Long Live the King (An Italian Mafia Romance Duet #2) (25 page)

I push my face deep into the bleach-scented pillow and prepare myself for the pain that’s coming. Alannah doesn’t wait for me to respond, she just plunges her fingers into my leg and starts fishing for the bullet. I bury my face into the pillow so hard it hurts my nose, while Alannah struggles to get her fingers deep enough to touch the metal lodged in my leg.

“I’m sorry, I know this hurts,” I hear her say, but her voice is muffled for some reason.

I feel light-headed and hot all over, and I squeeze the pillow to try keep from moving too much, but the pain is becoming unbearable. Alannah pushes her fingers down even further, and even though my eyes are closed, I start to see tiny white sparks popping into my vision.

“I can feel it. Almost got it,” Alannah says to let me know the pain won’t be much longer, but it might be too late.

The white sparks in my vision become bigger and brighter, and my breathing is becoming labored as the pain sends blazing fireworks through my nerves. I start to let out a scream, but before the sound can become audible, Alannah shifts her fingers again, and the white sparks fade into nothingness.

My eyes begin to flutter, slowly revealing the ugly motel room: brown and green comforter, tan-painted walls, dim light in the corner coming from the bathroom, hideous wooden desk in front of me, occupied by the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Alannah. She’s wearing a plain white t-shirt and black leggings, with her brown hair in a ponytail. A black and blue St. Louis Blues jacket rests on the back of the chair she’s seated in, and a white hat sits on top of the desk in front of her. Even with her back to me while she watches the small TV, she’s breathtaking. She glows like a goddess that can’t be denied, even in my groggy state.

“Hey,” I mumble, just as I look down and see that I’m still wearing nothing but my underwear, and my leg has a white bandage around it.

Alannah turns around and flashes her exquisite smile.

“Hey, you’re awake!” she replies, her voice highlighted by her excitement. “I’m sorry that was so painful. Are you okay?”

Alannah gets up from her chair and walks over to the bed, sitting on the edge next to me as she rubs my face with the palm of her hand.

“Oh yeah,” I say with a grin. “Better now.”

“Well, I gave you some medicine to help with the pain, so you should be feeling better by now,” she answers. “I didn’t even realize you’d passed out until I was done.”

“I didn’t know I had passed out until I woke up just now.” We both laugh together, and it feels good to be able to laugh with her. Seems like it’s been a while. “Where’d you get the bandages? And I noticed you’ve changed clothes.”

“I left while you were asleep.”

“You did what?” I snip, suddenly shocked. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

“We needed supplies, Dominic,” she answers. “And it was honestly probably safer without you.”

“Maybe, but it’s a big risk to take. I need to be there to protect you.”

“Maybe that’s true,” she answers, smiling at me. “But if I didn’t get those bandages and the medicine you needed, you wouldn’t have been able to protect me later. I needed to heal you, we needed clothes to change into, and we needed the guns I grabbed, too. We have all the stuff we need now, and nobody saw me. We’re fine.”

“But did you go back to River City? Because I’m sure Victor and Giovanni are all over that place, just waiting for me to show up.”

“No, I went to Hollywood,” she answers, which settles me down a little, because most people don’t know I own Hollywood Casino & Hotel, because I don’t stay there very much. I do have a penthouse in that casino too, so Alannah made the right move by going there. “I took a cab and made him wait for me in the basement while I went to the penthouse. Then I had him drop me off at another hotel, and I got a different cab to bring me back here. I covered my tracks, babe. You don’t have to worry about that. Plus I had a hat on, pulled really low so people couldn’t see my face. We’re good.”

Alannah leans in to kiss me, and it feels so good to have her skin on mine. I breathe a frustrated sigh of relief and try not to worry about how she went out without me. She’s a brave woman, and it makes her even more beautiful.

The bandages on my shoulder and leg are wrapped tight, making moving a bit difficult, but I manage to sit up in the lumpy bed and rest my back on the headboard. The coldness of the wood feels good on my hot skin.

“So, after all that’s happened,” Alannah begins again, changing the subject. “What are we supposed to do now?”

I take a second to think about the answer, and when it comes to me, I know she won’t like it.

“I’ve still gotta meet with Frankie,” I reply, bracing myself for her response.

“What? You just got shot because you tried to meet with Frankie! How do you know he’s not the one who set you up?”

“I don’t,” I answer truthfully. “But Frankie didn’t know we were going to the Isle until I called him, and I think it’s unlikely that he made a call to Giovanni and told him to try to whack me at the last stoplight leading to the casino. I think Giovanni was tailing us from the moment we left River City, and made a move when he saw an opportunity. I thought I saw a red truck when we left. I dismissed it before, but now that I have two holes in my body, I know for sure I saw that Denali when we left River City. That’s my fault.”

“So you don’t think Frankie had anything to do with what happened today?” she asks with fury in her voice.

“Nah. Well, I’m not sure. But I need to know for sure, and there’s only one way to find out.”

“What the hell for?” Alannah snaps, standing up and glaring down on me as she lets out a loud sigh. “I know you’ve been involved in this world your whole life, but history has not been kind to people in the mob. Your mob family is the one who’ll kill you. You can’t trust any of them.”

“Thanks for the lesson on La Cosa Nostra, but I already know that,” I reply. “But I also can’t do this on my own. Look at me. I’m all shot up, and I can’t even defend myself right now, let alone you. I need an ally.”

