The Sacrificial Lamb (44 page)

By this time, several officers had made their way into the cabin. One came rushing back out and was loudly sick in the bushes. Domenic snickered, and the cop gave him a quick punch to the kidneys. He winced and tensed up, his breath coming out in a rush.

“Not so tough now, are ya?” the man rasped in his ear.

“Take the handcuffs off and we’ll see how tough I am,” he retorted, breathless.

The cop kicked out the back of his legs, and Domenic went sprawling on his knees again. Alex howled in outrage and redoubled her efforts to get to him. His ire was rising. Domenic got up of his own accord, staggering. His eyes were on Alex. He took a couple of steps forward and was grabbed by the asshole who’d cuffed him. Two men were holding Alex. She had almost escaped the one man using the techniques he had taught her, and Domenic smiled.

That’s my girl
, he thought.

Watching them manhandle Alex was not improving his temper. “Let her go!” Domenic yelled and bucked against the asshole, forcing him backward.

Shrugging, the two cops stopped trying to restrain her. They must have figured he couldn’t be much harm to her now. Alex ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. She was crying and speaking incoherently. Domenic wished his arms were free so he could comfort her, but all he could do was try calming her with his words.

“Shh, Alex…baby, it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay! They have it wrong!” She turned to the cop standing beside them, glaring at him, and for a moment, Domenic thought she was about to spit in the man’s face. “You have it
wrong!”
she yelled instead.

“Ma’am,” he replied calmly, as if speaking to a child, “this man killed those people in there.”

“He was trying to
protect me!”

“That’s not for us to decide, ma’am. Now if you’ll kindly step aside?”

“No,” she said, wrapping her arms tighter around Domenic and sticking her chin out.

“Ma’am,” the cop said in warning.

“
Fuck you
,” she spat out and shoved her face against Domenic’s chest.

“Alex,” Domenic murmured, without reproach.

“Domenic,” she whimpered, and his heart splintered in a million pieces at the defeat in her voice. Tears prickled at the back of his eyes, and he turned his face up to the sky, taking deep breaths. He cleared his throat and tried again.

“Alex, they have to take you now.” The words stuck in his throat, but he forced them out. “You have to go.” She shook her head against him and pulled him closer, as if trying to burrow inside of him and disappear.

The two cops from before approached, each one came and took an arm and pulled her. “Please come with us, ma’am,” one said quietly.

She slackened her grip but before letting go completely, raised herself up on her toes and whispered in his ear, “I love you.”

Not waiting for a reply, she let him go and ran toward the other police officers. Domenic stood there in shock, registering what she had said. She loved him. Alex loved him. The asshole grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him toward the roadway where their cruisers were parked.

“Wait,” he said, when he found his voice. “No,
wait!”
The cop didn’t listen and continued to pull him along with determination. Domenic turned back to see if he could catch Alex’s attention, but she was surrounded by policemen.

“Alex!” he bellowed and saw her try to break free of the men around her.

“Domenic!” she called out after him as the asshole gave him one last vicious push into the trees, and he lost sight of her.

“Let me go back!” he insisted between clenched teeth.

“Sorry, buddy. Your time is up.” With one last push, the cop sent him toward a police car and then forced him into the back of it.

As they drove away, Domenic stared out of the window numbly.
She loves me
, he thought to himself incredibly.
She loves me, too
. While he hadn’t had a chance to tell her he loved her in return, he knew now that he should have. Regret was a horrible thing, and he wished he had told Alex how he felt about her before it was too late.

A
LEX’S
L
IFE
H
AD
T
URNED
U
PSIDE
D
OWN
once more. Domenic was being hauled off in handcuffs, and she was surrounded by strangers and wondering what would happen to her now. The entire morning was one big blur. The manic car chase and being caged in that tiny room while a shootout occurred overhead had been maddening. With every gunshot she had imagined Domenic’s body being struck as he was killed. Tears had streamed down her face nonstop.

Finally there had been silence and she had waited to see if her lover had been the victor. There would be no way to describe the depth of Alex’s emotions when she’d heard Domenic call her name and give her the safe word. She’d thought they were safe but should have known better, because not even minutes later they’d stepped out into more mayhem.

Her one consolation had been that she’d been able to tell Domenic she loved him.

After standing around for a while, she was escorted back to the Hamlin Lake Police Station. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen to her when they arrived and was surprised to find two U.S. marshals already waiting for her. They would escort her back to Illinois and bring her to her father. They introduced themselves as Deputies Matt Stafford and Alan Dufresne. Flanking her, they made as if to usher her out of the building right away.

Matt Stafford was a tall, slim man. He had dirty blond hair that was cut in a severe military style. He was the no nonsense one of the two, and obviously in charge. Alan Dufresne was shorter, on the verge of stocky. He had floppy reddish hair and an affable appearance.

“Wait!” she said, turning to Deputy Stafford. He was very tall, and Alex craned her neck up to look at him. He stared at her impassively with pale blue eyes. “Can I see Domenic before we leave?”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Montgomery,” he said in a cold voice, “we just don’t have time.”

Not willing to be deterred, she turned to Deputy Dufresne. “Please! I just want to say goodbye.” She could hear the pleading in her voice—hated it—but Dufresne’s face softened, and he hesitated. He glanced up at his superior’s face, and his resolve hardened once more.

