Her Dom's Lesson (Dominic Powers Book 2) (23 page)

“Dominic! Dominic, talk to me!  Are you hurt?  Are you shot?” Tucker yells at me as he closes in on me, tossing agents out of his path as if they weigh no more than a feather.  Shadow is immediately behind him. 
“DOMINIC!  SAY SOMETHING! ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!”

“Get this motherfucker off me,” I respond, pushing Montoya’s lifeless body off to the side.  Dominic and Shadow lift me up off the floor and another FBI agent takes the gun from my hand to bag it for evidence.

“You scared the shit out of me, man,” Tucker says between heavy breaths.

“You and me both, brother,” I say as Tucker cups my shoulder with his hand.  “Cortez was about to shoot me.  I saw it in his eyes.  When he realized this was a set up, I guess he figured he had nothing to lose.  I bent his hand back away from me a split second before he squeezed the trigger.  He ended up shooting himself, stupid son of a bitch.”

“Sophia is going to freak out when she sees you,” Shadow says as his eyes drop to my blood soaked shirt.

Jerking the shirt off me, the buttons fly across the room and I drop it in an evidence bag, too.  “I’ll grab a spare shirt from the closet behind Dana’s desk.”

“Do you want me to go get Sophia?” Tucker asks.

“No, not until they get the body out of here. It’ll be bad enough when I tell her about it.  I don’t want her to see it and have a visual to go with the story.  I’ll text her from my phone and tell her I’m okay.” 

After sending the text, I walk into the closet and grab a white button down shirt.  Looking around, I’m glad to see that the top floor is vacated so only those of us who were involved in this sting operation are still here.  Taking a seat in my chair, I drop my head into my hands and try to calm my heart that’s still beating out of control. 

“I heard what he said about Harrison,” Tucker says quietly.

“All this time, Tucker, that bastard has blamed me for Carol Ann’s death.  All this time, I thought she killed herself and I’ve lived with the guilt of asking what I could’ve done to prevent it.  Only to find out from this bastard that Harrison killed her.  I really can’t even process it all right now.”

“We’ll take Harrison down.  Maybe it’s time for you and Sophia to take a vacation together.  Get away for a while and just relax,” Tucker offers.

“Maybe you’re right.”

An hour later, Cortez’s body is gone but the bloodstains in the carpet serve as a reminder.  I’ve been asked to leave my office while the FBI takes the cameras and all the over evidence they need for their case.  Since the shooting and subsequent death happened during an official investigation, and in front of a handful of federal officers, I won’t be questioned further.  I can’t help but think Shadow played some part in that.

As the agents leave, I thank them personally for their help today.  One loose end to tie up and this is all over and done with.  Shadow and Tucker walk out with them to help carry the equipment and boxes to the vans waiting in the parking garage.  I’m mentally drained but physically I think I could raze a building on my own.  The adrenaline from the day has built up so much in my body, that’s probably all that‘s running through my veins right now.  Once that dissipates, I know I will crash.

Harry Dick-man
has his penance coming to him and he will pay dearly for what he’s done.  With the flurry of activity after the agents crashed through my office door, I haven’t had much time to think everything through.  My only rational thought about it is I need to know the whole story of what happened that day.  My preference is to hear it from Harrison himself–to make him recount it, watch him squirm when he has to admit to his actions, and then punch him square in the mouth.  For starters.

But that’s not my priority at the moment.  I need to check on my love and get her out of here as soon as possible.  I know she’s been worried about me for the last few hours and I don’t like the stress that puts on her.  It’s been a long day and I can’t wait to get her into bed and just hold her close to me all night.  The quiet hallway and deserted offices make my gloomy attitude worse as I walk toward her office. 

An errant thought seizes my heart and constricts my breathing.  The hall seems to be a thousand yards long.  I’m only getting farther and farther away from her office door no matter how hard I try to reach it.  My nightmares are becoming a reality and it’s one that I know I can’t handle.  This can’t be happening.

Sophia never texted me back.

