Page 38 of Prince of Malice

Dominic smiles at me, almost ear to ear, as he blushes. I can’t help but let out a chuckle seeing his whole intense and callous persona falling apart in front of my eyes.

“Shut up.” He laughs back to me. “I’ll see you around, right brother?”

“Of course,” I say, returning a smile.

Standing up from me, Dominic releaseshis hold on me as he walks away. He walks around the locker behind my back, disappearing from sight, and eventually with the soft click of the door closing behind him, leaves the room.

I take a moment, letting in a long, slow, and gentle breath.

That was incredible. Not just because of the pure, wild, and almost primal connection between us in our moment of lust, but because of this different and much deeper attachment I feel to him.

There’s not a single part of this that I think I can actually explain, even to myself.

In the middle of me toiling with the implications of this whole situation, I am startled by the sudden sound of the locker room door opening up again. I almost go around the side of the locker, suspecting it’s Dominic coming back for something or someone he left behind, but I’m frozen in place by the unmistakable sound of two separate pairs of shoes clicking against the tiles.

Crouching in place, I do what I can to stay still, knowing that I can’t be caught in here. I crashed this whole event without an invitation, took away one of the fighters, andgot fucked by him in the locker room. If any of them catch me in here, I don’t know what could happen. And I certainly don’t want to find out.

“Everything went according to plan,” a mysterious voice says.

Who is that? What plan are they talking about?

“Rossi got messed up tonight. It was pathetic.” The man laughs. There’s something in his tone that makes him sound young, maybe my age. Still, I can’t place the voice without a face.

My teeth grit tightly behind my sealed lips. Who are they to talk about him like that?

Barely moving an inch, I hold myself still so that I can listen closer to what he’s saying.

“And how does all of this benefit us?” another voice asks the first.

Wait, that voice does sound familiar; I have heard that one before. It was a long time ago, but I have definitely met them.

That’s Antonio Greco, the patriarch of the Greco family and the man who wants to tear the Valenti and Rossi families apart.

“Don’t you see it all?” the stranger asksAntonio. “A Rossi son getting into illegal street races and underground fights, getting himself beaten within an inch of his life over and over again, all while defying the family name and fighting back against every Valenti he comes across.”

“Through his reckless activities, he’s making the Rossi name and reputation go from bad to worse, and soon enough, Salvatore will cut any ties with them,” Antonio Greco continues.

This whole deal is built as a trick from the ground up. Every facet of their plan is designed to turn the Rossis and Valentis against each other and tear them apart.

“Exactly right,” the stranger confirms. “It won’t be long at all until Sofia Rossi and her runts are kicked out onto the street and Salvatore Valenti is caught off guard, giving us the perfect opportunity to take everything away from him.”

There’s no way my dad would fall for any of this I think to myself; he would see a Greco deception like this coming from a mile away, right? Or is he too stubborn and busy punishing me for my slip-ups to see that he’s about to destroy himself?

“I want you there tomorrow night,” Antonio tells the mystery man.

“I would expect nothing less.” I can hear the pure entitlement fill every word he speaks. “Now, let's get out of here before campus security get their anonymous tip.” He cackles.

Still reeling from the secret reveal of the plan to take down my family, I don’t even have the time to think about trying to catch a glimpse of Antonio and his mysterious conspirator before they vanish from the room.

Left alone in the locker room again, I want nothing more than Dominic to be here right now. But if he was, he wouldn’t have the patience or perspective to not rush at them both fists first.

This is something he can’t know about yet or else he’ll just end up proving the Grecos right and getting on my father’s last nerve.

I have to fix all of this on my own. I can’t let Dominic know. I have to hide this from him.

Following the aftermath of the fight, the college gym seems to be back to its normal state of darkened emptiness for this time of night. I can’t say I’m surprised. Things got intense, even before Dom and I ducked off to be alone.

The extent that he was hurt had even the most invested audience members backing away from the ring, not wanting anything to do with him once he was unconscious on the floor gasping desperately for air.

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