Page 56 of Vicious Vows

"No, I didn't. I ran trying to get away from him. You need to tell him what's going on. Your little friend came in earlier. You remember James?" I squinted my eyes in her direction, daring her to lie to me. I would lose my shit if she even thought about trying to say she didn't know what I was talking about.

"What? Antonio is here already? He really pulled it off?" Farrah looked surprised.

"Really pulled it off? Pulled what off? Farrah, honestly, what the hell are you into? Do you realize I'm smack in the middle of this shit and I have no idea what you did? This is my life we're dealing with," I snapped at her.

"Please, Dominic isn't going to do anything to you. You've already married him. He needs to keep you around."

"Are you sure about that because he made it absolutely clear that when he finds out that I've been trying to get one over on him, he'd kill me."

"He's lying; he needs you to have his kid so he can get his inheritance. He needs you to take over his father's business, though I'm almost certain it'll never happen no matter what you do. Still, if you have a kid for him, the child support and alimony will be out of this world. We'd be set up for life."

"Don't tell me you still think I'm going to willingly go along with this plan." My mind began to count back to the days that we'd had sex so far; I was still in the safe zone as far as ovulation, but that didn't mean it was impossible that I couldn't get pregnant. I could be knocked up right now for all I knew.

"Farrah, neither one of us has a choice here. Don't be so selfish. Honestly, do you ever think about anyone else besides yourself?

This was the same thing that happened when those detectives came to ask you questions about me. All you were thinking about was you, and that caused me to be put in jail. Do you know how hard it was to know that my sister ratted me out?" She hopped up off the bed and got in my face, her bottom lip quivering as she talked.

"I didn't mean to... I've already told you that it was never my intention to get you in trouble. I didn't have a choice. They were threatening..."

"Threatening you with things they could never do. You were innocent. They couldn't have put you in jail, and you knew it. It was almost as if you were happy to be rid of me. Is that what you're trying to do again? You trying to get me killed, Faye?" A juicy tear strolled down her cheek, and I couldn't stop the guilt that slammed into me.

It didn't matter what I'd found out or what was going to happen to me, Farrah always had a way of making me feel like I was a shitty sister simply because I wanted to be safe.

"Farrah, if I'd had known what was going on maybe I would have done things a little differently but you didn't even give me a chance. You didn't even tell me what was happening. It's the same thing now. You tricked me into taking your place in your world and now I'm having to act like I know what to do when I don't. Do you know how many men come up to me thinking I'm you? Thinking that I'll just lay down and fuck them because you have? Your secrets got James killed and now I'm going to have to live with that memory for the rest of my life."

"James is dead?" She asked, completely glossing over everything else I said.

"Yeah, he's gone. He was about to spill the beans. He must have figured out from how I was acting that I wasn't you. Dominic killed him before he got a chance to say anything, though."

"Shit, look, you just need to make sure you go along with whatever is happening over there. In fact, you need to get back to the house as soon as you can." Farrah grabbed my arm and started to push me in the direction of the hallway.

"Are you crazy? Did you hear anything I said to you? I'm not going to be able to pull any of this off. I don't know what's going on. How do you expect me to play along?"

"Fine, I'll tell you what I know. I only agreed to it because I didn't think James would be able to pull it off, but if Antonio is already here, that means it must be working." I nodded once and crossed my arms over my chest. At least now she was willing to give me as much information as she had. I only hoped that it was all true.

"Dominic and his father have been silently butting heads for a long while over Dominic's ability to take over the business, at least the lion's share of it. Dominic thinks it's his time while Antonio doesn't think he's ready. He thinks Dominic needs to grow up a bit more. From what I heard, the fact that Dominic has been able to get a few people to go along with the fact that he's going to take over is really getting under Antonio's skin, and he thinks Dominic is making moves before his time. It's about loyalty. He won't stand by and just let Dominic push him out."

I nodded again; all of that sounds true.

"If Antonio thinks that Dominic is willing to push him out, James and a few others are going to make it seem like Dominic is also willing to kill him to get the job done. They were all supposed to make it seem like Dominic was stealing from him. There was supposed to be some sort of shootout where one of Antonio's men would be killed."

"Not killed but Lionel was shot," I replied, and Farrah's mouth dropped.

"Oh shit. I didn't know it would be Lionel. That's sad." She shrugged once before she continued. "Anyway, once that part of the plan was in gear, the guys working for James would put it in his head that it was his father who actually arranged the hit and that it was supposed to be for Dominic. One by one, all of his contacts would turn away from him because it's going to look like Dominic doesn't know what he's doing. He's going to lose out on money, and it would make it seem like Antonio was right all along. Someone close to Dominic would put the bug in his ear that he needed to get rid of Antonio once and for all before he lost everything. Sooner or later, the two of them would be forced to either come to an agreement or kill each other. The bet is that they'll kill each other. Antonio isn't just going to give up, and Dominic is too scared of losing what he thinks he has."

"And what are you supposed to do during this time?"

"I was supposed to get deep enough into Dominic's life that he'd trust me and then convince him to do what was right. Convince him that his father was the real problem and that he needed to end the man's life."

I gasped at the revelation, "and that's what you think I'm going to do?"

"You have to!" She grabs my arm hard and stares into my eyes.

I ripped my arm away and took a step back, "I'm not going to convince Dominic to commit patricide. That's crazy, especially when all of this is false in the first place."

"You'd be free, Faye. Once Dominic and his father were gone, baby or not, you'd be able to leave. No one would bother you simply because you're not high enough in the world to cause any damage. You could take the cash laying around, hawk all the jewelry he's given you, and we could start a brand new life. James already told me where the stash house is, but right now it's too heavily guarded. Once the both of them are gone, we'd be able to get in and take what belongs to us. You could get retribution for everything that's happened to you so far. All you have to do is play the part a little while longer."

My mind spun at this information. From what she was saying, it didn't seem like I had much to do besides continue to play the doting wife and maybe drop some hints that Dominic was a better leader. Still, it meant that more people would die, and it'd be on my head. I couldn't live with that even if Antonio was a bastard of a man.

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