13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Dominic

The bar that Will has asked to meet at is all the way on the other side of town.

Part of me wants to cancel. I know that he wants to meet me to ask why Gianna is staying with me and working at my club. But I know that if I don't have this conversation with him now, I'm just going to have to have it in the future.

"Been a while." I pat Will on the back and sit down next to him.

"Yeah, apparently, you've been busy." William is halfway through his drink, but from the smell of him, I guess that he's about three drinks in already.

"Work's been a lot lately. What about you?"

"Me? I've just been handling my little sister being harassed by a professional killer." I'm shocked by his words.

"Will, what the fuck are you talking about? Harassed? Is that What Gianna told you?" Trying hard not to laugh at his absurdity, I look down at my drink.

"She doesn't have to, Dom. I've known you for a few years now, and I've seen you work your way through women. You think I'm just going to sit and let that happen to my sister?" He's angry, I would even say fuming, and his face is getting red as he speaks.

"You have known me for a while, William, and for that I'd expect at least a little more respect than that. You think I'd treat your sister like some whore I picked up off the street?" My voice is calm, because I don't want to make a scene in this bar, but he's pissed me off now.

"I'm not sure you have the ability to treat any woman otherwise, Reaper." The use of my nickname shocks me.

Will has always known me as Dom, and while I haven't hidden my alter ego from him, I also never saw it as something that was an issue in our friendship.

"I can tell you're upset…"

"I'm not upset," Will hisses at me, and I almost laugh at the irony. "But I do want you to bring my sister home. It's ridiculous that she's staying with you and working at your club. She's from a good family. She's embarrassing us."

"Embarrassing you?" I say back, one brow lifted. "I wasn't embarrassing when I was solving you and your father's little issue, now was I?"

Will have the good grace to flush and look away.

"Will, we're friends, but you don't tell me what to do." I look him in the eyes now, making sure that I am understood.

"I'm telling you to let my sister go." He stares right back at me. I don't think he realizes exactly who he's talking to. That or he truly believes that his family is powerful enough to take me on.

"Have you ever considered that she's with me because that's where she wants to be?" I look at Will, who has gone silent.

I sigh and shake my head. He's not willing to understand that his sister is her own person.

I open my mouth to say something to him, when Will punches me in the face.

Rubbing my jaw, I look at William. He looks shocked that he actually hit me. I'm shocked, too. But the shock soon turns to anger, and before he can swing at me again, I send a fist at his face, landing right in the center of his nose. Blood starts running down his face almost immediately.

I hear screaming, and then William jumps to his feet and wraps his arm around my neck.

As we tussle, we slam into the pool table and William's hold on me loosens. I use the opportunity to step away from his grasp, landing a blow in his kidney.

"Hey! I'm calling the cops!" the young bartender calls out.

I grab William's arm and drag him out of the bar. Neither of us needs to be questioned by cops, least of all together.

Will's nose is pouring blood, and one of his eyes is already swelling a little. He lets me take him out of the bar and get him into my car. I'm glad I decided to drive myself today.

There's an emergency room about five minutes away from where we are, and that's where I drive to. Walking in, I spot a nurse and motion for her to help us.

She helps us get checked in, then she ushers both of us to beds that are side by side in the ER. She pulls the curtain around us and gets to work on checking our injuries.

I will get the worst of it, but my jaw has been hit so often that there's always a risk it might break completely. We let the nurse do her job as we sit in silence, only moving when she asks us to.

"Okay," she smiles at us after cleaning up the blood and handing out meds for pain and swelling. "Ice on those bruises as often as possible, painkillers twice a day, and no more fighting, boys!"

Her joyful attitude is wasted on both of us. We groan in appreciation and head out of the hospital, back to my car.

"Let me drop you off at home." I say to Will. He looks like he's about to argue but doesn't have the energy to.

"Yeah," is all he says as he gets into the car and puts his seatbelt on.

We drive in silence to his house, where he gets out without a word and walks to the front door without looking back.

I might have just lost a friend, but I don't know what to do about that.

I text Gianna to tell her that I'm on my way home and that I've been in a fight. She asks a flurry of questions via text that I ignore.

I can explain when I come home.

***

Vince is standing at the door of my loft, which is odd. He's never come down here on his own. I've brought him here twice, so he knows where it is, but otherwise it's always me going to him.

"Reaper, suddenly you don't answer your fucking phone?" Vince's voice aggravates the headache that I've woken up with.

I look at my watch. It's eight in the morning. I overslept slightly. I remember passing out after taking painkillers last night, so I must have taken enough of them to get a good night's sleep.

I look around for Gianna and realize that I can hear the shower running. I don't want her to meet Vince. I need to get him out of here as quickly as possible.

"Nice to have you over, Vince."

"Yeah, yeah. I'd rather you answered me when I call you, so I don't need to come over." He's agitated, so I get up and put a cup of coffee in front of him. I stand on the opposite side of the kitchen, listening.

"Next time." I joke with him. He remains silent, not even smiling. I've always been convinced that Vince doesn't have any sense of humor at all.

"I need you to do some traveling. There's a man we've been keeping an eye on, but the bastard has snuck off to Atlantic City. Seems he's taken my product and is trying to sell it as his own. Without paying me a share of those profits."

"You want me to find the products or the man?"

"Both. Bring the product back with you. Eliminate the man."

"Okay." I'll figure out what to do with Gianna later. I can't say no to Vince, or he'll realize that something is up.

"But you have to do it smart. Watch him for a bit, see who he's connected to. And then get it done and get home. I don't have as many contacts in that city, so there's no room to get caught with blood on your hands."

"Watch him for how long?"