Sophia

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt a full-fledged panic attack threaten to overtake me, but it’s here now.  As I pace back and forth in my office, I am picturing what’s happening in Dominic’s office while he meets with Cortez.  None of the scenes I create in my mind have a good ending and I’m making myself sick with worry.  The morning sickness has passed, so I know this nausea is simply from a severe case of nerves.

I put my hand on the doorknob at least a dozen times–ready to run to the ladies room as my lunch threatens to make a reappearance.  My promise to Dominic is the only thing that’s stopping me.  Turning away from the door, I walk the same path across the floor toward the windows.  One hand is on our baby and the other hand is on my forehead, shielding my eyes, as I say another silent prayer to keep my Dom safe.

A gunshot suddenly rings out across the office, causing me to jump and shriek from surprise.  Tears instantly spring to my eyes and both hands are steepled over my mouth.  My body starts shaking, my knees give out from under me, and I crumble to the floor. 
No, please God, no–not Dominic!

Uncontrollable sobs wrack my body, making it impossible to take a full breath.  My tears pour from my eyes, blurring my vision as I collapse into a fetal position.  Dominic had a bad feeling something would happen to me, but I’ve had a bad feeling something terrible would happen to him.  I’m afraid to leave my office–I’m afraid I’ll find that Cortez has killed him.  Grasping my chest in pain, I have no doubt that someone could die of a broken heart.  It was bad enough when we were apart, but this feeling is even worse.  Helplessness.  Despair.  Afraid to hope.  Afraid to know the truth.  One question swirls in my mind, stuck on repeat and tormenting me. 
How can I go on with my life without him?

I don’t know how much time has passed with me in the floor repeatedly begging God for a miracle when the door to my office swings open and a man rushes toward me.  Excitement overcomes me because I know it has to be Dominic.  He’s fine and has come to take me home where it’s safe, where we’ll be together, and where we’ll raise our family.  My heart swells, and the tears of pain that still blur my vision turn to tears of gratitude.  Wiping my eyes and struggling to bring my breathing back under control, I raise my eyes to meet his sexy blue ones.

“Awww, what’s the matter, you little bitch?  Your boyfriend get shot?” Harrison taunts me.  “He should’ve died a long time ago.”

Terror has robbed me of the ability to move and has rendered me mute.  How can Harrison be here?  Why is he here?  What is he going to do to me–and my baby?  My muscles are locked down and refuse to cooperate with the voice screaming in my head, telling me to get out of here and run as fast as I can.  I should be screaming for Dominic, or Tucker, or Shadow, for
anyone
who can get me away from this deranged man.  But I’m suddenly a lifeless mute–because if he’s here, it must mean that my Dom is gone.

Carrying his duffle bag, Harrison moves behind my desk and sits in my chair where he’s hidden from the line of sight of my office door. Removing his gun from his waistband, he places it on my desk while glaring at me with the most menacing eyes I’ve ever seen.  Moving slowly in my attempt to avoid alarming him, I push up from the floor and stand, leaning against the window.  Thankfully, my high-heels came off my feet while I was crouched in the floor.  If I get a chance to run for it, I can run much faster in my bare feet.

One disadvantage of standing is that my pregnant belly is much more prominently visible.  I know the very second that Harrison realizes my condition.  “
Fucking hell
, you’re pregnant with his fucking baby, ain’t you?”

My arms unconsciously cover our baby and I take a step backward.  Harrison continues his tirade without waiting for my confirmation.  “That’s just fucking great,” he scoffs. 

Then his face changes, lightens, and he looks almost happy. “Actually, it may be great after all.  Daddy Dom-Big-Bucks would pay through the fucking nose for his baby and his bitch.  We’re going to wait right here for him to come for you.”

“He’s okay?” I manage to squeak out.

Harrison scoffs, mocking me with his absurd jealousy of Dominic, “Yes, your pathetic excuse of a Sir is okay, Sophia.  I heard him say he shot Cortez.  His security team was way too busy with the dead body cleanup to notice that I slipped in through the back stairwell.”

