The Dominator (26 page)

For the next few hours I listened the girls giggle and watched them eat the plate of sandwiches, then devour a fruit tray, and then eat a giant bag of pretzels. Sarah was right in there laughing and hooting and howling and Dario sat on the counter and shook his head mostly. I realized that no one had asked where Tommy was. Did they know he was taking care of business? Were they here to keep me company and pass the time so I wouldn’t be pacing the floors wondering if he was okay? Was he okay? What would happen to me if he wasn’t?

Tessa leaned over and patted my shoulder and illustrated some mind-reading skills, “He’ll be fine. That brother of ours is tougher than nails. Trust me! He’s tougher than Pop, even, and Pop is one tough motherfucker.”

The others were all nodding. This is exactly what they were doing. They were rallying together during a crisis.  All of a sudden, Sarah held her cell phone in front of Lisa and Lisa squirmed, “That’s disgusting!”

Sarah almost tipped her chair over laughing so hard and I glanced over and realized she was still fixated on the picture of all the old men in the speedo bathing suits.

“Ah c’mon Lisa, we all know that’s what you’re into,” Dario said and everyone including Lisa started to laugh uncontrollably. I laughed too because it was pretty funny that they were all here laughing at the expense of Lisa’s husband, the girls’ and Dario’s father, a powerful mobster.

My back was to the entrance to the kitchen at this point and suddenly the room hushed. I saw everyone looking stone-faced past me. I looked back and Mr. Ferrano was in the doorway. He was in a black suit and looked solemn.

They all had a horrified look on their faces, like he was here with bad news.              

Oh no. My belly dipped and not in a good way.

“What’s so fuckin’ funny?” he broke the tension, “Share. I like jokes.”

Everyone except me howled with laughter. Sarah fell off her chair this time and Lisa fell, too, trying to help Sarah up. Dario was sitting on the counter but doubled over holding his gut, and Luc piped up, “I think I just peed a little.” The fits of laughter roared louder.

Mr. Ferrano walked over to the coffee maker and stared at it, then looked down at Sarah who was still on the floor tangled up with Lisa, “Guess I’ll get myself a coffee. Would you like a coffee, Sarah?” his eyebrows perked up at her. He didn’t look like those old guys but math said he had to have about 25 years on Lisa!

“Everyone wants coffee! Except Luciana. You can make her a hot chocolate.” Sarah beamed at him.

“What’s up, Pop?’ Dario said.

“I’ll make the espresso and then we’ll chat for a minute, son. I just came to pick up Lisa, mostly, and to check on Athena. You okay?” He looked at me and his face was kind, seemed genuine, he seemed different from how he was when I met him that first day.  My thoughts flickered to him and my Mother. I nodded, chewing my cheek.

“Good,” he said, “When that boy gets home you do me a favor, okay?”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“You give his right eye a pop for me too, ah? I think it needs to match!” he punched the air with a mean hook. Everyone started to laugh, except me again. I didn’t know what the heck to make of this bunch and their quirky sense of humor. Everyone clearly thinks it’s pretty awesome that I gave Tommy a black eye. Everyone here wants me to feel welcome, too, it seems. Now I understand what Tommy meant by the whole “Ferrano family experience” comment. I can’t imagine how nuts it is with all the kids and the spouses together with all these guys during something celebratory rather than a stressful situation like this!

Mr. Ferrano brewed espresso for everyone except me and Luc.  He made her a hot chocolate with whipped cream on it and then he made me a cappuccino with a heart pattern on it and smiled at me as he put the cup down. It looked like it came from a fancy café.

“Thank you, Mr. Ferrano,” I said.

“Call me Pop.” He winked. He signaled Dario to follow him into the other room. I looked down at the cup and got lost in thought. I noticed the room was quiet and I looked up from the heart shaped foam in my cup to see all eyes on me. I felt uncomfortable for a beat and then the girls all started chatting again and suddenly Luc grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly and I felt her baby kicking.