“I’m your ally.
We
are your allies,” she says as she begins to rub her belly. “We have a baby on the way, Dominic. I don’t want to run for my life anymore. I don’t want to be afraid anymore, not for me, and not for you. And I don’t wanna have to raise this baby alone because its father got killed. I don’t want this life anymore. It’s time to change.”

Tears start to fill Alannah’s eyes, and it’s like a kick in the gut. I know she’s right. This life isn’t the kind of life I want my children to have, and I have to do everything I can to protect it. I have to protect both of them, but I can’t do it on my own. If I want out of La Cosa Nostra, it’s going to take something drastic. It’s going to take more than just me.

“You know I love you, Alannah,” I say to her. “You have to believe me when I tell you there isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do to protect you and our child. Nothing means more to me than that.
Nothing
. And that’s why I gotta call Frankie.”

“You can’t trust Frankie.”

“I think I can. Like I told you before, Frankie was around when my father was still alive, and I think he’s the most loyal guy we have in the Family. I’ve known him my entire life, and I don’t think that bond can be broken. He’s gonna help us get out of this. I got a feeling.”

“You might trust him, but I definitely don’t.”

“You don’t have to. All you gotta do is trust me,” I reply. “Trust that I will always protect you. Trust me, Alannah, please.”

She stares at me, and I can see the anger, frustration, and disappointment in her eyes. She wants nothing more than to be done with all of this. Finding out she was pregnant changed everything, and rightfully so. It changed everything in me too, which is why I’m making this happen.

She takes her hand off of her belly and uses it to wipe away her oncoming tears before exhaling loud enough to be heard through the thin walls.

“Okay, Dominic,” she says, just as she walks over to the table and picks up my cell phone.

It takes about an hour for Frankie to arrive. When he knocks on the door, my heart pounds in my chest. I’m laying in a motel bed with my leg and shoulder bandaged, and the medicine Alannah gave me for the pain still has a grip on my mind and motor skills. The grogginess weighs me down and the gunshot wounds have left me nearly motionless for the moment. This isn’t the state to be in if something goes wrong, so my heart keeps pounding with anxiety.

Alannah opens the door slowly, and Frankie surveys the room before he steps inside. He looks around like he’s expecting someone to pop out at any moment, before stepping up to the foot of the bed and looking down at me.

“What the hell?” he whispers, either to himself or me, I’m not sure.

“Thanks for coming, Frankie,” I say.

“What the hell is going on, Dominic?” he responds as Alannah slowly walks behind him and sits down in the chair in front of the wooden desk.

“Well, I’m not one hundred percent sure what’s going on, to tell you the truth. All I can tell you is what happened, then we’ll have to go from there to figure out what’s going on.”

“Who did this to you?” Frankie replies, looking down at my bandages.

“Right after I called you and told you to meet me at Isle of Capri, Giovanni tried to whack me. We were less than a block away from the Isle when he pulled up next to us and started shooting. We had to get out the car and run, because he was a persistent motherfucker. We ran, and he chased us. Shot me in the shoulder and the back of the leg. Obviously, if Giovanni is shooting at me, the word was put out by Victor, which means he must’ve gotten approval from the Commission.”

Frankie lets out a loud sigh.

“If that’s true, it’s a serious problem to have, Dominic,” he says.

“Yeah, and it’s especially fucked up because that’s the reason I wanted to meet with you at the Isle in the first place. I was hoping to figure out a way to pay Victor. I wanted to settle it.”

“But he didn’t give you the chance, now he has to die,” Frankie growls. “Giovanni shot you, and he has to pay for that. Victor too, for ordering the hit. This is war now, Dominic.”

“If this were normal circumstances, that’s exactly what I’d want. But these ain’t normal circumstances.”

“What? They fucking shot you!” Frankie snaps. “They don’t get to live now. You don’t shoot at a boss and miss. They knew what they were doing when they started this shit, and now we have to organize and finish it. We need to call Tommy, and get our people together so we can retaliate.”

“We can’t,” I start, but I stop myself before I can say too much about Tommy. I’m not ready to address that yet. One step at a time. “I wanna kill Giovanni more than anything else, but like I said before, our circumstances have changed.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. Look at yourself, you’re sitting in a fucking motel with the lights down low, hiding because these fuckers are after you. St. Louis belongs to us, and everyone is gonna know you don’t fuck with the Giordano family. What has changed about your circumstances that you don’t want to hit them back?”

“You just gotta trust me, Frankie. We gotta play this smart,” I reply, trying my best to calm him down. “I hear what you’re saying, believe me. But the first thing we need to do is find out exactly what’s going on. First we get the information, then we use it to our advantage. I want to outsmart them, not do exactly what they’d expect. And when I say
they
, I mean Victor and the Commission both. For all we know, it’s us versus all of them. So, that’s why I need you. You’ve been involved with Our Thing way longer than me, and I know you can get the information we need. So, I need you to be smart about this, okay.

“I almost didn’t call you, Frankie. We’re having some serious trust issues over here, so it’s important that you handle this exactly how I say. I don’t want Jimmy involved, I don’t want Sal involved, and definitely not John.”

“What about Tommy?” he asks. “Tommy’s the underboss, and you’ve known him a long time, too. You don’t want him involved either?”

“I’ve known
you
my whole life,” I answer, deflecting away from Tommy. “And you were my father’s friend. The bond you and I have is unbreakable. You’re like an uncle to me, Frankie. I trust you, and you’re the only one I want working on this. So, don’t tell anybody where I am. Don’t even mention my name right now. Just find out if the Commission has put something in the streets about me. I need to see how deep this thing goes before I make another move. Okay?”