"I've made sure you have accommodation for at least two or three weeks."

"Okay. No problem." Leaving town for three weeks isn't an odd request from Vince, but it seems ironic to be happening now when I have Gianna to think about.

Vince looks satisfied. He's got what he came for. He sits down on the bar stool and makes himself comfy. I can see him staring at the bruises on my face.

"Little fight," I tell him, not waiting for the questions.

"Little?" Vince raises his eyebrows, not believing me one bit. I haven't looked at my face yet, so I can't tell how bad the bruising is. From Vince's expression, I'd guess it's bad enough to raise a few questions.

"Stupid, with a friend. No big deal." Vince isn't usually one to ask too many questions, but as he gets older, he seems to be a lot more interested in what is going on in my life.

"A friend, huh?" Maybe I shouldn't have given him that many details. He knows William, and he's smart enough to put two and two together. "Maybe it's good for you to leave for a bit."

"Maybe it is." I set my cup into the sink. I hear the shower turn off. "Well, I have some packing to do," I say to Vince, hoping he'll get the hint and head out.

"Got a visitor?" Vince says to me, one brow lifted in inquiry.

I wince as I hear Gianna starting to sing to herself in the bathroom. She likes to do that while she's putting on her makeup.

Usually, I find it really charming. Today, I wish she would have just stayed quiet.

"I'm not allowed to have some fun, once in a while?" I ask wryly.

Vince looks at me with narrowed eyes. "I heard a rumor that Gianna Bianchi has gone missing. Her family has been asking where she's staying. They seem very worried about her."

"That's odd," I say without any inflection in my voice. I level a calm stare at Vince.

If I can just get him out of my hair before Gianna comes out of the bathroom, I might be able to avoid having issues with Vince about how I spend my free time.

"Isn't it?" Vince replies easily. "Want to introduce me to your lady friend when she comes out of the bathroom? I hope she went in there with some clothes to put on."

I cringe and walk out of the kitchen. I tap the bathroom door. "You have clothes in there?" I ask.

"Yeah, why?" Gianna calls back.

"We have company," I say to her.

"Oh! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she says. She sounds happy to have a guest. I feel bad about that, but there's no way to warn her about Vince.

I lean against the wall by the bathroom, watching Vince, who is watching me.

When Gianna hurries out of the bathroom, I catch her shoulders and draw her in close to me. She looks up at me in some confusion, but then smiles at Vince.

"Oh, hello!" she says. "Who are you?"

Vince gives her a false smile. I can feel his annoyance all the way across the room. "I'm Dom's father. And his boss."

"Oh," Gianna says. She looks back at me over her shoulder.

She tries to step away from me, but I hold her more tightly so she can't get closer to Vince. I feel the tension thrumming through her as she realizes that something is wrong and she leans back against me.

"Why is she here?" Vince asks me.

"Why can't she be here?" I say back.

Vince closes his eyes for a moment, as if he's fighting to remain calm. "Reaper, get her out of here. Give her back to her damn family. I don't want to deal with a war over this girl. You two aren't fucking Romeo and Juliet."

"A war?" Gianna says. She sounds scared.

"What war?" I ask with irritation. "Gianna's family doesn't want her to be with me, but there's no reason for anyone to go to war over her being with me."

"Isn't there?" Vince says back. He sounds furious now. "You don't know about everything that is going on because all you do is kill people who are in the way, Reaper. Her family is working on some shit that I don't even want to be involved with. Stepping on their toes is bad for business, for all of us in Chicago. You need to send her back to them right away and forget you ever knew her. If you don't they are going to come after you, and through you, they will come after me."

I feel slightly stunned at his words. I knew that Gianna's family was involved in some shady stuff, but I had no idea that it was anything big enough to make Vince worried.

I know he wants me to feel pressured to get Gianna off my hands as soon as possible, but I actually feel exactly the opposite desire.

She doesn't deserve to be harmed by her family's bad choices. She probably didn't even know that they were doing anything truly illegal with the family business.

"I don't understand," Gianna says, sounding panicky. "My parents wouldn't go to war with the mafia or whatever over me. They don't even care about me anyway. They haven't once asked me to come home."

I grimace a little and shake my head. "Your brother was the one that beat me up last night," I admit to her. "He was not pleased that you were here and he made some threats that I apparently should have taken seriously."

She is white as a sheet now, and suddenly she wrestles from my hands and races to the bathroom. After she slams the door, I hear her throwing up.

I close my eyes. This is not good. This is not good at all.

"Do what I said," Vince tells me as he stands up and makes to leave. "Or you will have to run from the Bianchis and from me."

He slams the door as he leaves and my heart sinks.

I feel terrible. I have exposed Gianna to the censure of her family, but I have also put her in significant danger.

I had thought that her brother was telling me to stay away from her because of what I did for a living. Now I realize that he might have been warning me to stay away from her because of something his family business is involved in.

"I should have stayed in England," Gianna says mournfully, coming out of the bathroom. She's still as white as a sheet and my heart goes out to her.

"Maybe," I say to her, walking over to fold her into my arms. "But then I wouldn't have gotten to know you." She feels tiny and frail to me, and guilt stabs me in the heart.

I might kill people for a living without giving it a single thought, but I would protect Gianna with my life.

She has wormed her way into my life and I can't imagine waking up without her snuggled up to me in bed. I'm not going to let her be hurt by the evil of her father and my father.

"Dom, I need to tell you something," she says, her voice muffled because she is still pressed tightly in my hug.

"Can it wait until I figure out what we're going to do about all of this?" I ask her.

She sniffs and nods, swiping her wet hair back off her cheeks.

"We'll figure this out," I reassure her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You can trust me."