✧

DOMINIC

It didn't take him long to spot the person hiding in the trees. Dominic moved faster than the wind could take him under the light of the moon. He ended up on the other side of the lake, deep in the woods, and behind the enemy.

As a man with creamy skin and a sleeve of tattoos walked out from between two large bushes, he slowed down and walked quietly. He was wearing all black, which made it look like he was trying to hide.

It was funny, though, because the silver chain around his neck gave him away.

Dominic uttered, "What a surprise to see you here. Especially since it's only three miles from my house."

When he turned around, he couldn't tell who the intruder was. That set off warning signs.

Shock splashed across the man's face. "It's you."

"It's me," Dominic mimicked. "Who are you?"

The man said, "I'm nobody," stretching his hands at his sides. "How could I not have seen you?"

"I don't know." As Dominic confronted him, he smiled. "Maybe because you weren't paying attention as much as you thought."

The intruder moved forward one step.

He took risks. Dominic admired that. "I've been keeping an eye on everything you do. I have no idea how I could have missed Dominic Beretta."

"Yeah, well, I'm slick like that," he replied, clenching his hands at his sides. "Allow me to ask once more: who the hell are you?"

Now, the man's brows were almost as high as the stars. Dominic's lips twitched as he got ready to beat the snot out of him.

The man tossed a glance behind him toward the cabins on the opposite side of the lake before returning his attention to Dominic. "How did you get here so quickly, right next to this park? It's quite a distance from your place."

How Dominic got there didn't matter. He'd go anywhere he darn well wanted, but that was beside the point. "You haven't answered my question. If you don't tell me who you are, you won't make it the next morning."

The man rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It doesn't matter who I am. The important thing is that I got a job to do."

"Which is?" Dominic stepped closer. "Talk. Now."

"You think you can threaten me?" The stranger's legs were spread about two inches apart as if he were ready to tackle him and take him down. "You think you're big and bold because you're Dominic Beretta, the son of the great Damian Beretta, but compared to my people, you're nothing but a pushover."

Men like him were so full of themselves. Dominic had to deal with a lot of idiots in his life. They all tried to talk down to him, but he always stood up to them and proved who was in charge.

He did know that this man worked for a boss who competed with him, but he didn't know who that boss was. Most likely, it was because Claudia was new to the Beretta family, and he was sure the Guarini family wanted to learn more about her. Things began to make more sense.

Dominic had enough of him. No one had ever crossed to this side of the lake as long as he had lived here. Most people in the area didn't come this far because they were afraid of the wild animals that roamed the woods.

If this mysterious stranger was shadowing Dominic, he was undoubtedly also watching Claudia. Dominic was curious about the man's motives, but he refused to be stupid enough to think that he was overjoyed to have met him.

"You lay one finger on me, and I'll—"

"Oh, shut the fuck up, will you?" Dominic spoke loudly, scowling. "You're really pushing me to mess up your face, which is funny because that's what I wanted to do before making dinner. You talk. We fight. Your bones break. You gasp out your last breath. Sounds exciting, right?"

The man stepped down from the top of the hill he was standing on and reached into his back pocket for something. As he shot at Dominic at the speed of light, the man's silver chain began to flicker.

Dominic laughed.

He spread his legs and put his arms out as the stranger reached within two inches of his feet. Dominic turned to the side and hit the air with his fists, kicking up dirt from the ground and filling the void as the night covered them.

He was right in the path of a small knife that flew through the shadows. He dug down and hit the ground with his fist. As the man got closer, Dominic grabbed a long branch and swung it to the left side, breaking the damn thing on the man's cheek.

Again, Dominic turned and threw the stranger around like a football.

He collided with a tree and fell to the ground, but swiftly rose to his feet.

As his opponent moved forward, dark dirt gathered behind him like a black cat's tail. He threw another weapon at Dominic from the side of his pants leg.

Dominic dodged the small, sharp discs by ducking and leaning against a tree with his arms and legs crossed. He cracked up, and the sound he made was heard everywhere. "Is that all you can come up with, soldier?"

The man pulled out his gun and pointed it at Dominic's head, getting ready to fire another wave of small objects. Dominic dropped to his knees and kicked the man in the ankles, making him fall on his back before he could even fire his gun.

Dominic would have brought out a weapon or two, but he didn't have time. Besides, he'd fought empty-handed before, in real fistfights, and was confident he'd win this one. Even with all the weapons in the world, he was stronger, more intelligent, and more flexible than his enemy. If he had his way, this adversary wouldn't last long.

The opponent couldn't hold back any longer and slid forward, kicking up pieces of debris and gravel. Dominic quickly grabbed a branch, but he let go of it and reached for the man, grabbing his collar while staring him down.

The man was so scared that his whole body was shaking. After Dominic threw him against the tree, the man tried to crawl away but couldn't. He kept flailing his arms to the sides as if he were trying to get more weaponry.

