Page 77 of Corrupted Heir (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 1)

My head spun as tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t breathe. No matter how hard I tried to gasp for air, it wasn’t enough.

Dominic’s arms wrapped around me.

“Stop,” I croaked, but he only held me tighter.

“Let me go,” I cried, but he didn’t let go. I’d already learned there was no way I could overpower him. All I could do was fall apart in his arms while he tried in vain to hold me together.

“I’m going to fucking kill him for this,” he seethed against my ear.

Strange that they were the most beautiful words he’d ever said to me.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dominic

Emergency services, police, and animal control filled the narrow street. Slowly but surely, the animals were being caught and taken to a safer place. The fire had died down. Now what poured from the building was thick, black smoke. It plumed out of the shattered door and windows and floated up toward the sky. The acrid stench clung to my clothes, weaving itself into the fabric so it would never come out.

“I’ll make this right, Fallon,” I said.

Fallon looked at me, her face tear stained and red. “How?”

She looked at me with so much sadness in her eyes, it tugged at something inside me. But there was more there, something harder.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But I’ll find a way.”

I kissed the top of her smoky head like I was sealing the deal with a kiss. I didn’t miss the way she flinched away from me when I did.

When Leo had called to say there’d been a fire, the wretched images that had flashed through my mind nearly made me lose my shit. Fallon screaming. Fallon engulfed in flames. Fallon… dead. Gone.

I’d almost had myself convinced I wanted nothing to do with her. I’d barely seen her the past few days. She left early and came home late. But seeing her like this, a tumbleweed of emotions twisted in my chest.

I’d been brought to my knees by a woman who barely came up to my chin.

As Fallon wiped her face with her sleeves, my cellphone rang, and I closed my eyes. Whatever it was, it would be something that took me away from her, something that meant I couldn’t watch over her like a hawk.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the number.

It was Dante. It kept ringing as I stared at it, trying to guess what he was calling about. After a few more rings, I finally answered the call.

“Dante,” I said. “Everything all right?”

“No.” He scoffed. “It sure as hell isn’t.”

“What is it?” I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Fire,fratello. A lot of fucking fire.”

I looked up at the black smoke that still poured from Fallon’s clinic.Fuck.It had been a goddamn distraction.

Tony, you motherfucker.He’d burned down Fallon’s clinic to keep me distracted.

“What did he do?”

“It’s a long list, Dom. Just…” I could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose. “We need you,fratello.”

“Of course. I’ll be right there.”

Fallon had her arms wrapped around herself in a sort of self-soothing hug. I willed to cement my feet on the ground. Her lemon waves had been stained with soot. I closed my eyes and dug my hands in my pockets, fiddling with my lighter.

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