No Greater Loyalty (7 page)

The motion of Angel'
s chair stilled. "What do you mean ‘they’ve called a meeting’? His eyes turned dark and ominous. “On whose authority because it sure the hell wasn’t mine.”

CHAPTER 10

Angel’s question shot forward like a bullet leaving a chamber. He’d gotten everyone together this morning via videoconference and cued them in on what he was planning as far as Melania Cruz was concerned. He'd done so as a courtesy...not because he was obligated to do it.

“
The meeting was called by whom?” he asked Oscar again.

"Well, apparently, more than one person is questioning the wisdom of-"

Angel's palm came slamming down on the desk to cut off a lengthy explanation that he didn't ask for. True, Oscar was like family, but right now, at this moment, he was Angel's advisor first. Angel needed to know what was going on without the meaningless bullshit that accompanied it. When he asked a direct question, the only thing he was interested in hearing was a direct answer. Nothing else.

He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving Oscar's. This time when he asked the question, he slowly enunciated each word so there would be no mistaking exactly what he wanted to know.

"Called...by...
whom,
Oscar?"

Used to Angel’s temperament, Oscar didn’t even flinch.
"Sonny."

Angel's eyes turned a wintry green. He slowly sat back, silent and stone-faced. Twisting the chair completely around, he stared at the wall behind him, mentally going over the implications of what he
’d been told.

The Alliance was a syndicate of powerful men who Angel had carefully and meticulously chosen three years ago. Each controlled vast areas of different territories in a number of major cities. Not everything they were involved in centered around illegal activities.

Between the seven of them, they'd been responsible for getting several mayors elected and seating two U.S. Senators in Congress. Currently, they were backing a promising future candidate who had the ability to possibly become the next President of the United States. If they were successful in helping to make that happen, the power they possessed would be limitless.

Which is why the news Oscar just delivered pissed him off so much. In the fairly short amount of time since the Alliance had been formed, Angel had made them wealthier beyond their wildest dreams. As the head of the Alliance, he only asked for their loyalty, honesty, and obedience. He was open to any advice or ideas the members might have, but they were in
no
way a democracy.

Angel had a plan to get them to where he wanted them to be because he understood what a lot of crime bosses didn't. This was a different era, and the business they were in was just that:
a business
. To be able to succeed and grow, they had to realize that the old practices would not always work. Some were still necessary, but they needed to be executed with skill and finesse.

Angel was the ultimate strategist and had an undisputedly brilliant mind. He moved easily between the worlds of high-powered business and the delicate intricacies of politics, rubbing elbows with the upper echelon of society while ruling his outfit with ruthless authority. Angel
’s investments were profitable because he took risks and didn’t believe in playing it safe; he didn’t live in a safe world. Every gamble he took was a move calculated to add to his wealth and power.

His legitimate businesses were regularly audited by the IRS, courtesy of the federal government, and he always came out clean. With the takeover of
Davidson World Corporation,
he was most definitely a force to be reckoned with and acknowledged by mainstream corporate America no matter how much they might turn their noses up at having to do so. The last thing he needed was his own people second-guessing decisions he made and conspiring behind his back.

He turned the chair around to face Oscar again. "So Sonny called the meeting. How did you hear of it?
”

“
Eddie contacted me an hour ago.”

Angel nodded.
“Who's attending?"

"From what I can gather, everyone."

Angel leaned his head back and resumed rocking in the chair, quickly working out a few questions in his head.

"He's up to something," Oscar commented.

"Of course he is." Lately, Sonny Luciano was becoming increasingly resentful of the respect Angel commanded. Angel didn't approve of a lot of his business tactics, but for the most part, Sonny was smart enough to stay out of his way. Or rather, he had up until now.

"What do you want to do?" Carlo asked.

Angel stared at him for several tension filled seconds. "Where are they meeting?"

"Miami."

Angel glanced down at his watch. "Get the jet ready. We'll leave in an hour."

Oscar nodded in approval as Carlo turned and left the room to make preparations for their flight.

When Nikki, Keisha, and Raven arrived at Jerra and Darrell's home, Keisha hugged Samantha tight then scooped her son up and rained kisses over his sweet little face for as long as he allowed her to before pulling away in protest. The kids had just been preparing to watch an animated movie that Jerra had put on for them and Christian wanted to go with them. Like the great sister she was, Samantha took her little brother's hand and matched her steps to the small ones his tiny fat legs made as they followed the rest of the children. The women laughed because he was beyond cute, walking around looking like a miniature Dominick.