Dominic snatched him by the neck and threw him to the ground, where his face dug into the soil. Within a second, he was on top of the man with his knees on his back. Fear spread through him, and sweat ran down his skin.

"Stop."

Dominic's right hand drove deeper into the man's body by pressing harder on the area above his heart and plunging into the center of his chest.

The man threw back his head and screamed.

"This doesn't even hurt. I could make you feel real pain. Knock it off." Dominic leaned near his ear a few inches. "You already know what will happen if you keep coming at me. Your neck won't be hard to break. It will end so quickly that you won't even notice."

Under him, his enemy was breathing erratically with his hands tied behind his back. While it wasn't a bad injury, it hurt like hell. "Fuck off!" the enemy screamed.

Wrong sentence.

Dominic breathed in. He put his fingers on the side of the man's temples and gave him a slight squeeze. His nails dug into the man's skin. He didn't want to hurt him too much, but it was important for him to see what the man could do. He could tell that he was making the man's blood rise swiftly because his skin became red.

Warning received.

The man thrashed and wailed while Dominic was on top of him.

"I am going to ask you again." He put his hand on the man's skull and made him stop moving. "Who in the hell are you?"

The man screamed with his arms free, but the hits did nothing but annoy Dominic. He punched the man in the right cheek while feeling a burning sensation run through his body.

"I think you want to experience more misery. We can keep going like this."

"Edoardo," the man gasped, and he stopped trying to get away once his body calmed.

"And who sent you?" Dominic asked, putting more pressure on Edoardo's spine.

He barely moved his head toward Dominic before he let out a breath and opened his mouth. "Matteo. He is my brother."

A shudder racked through Dominic's body after he heard that. But then Edoardo rolled onto his back and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Matteo knows you were spying on him earlier," he said in a deep voice. "He ordered me to find out why."

"What do you know, Edoardo?"

"Only that you don't trust him," he said, his chest moving heavily up and down. "You believe he's turned on you."

Dominic's anger from before came back, and he grabbed Edoardo's palms and shoved them behind his head. "You must have heard the phone call I got today," he said as he got closer to Edorado's face. "It was in my car when I got home from work."

Edoardo nodded as his body spasmed. "Yeah, that's right."

Dominic's anger surged through him and wound around the energy. "You've been following us around for hours. Did you tell your brother anything?"

Edoardo had to be struck in the side a few more times before he spoke up. At that point, he could only take one more hit.

"All I told him was that I saw you drive up and talk on the phone. I haven't said anything else to him."

"Is he the reason you found my house?" Dominic saw red, and Edoardo gave a knowing nod. "Why didn't Matteo come along with you?"

Dominic hit Edoardo again when he didn't answer. "Tell me, and I'll let you live!"

Edoardo's entire body shook. "Because he knew you'd kill him for betraying you."

"So, you're telling me that the jerk knew I was on to him?" Dominic said as he slammed his fist into the ground. "Well, I guess it's time for us to meet up and talk."

Edoardo said, "That's not all," after he heaved.

Dominic's brows went up when he heard the words. "Keep talking."

"I didn't come here just to find out why you were watching Matteo. Someone else asked me to look into something for them."

A surge of rage shattered through Dominic's spine. There was more going on than he knew. He thought for a moment that Edoardo might not be alone and that a few of his men would show up for the fight. But since that didn't happen, he knew the man was on his own, which made sense. Dominic did surveillance in the past and was expected to do it again.

He growled through his teeth as he glared down at Edoardo. "What else were you instructed to do?"

"Matteo couldn't tell me who sent him to spy on you and find out more about Claudia Marcello, but someone did."

"You don't know who's behind all of this?"

Edoardo coughed and shook his head forcibly. "I didn't talk to them in person. Only Matteo knows who they are. Someone wanted to know if Claudia was using you or if she was up to something else."

When Dominic picked him up and pulled Edoardo toward him, the air around them grew tight. "Are there any other people around?"

"No." His eyes were wide, and his body went limp. "I came here alone. What will you do to Matteo? Please, don't kill him. He's all I have."

Dominic didn't say anything. Fucking siblings. Did they really think they could do this dirty stuff without anyone finding out?

Then Edoardo's face turned white with fear.

Realization followed, and he began to tremble. "I thought if I told you everything, you'd let me go."

Dominic gave a shoulder shrug and put his hand behind his back. Then he gave a head shake. "I thought about that, but I don't want you to run to your brother and tell him what you know."

"But, but, I won't say anything," Edoardo begged.

"Sorry, soldier, but I can't trust that," he conveyed with a touch of darkness.

Edoardo tried to fight again, flailing and thrashing in Dominic's arms, but he was getting weaker, and Dominic was one of his strongest men. It didn't take much to defeat enemies, and while Edoardo's screams shook the ground, Dominic kept giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Bones broke, and then there were no more sounds.

The fight was over.

✧