23. Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dominic

Gianna is sleeping nestled against me. Her arm is already turning all kinds of shades of black and green, and she's worryingly pale.

I have thought about what I'm going to do over and over again for the past hour. I'm grateful that Will is still pouting. The longer he leaves us alone, the closer Vince will get to Atlantic City.

I look at her soft belly, finally seeing the smallest bump. I can't help but contemplate the tiny life growing inside of her.

We made a person. There's a little tiny Dom and Gianna combination growing inside of her. I wonder what our child will look like. Will it be brunette and green-eyed like Gi, or olive-skinned and dark-haired like me? Will it have blue eyes like mine?

I suddenly feel swamped with so many different kinds of emotions. I want to tell Vince about our baby. I want to have a baby shower. I want to be there for my child's birth. I want to marry Gianna.

I feel moisture on my face and reach up with surprise to find tears streaming down my face. I didn't even realize I was crying. I feel strangely numb, like a ghost watching myself from a great distance.

Everything about my existence is different now that Gianna is in my life. I have a reason to live. I feel alive.

I can't remember the last time I felt alive. I smile at the delicate woman cradled in my arms. She's so strong and brave. She's been amazingly helpful as we tracked down The Cobra and so much more daring than I ever thought she would be.

Her family should be ashamed of how they have neglected her over the years. Maybe they meant to keep her safe, but I also think that they intended to use her to help build their empire.

All the grooming to teach her to be socially appropriate, to be a good mother, to host lovely parties—they were always planning on her marrying for influence.

I thought about what she had hinted at when she complained about Guy. It seemed like her brother had sent Guy to spy on her in the UK. The thought was as distasteful as every other thought I now had about William.

How could he be The Cobra? The thought still didn't make sense, and yet it made perfect sense.

So much of the mystery of The Cobra added up when you realized that Will knew everyone in the underworld, had grown up around the business, and had his father's money to help launch his personal venture.

Would he sell Gianna into sex slavery? The thought made my blood run cold. No. I wouldn't let that happen. Vince wouldn't let that happen, surely. Even once I was gone, Vince would try to find Gianna. He would know that I wanted her to be safe, and he would try to make sure that she was.

The sound of the door creaking open startled me out of my gloomy thoughts. I looked up and squinted at the bright light flooding into the room.

Will stood in the doorway, his green mask back in place. The mask should have been laughable, but somehow it was intimidating. It was so strange-looking that it made you take a moment to consider what kind of man would be willing to do business with that kind of gear on his face.

It was very disconcerting not to be able to see his eyes. I gather my thoughts and sit up straighter.

Gianna moans a little in pain as she wakes up, trying to keep her broken arm still. Will and I stare at one another, the silence stretching out.

Six other men wearing party-style masks step into the room and flank him. I hear Gianna swallow hard next to me, but she remains silent.

"Are you going to plead for her life?" Will finally says. His voice is cold, devoid of feeling. His fake accent is back.

"No," I say in a level voice.

Will snorts. "Typical. Use them, then throw them away, is that it?"

"Not that, either," I say. I indicate to Gianna that I'm going to stand up, and she shifts to the side so she can lean against the wall. She looks like she feels sick, and I hope that she's going to be able to hang on just a little longer.

"I have a proposition to offer you that you won't be able to refuse," I say.

"I doubt that very much," Will says to me.

My mouth twists in a parody of a smile. "Let me finish," I tell him chidingly.

"Fine," he says abruptly. "But hurry up."

I hold up my hands appeasingly and continue speaking. "I offer you the unique chance to be the man responsible for erasing the Reaper from this earth," I tell him. "In public. You can broadcast it, or record the act, I don't care. You can execute me in any way that you see fit."

"No!" Gianna screams out. I hear her scrabbling to get to her feet, making choking noises as the pain catches up with her.

"Shut up, sister dear," Will says to her dismissively. He tilts his head, and one of his men strides across the room to grab Gianna by her arm. She screeches in pain, and I whirl to look at her, seeing her weeping and clutching her arm.

"I won't agree to any of that, however," I tell Will. "Unless you promise to let Gianna go."

Will holds out a hand to the man who is gripping Gianna's arm, and he steps back. She gasps in relief, cradling her broken arm and panting with the pain.

"You think I will really let Gianna go free? With your bastard baby inside her womb?"

I nod. "Yes, you will. Vince will take her away to someplace safe. She'll change her name. You'll let my child grow up away from this life. Gianna never wanted any of this, and I don't want this life for my child. Besides, you've got an image to uphold and a position to assert if you want to get even bigger jobs and scores. You need the publicity of this execution. You need the fear that it will strike in the hearts of your enemies and your business partners."

Will paces back and forth for a few moments, clearly mulling my idea over. Finally, he straightens up and nods just once. "It's a deal. Get her out of here." He flings a hand in Gianna's direction, and another of his men crosses the room. The two men standing near her start to hustle her out the door.

"No!" Gianna screams, digging in her heels and trying to resist them. "Dom! I love you! Please don't do this!"

"Gianna," I plead with her, even though my heart is breaking. "Remember that I said you had to trust me? Please just do this. For the baby." I'm not sure that her brother will honor the agreement that we have made, but I do think that I can keep him distracted long enough for her to get away.

Once she and Vince connect, she'll be safe at least.

