Page 42 of Long Live the King
Dominic
Ihave nothing in my head but a series of questions and statements that run on repeat in a continuous loop. How could I just leave her with him? What was I thinking? I should’ve known better than to trust him—than to trustanybody. Alannah was right the entire time, but I didn’t listen. What the fuck was I thinking?Repeat.
I knew to only trust people who’d earned it, and I thought Tommy was one of those people. We’ve been through so much together—countless scores, countless fights with small-time guys, countless sit-downs. We have more memories together than I care to count, and I never thought for a second that he’d be the one to betray me—to betray the Family.
What vexes me most is thewhy. Why would Tommy turn his back on me? Why would he kill Raphy? He was a made guy, and I know Tommy didn’t go to the Commission and get approval to clip him, so why would he risk getting whacked to kill Raphy? It just doesn’t make any sense for him to do this? Seeing as how he took Victor’s money, the only reasonable explanation I can find is that he’s working with Victor. Maybe the common denominator between Victor and Tommy is that neither of them wantmeto be the boss. Maybe that’s enough to make a guy like Tommy be a turncoat.
I don’t know the answers to most of this stuff, but I know enough to be irate. I know enough to feel my blood boiling beneath the surface of my skin as I push the gas pedal of my Challenger into the floor like I’m trying to break through. I know enough to know that Tommy’s murder of Raphy was an unsanctioned hit, and the Commission will give me the greenlight to kill him. But there isn’t a fucking chance in hell I’m going to wait for the Commission’s approval. Killing Raphy and shooting Dan is one thing, but fucking with Alannah is another.
Every man who’s truly in love with a woman knows there’s an ultimate line that should never be crossed. You can insult me, threaten me, and mock me if you want to. While those are all extremely bad ideas, the second you do any of those things to the woman I love, the rules to the game change dramatically. You’ve committed the ultimate offense, the deadliest of sins. You can sentence yourself to death with nothing more than a whisper about her. So, the fact that I’ve texted Alannah four times, only the first of which actually went through, lets me know that Tommy has done much more than whisper. He has taken her.
The wheels on my car are still rolling a little when I pull up to the entrance of River City. The valets look stunned when they see me drive up in such a rush, but they take a step back all together when I scream at them.
“Don’t fucking touch it!” I snap as I run past them, through the lobby, and to the elevator.
I slam my fist on the button over and over again, as if breaking the plastic covering will make the elevator come down faster. Once I’m inside, I repeat the process, pounding my fist on the button until I reach the top, and the doors open to the hallway of my home.Our home.
“Alannah!” I shout as I run inside. My eyes dart around, hoping to prove my mind wrong. I know she’s not here, but I want to see her so badly that I keep looking anyway. I run through the penthouse like a madman, praying she’ll be safe inside one of the rooms, but it ends the way I knew it would. Alannah isn’t here. Tommy never brought her, and he turned her phone off, which is why my last three texts to her failed. He has her. That traitor has my Alannah.
I feel a cloud drift overhead and swallow me whole. It’s like I’m having an anxiety attack as I think about it all, and I have to sit down on my couch to steady myself.
Tommy killed Raphy, tried to kill Dan, stole the money I owe to Victor, and now he has Alannah. What if he hurts her? What if he already killed her?What if what if what if!
He took Alannah from me!
Tommy Caprio.
Tommy motherfucking Caprio took Alannah.
All the thoughts and emotions stir inside my head and come to a boil. My heart races like I’ve been shocked by a defibrillator, and the mixed emotions combine to form one thought, one feeling, one emotion.
Rage.
My skin crawls with a heat I’ve never felt before. My breathing becomes heavy like I’m doing cardio, but I’m just sitting on the couch. I feel like I’m about to explode into a giant fireball and bring the entire casino down around me.
He took her.
Alannah.
I snap. As if I’m having some sort of out-of-body experience, I feel myself lift off the couch and run into the bedroom.Our bedroom. I couldn’t stop myself if I wanted to. Underneath the bed is the duffel bag I took with me when I went to go have the sit-down with Victor. Without hesitation or a moment to reconsider, I snatch it up, open it, and take inventory of the weapons inside: two nine millimeters, a Three-Fifty-Seven Magnum, and a shotgun, just as I left them. I close the bag and run to the elevator.
As I take the ride down, I think of how the moment is symbolic. I push my emotions deeper and deeper down, just like this elevator. I bury it all, until I feel nothing. No remorse, no regret, no sympathy, no fear. I no longer have use for any of those things.
I hear the doorbell chime from outside. It’s one of those dumb rings that sounds more like a drawn out ringtone than a doorbell. It plays some annoying song that seems to go on forever before I finally see a figure stepping towards the door through the decorative glass.
My heart still pounds in my chest, and all I can think about it Alannah. I see her beautiful face in mind, her brown eyes, her brown hair, her flawless smile that makes me whole. She’s all that I am, and her image drives me forward, leaving no room for anything else—no room for anything that can stop me.
The deadbolt on the door gives way from the inside, and the door is pulled open by a decent-looking woman in her early thirties, wearing a black robe and white slippers. She has brown hair herself, and we’d usually greet each other as friends, but Alannah has been taken from me, so the rules have changed.
“Dominic?” Laura Dinallo greets with a furrowed brow as she opens the door. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
I don’t respond with words. Instead, I move faster than I ever have and grab Laura by the hair, forcing my way inside the house.
I’ve been in here before, when Tommy invited me over to celebrate his engagement to Laura a year and half ago. I sat at their dinner table and ate pasta while drinking champagne, and I felt like I was really a part of their family. I thought they were a part of mine, because they were really all I had at the time. That was six months before Alannah came back to St. Louis from Alaska and made me complete—six months before she became my family. Again, the thought of Alannah spurs me on, fueling me like gasoline to a twelve-cylinder engine.
I slam the door shut behind me as I push my way in and Laura screams. Once the door is closed completely, I throw her to the ground and she hits her head on the hardwood floor.
“Dominic, what are you doing?” she says, looking up at me with complete fear in her eyes. “Why? What is this?”