Raven had gone with A.J. after he begged her to watch the movie with them. Nikki had stared after them with a hint of sadness, and while Keisha filled Jerra in on the scene that had just taken place between she and Dominick, Nikki let her thoughts drift to the state of her relationship with her sister. Their estrangement had affected more than just the two of them. Her son had missed his aunt almost as much as Raven had missed him.

It wasn't supposed to have turned out this way. Ever since Nikki and Raven were little girls, they'd talked about being in each other's weddings and having kids around the same time so that they could grow up together. But of course, that
’s not the way things happened, and Nikki was fast losing hope that they would ever work through their differences and regain the closeness they’d lost.

Everyone else in her family accepted her marriage to Angel except Raven. A couple of years ago, Angel had purchased a gorgeous mini mansion for their parents in a gated community in the Florida Keys. Her father played golf every day while her mother lived the life of a lady of leisure, chairing several charity committees and regularly attending teas with her newfound friends.

Nikki sighed, feeling herself being pulled deeper into a depressed mood she didn’t want to sink into. When she heard Jerra raise her voice after Keisha finished her account of the earlier events, she turned her attention to them, grateful for the distraction.

Jerra had paused mid-reach in the act of opening the refrigerator and was now leveling an open mouthed stare at Keisha. "Tell me you didn't do that!"

Fidgeting on the stool at the granite-topped island in the middle of Jerra’s kitchen, Keisha dropped her chin to her chest, dejection pushing at her lowered shoulders. She covered her face with her hands then spread her fingers to peek out at her best friend.

"Could you please just chill with the lecture? Why can't you and Leesh be more like Nikki?" Keisha sat up straight in the chair, her face brightening as she pointed at her sister-in-law.

Nikki giggled under her breath as she reached for a grape from the cheese plate Jerra had placed in front of them. "Heffa, you are
not
going to use me as a shield to get out of trouble with Jerra and Aleesha. Don't even try it."

"Well, it's true." Determined to hold on to the only angle of self-defense she'd stumbled upon, Keisha sent Nikki a quieting glare before she turned back to Jerra. She swallowed hard when she saw the stance Jerra had taken, arms folded, hip jutted out while she tapped her foot and waited on the load of crap Keisha was getting ready to fling her way.

"Yeah, I screwed up, okay? I admit it. But did Nikki come down on me and make me feel worse about what I did? No. She didn't. She offered her support and
gently
pointed out the mistake I'd made."

Nikki's eyes stayed on Jerra, amusement lighting up her face as she waited on Jerra's come back.

"So let me get this straight, Keisha. Less than twenty-four hours ago, Dominick finds out he has a son that he never even had the slightest inkling existed. A drug lord in Mexico, who is the child's aunt, blames Dom for her sister's death and is plotting revenge. The first thing you do is hit him with the news that you plan on going into business with Elena, who you
know
Dominick cannot stand for good reason. Then when he leaves, she comes over and you two finish off the bottle of wine you'd chilled for you and your husband?"

Nikki had just taken a sip of water, but choked, sputtered, and spat it out when she heard the part Keisha had conveniently left out. Aware of the bad feelings between Dominick and Elena, Nikki stared at her and shook her head.
“You didn't!"

Keisha opened her mouth to defend herself, but Jerra held a hand up for her to keep quiet. "
Then
you pretend to go along with what he's decided but in actuality, you have your own little agenda the entire time, and that's to strong arm your way into a meeting with him, his brother, and Angel's associates." Jerra spread her hands out, palm side up. "Again, I say, what were you thinking?"

"I'll tell you what she was thinking."

The three women turned to see Darrell Monroe striding into the kitchen, grinning with his eyes fixed solely on Keisha.

Suddenly, he stopped as if a thought had just struck. "Oh, wait. She wasn't."

His grin widened when Keisha took the bait. He and Marcus were like the brothers she never had, and they loved her dearly, but Darrell knew how to push her buttons. He couldn’t help but provoke her whenever the chance presented itself.

Keisha wasn
’t in the mood for it today, though. She was just preparing to tell him what he could to with his unsolicited comments, but the blistering retort became trapped in her throat when she saw Dominick following behind him carrying their son.

