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“How long did you think you could avoid me, Jasmine?” he asks, chuckling and shaking his head. “My mistake—Maya.”
I swallow and answer honestly. “I don’t know.”
He chuckles and takes a step closer. Ezra blocks his path and re-aims his gun, but as soon as he does, another gun goes off. I scream as Ezra clutches his shoulder and shouts in pain. His gun drops to the floor, and before I have a chance to lunge for it, the man in red holds his gun to my head.
“Now, now, Ezra,” Dom purrs, roughly patting Ezra’s injured shoulder, causing him to roar in pain. My heart fractures at the sound. “There’s no need for hostility. It is not my fault your girl did not tell you of our arrangement.”
“What arrangement?” Ezra grunts.
Dom looks at me. “Would you like to tell him,farfalla? Or shall I?”
I don’t say anything, just glare at him. He shrugs.
“Two years ago, Maya and I met at a piano store in the city. I was looking for a new Steinway for one of my many clubs when I noticed her staring at a piano with such longing in her eyes. She was so beautiful and sad, and I wanted to make her smile. But then she told me she had a boyfriend, a boyfriend from New York who loved to play the piano, and I knew.”
“How could you have known?” I ask. “There are plenty of men in New York who play the piano.”
Dom Carlo nods, regarding me with curiosity. “Yes, but only one of them had you.” He reaches out like he’s going to touch me, but I jerk away from him. I don’t want to be anywhere near him right now.
“It was so easy,” he says quietly, looking at me, but not really seeing me. “So easy to get intel from the inside. It didn’t take much on my part.” He looks at Ezra. “I just paid that idiot guard of yours since you weren’t paying him, and he told me everything I needed to know. He confirmed who I already knew Maya was.”
“So, we planned. He got close to Maya, formed a bond with her, got her to trust him enough to help her escape. You ran her away yourself, Ezra, so my job was practically done. All it took was her leaving for you to leave your defenses down.”
“Get to the fucking point, Dom,” Benji grits out.
He smirks. “Long story short? I paid Donovan to get Maya away from here so I could strike, but I didn’t know this is where your stronghold is. So when she left, I had planned on taking her for myself and using her as ransom, but she’s quite sneaky, isn’t she? She hides herself very well. I couldn’t find her for a year. She’s been keeping in contact with Donovan on and off, but he kept her whereabouts secret from me. So I’m here for him, too, so I can make him pay for betraying me.”
Ezra looks at me, pain from his injury and my betrayal clear in his eyes. “Maya—”
“I didn’t know it was you!” I yell at Dom Carlo. “All this time, you knew, and you didn’t say anything. Why?”
He eyes me. Greedily. I don’t miss the hunger in his gaze as he rakes his eyes up and down my body. I feel like he can see right through my clothes to the bruises and marks Ezra left on me not too long ago.
“Why would I tell you?” he asks, like the answer should be obvious. “It would have ruined my plans. And it’s more fun this way.”
I shake my head. “I should have known. It was too good to be true, eyeing the very gift I wanted to give Ezra, and there you were with over one hundred thousand dollars, ready to loan. I should’ve known.”
I scoff, feeling defeated.
Stupid.
So, so stupid.
“But how could you have known,farfalla?I would have expected Ezra to show you pictures of me, to scare you away if you ever saw me… But he’s just too damn cocky for that, isn’t he?” He chuckles as Ezra falls to the floor in a puddle of blood. Benji crouches next to him to put his hands over the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding.
“Please,” I whisper to Dom. I will beg and plead for this man to save the love of my life. “Please don’t let him die. I need him. And he needs me.”
“Aww, isn’t that sweet,” Dom crows. He snaps his fingers. “Take her.”
All of a sudden, more men in red crowd into the foyer of the mansion from all around us. I had no idea they were even inside, and it makes me wonder how long they’ve been here.
“No!” I shout as they start grabbing me. “No! Leave me alone!”
Dom looks to the man Benji and I were facing off against before and says, “Niccoló, make sure everyone is dead. I don’t need any surprises.”
Niccoló nods. “Si, Capo.”
No.
