The Sacrificial Lamb (53 page)

“So, as I told Alex, we have to schedule you for X-rays. You have a chest tube in right now to siphon off fluids accumulating in your lung. If all goes well, we should be removing it in a couple of days. Are you in pain?”

“It’s manageable.”

“We’ll top you off before moving you, just in case.” Miles smiled and got up from the bed. He walked to the door but stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Domenic? I’m proud of you, son.”

“Thank you,” he replied softly.

T
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were busy with X-rays and different forms of exercise to promote healing. Since he had been unconscious for a couple of days, he had a lot of catching up to do. With the help of an epidural, Domenic was pain-free and lucid, but he grew tired easily from all the activity.

A nurse had just finished giving him a sedative when Alex came back in the room. She stood in the doorway, hesitating, and he motioned for her to come in.

“Hi,” she murmured as she came to perch on the chair near his bed.

“Hi.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Slightly high. And tired.”

“I ran into Miles. He said you had a busy morning.”

“Yeah.” Domenic was having a hard time keeping focus, and his eyes were drifting shut. “Why are you here?” he asked curiously, even as the darkness started to engulf him. He struggled against it, but it was no use. Sinking into its depths, he heard Alex’s fading voice.

“Because I love you.”

Certain the medication was affecting him in more ways than one, he let himself fall into oblivion and pretended what Alex had said was true.

Alex watched Domenic sleep a little while longer before she decided to leave. Her presence was known. He knew she’d been waiting for him. She hoped that proved to him that what she had been saying all along was true. Only he had her heart, and no one else.

Squaring her shoulders, she stood up and went back to the apartment. It was time to face the firing squad, namely, John Montgomery. It was early afternoon when she entered the apartment, and her father was sitting on the couch, watching TV. He scowled when he saw her, and she knew this was going to be difficult.

“Shane is gone,” he said without preamble.

“I know.”

“Do you mind telling me what happened?”

Alex walked to the fridge and grabbed two beers. Normally she didn’t drink but figured it couldn’t hurt in this instance. Not to mention, she figured her father would need it before her story was over. She placed her father’s beer in front of him and was greeted with a raised eyebrow to which she smiled sheepishly.

“How much do you know?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“How much do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“You might want to start drinking that beer then,” Alex said right before taking a healthy swig of her own. She grimaced at the bitter taste but manned up and swallowed it down.

“Since when did you start liking beer?” her father said, goggling at her.

“Never,” she replied, catching her breath. “God, that tastes horrible!”

He chuckled at her and took a swig of his beer.

In a halting voice, Alex told her father the PG-rated version of what happened at the cabin and about her feelings for Domenic. It was a difficult conversation to have, with lots of starts and stops, and lots of blushing on both their parts. She may have left out the sexual details, but her father was by no means a stupid or unobservant man.

“Alex, did he force himself on you?” he asked, barely keeping the suspicion and anger out of his voice.

“No!” she exclaimed. “
No
,” she replied in a sterner voice. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Because I’ll have that kid’s badge faster than you can say FBI. I don’t care
who
he works for!”

“Dad, no! Just stop, okay? I’m not a little girl anymore, and Domenic did not force himself on me. He was a perfect gentleman, okay?” Alex didn’t think he needed to know that it was his daughter who’d thrown herself at Domenic and not the other way around.

“Maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome?” he said, trying to make sense of what she was telling him.

“It’s not Stockholm syndrome,” she stressed, giving him a severe look, which she hoped conveyed her conviction.

“But, what about Shane?”

“Shane and I broke up, Dad. It was a long time coming.”

“What do you mean it was a long time coming? I thought you kids would be getting married!”

“Dad…Shane and I had been growing apart the last couple of years. I didn’t want to say anything to you ’cause I know how much you love him and his parents. All we were doing was fighting. I don’t think it would have lasted much longer even if this hadn’t happened.”

“I don’t like this, Alex. I especially don’t like that you had feelings for Agent D’Angelo when you thought he was in the mob.”

Alex flinched.

“What if he hadn’t been an undercover agent? What then? You would have just thrown your whole life away on a guy rotting in prison?”

“Um, no. I was hoping you would have pulled some strings to get him in the Witness Protection Program with us.” She smiled brightly, and her father’s jaw dropped.

“What?”

“Well that was my original thought,” she said sheepishly. “But hey! Look! He works for the FBI. Win-win!”

