Page 64 of A Seed Of Peril
“Lilith,” Dominic called, not as a command but still with enough authority to redirect my attention. “You shouldn’t be in here. You’re at risk of losing control.”
“Caving to my thirst,” I finished for him.
Was I about to put my child at risk and ultimately myself over my curiosity? Nope. Nico being a hybrid meant I had to fight even harder. If I gave into the temptation of ingesting his blood, the baby might have lived but my chances were… Grim.
“Yes,” Dominic continued. “So, if you start to feel yourself losing that control, I need you to remove yourself from the room immediately. Do you understand?”
Nodding, I cradled my belly, looking at it. I had a hell of an internal fight on my hands between suppressing my emotions and subduing my thirst. Our son was worth the fight.
Dominic let me go and turned in Dino’s direction, walking toward him and Nico. “Drop and unhook him.”
Dino walked over to the pulley system and lowered Nico to the floor.
“Let’s get him in the chair,” Dominic ordered as Dino turned the key in one of the shackles, unwrapping it from Nico’s wrist.
After he was freed, Dominic and Dino dragged Mr. Nasuti to what was the new and unused wooden chair bolted to the floor and strapped him to it by his wrists and ankles. A drain was installed underneath to catch a person’s blood, waste, and whatever other bodily fluids were spilled.
Like a lightbulb had gone off in Dino’s head, he told his brother he’d be right back and then saw himself out of the chamber.
While Dominic made his way toward one of the tables, I watched Nico squirm. His breathing subtly began to quicken while he licked his parched lips. Shifting in the chair, Nico fought against the restraints, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
As the man I loved approached the man we all wanted to decimate, a manila folder in Dominic’s hand, Nico clenched and unclenched his fist, shifting position just enough for his back to touch the chair. He waited, lips parted slightly, his bated breaths slipping through. I sensed his angst. His trepidation. We all did, and we all smelled it. Nico was in deep, but he continued putting up a bold front.
Dominic opened the folder. “Make this easy, Nasuti.” He then picked up a thin stack of files out of the folder and stood in front of Nico, holding it up in front of him.
Nico’s eyes widened before his poker face returned. But the alarm bell had already sounded in his head, and he had a death-grip on the arms of the chair.
“Your compliance,” Dominic said, switching to the next photo in his hand, “lets them live.” He showed Nico another photo, holding it closer to his face. “Make a choice; tell us what we want to know, and I’ll call off my men, and just maybe,maybeI’ll show you mercy.” Dominic moved in closer to Nico, dropping his tone to a bleak level. “Or you’ll die with their blood on your hands. I have men stationed at their homes, waiting for my signal.” Dominic stepped back and stood tall, dropping his arm.
“Can I see those?” I asked Dominic. He held out the photos, so I took a step closer, grabbing them from his outstretched hand.
In the first photo, a middle-aged woman, presumably Mrs. Nasuti, was wiping her brow in her front yard. Tall with black hair teasing just past her shoulders, she wore a simple blouse and jeans with light brown gloves covering her hands, and a wheelbarrow was resting off to the side. She held a gardening hoe in her other hand, unaware of being spied on.
Switching to the next photo, a blonde circled with a red marker—decades younger—laughed with a group of girls her age, equally unaware of the danger which lurked. She emitted such innocence. A pure heart.
Shameful.
Shuffling through the rest of their surveillance photographs, the timestamps revealed these weren’t the work of Photoshop. Those most precious to such an evil man were oblivious collateral damage to their loved one’s games. They weren’t surviving this either. Too risky to our own lives and our bottom line. Was I sympathetic? To an extent. But with all Nico had done, I ultimately wanted to watch him and his remaining world burn.
Dino came back into the chamber, blood bag in hand. I gladly took it from him, thirsty, wasting no time opening it.
Taking a cigarette out of its pack, Dominic put it between his lips and gestured with his fingers for me to give him the photos as he walked toward me. I met him halfway and handed him back his leverage against Nico.
He lit his cigarette, blowing the smoke in Nico’s face. The bastard didn’t flinch.
“All I want to know is why.” Dominic gave the photos to Dino and then stood in wait, finishing what he was saying. “Why attack my family? Is this an eye for an eye thing?” He brought his hand up, moving it in a circle, pretending to try to figure out what we had already suspected. “Let me guess… You’re jealous, just like Vincent was. Am I on the right track?”
“Fuck you,” Nico gritted through his clenched jaw.
“No,” Dominic said, inhaling another hit of his cigarette. As he exhaled, he said, “Not interested.” Nico thrashed in the chair, baring his teeth like he was readying to attack had he not been confined by the leather straps. “What Iaminterested in is the why, Nasuti. Just give me a motive. Give me names… Then, we can discuss a deal.”
My heart was screaming at Dominic, screaming not to cut deals with gutter trash like this former DiSanti bitch. But in my head, I knew this was a tactic. He wouldn’t let Nico leave alive. So, I observed, hushing my emotional impulse.
“You think I’m stupid?”
“Uh, yeah,” Dino said.
Dominic rolled his eyes.