“Like Deputy Stafford said, we just don’t have the time, Ms. Montgomery.” He smiled gently and leaned in to her. “I’m sure you’ll see him again soon.” Catching his partner’s eye, he coughed and straightened up, looking ahead of him. Alex glanced at Stafford, and he was frowning, shooting a black look at Dufresne.

She mulled over what he’d said and wondered if perhaps Domenic would be joining her in the Witness Protection Program. Perhaps he had decided to cooperate with the police and turn state’s evidence. Her heartbeat accelerated. Maybe all wasn’t lost after all.

The drive back to Illinois was intense. Alex lost track of how many times they switched vehicles and all the evasive maneuvers they took in order to make sure no one was following them. At one point she was passed a sandwich to eat but wasn’t very interested. She was tired, afraid, and nervous, and her stomach was clenched in a hard ball. After a few halfhearted bites she wrapped the food up once again, presumably to eat later. Most of the time she stared out the darkly tinted window listlessly and wondered what Domenic was doing and if he was safe.

The longer they drove, the more nervous she became. Her stomach was in knots wondering what awaited her. Would Domenic join them later? Would they keep him separated? How would she explain him to her father, and most of all, to Shane? Alex took a deep breath and decided she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.

They pulled up in front of a nondescript brown brick building. She had no idea where they were, but assumed it was a fair distance away from Chicago. It was a small, quaint neighborhood, very quiet and still. The SUV remained parked in front of the building while Dufresne exited and did a quick sweep of the area. She thought they would get the all clear to exit the vehicle, but instead he got back in and they waited a little longer. Stafford was driving, and he looked in the mirrors continuously. After about fifteen minutes, he finally turned off the engine, and she was hustled into the building.

There were armed men on the ground floor that nodded at them as they walked toward the elevators. Alex went through the doors, and Stafford pushed the fourth floor button. The elevator was old and rickety. It clacked and squeaked the whole way up, and as it rose, so did her anxiety level. It shuddered to a stop and the doors opened. Stafford and Dufresne were in front of her—both stepped out into the hallway, guns drawn. After they declared it safe, she was placed between them, and they walked briskly to the end of the hallway. Stafford knocked in what seemed a specific way and then stood in front of the peephole.

A few seconds passed and her father threw open the door. Stafford stepped aside and holstered his gun as her dad rushed out and gathered her in his arms. Alex burst into tears as the smell of him filled her nose—a mix of aftershave, Irish Spring, and laundry detergent. While these last two weeks with Domenic hadn’t been exactly harrowing, she hadn’t realized how much she missed her father.

“Sir, we have to get you inside,” Stafford said softly over her quiet sobbing.

“Yeah, right,” her father said, his voice sounding thick and choked. “C’mon, Lexi.”

The sound of her childhood nickname caused another wave of emotion, and tears welled in her eyes once more.

Keeping his arm tightly around her, her father turned and led her inside. The two deputies followed them and went to sit down. Alex still had her face against her father’s shirt, her arms tight around his waist. He patted her back and spoke to her in a soothing tone.

She was suddenly aware of another set of arms around them, familiar ones. Alex turned her head to see Shane standing to her side. “Shane,” she croaked, letting go of her father and turning around.

“Oh my God, Alex!” he said, grabbing her in a bone-crushing hug. “Baby, I was so worried about you.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she said, hiccupping against his broad chest. Alex felt a pang of guilt, but she was unsure if it was because she had been unfaithful to Shane, or because she felt safe in his arms right now, which felt like a betrayal of Domenic. She was in love with Domenic, but Shane still felt like home. There was a level of comfort with him that she hadn’t had a chance to build with Domenic.

Yet
, a small voice amended.

Managing to extricate herself from Shane’s grip, she took his and her father’s hands and went over to the couch, seating herself between them, sighing. They were alive, they were together, and for a moment she felt like everything might just turn out okay.

Alex had wanted to talk to her father about Domenic and see if he had any information on what would happen to him, but she didn’t want to do it in front of the deputies, who never left them alone. She would just have to bide her time until she could talk to him on her own. She hoped once she told him the whole story—well, maybe not the
whole
story—that he would feel indebted enough to Domenic to help him and hopefully overlook the fact that she was desperately in love with a former member of the mob.

In the meantime, she asked her father what had happened to him the night he met with Santino DiRocco. He recounted the story slowly and carefully. It sounded like something he had already done a number of times, which she assumed he had.

John Montgomery had called Santino, and they made arrangements to meet at a local café. When he got there, the conversation started off pleasantly enough as they caught up on old times. After about an hour, Santino began glancing at his watch and looking nervous. When her father inquired if everything was okay, the other man hesitated and then put an attaché case on the table. He looked around carefully before pulling out a thick manila envelope and pushing it toward John.

Santino went on to explain how he had gotten involved with the Liseni. He hadn’t known much of anything about the family when he was hired as an accountant but had been aware of their mob ties. Since the money was better than he’d make anywhere else, he swallowed his misgivings and did his work. As time went on, his guilt over helping an organized crime organization grew, and he decided to do something about it.