“This better be the boy!” she said, “I have twin girls in the terrible two’s and my first wish is there’s just one in here.” She pointed to her big round belly, “My second wish is that it be a boy so that I can say I’ve done my wifely duty and then the doctor can tie my tubes.”

Tessa piped up, “I guarantee it’s another girl. I can feel it.”

“Oh shut up!” Luc answered and pretended to smack at her sister, “If this is another girl, I’ll do this one more time, just one. If it’s another girl then I’m done, heirs or no heirs!”

All three of them look alike, a bit like Tommy but blonde and a little different. They must take after their mother a bit because I can see that Tommy definitely takes after his father.  Lisa is a pretty girl and a little older than me but I can see how she’s attracted to him. He’s handsome and holds his age well. She fits with these girls perfectly. They seem like they’re all best friends. I idly hope that I can one day feel carefree again. Right now that feels a little far from possible.

An hour later I was yawning and Tessa took it as a cue to get everyone out. Dario and Mr. Ferrano were still somewhere else in the house.  Tessa told them I needed my rest and that it was after 12:00. Sarah went off to find the guys.

A few minutes later they came back in and Mr. Ferrano hugged each girl, including Sarah and then stood in front of me in the kitchen chair and held his arms open. It was weird and uncomfortable but I stood and let him embrace me. I’m sure I looked shell shocked. Tessa hugged me and told me that in a few weeks they were having a baby shower for Luc and that she’ll get me the details.  Lisa hugged me and told me that dinner is always at their house on Sundays and that we’re expected every week.  Luc hugged me and told me it was nice to meet me and said she’d get my digits from Tommy and text me about getting together in a few days after I’m rested.  They all marched out of the place in single file and that left me, Sarah, and Dario in the kitchen.

I headed to the doorway, “I think I’m going to head to bed,” I said and Dario nodded at me.

“I’ll be close by if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” I said, then added, “Goodnight, Sarah.”

She smiled at me, “Sleep well, Chiquita. Welcome home.”

I’m sure I frowned at her in response. Home?

** ** **

I fell asleep on the bed without even changing my clothes but I only slept an hour or two and then I was wide awake.  I got a drink of whiskey from the bar thinking it might settle my nerves and make me sleepy but it did just what it did last time --- gross me out and burn my throat. I washed up for bed and changed into a pair of pajamas. I stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, pondering my situation, the recent course of events, my life in general. When I finally closed my eyes again I knew one thing for sure, I was a survivor and determined to survive all of this.

I was kidnapped and men got shot at and died. I didn’t know if I’d ever get out of that situation. Hah. My kidnapper saved me from other kidnappers. But he got me out and he took care of me that night the way I could only imagine in my wildest fantasies that a knight in shining armor would. I decided that if I’m stuck here paying a debt for someone else and if I have no choice in the matter, I’m at least going to try to find a way to be happy. Last night I didn’t know if I was going to make it out of that basement in Mexico, and then I didn’t know what’d happen to me when that driver told me I’d been sold, but now I was back near home, safe and warm, and I’d seen potential in Tommy Ferrano. I decided that I didn’t want to just let life flutter away because I’m a victim of a parent’s mistake.

Tommy Ferrano has issues, it’s obvious. He’s dominating and angry and he can be cruel. He wasn’t nice to me the first week. He played some seriously messed up head games and he violated me repeatedly. He’s about to be promoted to be the head of a crime family --- the same crime family that threatened my father and that took me prisoner. 

But he also has shown that he has potential. I like his family and they seem close. I could see myself becoming good friends with the girls and Dario doesn’t scare me so much anymore. He’d been really nice to me today. Maybe I’m just a naïve 19 year old girl but Tommy seems to care about me and maybe I can nurture that potential so that with me he’s always the guy from the beach, the guy who rescued me. Maybe in time I can forgive him for what he’s done, overlook who he is. Maybe I can stay on his good side, make him always be more of the ice cream parlor guy when he’s with me.

Yeah, and maybe I’m an idiot. I don’t know how dark it’ll get. I don’t know what he’s doing down there. I only know that the threats he made in the car just before I was kidnapped scared me beyond any fear I’d ever had in my whole life.  I fell back to sleep feeling very conflicted.

