“This guy managed to balance things just right and he was selling it for serious coins, so no wonder he had no qualms about retiring. The intel Gibbs got was the cocktail produces powerful hallucinations that go on for days,” Dominic nods and instantly I understand why Dr. Pearson might be so valuable to the Order. “I checked out a few more things from police and FBI reports and found details of a new mixture they found from a raid in San Jose. The mixture looks like Pearson’s concoction. Aiden, I think he’s a drug dealer.”
Instantly my interest piques.
“Fuck.” I recall the man I killed days ago. Drugs… that was why the fucker looked like he knew where to find Pearson.
“Word on the underground is there’s a guy called Dr. Vision who can get you jacked up for days, so I don’t think he’s just working for the Order.”
“Fucking hell.” I bring my hand to my chin and consider this.
“I know that’s definitely a long shot, and I totally filled in all the blanks with my own concoction, but one I think we should check out. It’s better than waiting for a lead.”
“Of course. Jesus, Dominic,” I rasp. “Thanks man. Thanks for looking into this. The whole thing is fucking with me.”
“That’s understandable. I can only imagine how worried you must be.” He nods again.
I bite the inside of my lip and try not to show the worry he’s talking about. I try and I know I fail when sympathy comes into his eyes. I’m not the kind of man to keep friends or open up to anybody. The only person I did that with is Viktor and I haven’t since his death.
But this man has come to be a good friend over the last few years and has gone over and above to help me. Like me, Dominic is a recovering addict andlike me, we both act on impulse with no off switch when it comes to getting revenge. He’s also never given me a reason to distrust him.
He’s outside the realms of the Bratva, and Maksim and Ilya. He doesn’t need anything from me.
“My child is the one good thing I did in this world,” I say. “He was only a baby when he was taken. Barely a month-old Dominic. Someone took him from me, then set my house on fire and killed my wife. I can’t explain what that feels like.”
“It must be hell. Candace and I don’t even have our son yet and I love him. And you know I’m crazy about my wife.”
“Yes, I think we all know that.” I give him a warm smile.
He and his wife have been married for a year, but they’ve known each other since they were kids. Candace is five months pregnant.
They remind me of Gabriella and me.
“I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to them. I think the horror of what happened to you is my nightmare.”
“I owe you, old friend.”
“No, you don’t. You helped me get my life back on track. This is me helping you, Pakhan.” Gratitude comes into his eyes and I remember exactly how I helped him.
I’m sure I could say with certainty it was me who first suspected Dominic had turned to drugs a few years back. I knew well before he even knew that he was addicted and all I did was take one look at him.
I also knew it was grief that caused it because he had the same lost look in his eyes I had when I lost Gabriella.
For me it was her. For him it was losing his father in the Syndicate bombing. I did the same thing to help him get off drugs that Viktor did for me. A trip to Tibet was the answer. Dominic left L.A. and didn’t return until he was better. That was over a period of two years.
For me it took longer.
“I appreciate your help,” I tell him, and he nods.
“I’m sorry you’re in this situation.”
I shake my head and ready myself to tell him the same thing I always say when people offer their sympathy.
“Don’t be sorry for me, Dominic. I got what I deserved.”
“No one deserves this Aiden.”
“I did. It’s what happens to you when you do the devil’s bidding.”
While the sympathy still lingers in his eyes, the same question he’s had since he found out Aleksei was alive lurks there too. That question is one I know he’s wanted to ask me since I confirmed I had dealings with the Order that went wrong and that was why I was punished.