The Dominator (58 page)

“Okay she’s my cousin and like a cousin to you so that’d make you and me like cousins and that’s just…”

“Wrong!” he said.

We both laughed.

“So I told you I was gonna get a uh…Brazilian, for you,” I started.

“Mm hmmm,” he sounded like he was all dreamy-eyed.

“But Bianca says if I do we can’t have sex till tomorrow. I thought I’d better check with you before going ahead.”

“Awesome, baby.”

“No sex is awesome?”

“Checking with me for permission before closing your body down for business is awesome.” He laughed. I was glad he was in such a good mood.

“I hear it’s quite nice, the effect…” I said softly.

“It absolutely is.”

I deflated, “Gahh.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to know how you know that it absolutely is. In fact it makes me very growly that you know that it absolutely is.”

“Oops sorry,” he said softly but I could hear that he was amused and maybe even enjoying my jealousy.

There was silence for a second while I pushed away thoughts of him with someone else. I heard the door chimes again, then he spoke,

“Tell ya what, you wanna do it, that’s fine. You can just take care of
me
tonight. I can wait till tomorrow to take care of you if I must.”

I laughed, “Oh, if you must, huh? How chivalrous of you.”

“I try.”

“Hmpf.”

Bianca and Tessa both came into the room at the same time. They both looked freaked out.

“The police are here for you, Tia.” Tessa said.

“What?”

“Tia!” Tommy boomed, he’d obviously heard them.

“The police are here for me,” I whispered, “I didn’t call them, Tommy. Honestly, I didn’t…” The girls were looking weirdly at me.

“Go see what they want. Don’t hang up. Give the phone to my sister.”

“Kay,” I passed the phone to Tessa and then walked stiffly out to the salon and saw two uniformed officers at the front desk.

Tommy

“What’s going on?” I asked my sister.

“These two cops came in and they asked for her.”

“Where’s Nino?”

“Sitting out front, reading a magazine. What could he have done?” Tessa was snarky.

“Fuck. What’s going on now?”

“I’m in the back room, hang on while I go see. They’re leaving with her.”

“Hang up and then give her the phone. Nino’s calling on my other line. I’ll call you back.”

I linked over, “Nino!”

“T, the cops have her. They told her they wanted to ask her questions at the station. She said they should ask her here but they insisted. She programmed my number in her phone this morning and will call me to come get her when she’s done. Tessa gave her the phone. They asked who I was to her and she told them I’m her cousin’s husband. I’m following the squad car to the station and I’ll wait here for her.”

“I’m meeting you there. Which one?” I hung up after he told me and got into my jeep.

Tia             

Was this another test? It couldn’t be after our talk last night. Couldn’t be. Could it? Let me out of his sight and then have me sit down with the cops to see what I’d say? I knew that the Ferranos had some cops in their pocket because of what Rose had said to me at the grocery store that day about what’d happened when she called the cops.

When I got into the station, the male and female officer led me to an interview room, just a small room with a circular table with chairs around it.

“Is Tommy Ferrano holding you against your will?” the male cop, who’d introduced himself as Officer Francis, asked. He was a tall older black man.  His partner was a 30ish pretty blonde named Officer Spence.

“Tommy Ferrano is my fiancé.” I said, looking at them like they were crazy.

“He’s not holding you against your will?”

“What? No!” I exclaimed.

“Is Tommy Ferrano involved in illegal activities, organized crime?”

“Huh?”

“Mobster-like activities. You know, guns, prostitution, drugs, loan sharking? That sorta thing?”

“Tommy’s family owns a construction company, some restaurants,” I answered.

“Your father was arrested the day before yesterday.” The female cop said.

I blanched, “He was?”

“Trafficking crack cocaine, methamphetamines, DMT, MDMA. He tells us he’s selling drugs for the Ferrano family, that he has no choice because they are holding you for ransom. He wants to go into witness protection and wants you safe and he’s willing to testify to facts related to illegal activities by...” she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small spiral notebook, “Thomas Ferrano Sr., Thomas Ferrano Jr., Dario Ferrano, James Michaelson, Edward Nichols, Nino Russo, and several others.” She flipped the book closed and looked at me expectantly.

I shook my head, “My father has been acting strangely. We suspected he was using drugs. I really don’t think this has anything to do with my fiancé.” I felt like I was going to hurl the contents of my stomach all over her shiny black shoes. Luckily I had nothing in my stomach other than 2 cups of coffee.

The male officer leaned over and put his hand on mine. I frowned, “It’s okay, you’re safe. You can tell us the truth.”

I pulled my hand back and shook my head. If this was a test, I wasn’t failing it. Maybe this wasn’t a Tommy test. Maybe this was his father testing me. Sounded like just the sorta thing he’d do. If this wasn’t a test, I was not giving them anything. There was no way in the world my father was selling drugs for the Ferrano family. No fricking way.

“I’d like to make a phone call please.”

“Why do you need to make a phone call?” The female cop asked.

“To call a lawyer.” I said.

“You aren’t under arrest.” The male cop said.

“Then I’d like to leave,” I answered. My phone was ringing from my pocket, it was Tommy calling.

Tommy

Tia’s phone rang twice and then went to voicemail. Fuck.

I was sitting in the coffee shop across the street from the cop shop. I’d sent Nino away so he and Bee could take their son Joey to T-ball. I called my Pop’s lawyer and left him a voicemail. I called Pop and he said he’d try to find out what was going down. And I sat. And sat.

I texted her,

“I’m in the coffee shop across the street when you’re done. xxx”

An hour passed and I texted her again,

“I’m going home. Call me when you’re done and I’ll come pick you up.”

Two more hours, nothing. No read receipts on my texts. Pop and I talked and he told me that he had word Greg O’Connor had been arrested. I knew there had to be a connection.

