The Sacrificial Lamb (7 page)

“If anyone was following us, they aren’t now,” Russell said, chuckling. “Now you can stop looking out the back window.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Likewise.” His friend grinned. “Miles sends his regards.”

“Right.”

“He does. Diana, too.”

Domenic ran his hand through his hair in agitation at the mention of Russell’s parents’ names. Miles Sutherland had been Domenic’s mentor and had vehemently opposed the path he had chosen for his life. The Sutherlands had been the ones to help his mother after Domenic Sr. had been murdered. The D’Angelos had plenty of money from Sofia’s side of the family, but no real support. Miles and Diana Sutherland had been there for his family and became like surrogate parents to him after his mother also passed away. Miles had been hoping Domenic would follow in his footsteps and practice medicine, but that all changed when Carlo came to recruit him all those years ago.

His heart squeezed a bit at the mention of his former family. His real family. The one he had been part of before being swallowed whole by the Liseni.

“
She
misses you, too, you know,” Russ said softly after a moment, meaning the one person Domenic had hoped wouldn’t be mentioned. The thoughts associated with her were still too painful.

“Okay, I get it. Now tell me what was so important,” Domenic said, a bit harsher than intended. His lips compressed into a thin line.

“Where is Alexis Montgomery?” Russell blurted out.

He was good. Domenic hadn’t been expecting that at all. Had he been a rookie, he would have gaped at his friend. As it was, he was well-schooled in the art of keeping his emotions in check.

“I’m sorry, who?” Domenic asked, feigning innocence.

“Don’t fuck with me, Dom!” Russell snarled. He turned to glance at Domenic, his gray eyes flashing dangerously. “
Alexis Montgomery
,” he repeated, drawing out the syllables. “You know, the daughter of the guy who can put your boss away for a long time if he testifies? She’s conveniently missing.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Russell.” Domenic kept his face as impassive as possible.

“You’re a shit liar,” Russ said angrily. Domenic just shrugged his shoulders and looked out the passenger side window.

“Her name is Alexis Nicole Montgomery,” Russell continued. “Daughter to John and Maggie Montgomery. She’s twenty-five years old and just graduated from teacher’s college. She wants to teach kindergarten ’cause she loves kids…”

He knew what Russell was doing—it was the oldest trick in the book. He was trying to make Domenic see her as a real person, instead of just some faceless victim. He would have no clue, of course, that Alex was anything but faceless to him.

“I wish I could help you,” Domenic said, cutting him off.

“Then
help
me!” Russell stressed, “I know you, Domenic. You aren’t a heartless son of a bitch like the guys you work for. She’s just a young, innocent girl. What if it were Bianca?” Domenic winced. That was a low blow, even for Russell.

“I said I can’t help you, Russell.”

The Lexus had stopped at a red light, and Domenic took the opportunity to get out of the car, knowing Russ wouldn’t dare follow him. He valued both their lives much too much.

“Domenic!” his brother-in-law roared out, followed by a string of curses.

He turned to look at Russ and said, “Tell Bianca I miss her too.”

Slamming the door behind him, he stepped up onto the sidewalk. The light turned green, and Russell had no choice but to speed off. Domenic watched him go before disappearing into the crush of people walking around downtown.

After a quick stop to drop something off at the warehouse, Domenic opened the door to his condo and tossed his jacket into a chair. Heading to the fridge, he took out a beer and cracked it open. He didn’t even bother sitting down, merely tipped the bottle to his lips right away and began swallowing deeply. Most of the beer was finished before he stopped to take a breath. The rest followed suit after a few more gulps, and he grabbed another one.

Seeing Russell had messed him up. Domenic hated lying to him, but he had no other choice. What could he have possibly said? “Yeah, Russell. We have her. She’s at this abandoned warehouse being kept prisoner. Here’s the address!” It was tempting, but that wouldn’t have gone over real well.

First of all, his best friend would have arrested him right on the spot for aiding and abetting the kidnapping. Second, his carefully crafted plans would have turned to dust before his eyes. And third, Alexis Montgomery would be in even more danger than she was now.

Horrible as it sounded, she was safer right now under his protection than she would be under the police’s watch. There were so many corrupt cops on the Liseni payroll it was ridiculous. Any one of them would have sold out Alex’s location, and Tony would have his orders within hours. No, there was no way he could tell Russell where she was located, even if he wanted to.

Domenic brought his second beer into the living room and sat down. Besides the strained conversation, it had been good to see Russell again. They had known each other over twenty years and had been best friends for most of that time. He met Russell his first day in grade school. The Sutherlands had just moved to Chicago, and Russ was the new kid. So in walked this knobby-kneed, scrawny, blond kid, and the teacher introduced him to the class. Since Domenic was the only one who didn’t have a seatmate, Miss Connor assigned Russell the desk beside his. It didn’t take long for them to become fast friends and thick as thieves, much to their parents’ chagrin.

From then on, they were inseparable. Wherever he was, Russell was with him. They told each other everything. There was one secret Domenic had kept from his best friend, and that was that he knew who had murdered his father. Domenic wasn’t sure why he’d kept it to himself. He supposed he was ashamed to admit to his friend that he hadn’t had the balls to try to save his father. And he hadn’t had the balls to go and report it to the police.

