Page 53 of Vicious Vows

My eyes darted over to my father and I watched him slide into the other chair and smirk at me. Part of me wanted to just come out with it and ask him if he had any hand in what happened to Lionel, if it could be true that he set his own son up but the smart part of me knew that my father had killed people for questioning his integrity. I wasn't immune from that.

"Do you even know what your man tried to do to her? Do you know why she had to fight him off in the first place?" I asked, squinting my eyes at him.

"I wasn't there with him but I'm assuming it had something to do with the pussy between her legs." My father shrugs his shoulders and tilts his head to the side, clearly not interested in what the reasons were.

"He was trying to force himself on her. What did you expect her to do, just lay back and take it?" I asked.

My father scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Dominic don't be so fucking naive. We all know Farrah. We know exactly what she's like and what she does. There was no force involved. If James wanted a piece of ass she was willing. Whatever the altercation was about, it's something that sweet little girl is hiding. That's why you need to make sure that you teach her her lesson. Figure out what she's hiding from you and then rectify it."

Maybe he doesn't know after all.

"Do you trust everyone in your crew? I mean every single last one of these assholes that you drag around. You trust them?"

My father's eyes squint back at me, "I don't trust you boy, so why the hell would I trust them?" He gets up and walks toward me, "That's what you don't understand about this business we're in. There's always someone trying to come up and take your place. Someone who thinks they can knock you off your throne. More times than not it's the ones who are supposed to be the closest to you that succeed."

I stare up at my father and flashbacks of a time when I feared him explode in my mind. When I was a child this man could have me shaking in my boots with just one look. Now, I see him for what he really is. Closed-minded and out of touch with reality. If he only knew how many people have already tried to knock him off his so-called throne.

Myself included.

"Something else you want to say to me, Dominic?"

"Not that I can think of Father."

"That's strange because I was sure you'd want to tell me about this secret shipment that went bad. You know, the one where you lost nearly three million dollars in cash and product." He crossed his arms over his chest and I heaved out a heavy breath.

That deal was supposed to be between me and Kumar and was supposed to remain a secret. Out of everyone, my father was definitely not supposed to be the first one to bring this shit to my attention.

"It's nothing that I can't handle." I squeezed my hands into fists at my sides and kept my eyes on him.

"Nothing you can't handle? Who the fuck told you to handle it in the first place? I'm starting to think that you've forgotten your place, son. You'll never be able to take my place in this world. You don't have what it takes, and this—" He gestured to my brother, "is just another piece of evidence that proves my point. Stop whatever it is you think you're doing before you get someone killed, more than likely yourself." He walked by me to my brother, put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed once before he walked out of the room.

There were no kind words, no wishes for him to get better, just the small physical gesture that lets me know in any capacity that my father gives a shit about Lionel.

As much as I hated to admit it, my father was right about one thing. So far the past few days have done nothing for my credibility. If I wanted to prove to the people of the underground that they could come to me instead of my father, I was going to have to get this problem with Kumar settled and fast.

I pulled out my phone and got to work making as many calls as I could to the people that would be able to help me get the small arms available for Kumar within the next few days. Just like I suspected, the process was going to cost me nearly double what I'd originally paid. I was going to take a loss if I didn't find the stolen goods, but right now, I couldn't worry about that. I'd always make the money back.

The cash was another problem. It didn't matter who I called; there was no one who was willing to part with that much cash again.

"Mother fucker." I growled and tossed my head back against the chair. When I opened my eyes again, they were locked on my brother's sleeping form. Who the hell could I call if it wasn't for him. "I wish you'd fucking wake up already. You've rested enough." I reprimanded him, but he didn't even budge.

Every part of my body was tensed up, tired from everything I had to deal with over the past few days. Before I could stop myself, my eyes were closing, and I was leaning back in the uncomfortable chair in my brother's hospital room.

* * *

"Dominic, Dom, wake up."

A soft tap on my knee startled me awake, and my hand flew to my side to pull out my weapon. I stopped myself just before I could pull it all the way out, simply because I realized that the person waking me up was Yuri.

"What the fuck? What are you doing here?" I glanced over at Lionel to make sure I didn't miss anything vital while I took my small nap.

"I've been trying to call you for the past two hours," Yuri said and backed up away from me. He placed his hands in front of him and stood still while I shook myself awake. If Lionel wasn't in trouble and Yuri was here, it could only mean something else was going on. It could only mean that there was more trouble.

"What is it?"

Yuri looked away from me, down to the ground. Further evidence that whatever it was he was about to tell me was something I didn't want to hear.

"No one realized until it was too late." Yuri spoke up, and I could feel my blood pressure beginning to rise. It seemed like I was never going to get a break. Never going to be able to just take a moment to breathe.

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