“Did you do this to O’Connor, Pop?” I asked.

He was quiet on the other end of the phone.

“Pop?”

“Maybe,” Pop answered.

“Fuck, Pop.” I hung up and hit the wall with my fist. Was Tia gone? Had she been presented with a way to escape me and taken it? No. There was no way. I wanted to believe that what she and I had was real. It felt real. She wouldn’t leave me. Would she?

Tia

For hours they interrogated me, left me waiting in that room, came back and asked the same questions again with different phrasing. They started to talk about the rap sheets of some of the people in Tommy’s father’s “organization” as they called it. They started to talk about murders that they couldn’t pin. They’d said that the Ferrano family was suspected of a lot of different illegal activities. They told me they were even linked with slave trade overseas, with cocaine crops in South America, with mass murder down in Mexico where Earl Johnson, a Ferrano “foot soldier”, was found with a gunshot to the face and three gunshots to his genitals and where a cartel leader had been found decapitated and castrated, his own genitals stuffed in his mouth. I threw up into the waste basket, just some liquid because I hadn’t eaten and of course that made them even more suspicious about whether or not I knew anything about that situation. The cartel’s compound had been found with eight murdered men in addition to Earl and Juan Carlos Castillo. Four women had been set free and had id’d someone matching the description of Tommy Ferrano as having been there with guns, urging them to leave. They said a woman matching my description was reported as being there as well. I shrugged it off saying I hadn’t been to Mexico and didn’t know what they were talking about. There had been no record of Tommy landing there or of him leaving the country but there were eye witness accounts initially but those had since been retracted.

I continued to tell them that I knew nothing about what they were talking about. They started asking me personal questions about Tommy. They asked when his birthday was. I didn’t know the answer to that; we hadn’t gotten there yet but I said March 1
st
. They told me his birthday was April 5
th
(I was close. He’d told me that he turned 29 a few months ago when his father bought him the house) and then asked me if I’d think it was strange that two people were engaged but that one didn’t know the other’s date of birth. I shrugged and said he hated birthdays so maybe he lied when he told me his birthday.

They suggested that perhaps I was afraid to reveal that I was really a prisoner, not his live-in girlfriend.  I clammed up and told them that they needed to either arrest me or let me leave. That was when the door opened and Susie came in. My social worker. Shit. And then it went on and on with Susie trying to get me to talk.

She sat beside me and put her hand on mine and then asked them to leave us alone for a minute. I hadn’t seen her since my graduation day. She was such a sweet lady, had always been nice to me. I knew we weren’t really alone. It was obvious that they were watching us through the one way glass.

“Tia, they’ve told me that you’re saying that you’re with Tommy Ferrano of your own free will.”

“Yes.” I answered.

“That’s not what I heard; honey, are you scared? You don’t have to be. The police want to help. They can help you. I can help you.”

“I don’t need their help, Susie. I’m fine. I told Rose and Cal I’m fine. I’m telling you, I’m FINE.”

“I’ve known you for over half your life, Tia. Meeting some guy who’s known for being connected, for being the son of a crime Don? Moving in with him and cutting off contact with everyone other than a few quick conversations that are obviously designed to make people THINK you’re okay? Come on! This isn’t you. What’s really going on here?”

I shook my head, “Susie, I’m fine. I love him. He’s not mafia, that’s ridiculous. His father may be, I have no idea. But he’s not. I know nothing. Can I go?” I got to my feet.

“Tia, I’m here to help you. The police are here to help. Let us help you.”

She finally relented, giving me her home phone number and her cell number so that if I needed her, I could reach her.

An hour later, they finally told me I could leave.  My cell phone was dead so I couldn’t call Tommy. I called a taxi. I didn’t know what the address of Tommy’s house was. I knew where it was, by intersection, so I guided the cab driver until we pulled up in front of the gate.  I paid the driver with my debit card and stepped out in front of the gate and pushed the buzzer. Dex was already opening it to let me in.

“You okay?” he asked, “Need me to pay the cab?”

I blew out a long breath, “I paid already and yeah, I’m okay, thanks, Dex.”

“Next time the cab gets inside the gate before you get out, okay, Tia?”

“Okay, Dex.” I hoped there wouldn’t be a next time.

I walked up to the house and he opened the front door with a key. The house was dark. I looked in Tommy’s office and he wasn’t there.  I went up to the bedroom. He wasn’t there. I went downstairs and found him beating up the punching bag. I hesitated, “Uh, hi.”

He didn’t hear me. Or he was ignoring me. I stepped around so he could see me. He did. He stopped and caught his breath and pulled the gloves off, “Baby!”

“Hi,” I approached him cautiously and he grabbed me and pulled me tight to him. He was drenched in sweat. I didn’t care. I put my arms around him, relieved he was putting his arms around me, not angry with me.

“You okay? How’d you get here?” He asked.

I nodded, “I’m okay. Cab.”

“Let’s go upstairs and you can fill me in. I’ll grab a fast shower. Join me?” He grabbed a bottle of water from the floor and took a glug, “I was going out of my mind not hearing from you so I was just killing time.” He motioned with his chin toward the punching bag. I was surprised he looked so calm.

I followed him to the bathroom and got out of my clothes. He looked down at me, “So too bad about that Brazilian…”

I looked down at my naked lower half and started to laugh. We both laughed hard and he pulled me into the shower and against his body. He got my face into his hands and was kissing me deeply. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pushed him against the wall and then I was devouring him. He reached behind us and turned the shower on, not breaking lip contact and at first the water was freezing. He adjusted the temperature, “At least we don’t have to wait till tomorrow,” he muttered, my earlobe in his mouth.