She hesitates, clearly wanting to fight, clearly desperate to fly at her brother and claw his eyes out. But she's injured, and the baby might be hurt. She's hungry and tired and scared. And she promised. I can see all of it running through her mind for a moment before she just nods at me, her eyes shining with love.

"We'll save you," she says to me, her voice a tearful thread. "We won't let him do this to you."

"Oh, for God's sake," Will interrupts her. "Get her the fuck out of here. I'm sick of her whining."

Will's men give both her good and bad arms a yank, causing her to whimper and fold over in pain. I resist the urge to attack the men blocking the door. I grind my teeth together as I watch them drag her away, and then I focus my full attention on Will.

I feel the cold, clinical detachment that I use when I'm preparing to complete a kill wash over me.

"Let me see that you have let her go," I state in a flat tone of voice.

Will makes an annoyed sound in the back of his throat, but he gestures for me to come with him. I walk behind him into the hallway just in time to see his men shove her out the door.

She crumples into a heap on the gravel, crying out as she lands on her injured arm. His men leave her in the swirling cloud of dust that was lifted from the ground when she fell, and step back into the building.

They slam the door and then turn to block it with their backs.

"There," Will says impatiently. "You've seen that she's free. Now it's time for me to get what you promised me."

"Not until I hear her drive away," I say firmly. I don't trust them to let her go, and I need to buy some more time for Vince to arrive. The longer I can drag this out, the better.

Will might think of himself as a dishonorable killer who is willing to stoop to any level to make a dollar, but he's already shown that he can't quite let go of his rich, snobby ways. He will give me this much out of a sense of honor. I'm sure of it.

I hear Gianna crying beyond the door and my body trembles with the restrained desire to go to her, to help her.

I hear her feet scuffle on the gravel and I imagine her getting up, her arm held at a painful angle. I strain my ears for the sound of the car unlocking, and then I hear the chirping noise I was waiting for. It's not long before the door opens and closes and then the engine comes to life.

Will moves toward me, but I wave him back, still listening. I hear the car roll back away from the building, and then accelerate away from this miserable place. I listen until I can't hear it anymore, and then I turn toward Will.

"I'm all yours," I say to him grimly.

One of the men behind me throws a hood over my head, and I suck in a shocked breath. I immediately choke on the dust and grit that was contained inside of it and close my eyes to try and protect them from getting grime in them.

The man behind me grabs my arms and yanks them behind my back. Mentally, I scoff at how he is holding me. If I wasn't interested in complying with them, his weak hold wouldn't be enough to keep me from destroying them all.

I stumble along the hallway after Will, occasionally fetching up against the men in front of me and tripping over their heels. I'm annoyed that they can't at least walk at the right tempo to make this a little easier for me. It won't help anyone if I end up in a heap on the floor, and they all fall down around me.

Suddenly, the man behind me yanks me to a stop, and I hear a door squeak open. This one seems to be on the right side of the hall rather than the left. I'm tossed into the room, catching my foot on the lip of the doorway and tumbling to my knees.

The fall hurts, but I don't make a sound. I'm straining my ears to figure out where Will and his men have positioned themselves.

The wound on my cheek is oozing blood again, and the dirty hood is sticking to it. It makes it even more difficult for me to turn my head to hear noises.

"Leave us," Will says to the men who escorted us here. "Lock the door."

I hear their booted feet as they obey. I remain on my knees, waiting for Will to make the next move. It sounds like he's walking around in front of me on the other side of the room, maybe. I hear him setting down something on the floor and muttering to himself.

After a little while, he starts to speak. I realize that he's recording already, maybe transmitting what is going on live. I brace myself. I won't have many more opportunities to stop him.

I need to focus in on the things that are happening around me. I need to find an opening to stop him. It's helpful that he sent his men away. One-on-one is much better odds than one against seven, and I'm thankful for his arrogance.

I'm not totally sure what time it is, but I know that Vince has to be getting a lot closer to Atlantic City by now.

"Hello, friends," Will says, his fake accent on full display now. "I have a special surprise to share with everyone. Consider yourself lucky if you are tuning in live. You are in for a treat. Surely everyone here has heard of the Reaper."

I strain my ears and realize that he's moving slowly backward toward me. I sense him getting closer and closer. I flex my fingers behind my back. They have been entirely too trusting with me. They should have tied me up.

William is showing his inexperience with the actual dirty side of this business. He might be good at finding shady work to do for big money, but he probably never does the hard work himself.

I think about the sucker punch that he threw at me when he told me to stay away from Gianna. He hadn't really held his own against me in that conflict, but he had been quicker than I had expected. I don't think that I will actually have any trouble overpowering him if I get the chance.

Suddenly, the hood is yanked off of my head and the light in the room feels painful in its intensity. I blink rapidly, willing my eyes to start working right again.

"Welcome to the party, Reaper," Will says to me, his voice sounding fat with his own self-satisfaction. "So glad you decided to join me here at my humble little home away from home for this special showing. Everyone who is tuning in is going to witness something amazing in a few moments."

I cautiously bring my hands down to hang at my sides. I just need to be able to get a few fingers into the pocket of my jacket to access the knife I have hidden there.

"Tonight, ladies and gentlemen," Will says expansively, "you are going to witness the death of the Reaper."