And he didn
’t look very happy to see her.

CHAPTER 11

Keisha slipped off the stool and nervously took a step towards Dominick. "Hi."

Nikki's cell phone rang at just that moment. Looking from Dominick to Keisha, she quietly excused herself to go and take it in private when she saw it was Angel.

Dominick's cold gaze touched Keisha then slid away without acknowledging her greeting. He looked down at his son and kissed Christian's baby smooth cheek. "Daddy missed you," he told him in a deep, low voice. "Were you a good boy for Aunt Jerra and Uncle Darrell?"

Christian gave him a toothy grin and nodded. Dominick laughed as he walked past Keisha to kiss Jerra on the cheek. "Thanks, J. I hope they weren't too much trouble. I know Christian requires a little bit more attention than the older kids."

"Oh no, not at all, I always enjoy spending time with him. I miss D.J. being this age." Jerra smiled, cooing and tickling Christian under his double chin and making him laugh.

She glanced at Keisha, whose face was crestfallen as Dominick continued to ignore her. "As a matter of fact I was just telling Nikki and Keisha that the kids can stay again if that's okay. Nikki's taking A.J. home since Raven's in town, but Lil D has already made me a promise to be the best little boy in the whole wide world if I let everyone else stay for one more night."

Darrell cracked a smile when he heard about his son's negotiation tactics. "Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts."

Dom looked at his son. "You wanna stay with D.J. tonight?" When Christian nodded vigorously everyone laughed.

"You do look tired, Dominick," Keisha walked up to them, smiling as she ran her fingers over Christian's hair. Her eyes went to her husband's face, but he still wouldn't look at her. "You need to get some rest."

"I'm never too tired to spend time with my kids, Keisha. Like most parents, my children's needs always come before my own." He finally raised cold, steely eyes and turned them towards her. "Isn't that the way it's supposed to be or has something changed that I need to know about?"

Everyone in the room knew he was referring to the son he had just found out about.

Keisha's eyes widened and her voice trembled. "That's...that's not what I meant," she whispered.

The silence in the room gradually turned dark and heavy. Jerra's gaze desperately sought out Darrell, who stepped behind Keisha and placed his hands on her shoulders. Looking at Dominick, he frowned and shook his head, silently conveying he was being too hard on Keisha.

"Come on," Darrell told him. "Let's take a walk."

The two men stared at each other until, sighing heavily, Dom kissed his son then passed him to Keisha before heading out the double doors that lead out to the patio. Darrell gave Keisha's shoulders a reassuring squeeze before grabbing a couple of beers from the refrigerator. After popping the caps off both of them, he followed Dominick out.

Joining him near the pool, he handed him a beer, but before Darrell could say anything, Dom spoke up in a gruff voice, "Save it, alright?"

Darrell took a long swallow of the cold brew then lowered the bottle and looked at Dom. "I ain't say nothin'."

Dom cut a look at him out of the corner of his eye. "You were thinking it, and before you even fix your lips to put those thoughts into words, I’m telling you now, I don't wanna hear it."

Darrell shrugged. "Fine. I won't say you were being a little hard on her."

"Darrell..."

"Come on, man. Yeah, I know she may have been outta line, but she's scared. Just give her some time. When you called me this mornin' and told me a little bit about what's goin' on, I was fuckin' speechless. I can only imagine how this has all hit Keisha."

Dominick slowly exhaled. "Yeah, but her pulling that stunt at Angel's house wasn't cool."

"You know how Keisha is."

"Everybody always says that, but that excuse is getting old. D, if she's goin’ to ride with me when the sun is shining, then got dammit, she better be there when it’s storming, too. I don't have the time or patience to be dealing with tantrums and underhanded tactics like that. You do
not
know how pissed off I was."

Darrell nodded, unable to say anything in Keisha's defense this time because if he'd been in Dominick's shoes, he would have felt the same way.

"Then to make matters worse, after that I had to deal with those cocky Pattel brothers."

Darrell's gaze intensified, but Dominick didn't notice.

"I won't even get into having to listen to my brother and his 'putting your foot down' speech."

"Go back. Who are these Pattels?" Darrell felt his heartbeat speed up. "What's that all about?"

"Lucas and Hawk Pattel, they’re associates of Angel’s from New York. They're helping us get my son back."

"How did that happen? You sure you can trust them?"