Russell was a strong believer in the law. Obviously, he believed in it so much, he had applied to Chicago Police Training Academy’s four-year program directly out of high school. After the mandatory two years, he was accepted into Westwood College to work on his Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, while simultaneously completing his last two years in the academy. Those last couple summers were spent doing internships, so they hadn’t spent that much time together.

In a way that was for the best, because unbeknownst to anyone, Domenic was already firmly under Carlo’s thumb. It was kind of ironic that the best friend of the mob boss’s son turned out to be a cop. It was also the one thing that had been able to come between him and Russell. Not even Bianca had managed that feat.

Thinking back, that was the other thing that had threatened their friendship—when Russell started dating Domenic’s baby sister, Bianca, behind his back. All three of them knew Domenic would beat the ever-living shit out of Russell if he’d known what was going on, so they’d snuck around for a while before they were caught.

When Domenic’s mother died, Russell’s parents, Miles and Diana had taken both of them in. Domenic had already completed his first year at Harvard and was home for the summer. While he didn’t need to move into the Sutherlands’ home, Miles had insisted. Domenic had been more than willing to quit school to help take care of Bianca, who was a sophomore at the time, but the Sutherlands wouldn’t hear of it. They had graciously opened their home to brother and sister so that he could return to Harvard in the fall and Bianca could finish her last couple of years in high school.

What he hadn’t known at the time was that Bianca had a long-standing crush on Russell. And he
certainly
didn’t know that Russell reciprocated her feelings. Only his friendship with Domenic had stopped Russ from actively pursuing her already. Domenic leaving for college was the catalyst that eventually brought the two of them together.

Domenic might not have found out about the two of them at all if he hadn’t decided to return to Chicago for spring break a day early. Domenic had finished all of his work and thought it would be a nice surprise for Russell and Bianca if he showed up at the house unannounced. Instead, he was the one surprised when he caught them together in Russ’s bedroom.

Things hadn’t gone well.

Looking back, he was happy that they had found solace in one another, especially considering how he left his family. Both of them had been devastated when they found out Domenic was joining Carlo’s army. At least he’d known that Bianca would be in good hands, and he wouldn’t have to worry about her getting involved with some asshole that would abuse her or treat her badly. Russell had her up on a pedestal where she belonged, and she simply adored him.

They, of course, grew closer as Domenic drifted away. Both of them had tried to find out what was happening with him and why he wasn’t visiting or calling as often, but he kept them out of that part of his life. First, he didn’t want Bianca to get caught up in all of this. She had still been young when their father died, and Domenic knew she never understood the nature of their father’s business. Then there was the added complication that her fiancé—soon to be husband—was going to be joining the police force, effectively ensuring Domenic could no longer be part of their lives.

Domenic remembered the last time he spoke to Bianca, and his mind shied away from it automatically. No, this wasn’t something he was ready to dredge up again. Not right now. He got up and headed to his liquor cabinet. Beer wasn’t going to cut it. Domenic needed the hard stuff after all.

Sitting down with a tumbler full of scotch, he proceeded to drown his sorrows.

O
VER
A
N
H
OUR
H
AD
P
ASSED
, and Alex was still trying to puzzle out why she was here. Besides the Santino connection, she had nothing. Her father hadn’t seen the man in almost thirty years—who knew what Santino had been up to in that time? Obviously nothing good, if it meant he was cavorting with men like these who walked around armed to the teeth and ran rampant abducting women from their homes. He’d seemed like such a nice, intelligent man when they’d met at dinner. Very suave and urbane. It was hard for Alex to reconcile that man with the ones who were holding her captive.

That train of thought brought to mind her would-be attacker. He was another enigma. Charged to hurt her, he hadn’t. When he noticed she was cold, he had given her his suit jacket as if she were his date at a wedding. This wonderfully heavy, warm jacket. Alex had been loath to give it up when the man was preparing to leave and secretly happy he’d told her to keep it. She wasn’t looking forward to being chilled to the bone again, and that scratchy blanket just was not cutting it. She was surprised a suit jacket could keep her this insulated. Curiosity had her removing the garment to look at the tag.

One hundred percent wool crêpe. Ooh la la. Armani. It figured.

Alex shouldn’t have been surprised. She’d seen Mr. Armani twice, but it had been enough to tell his clothes were impeccable. She didn’t know much about men’s clothing, but she could tell a well-tailored suit from one off the rack. The jacket she was wearing now was definitely not of the rack variety. And thank goodness for that, because the wool kept her much cozier than some polyester blend would.

She wondered why he’d left the jacket here with her and where he’d gone. Especially since after they’d been interrupted, Mr. Armani had told her he’d be back.

When the door had shut firmly behind him, Alex ran and pressed her ear against it. She could hear him yelling at the man who had disturbed them. It was the mean one. He was medium height, but thickly built with a rat-like face made even more pronounced by his close-cropped brown hair and goatee. His eyes were black and beady, close set in a pale face just above a long, pointed nose and thin-lipped mouth. To Alex the man looked perpetually pissed off, so she had dubbed him Mr. Mean. She didn’t like him at all, or the way he looked at her, and she was a little pleased that he was being reamed out. Until she made out what the topic of conversation was. Apparently, Mr. Armani had noticed that sometimes the guard would leave his partner on his own, and was upset about it.