I look around and she’s gone. “Where’s her room?”
“Down the hall, the last door on the right.”
Walking down the hall, I pull out my phone. It would be better if I had it in paper, for now my phone will have to do. I don’t bother knocking. Regina is standing in the middle of her room, running her hands through her long, silky hair. She isn’t posing, but fuck me, the sight of her with her arms up high, her hands in her hair, her breasts thrust up has me stone fucking hard in an instant.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing in here?” Her outrage animates her beautiful face. Not helping me get my cock under control.
“The man you think you’re marrying tomorrow is a piece of shit. A coke-addicted, rapist, murderer, and embezzling piece of shit. He’s in debt over three hundred thousand to a bunch of people, one of them Alonzo Bruno. He’s using you.”
I shove my phone in her face. Her eyes darken to melting chocolate. She steps back, shaking her head, doesn’t even look at my phone.
“Take it and look. This was all found in less than three hours of not even deep digging. I can get you the pictures of a prostitute he fucked up so badly she’s had two reconstructive surgeries. There’s a stripper too. She disappeared after she pressed charges, no one can find her. He doesn’t love you, Regina. He loves money and his skin, which is what he’s trying to save by marrying you. The minute he gets a ring on your finger the plan is to hit up your father for five hundred thousand.”
Fuck, she blinks, there are tears glistening in her eyes. Squeezing her eyes shut, she keeps shaking her head. Then she’s opening them and pushes me away, hard. I don’t move an inch. “Get out of here, you lying bastard. Fuck you and fuck Johnny. I’m tired of him trying to control me.”
“He’s not trying to control you. He’s trying to save your damn life. If Taylor doesn’t get what he wants from your father, he will make your life a living hell. Your father cares about you, he’s trying to protect you. Johnny doesn’t even know half the shit I found. Look at it, damn you.”
She smacks the phone out of my hand. “Get the fuck away from me. I don’t believe you. I know Richard, he loves me. He—”
“You don’t know shit. Fine, ask him. Ask him about Katrina Snyder, the stripper who went missing. Ask him about Tory—”
Another shove. “Get out! Get out! Shut up!”
Jesus Christ. “Regina—”
She slaps me across the face, hard. Her eyes go wide, as her hands go up to her mouth. She’s backing away from me, scared.
Yeah, she should be scared. No one has hit me since I was sixteen years old. No one has dared. I force a deep breath and grab my phone, walking away while I still can. I’ve never laid a hand on a woman in anger, and I won’t start now. I’m barely out of her room when I run right into Johnny.
“Where the fuck are you going? Holy shit, she hit you?”
“I need a minute.” I run my hands through my hair, fighting for control. This is bullshit. I’m cool, downright cold, a ruthless sonofabitch. I’ve made grown men cry before I even touched them. Men are afraid of me, and none of it has to do with me carrying a gun. The more pissed I get the colder I get, but right now I feel like I’m a volcano about to blow.
“Make her listen, Dom.” He sighs heavily. “I don’t have five hundred, I don’t even have five Gs. I’m broke. I didn’t have insurance, between the cancer treatments and my mother, I barely have enough for a cup of coffee most days.”
Shock doesn’t cover it. How could he be broke? As the head of the family I send him fifteen percent of the earnings from my business. On average I send him a little more than fifty grand a month, Pop sends him about twenty grand a month. There are six other men in Chicago paying him. Yeah, some of it goes to pay bills, senators, cops, aldermen, and lawyers, but he should still be netting three hundred grand easy. How deep is his debt? “Broke?”
His face is red with shame. “I got nothing, I’m barely treading water. Any day they are going to repossess this condo and there’s nothing I can do about it. Dominic, I need you to take care of Gina. I trust you. I’m giving her to you. She’s yours, your moglie.”
I’m shaking my head. I don’t want her. I don’t want any woman for a wife.
“Please, Dominic, this is my last request of you as your Don. As a father who wants to die knowing his daughter is safe. Take her and protect her from this world and herself.”
Goddamnit. For a split second I consider walking away from this whole fucking mess. Only I can’t do that to Johnny, as my Don, as a father who cares about his daughter. And Regina, fuck. Despite what she may think, I have no doubt Taylor would hurt her, and the idea of it... Jesus fucking Christ, savage anger fires through me. Taylor won’t touch her, not now, not ever.
I don’t want her, yet honor demands I take her
and do as he asked, keep her safe, even from herself. “You got cuffs?”
He shakes his head.
Mine. Regina is mine. She isn’t going to be any happier than I am about it. I take off my tie, it will have to do.
She’s locked her door, too bad. I’ve done this before, never to a woman, there’s a first time for everything. A well-placed kick and the door swings open. Regina screams.
She aims a punch at me, this time I don’t let her get close. I grab her wrist to bring it around behind her back. Sonofabitch, she fucking bit me. Fuck this, I’m not quite as careful as I was a minute ago. I swipe her feet out from under her to bring her down to the floor, a knee to the middle of her back and it’s only seconds to get her hands tied. Yanking her up onto her feet “Where’s the bag you packed for tomorrow?”
She shakes her head, compressing her mouth. I keep her hands in one of mine as I get her closet door open. I spot a large cloth bag, a quick check tells me this is it. Dropping the bag onto my other shoulder, I haul her after me down the hall.