Relief washes over me after hearing that my Dom is alive and well.  When that shot rang out, and with Harrison’s cruelness, I just knew I’d lost him.  Hearing that he’s okay, even from this dickhead, is the best news I’ve ever heard in my life.  I know he’ll come for me as soon as he can, but now I can calm myself, even with
Harry Dick-man
here.

“What do you want from me, Harrison?”

“I want you to sit down in that chair right there,” he points to the chair in front of my desk, “and don’t speak until your boyfriend comes looking for you.”

Moving toward me, he removes a rope from his duffle bag and smiles his twisted, sadistic grin.  I try to run but he easily grabs me by my hair and drags me back, forcing me into the chair.  After tying my wrists and ankles to the chair, he pulls something else out of the bag and I can’t see what it is at first.  When he holds it up to taunt and harass me, I feel all the air being sucked out of my lungs. 

It’s the ball-gag.

“Now hold your pretty little head still or I’ll have to fuck it up again,” he warns.  Knowing he’ll do that and much worse, I don’t struggle against him too much.  If it weren’t for my baby, I’d fight him until I passed out, but I have to try to keep my wits about me for the baby’s sake.  For the next hour, we sit in complete silence and wait for Dom to walk into this trap. I’m silent because of the gag and I’m also unable to swallow very well.  The humiliation of slobbering on myself is part of what gets Harrison off.  But this time, he doesn’t even seem to notice, so I think it has more to do with Dom’s reaction to seeing me like this than anything else.

Harrison picks up his gun and moves over to the floor to ceiling windows.  His arm is bent at an angle and his forehead is resting on his forearm as he stares off into the Dallas city streets.  The soft clicking of the door opening catches his attention and he quickly moves behind my chair.  He turns it so that we’re both facing the door and he’s behind me with the gun pressed against my temple.  I can’t stop the tears that flow because I know he’s capable of pulling the trigger as soon as Dom walks in.

When the door fully opens, my Dom is standing there, filling up the open space and looking larger than life.  His eyes are hard and the muscles in his jaw are ticking.  Mad, angry, livid, furious, enraged–none of these can describe the intensity of the fire building inside my Dom’s eyes.  He’s staring Harrison down, daring him to make the wrong move, and challenging him to look him in the eye like a man. 

“We have some business to finish,
Dick-man
,” Dom’s voice is hard, cold, and dangerous.

“That we do, Mr. Powers,” Harrison replies, his voice holds a different tone.  “I’ve had enough of playing the fool in this whole charade.  In fact, I’ve had enough of our entire game, and I’m going to finish what Ramon couldn’t.”

Harrison’s uneducated, unsophisticated drawl is obviously missing.  His speech is more refined but his demeanor is even more calculating.  I don’t know who this man is or where he came from.  The rules of engagement have suddenly shifted on me and I’m struggling to keep up.

“You killed your own sister,
Harry Dick-man
,” Dominic spits his words out at him in disgust.  “Why?  What did Carol Ann ever do to you?”

I involuntarily gasp, but with the ball-gag still restricting my verbal abilities, it doesn’t draw either man’s attention.  My head is reeling from Dominic’s statement.  If Harrison killed his own sister, he’d have no qualms about killing Dominic or me.  Not that he ever really cared about me, but it speaks volumes to what the man is capable of doing.

Harrison removes the gun from my head as he moves to my side.  Sitting on my credenza, he smiles at Dominic.  “So Ramon told you, huh?  It was unfortunate, actually.  I went over to try to talk some sense into her.  It was
embarrassing
to be part of the toughest criminal organization ever, at my level, and have to admit that my sister was some rich-boy’s whore-toy. 

“She was setting up the romantic dinner she had planned for you two on the balcony when I got there.  I tried to talk some sense into her, but she walked away from me, saying everything had to be ready for you when you got home.  We got into an argument over her ‘choice’ and it turned physical.  I grabbed her arm and told her I was dragging her out of the condo to take back home where she belonged.  But she panicked and pulled away from me.  When I reached for her again, she jerked backward away from me, lost her balance, and fell over the rail.”

“You fucking bastard!  All this time, you blamed me for her death when you knew you were the cause of it.  You let me believe she killed herself when she was nowhere near being suicidal,” Dominic answers, pure hatred pouring through his words.  “She was pregnant and you killed your own sister!”

