there. Viktor altered everything right up to the point of you getting there." 

I hated his explanation but it sounded plausible and I understood it from a business point of view but to put their boss in that much danger is what I couldn't understand and why he'd agreed to it. 

I was about to say something else when the door opened to one of the tiny rooms and out stepped Dante, his right arm in a sling, blood on his shirt.  His eyes met mine as I stomped over to him, rared back and slapped him hard across the face.   I sucked in a hard breath as my hand flew to my mouth and then threw myself into his arms, sobbing. 

"I'm sorry" I just kept saying as he cradled me with his one good arm, leading me to a chair by Valentina.   He didn't say anything, he just let me cry.  I knew he hated himself for doing that to me but he wasn't sorry about the outcome.  

Viktor was dead at my hand and he knew that sooner or later that realization would hit me and they would all have to be strong for me;  taking a life, no matter how shitty the person, is not something that is easily dealt with, especially the first time. 

He just kept holding me, rocking me gently as my hand gripped his shirt tightly.  Now it was all down to how good Dr. Marianni actually was and if he could pull off a miracle.