Chapter 2 - The Mafia Boss Moved Me Into His House Before I Could Say No
Dominic Russo's house was not a house.
It was a fortress disguised as a modern mansion overlooking the Hudson.
Black gates.
Private security.
Cameras on every corner.
Three stories of glass and stone.
I stood in the foyer wondering if I had walked into a palace or a prison.
Dominic removed his coat.
"You'll stay here."
"For how long?"
"Until your father's debt is resolved."
"I can't pay it."
"I didn't say you would."
I frowned.
"Then why am I here?"
He looked at me.
"Because someone tried to kill me with you standing ten feet away."
"I didn't do it."
"I know."
"Then who are you protecting me from?"
He was silent.
"Everyone."
Leo showed me to a guest room.
It was larger than my entire apartment.
I didn't sleep.
At six in the morning, I heard shouting downstairs.
I opened the door.
Dominic stood in the hallway.
"Go back inside."
"What's happening?"
"Nothing."
"That's a lie."
He looked at me.
"You really don't know how to be frightened quietly."
"I've had practice."
His expression softened.
A man came running up the stairs.
"Boss."
Dominic turned.
"What?"
"The Castellanos know she's here."
My stomach dropped.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"How?"
"Someone saw her leave the Onyx Room."
He looked at me.
"Get dressed."
"Why?"
"We're moving."
"Where?"
"A safe location."
"I thought this was the safe location."
"It was."
That answer frightened me.
Within twenty minutes, we were in an armored SUV.
Dominic sat beside me.
Leo drove.
Two cars followed.
I watched Manhattan blur past the window.
"How does my father know your family?"
Dominic asked.
I shook my head.
"My father never talked about work."
"What did he do?"
"Accounting."
"For whom?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
I looked at him.
"I'm not."
He believed me.
But he kept staring.
"Your father had financial records from several criminal organizations."
"How do you know?"
"Because I found one."
My heart raced.
"Where?"
"In my office."
Dominic pulled out his phone.
He showed me a photograph.
A page from a ledger.
My father's handwriting.
I recognized it instantly.
At the bottom was my name.
Not written once.
Written beside a number.
150,000.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
"Then why does it have my name?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me."
I stared at the screen.
The number wasn't a debt.
It was a transfer.
My father's handwriting showed money moving from one account to another.
And beside the transaction was my birth date.
09/14.
The date of my birth.
I looked at Dominic.
"What is happening?"
He took the phone back.
"That's what I'm trying to find out."
We arrived at a second property outside the city.
There was a small lake.
No neighbors.
No traffic.
No cameras visible from the road.
I spent two days there.
Dominic came and went.
Each time he returned, he asked about my father.
Each time, I told him the same thing.
I didn't know.
On the third night, he came into the kitchen while I was making tea.
"You should sleep."
"I could say the same."
"I'm used to it."
"So am I."
He leaned against the counter.
"Tell me something."
"What?"
"Why did you know the signal?"
I hesitated.
"I worked at the Onyx Room for two years."
"That's not an answer."
"The bartenders use it when a drink is wrong."
"Wrong how?"
"We don't ask."
"Then how do you know?"
"Because I was taught."
"By whom?"
"My father."
Dominic went still.
"When?"
"When I was sixteen."
He stepped closer.
"My father taught me to recognize dangerous situations."
"Did he know you worked for criminal families?"
"Not officially."
"You think he knew."
"I think he knew everything."
Dominic studied me.
"You love him."
I looked away.
"Even after he disappeared."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because being abandoned doesn't erase being loved."
Something shifted in his expression.
He sat across from me.
"My father thinks family is ownership."
I looked up.
"Your father?"
"Salvatore Russo."
I knew the name.
Everyone did.
Dominic's father had built half of what Dominic now controlled.
"Do you hate him?"
Dominic was quiet.
"Sometimes."
"Do you love him?"
He looked at me.
"Sometimes."
I nodded.
"Same thing with my father."
He almost smiled.
"You make everything sound complicated."
"Because it is."
A silence settled.
Then Dominic said:
"You can't go back to the Onyx Room."
"I know."
"You'll stay here."
"You can't keep me prisoner."
"I don't want to."
"Then what do you want?"
His eyes held mine.
"I want you alive."
My heart beat faster.
I looked away.
He did too.
The next morning, Leo arrived with news.
Thomas had been found dead.
His body was discovered near the river.
No witnesses.
No cameras.
Dominic's face hardened.
"That's retaliation."
"From the Castellanos?" I asked.
Leo shook his head.
"No."
He looked at me.
"From someone who wants them to think they did it."
Dominic understood immediately.
The attempted assassination had been designed to start a war.
Someone wanted Dominic and the Castellanos fighting.
And my father's ledger was somehow connected.
Later that evening, Dominic came to my room.
He stood in the doorway.
"We need to talk."
"About Thomas?"
"About your father."
My pulse quickened.
He handed me a photograph.
My father stood beside a younger Dominic.
I had never seen the picture.
My mouth went dry.
"What is this?"
"Your father worked for my father."
"That's impossible."
"Not only did he work for him, he handled private accounts."
I stared at the photograph.
"Then why did he owe the Castellanos?"
"Because he stole something."
"What?"
Dominic looked at me.
"A ledger."
The same kind of ledger he had shown me.
My stomach turned.
"Maybe he didn't disappear."
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe someone made him disappear."
Dominic nodded.
"That's what I think."
He stepped closer.
"Which means the people who poisoned my drink may not have been targeting me first."
I looked at him.
"Who were they targeting?"
May you like
"You."
I stopped breathing.
Related Stories