"Yeah. They might be some arrogant sons of bitches, but they're trustworthy. I've met them a couple of times before. For Angel to bring them in on this, they can be trusted to have our backs."

His brow furrowed in thought, Darrell looked out across his yard. He was momentarily speechless that Dominick had just mentioned the same last name of the two men he found out he was related to: his father and his brother. He should've known Angel had some sort of affiliation with them. From everything Tina told him yesterday, the Pattels were deep into organized crime, had been since before he was born. The name wasn't a common one, and from the little Dom had told him so far, they had to be one and the same.

Struggling to keep his voice even, he asked, "So...Angel knows them? The Pattels, I mean."

"Yeah. Apparently, Lucas has some kind of on again and off again sexual relationship with Melania that he's going to play on to keep her occupied so that she doesn
’t suspect someone in her organization is feeding us info. Once Melania's been dealt with, whoever Lucas’s source plans on taking over the cartel. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I don't know what."

"Why you say that?"

Dom bit down on his bottom lip, a slight frown slashing across his forehead. "Just a feeling. Like I said, Angel trusts Lucas and Hawk, and that’s good enough for me. That doesn’t mean I won’t be keeping a close eye on them, though.”

Darrell snorted, the sound coming out angry and full of bitterness. "Probably a good idea."

Dominick looked at him curiously. "Something wrong?"

After taking another sip of beer, Darrell shook his head. "Nah, just sayin'. I know the type." Still feeling the weight of Dominick's stare, he changed the subject. "You and Keisha need to move past this tension, man, fuck the bullshit."

When Dominick tried to argue, Darrell waved his hand, determined to get his point across.

"We
’ve all been through a lot, Dom, more than most people go through in a lifetime. Seems like it’s been one challenge after another."

Darrell thought about the issues he still had to face with his sperm donor, because as sure as he knew his own name, he knew he would confront that bastard, if only to tell him what a pathetic excuse for a man Darrell thought he was.

"When does it end?" Darrell mused out loud. "When do we get to just sit back and enjoy life like ordinary folks, nah mean?"

Dom nodded in agreement.

Darrell’s voice turned quiet and speculative. "Marcus and Aleesha are just gettin' over this craziness with Bethany and her sister. We can't even enjoy the fact that their babies are finally strong enough to come home or celebrate Marcus finally having the big family he always wanted. Now, we worried about you and this crazy mafia bitch."

The two men were momentarily quiet as they thought about everything they
’d been through. Maybe that’s why the three of them were so tight. Each carried baggage from the past that only someone else who’d experienced similar life experiences could understand. The trust and loyalty between them was solid and always would be.

"What about you and your moms?
” Dominick asked. “Is she moving back to Philly now that she's recovered from the surgery?”

Darrell
’s mother, Tina, had received a pacemaker several months ago, a surgery that Marcus had actually performed. From what Dom had been able to gather, she was doing great. Dominick knew Darrell didn’t have the best relationship with Tina and was wondering why he didn’t seem more excited about her going back to Philly.

Feeling Dominick
’s scrutiny, Darrell averted his head. "Nah. We been talkin’, so..." He let the rest of the sentence trail off. There was no way he was going to tell Dom about what he'd found out right now. His boy was already dealing with enough. 

Dom
’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. "That's great, D. I know she did some hurtful things, but you only got one mother. If she's trying to make amends, then I'm glad you decided to meet her half way."

"We'll see how it goes. I'm not making any promises, but we'll see." His gray eyes shifted to Dom. "I guess everybody deserves to be given a second chance if they're tryin' to make amends. Right?"

Dominick chuckled under his breath. "Wow. Of all people,
you're
the peacemaker of the group now?"

"Hey, you gotta learn to evolve and grow." Darrell gave Dominick a sly grin, eyes twinkling with devilment. "It's levels to this shit, son. Maybe one day, you and Marcus will get there. Until then, watch and learn."

"D, you are so full o' shit, you know that?" Dominick chuckled when Darrell threw an arm around his neck as they headed back in the house.

He looked at his boy again, cracking up as Darrell went on and tried to lecture
him
about keeping a cool head and not letting his temper get the best of him. Wasn't
that
some shit!

He had to admit, though, it felt damn good to laugh after everything he
’d been dealing with the last twenty-four hours. Now, if only he could get things on the right footing with his wife.