“Alex…”

“Dad, can’t you just be happy I’m in love with a law enforcement agent? Isn’t that what you always wanted?” She brought out her megawatt smile again, but it didn’t work much better this time either and Alex heaved a sigh. “He saved my life, Dad. I lost count how many times. The least you can be is a little grateful to him and give him a chance.”

Her father took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Fine, but I’m not making any promises.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Alex said in her best dutiful daughter voice and leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. “How about I make some dinner?”

Her father’s ears perked up, and he looked happier. They spent the rest of the evening like they used to, talking about trivial things and watching a basketball game.

Alex spent that night at the safe house, even though she would have preferred to go back to the hospital. She had called to check in on Domenic, and was told he was still sedated and would be out for the night. When she got off the phone, she headed straight to bed and slept soundly for the first time in what felt like ages.

The sedative kept Domenic asleep until the next day, but he felt much better. More himself. His body was still trying to recuperate and welcomed the rest. When he came to, no one was in the room. He sighed miserably. That was possibly the last time he would see Alex, and he had wasted it with sleep.

Miles came to look in on him and check his dressings. He let him know that his X-rays looked great, and if everything went well, the chest tube would be out by tomorrow. They had begun to decrease his medication, and the pain wasn’t intolerable. It looked good that he would be discharged in the standard week.

As Miles left, Domenic heard him greet someone at the door and turned in time to see Alex enter the room. She looked different, and he realized what it was—her clothing. He had become accustomed to seeing her in his baggy, oversized shorts and Tshirts and was sad to see her now in a formfitting white top and a pair of khaki shorts. This was the Alex from before—the woman he didn’t know. This was Shane’s Alex.

Once again he saw in his mind’s eye the both of them turning the corner, Alex safely ensconced under Shane’s arm. The other man thanking him for saving his fiancée, and the rush of hatred that Domenic felt for him, a copper taste filling his mouth like poison. He’d had the sordid idea of letting Shane know how he had entertained his
fiancée
during their time together but swallowed it viciously, taking the proffered hand instead.

With a cringe, the words he’d spoken to Alex in the courthouse came back to him. Domenic hadn’t wanted to hear her apologies, her stammered excuses for why things would never have worked out between them. He hadn’t wanted to hear that theirs was just a passing fling, but then after being reunited, she realized she had more of a future with Shane. The conversation was inevitable, but he still hadn’t wanted to hear it.

Was that why Alex was here now?

Because I love you.
Her voice whispered in his ear. A dream? A memory? He couldn’t tell which.

She came into the room looking flushed and excited. “Oh good, you’re up!”

“Yes,” he answered, confused.

“Russell sent me ahead to warn you…”

“Warn me? About what?” Accustomed to expecting danger, adrenaline rushed his system, but the look on Alex’s face was…giddy. So he cast the feeling aside.

The door swung open and someone came barging into the room. His first instinct had been right.

“Domenic Tomaso D’Angelo! How
dare
you not tell me you were working for the FBI?” Bianca demanded as she strode over to him and punched him in the arm.

“Ow, Bianca! I’ve just been shot!” It was a good thing she had struck him in the right arm instead of the left. Suddenly her lower lip started to tremble, and her huge eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, Dom!” she sobbed out and threw her arms about his neck. Thoroughly bewildered, he wrapped an arm around her and sat her on the bed beside him as she cried.

Looking at Russell, his brother-in-law held a hand beside his lips and mouthed,
hormones
, pointing surreptitiously at his crying wife.

“I saw that, Russell!” Bianca cried, looking up and glaring at her husband, who was busy trying to look innocent.

Domenic glanced at Alex, and she looked ready to start fizzing with mirth over the entire situation.

“Don’t think you’re out of the doghouse, mister! I can’t believe you shuffled me off to Mexico and didn’t even tell me what was happening!”

“You never told her?” Domenic said over Bianca’s head.

“Are you kidding?” Russell replied, looking at him like he had grown a second head. “I never would have gotten her out of here if I told her the truth.”

“He told me that Diana had arranged a special spa treatment for us in Cozumel,” she spat out, giving Russell a gimlet eye. “And that it was supposed to be a surprise for me.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

Bianca sighed, obviously bested, and turned back to Domenic, her face becoming serious at once. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

The look on her face twisted at his heart, and he realized just how much he had missed his baby sister. Domenic hugged her to him again, fighting against all the emotions threatening to engulf him.

“Bianca, sweetie, I’m sorry,” he said into her hair. “I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell anyone.” He glanced up at Alex as he said this. “It was just too dangerous. I wanted to tell you. You don’t know how bad I did. But if anyone ever found out, we’d all have been dead.”