Page 22 of DOM: The Miami King

“El Blanca, please don’t ‘Victoria’ me like this situation isn’t insane. I’ve been trapped in a safe-house for two fucking days, and Dom won’t tell me anything. I don’t even know who’s looking for me or if I’m being hunted or tested… what is this?”

“You are being protected,” he said calmly, and too calm for my liking. Of course, he didn’t care because he wasn’t the one trapped.

“Noooo, I’m being locked up El Blanca. The same as back home but at least back home I can shop and do things under the Cartel’s watch. This situation is different, and I can’t do anything besides wait around like a damn mistress!” I blurted in frustration. It seemed like all of my frustration shot down to my throbbing vagina. I needed a fix really bad, at least in Miami I wouldn’t have to sneak to have sex because back home, it was damn near impossible although I’d always find a way.

“Would you rather be laid out in a morgue right now?” he snapped, in his smooth tone. “Has Dominic mistreated you?”

“What?!” I blurted while blinking my eyes. “Why does that even matter?”

“It matters to me, because he’s not just protecting you. He’s being watched, too. I need to know if you feel unsafe.”

I paused, a good long one too. Something about the way he said that rubbed me the wrong way. Something wasn’t adding up here. “You keep asking the wrong questions, Tío!” I said, dropping my eyes into tiny slits while squeezing the phone so hard my knuckles were turning white. I knew I had to calm down.

“And you keep dodging mine Victoria. The next time I ask you a question, you answer me. How has The King been treating you?”

“You trusted him enough to send me here in his care dearest uncle,” I replied sarcastically.

He didn’t take to kind to it and just like Dom would do… he hung up.By the time Dom showed up, the sky was already gold behind the skyline and my mood had gotten even worst and damn near dangerous. He wasn’t alone either. Shewalked in behind him like the thunder following the fucking lightning. She was fine and dressed in all black. Her face was smooth and unreadable as her eyes scanned the safe house like she was calculating the many exits or scanning any area that can be a weakness or a threat. I remembered her from the club that night and she was still just as beautiful. However, when her gaze met mine, it lingered and she didn’t blink, nor did she flinch. Her look said it all…I ain’t here to make friends bitch.

Dom was giving his people orders, and they were moving like soldiers wearing black on black with no questions asked. However, she and I didn’t speak at all, and we didn’t need to. She stood close to him... really close and when his hand brushed her lower back just for that brief second, I just knew it had to be more. She wasn’t just part of the team; it seemed as though she was his and the way she looked at me said she knew I knew. The tension was brewing and maybe it was one-sided but before I could process it, close gunshots began to ring out.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The glass shattered shattering, and the front window exploded causing all of the glass to shoot inward. Bullets hit the walls knocking chunks of the walls out and the cartel moved instantly. One of Dom’s people tackled a chair down and pulled out a heavy-ass assault rifle from behind a false wall while another one flipped the marble island for cover.

“MOVE!” Dom demanded as his voice boomed through the chaos. “Carmen be careful!” He yelled to her.

Carmen already had her gun out and was crouched low with the perfect aim. Her trigger finger was smooth like she’d done it many times before. I hit the floor as bullets shot through the air right above my head. Dom reached me and wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me on to my feet. Even in the middle of chaos I loved the feeling. This wasn’t the first time I’d been in the middle of a shootout, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last.

“We gotta move! NOW!” He barked.

“What about her?!” Carmen yelled with her eyes bouncing around me as he held on to me.

“Igot her! Just go!” He ordered her.

The sound of gunshots filled my ears like an annoying static in the room. We moved fast as hell while Carmen stayed behind, taking cover like a trained assassin and to my surprise she was cool under pressure as she unloaded her clip like she was counting bodies and the world around her wasn’t spinning. I didn’t have time to process howgoodshe was because I was pissed that I didn’t have my own protection. El Blanca had me pampered like a Princess who never had to lift a finger for anything. Dom shoved open a steel-reinforced door and pushed me through a back hall. One of his people was already at the exit, opening the SUV door, while the others kept shooting.

“Get in!” He shoved me in first, and slammed the door as gunshots still rang through the Palm trees and bushes. Then he ran back for Carmen returning in about three seconds. She emerged from the smoke with a streak of blood across her cheek and her gun was still smoking. Dom then grabbed her and threw her into the back seat… and just like that we were gone.

The truck moved fast, eating up the road as Dom’s people trailed us in a second vehicle behind us. Inside, the energy in the truck was uncomfortable. Carmen sat in silence with her shoulders tense, eyes focused forward. She didn’t look at Dom, nor did she look at me. Dom didn’t say a word either, but I saw the way he checked on her through the review mirror. I saw the way his knuckles twitched like he wanted to reach for her and in that moment, I realized that yes, he might have saved me first, but she’s the one he wanted to make sure walked away as a whole.

I took a deep breath and stared out of the window. We pulled into the private garage beneath his penthouse once again like we’d done before and his people were already posted up with extra fire power and guns lined up. I knew they were always serious before but now it was like no one was playing or taking any chances. Carmen stepped out first and straightened her jacket as she wiped the blood from her face before walking off without so much as a glance at Dom. I stepped out next, and Dom’s hand hovered behind me like he wanted to keep me steady, but he didn’t know if he should.

“You alright?” he asked in a low voice.

I nodded, but on the inside, hell no, I wasn’t alright because I was finally starting to see the truth. This wasn’t about protecting me. This was about using me and that’s why El Blanca asked me those questions. Dom was caught between love, loyalty, and a possible war. I was just the storm caught in the middle to help it rise.

The elevator doors quietly slid open and the heavy security gate at the top of the penthouse clicked open once Dom used his thumbprint. Even in the chaos, everything was back calm like bullets hadn’t just chased us across the city.

The penthouse was calm per usual and everything was neat and in place. It gave me the vibes that Dom was a neat freak. The black leather furniture, gold fixtures, low moody lighting set the tone, but the tension couldn’t be ignored.

Carmen stepped in first, and again, she still didn’t have much to say. She just peeled off her jacket and walked straight toward the hallway like she knew the floorplan like the back of her hand. Dom followed her without hesitation without saying a word to us nor looking back at us which frustrated me even more. Instead, he placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her to the master bedroom like it was second nature. Once again, he left me in the living room with Tone.

He stood by the glass window, with hoodie on, and his thick chain hanging low, with his arms folded like he was watching the whole city outside. He didn’t say shit to me at first. The only thing he did was nod once in acknowledgment. I sat on the edge of the velvet sectional, trying not to let the heat in my chest show through my face but I couldn't stop staring at that bedroom door. Dom had looked different tonight than any other night and I assumed that he was more focused, or it was because of Carmen. The way he moved during that shootout, and the way he protected me and her, it was dangerous, yet so fucking attractive. The weight he carried in his chest must’ve been a lot. However, even though dangerous, he was just as beautiful in that danger. He was a king… The Miami King… and I was staring at that door like I wanted to rip the fucking hinges off and replace her.

“You might wanna cool that look,” Tone said without looking at me.

I blinked twice because he had surely snapped me from my thoughts. “What?”

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