I jolted awake again before night was over, but this time it was because I’d had a horrible nightmare. I was back in the pink canopy bed and the man forcing me to give him the blowjob was Tommy. He’d been mean and horrible and then I got rescued by my dad but Dad didn’t shoot him; Tommy just said, ‘Take her, I’m done with her,’ then my Dad shot me and told me that I was too much trouble, that I’d weighed him down after Mom died and that’s why he’d tried to get rid of me but after several unsuccessful attempts he was going to get rid of me for good.

When I woke it was 4:am. Would this night ever end? I got up to get a drink and the bar fridge had no water in it so I put on a robe and decided to head to the kitchen. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I heard a loud voice in the kitchen. I stopped on the bottom step. I heard Dario’s voice,

“We need to just wait. No damn it! Don’t! Just circle and keep coming back.”

I stepped off the stairs and walked into the kitchen. He looked up at me and then said, “Call me in 30 minutes with an update. Or sooner if there’s any change.” He ended the call, “You alright?”

I nodded, “I’m just thirsty.” I got a bottle of water from the fridge, “Is Tommy okay?”

Dario waved his hand at me, “Of course,” but I could see the stress on his face.

“I’m going to try to go back to sleep,” I said.

He nodded, not looking me in the eye.

** ** **

Surprisingly, I did fall back asleep but was awake around 9:15. I got up and took a shower and when I came back into the bedroom just in a towel I froze because I noticed Dario was asleep on the couch here in this room. He was asleep in a t-shirt and track pants, the first time I’d seen him not in a suit. He was quite built, a lot like Tommy. I didn’t let my eyes linger on him for long, not wanting to look like a creep watching him while he slept. Clearly he took his job of protecting me seriously if he was sleeping here instead of one of the bazillion guest rooms.

I rushed into the closet to find some clothes and got dressed in there. When I came out, he wasn’t on the couch any longer. I went downstairs and looked out the window and I saw 3 men mulling about outside. I got a coffee and sat at the kitchen table and found yesterday’s newspaper to kill time.

Sarah came in from the back hallway, a laundry basket filled with folded towels on her hip and ear buds in her ears. She was singing a pop song. She smiled when she spotted me and pulled a bud out, “Breakfast?”

I shook my head, “Not yet. Thanks. I’ll just get myself something when I’m ready”

She smiled and wagged her finger at me, “Don’t put me out of a job, Chiquita!” then headed out of the kitchen and upstairs, I presumed.

I decided to wander around. I saw it lacked a homey feeling. It was decorated sort of man cave’ish like the master bedroom with leather and dark wood and drab-colored or neutral walls but there weren’t pictures or photographs on the walls or in frames, there weren’t any mementoes. It was sort of sterile.  I opened a door in the hall off the kitchen and found two other bedrooms. One was sort of utilitarian with a single bed and nightstand with a lamp and then table with four chairs and a coffee maker, fridge, sink, and stove so I assumed it was for the guards. There was a patio door in that room that led to the backyard. The other room I didn’t venture into as it was obviously Sarah’s room. It was large and had a warm vibe, decorated with cream and burgundy furnishings and dark cherry wood and had a dresser filled with framed photos and a sitting area with a coffee table fanned with books and magazines.

I found my way outside and decided to get some fresh air. There was a guard in the yard but he left the area when I went out. Good that they were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible but it was so obvious that the place was under lockdown and that everyone was on edge. I sat at the pool’s edge and dangled my feet in, staring out at the forest beyond the pool.

I heard voices in the kitchen so I strained to listen. Dario was on the phone again,

“I don’t give a fucking shit!” he yelled, “Find him!”

He stormed out onto the patio, an unlit cigarette in his mouth, putting his phone into his pocket (he was already dressed in a fresh suit) and then he lit it as he spotted me. His expression dropped and he inhaled deeply, as if the smoke was cleansing him.

“Mornin’” he finally said, gruffly. He looked like he hadn’t slept much either.