Page 21 of Dom
“Copy that.”
I hung up and immediately opened the encrypted Royal app. One touch and a black map expanded on my screen. I pinged every Royal Enterprises location fromSouth Beach, to ATL, to L.A.I then tapped into the command thread and sent a message:Code black in all locations. I need all extra open and every spot beefed up with extra eyes.
The response from my lieutenants came in no time with a confirmation from every coast. I stepped into the elevator alone with blood still dry on my white tee, and bulletproof vest underneath. I didn’t feel the pain until the elevator lights hit just right, and I caught a glimpse of red soaking through my left side. I pulled up the tee when I got in the penthouse and sure enough, I’d been grazed. "Fuck," I mumbled, chuckling to myself as I stared in the mirror. That adrenaline really do have a nigga moving like he invisible.
The wound was ugly, but it wasn’t deep. The skin was torn, but it didn’t break through my muscle. It burned like hell when I poured some whiskey over it, hissing through my teeth as I held a towel to my flesh. That shit stung worse than I thought it would. I taped it down myself, instead of calling the nurse. I’d call but I needed a minute with just me and my thoughts. Ramon’s name echoed in my head, and I couldn’t stop it. Miss Twyla’s face flashed in my mind too. She used to send food up to the shop for the crew years ago and always believed in her baby.
I texted my banker who was also a good friend and knew everything without me ever having to say a word because he keptup with the Cartel in any circumstance and any time messages when out, he received them too:Pull 50K and put it in Twyla Davis’ name. I’ll cover the full funeral cost, and that house she been living in. Pay it off quietly. I don’t want her to worry about nothing.
When I finally sat down with my shirt off and bleeding bandage, I lit a blunt and stared at the city from the balcony until Victoria found me. She had to stay here with one of my people and it seemed like whenever I returned it was never long before she showed face. Carmen and the crew had gone home. O’Shynn went to her place and so did Dique. When Victoria saw the bleeding bandage, she gasped and rushed to the back before returning with a few things.
Every time the balcony doors were slid open, the smell of Miami’s salt from the ocean lingered around in the breeze. He sat there shirtless and bleeding from the side as his skin glistened under the moonlight. He smoked the blunt like it was more so soothing to him than anything else right now. That bullet wound on his torso was and I could tell but he didn’t show any signs of pain, instead he looked unbothered like he was invincible. However, I could see the weight behind his eyes.
“Dammit…” I whispered, rushing back inside. I wasn’t a nurse by a very long shot, but I’d patched up enough wounds in my life to know when something needed cleaning and rewrapping. Growing up the niece of El Blanca, I was raised around pain, so my hands learned how to be steady even while my heart raced, I had to remain calm when cleaning a wound because it was like a second nature. I grabbed a clean towel, a first aid kit from the bathroom, along with a bottle of antiseptic, and some gauze, then returned to him. Dom watchedme, without saying a word to me at first. He was just holding that blunt between his fingers. When I knelt in front of him, he looked down at me, as his chest rose then fell.
“I ain’t ask for a nurse,” he said.
“You didn’t have to,” I replied, gently pressing the towel to his wound. “I’m just trying to help you… you’ve done enough for me without even realizing it.” I explained.
The moment the alcohol hit his skin, he flinched just a little, but his jaws remained tight. “You’ve done this before?” he asked, glaring down at me through those thick lashes of his.
I shrugged. “More times than I actually wanted to.”
“You ever thought about going to school for this shit?”
I laughed. “Not unless patching up killers counts towards a degree.”
He nodded his head at that, but then his face got serious. “If you stay here... you gon’ need to do somethin’. I’ll give you a job at one of my legit spots… the spa, salon, or whatever. But understand this… you won’t be nowhere near the cartel business. That’s not a door I’m openin’ for you. Not until you prove yourself… if ever.”
I nodded slowly while keeping my eyes on the bandage as I secured it. “Understood.”
“And you can’t stay here forever,” he added, in a low tone. “I’m married.”
I froze for a quick second. Yeah, I knew he was married when he told me even though he didn’t wear a ring but hearing him say it once again cut me deeper than I expected and I didn’t know why. Dom never gave an indication that he would ever give me a chance. It was me holding on to wishful thinking. Everything about him screamed protection and I gravitated to it.
“I wasn’t asking to stay forever,” I whispered.
Dom stood up, towering over me now. He tossed the blunt off the balcony and his demeanor said he was done with thisconversation. I rose to my feet with my hands still smelling like peroxide and blood. “You mad?” he asked.
I shook my head no. “I’m not mad. I’m just… tired.”
There was a long pause as he glared at me. I could feel my breath getting caught up in my chest waiting for his response. “Then go to bed,” he said in a low tone. “Ain’t nothing more for us to talk about tonight. I appreciate you dressin’ my wound.”
I didn’t move right away. I just stood there staring at him not knowing what to think because he was the man who was becoming harder to read by the hour. Dom wasn’t just ruthless, he was complicated.
I replied after a brief pause. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Dom. A least not anymore. I spent my whole life being told what to do, who to trust, who to hate… and now, none of it feels real.”
His eyes flicked to mine. “Then start over.”
I blinked. “Just like that?”
He stepped towards me again, allowing his energy to fill the space between us. “Ain’t shit ‘bout this world easy, Victoria. But the difference between people who survive and the ones who die out here, is the ones who survive, learn when to let go. You either gon’ hold on to yo’ past and let it kill you… or let it go and build somethin’ new.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. He was right. And I hated how much I needed to hear that from him. “I want to build something,” I whispered.
“Then stop cryin’ ‘bout the foundation that crumbled and start layin’ new brick then.”
I just looked at him in the eyes of a man who stood on the edge of two worlds caught between violence and vulnerability as he turned and disappeared back into the penthouse, leaving me on the balcony under the moonlight, I realized something else. Dom Royal might’ve been a monster… but he was the first monster who ever looked at me like I could be more than alegacy. He looked at me like I could be free. I was tired of being babysat.
