Twisted Obsessions (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES Book 2)

by K, S

  “And how do you know him?” Marcus chimed in.

  Dominick seemed reluctant to answer, but he knew he owed them an explanation.

  “He’s my brother.”

  Chapter 27

  Dominick stood looking out the window of one of Darrell’s guest bedrooms. He glanced at his watch and saw it was almost 4:00 a.m. He knew he should lie down beside Keisha and try to rest for an hour or so, but he also realized he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Right now, he was running on pure adrenalin; his mind and his body wouldn't let him sleep.

  He walked towards the bed and stared down at Keisha. Poor thing. She was exhausted. When he, Marcus, and Darrell had walked in from seeing his brother, she’d been asleep on one end of the couch, and Aleesha had been asleep on the other. Jerra must have been sitting on the floor in front of them looking through legal books and paperwork because she was sound asleep with her head on the coffee table in front of her. The three men had collected their women. Marcus and Aleesha were in one of the other bedrooms.

  Dominick sat down in a chair by the bed. He leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the memories seeing his brother had awakened, but he couldn’t…

  Dominick grew up idolizing his big brother, Angel, who loved and spoiled him like everyone else in his family had done since the day he was born.

  Both Dom and Angelo were extremely intelligent boys. Dominick loved school, but Angel looked at it as a waste of his time. He wanted things fast. Now. He didn't have the patience to sit in someone's classroom day after boring ass day. In his junior year, he dropped out and started hanging on the corner, but while his friends were drinking and smoking weed, Angel was on his grind. He loved money and the things money could buy which included cool clothes, nice kicks, and hot women. Money equaled power.

  Angel knew his friends bought drugs the moment money touched their hands, and it didn’t escape him that the money went straight into the dealer’s pockets. Wanting a piece of that action, he made connections with the right people and got his own hustle going. He started off selling weed and eventually graduated to cocaine. The streets became his education and the game his teacher. By the time he was twenty one years old, he was very well known as the man to see if you wanted top grade shit.

  Angel was extremely cautious about his business - obsessively so. He chose his people carefully and ruled his growing operation with an iron fist. He quickly became respected - and feared. The fact that the authorities couldn't get anything on Angel pissed them off more than him selling drugs. Angel became enemy number one - and they were determined to bring his ass down.

  Dominick’s parents washed their hands of Angel long ago, but he would never turn his back on him. They were family...brothers...and loved each other no matter what. The summer before his senior year, against his parents’ wishes, Dominick decided to spend his vacation with his brother. He enjoyed that time with Angel to the fullest. They visited some of the most exciting cities: Miami, L.A., New York….it was a never ending party. Because of Angel, Dominick was able to get into the most exclusive clubs, but he especially enjoyed the women. Angel always had pretty girls accompanying him and there were plenty for Dominick. They taught him things he would never learn in the sex education classes at school, and before the summer was over, he knew how to please a woman better than men twice his age.

  The morning Angel and his right hand man, Oscar, were driving him back home, Dominick overheard them talking about a meeting they had scheduled with one of Angel’s lieutenants. Normally, Angel didn’t dirty his hands, but this was a simple drop off and he wanted to go over a few details with his man before he left. Afterwards, he and Oscar were headed straight to the airport. The two of them were flying out to South America to close a deal with the Columbian cartel; a deal which would, without a doubt, push Angel up through the ranks and enable him to sit at the head of the table as the unquestionable boss for the entire territory.

  But a knot began to form in Angel’s gut, and when it persisted and grew stronger, he knew something wasn’t right. His instincts never failed him. He told Oscar to reschedule their flight for one day then call the Columbians. Although the man they were meeting was one of Angel's most trusted soldiers, Angel learned long ago to listen to his sixth sense when it spoke to him – and right about now, it was screaming out to be cautious.

  Silent throughout the entire conversation, Dominick spoke up and told his brother he could keep the briefcase until Angel got back.

  "No, Nick." Angel's response was quick and without hesitation.

  But Dominick was insistent. He wanted to show Angel he wasn't a kid and could handle something as simple as keeping a briefcase safe.

  "Think about it. This way you and Oscar won't have to miss your flight. It won't be for long, you'll be back by the end of the week."

  Angel continued to stare at Dominick with cool, piercing green eyes. Although there was no mistaking the fact that the two of them were brothers, their physical appearance was like night and day. Dominick's complexion resembled darkened buttered toast and his warm, brown eyes always seemed to dance with laughter.

  Angel was the exact opposite. He was very fair skinned with arresting hazel eyes that changed colors depending on his mood. When he was calm and relaxed, they were light brown with green flecks. Times when he was upset or trying to control a particular emotion, the greenish pigment took over and became a cool, mint shade - like now. Dominick knew what that meant, so he changed his strategy.

  "You don't trust me?"

  Angel’s eyes flickered at the hurt Dominick interjected in his voice, and seeing this, Dominick knew he'd won. Although Angel and his parents were estranged, they still had one thing in common - their overwhelming love for Dominick. They hated to see him sad or upset which usually meant they gave him whatever he wanted.

  "Nick, you know that's not it..."

  "Then let me do this. Oscar, tell him." Dom turned pleading eyes to the man who was like a surrogate uncle and spoiled him the same as everyone else did. Oscar was a good twenty years older than Angel and was loyal to a fault. Angel trusted his advice without question. The two men exchanged a look before Angel reluctantly agreed.

  “Nicky, listen to me and listen well. The only thing I want you to do is slide it in the back of your closet. That's it."

