Page 147 of Dominance

Scooping Gloria up off her feet I hustle for the rear door where the officiant is ushering Dom into the priest’s access hallways. Son of a bitch is trying to bolt!

“Adri…” she groans, clutching at her shoulder.

“Hang on, we have to get out of here, I’ve got you!”

Glancing to my left, I spot Anna, her little sister, who I just met, shaking, her hands covering her ears. “Anna! Get down!”

Instead, she gasps when she sees her sister in my arms and comes running, helps me carry her into the hallway, scooping up her dress train. We’re in a dead run, down the steps, through the offices, following close on Dom’s heels as he rushes for the back door.

“Weller, if you’re listening you need to cut him off! Rear entrance of the church!”

Gloria manages a confused look from her perch in my arms.

“No time to explain. Can you walk?”

“Yes … I think so.”

Setting her down, I unholster my gun, holding up one hand for them to stay behind me as I ease the door open, revealing a stone courtyard, a swatch of green in the center running to a lot and a tall gate.

And there in the middle of the green…

Dom.

Staring down a bald-headed, severe looking man with a raincoat on, his standard issue pointed right at my enemy’s center mass. Despite the standoff, Dom looks composed, if a little tense, pacing back and forth like a predator instead of prey.

“Give it up, Dom. Nowhere to go.”

“There’s always a way out, Jim. You just don’t have the guts to do it.”

“Because it shouldn’t have come to that. It shouldn’t have come to this either. But you made your decision. You burned all your bridges.”

“No! You burned my world to the ground when you let him die, Weller!” Dom flings his hands down in a final gesture, his voice cracking as he loses all control.

“That’s not how it went down, Dom. The safehouse was ambushed. Wiped out.”

“Because you took Paolo from her.”

“We wanted to protect him from the mob life, fromyou.”

“Youusedhim to get to me! And you usedme, played me.”

“Don’t try to act like you’re blameless in this, Vipera. We gave you a chance at an out, a chance to make a deal.”

“And all I had to do was betray my family.”

“Dad?” Gloria steps onto the grass before I can stop her. “Who was Paolo?”

Dom swivels around, his features still twisted in pain, his pistol pointing erratically from side to side.

“He was yourbrother. Myson.” His feral posture falters, his shoulders twitching forward in a half sob.

Gloria raises her good hand, palm toward him, comforting. “What happened to him?”

“They…she told me he died at the hospital. But then…” Dom’s eyes glaze over, looking all around but seeing something else. The past. “The feds told me they took him. That she gave him up. They placed him with a family, raised him.”

“They leveraged him against you to spy on the Diamantes.” I summarize, shaking my head.

Dom nods savagely, bitter tears streaming down his cheeks. He nails Gloria with those hate-filled eyes as she approaches and I train my sights on him, daring him to make a move on her.

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