“It was
your
fault, Dominic.  You never should’ve brain washed Carol Ann and led her into that lifestyle.  It’s embarrassing,” Harrison shakes his head.  “Much like you did this one here,” he gestures toward me.  “If you hadn’t pulled her even more into your sick life, she wouldn’t have to die today. 

“It’s really too bad that I hate you so much, Powers.  You know how to make a woman self-destruct better than any man I know.   We could’ve been friends if you’d stayed the hell away from my sister.  Now, you’ll be responsible for the death of two pregnant women,” Harrison taunts, pressing the buttons that he knows will provoke Dom the most.

Turning his gaze to me, Harrison continues trying to push Dominic to make a move.  “Look what a mess you’re making, Sophia!  You’re drooling all over that pretty shirt.  You’ll have to be punished for that,” he says mockingly.

“The only man who punishes Sophia is
me
.  I already owe you a major ass kicking for what you’ve done to her in the past.  You’ve just earned an extended hospital stay for even touching her.  For binding and gagging her, you’ll eat through a straw for the rest of your fucking life,” Dominic threatens.

Harrison’s bravado waivers for a moment after Dominic so calmly issued his promise and dismissed his jabs.  His eyes widen and his lips slightly part as he inhales sharply.  His body tenses and stills completely, waiting for Dominic to pounce on him.  Harrison seems to have forgotten he has a gun in his hand because he
looks
scared.  If I were on the receiving end of the look that Dominic is giving Harrison right now, I would be scared, too.

“You think you scare me, Powers?  I’ve been in the cartel for years now, taking care of deadbeats so the boss can keep his hands clean.  After all I’ve been through, I know I can take care of a pussy like you.”

Dominic smirks, his eyes alight with amusement.  He’s actually glad that Harrison is challenging him.  “By all means, put that gun down and face me like a man then.  Unless you
are
scared?”

Harrison puts the gun down on the credenza as he moves to meet Dominic face to face.  “You won’t get a chance to sucker punch me this time.  I’m ready for you.”

“I wish that were true,
Harry Dick-man
,” Dominic laughs as he emphasizes the insulting nickname, “but you could never be ready to take me on.”

Harrison begins to respond, no doubt with yet another sarcastic remark, but he doesn’t get the chance to finish his verbal assault. When he opens his mouth, Dominic’s hand is lightning fast as it flies through the air and makes immediate contact with Harrison’s throat.  Harrison’s hands wrap around the front of his neck as his face turns bright red.  His eyes are open wide, confusion churns in them, and he makes strange wheezing noise when he tries to breathe.

Dominic wastes no time in throwing another punch that connects with Harrison’s eye.  He stumbles backward, already unsteady from the first unexpected hit, and lands on his ass.  Dom keeps advancing on him, intent on inflicting as much bodily harm as he can.  Dom swings his leg around in a low roundhouse kick and his foot connects with the side of Harrison’s head, knocking him over on his side.  Dom jumps on top of him with his full body and continues to pummel Harrison’s face with his fists until both are battered and bloody.

When Harrison stops fighting back at all, Dom pushes against him, adding insult to injury, as he stands.  His big shoulders heave with his heavy breathing as he stands over Harrison for several seconds before walking away from him.   Dominic picks up the gun from the filing cabinet and puts it in the waistband of his pants at the small of his back. 

He then rushes to me and removes the ball-gag first, then begins working on freeing my hands and feet.  I’ve been tied for so long, and so tightly, my hands and feet were already asleep.  The sudden rush of blood back into them is extremely painful and my Dom takes a minute to massage me, even with his hands injured and his knuckles bloody.

Throwing my arms around his neck once I’m free, I smother him with kisses mixed with my tears.  He’s kneeling on the floor in front of me in the perfect position for me to hold onto during my mini-meltdown.  “Thank God you’re not hurt.  I heard the gunshot and I wanted to die with you.  Oh my god, Dominic, I was so scared and distraught.  Are you hurt?  What can I do?”