  Trying to suppress his triumph, Dominick quickly nodded. "I gotcha, Angel."

  But Angel reached over and grabbed Dominick's chin and made sure he kept his gaze hard and steady with his little brother's. "I'm serious. This is only between us. Don’t tell your friends, your bitches, nobody. And especially don’t tell Mom and Pop. You understand me?" Dominick vigorously nodded again. Angel held his eyes for a minute then exhaled before giving Dominick a conspiratorial grin. "And you sure as hell better not tell them about all the bitches you fucked."

  Dominick ducked his head and laughed. "Uh uh! But I can’t wait to tell my friends. They’re gonna be jealous as hell. Thanks again for everything, Angel. This was a cool summer."

  “No problem, baby boy. I enjoyed having you with me. You’ll be a college man next year and probably won’t have as much time for your big brother, so I’m glad we got to spend these couple of months together."

  When they pulled up in front of their parent's house, Angel and Oscar got out of the car and helped Dominick get his luggage. Angel put the briefcase securely in Dominick's hand.

  "I’ll be in touch the minute I get back to town. Now if you're not too old, come and give me a hug.”

  Dom laughed and threw his arms around his brother. Angel looked over Dominick's shoulder and saw his parents anxiously waiting for their youngest son. Angel swallowed hard at the disapproval and disappointment which showed on their faces when their gazes switched to him.

  Pulling away from Dominick, he looked him deep in his eyes once more. “I love you Nick. And remember. Tell no one.”

  But someone did tell. And it wasn’t Dominick.

  Angel's instincts had been right. His
lieutenant had turned over on Angel to save his own skin and was now an informant. Dominick’s parent’s house was raided days later. When they found the briefcase stashed in the back of Dominick’s closet, they opened it in the living room where Dominick was being kept along with his parents. It was filled with bags of pure cocaine. Dominick never forgot the look of devastation on his parent's face.

  “It’s not mine. I swear.”

  “Then whose is it, son?” the detective asked. He knew the drugs belonged to the kid's brother. He just needed Dominick to rat him out and then they’d finally have that son of a bitch exactly where they wanted him. His ass would never inhale a breath as a free man again.

  But Dominick remained stubbornly silent. He would die before he snitched on his brother.

  His mother cried, screamed, and begged. “Tell them, Nick! Tell them it belongs to your brother! Dominick, please!”

  Tears trailed down Dominick’s face. His eyes showed his torture at hurting his parents but he just couldn’t - he wouldn't.

  His mother ran up to the detective. “Those are not his drugs! Dominick is a good boy!" Her desperation and fear made her West Indian accent more pronounced. "Those drugs belong to my son, Angelo! You have to believe me!”

  But without the words coming directly from Dominick, there was no way to charge Angel. They didn’t care, though. Dominick would have to do. They’d get his brother another time.

  As they led him out in handcuffs, Dominick felt as if the events were unfolding in slow motion. He could hear his mother screaming and his father trying to comfort her as her tears made a journey of sorrow down her beautiful ebony cheeks.

  “Don’t take my baby! Please! Don’t take my baby! It’s his brother, Angelo! Dominick TELL them! Tell them!”

  Dominick kept his head down as they walked him through the crowd that had gathered out on the street and pushed him into the squad car. Because of his age, he was taken to a juvenile facility until his trial began.

  Angel was still out of the country when he heard about his brother's arrest. He became filled with blinding rage as well as a terror more powerful than anything he'd ever felt.

  His first instinct was to go to the authorities and turn himself in. He wouldn't let his brother be prosecuted for something that wasn’t his fault. He'd always been Dominick's protector; he'd been an unseen protector of his entire family and they didn’t even know it. Angel had stopped using the surname Spain years ago. He wanted the streets to have as little connection as possible between himself and the people he loved. He went by his mother's Caribbean family name, Lacroix, which her father had dropped when she was just a girl after they came to the states. He still needed that connection to them even though his parents had publicly disowned him years ago.

  Barking orders, he told Oscar to make arrangements to charter a private jet to fly them back to Vegas as soon as possible, but for the first time ever, Oscar opposed his decision and refused to carry it out.

  "What's wrong with you!" Angel shouted. "We have to get back home! You know better than I do what'll happen to Dominick, what those sons of bitches will do to him to get at me!" Angel stared at Oscar as if he didn't recognize the man who'd guided him for the last seven years.

  "Angel, wait! You're not thinking straight."

  Angel's green eyes flashed molten fire. "Wait?! What the fuck do you mean wait....!"

  Shaking his head, Angel dismissed him with the flick of his hand; he didn’t have time for this shit right now. He had to get to his brother. When he reached for the phone to take care of it himself, Oscar jerked it out of his hand and slammed it back down. He grabbed Angel's face between his palms, forcing him to focus on him in almost the exact way Angel had done to Dominick in the car.

  "Listen to me!" When Angel began to protest, Oscar vehemently shook his head. "No, listen! Have I ever steered you wrong, Angelo?! Have I?!"

  Anguish was etched over Angel's face. "No."

  "Do you trust me?" Angel blinked then nodded. "You're not turning yourself in.”

  The moment Oscar’s words sunk in, Angel wrenched away and stepped back. Disbelief clouded his eyes. “What?” he whispered. “What are you saying…?”

  “We can get Dominick a slap on the wrist, but if you come forward, you’re looking at life.”

  “I don’t care!” Angelo roared. “This is Dominick we’re talking about! This is my brother!” Angel turned away from Oscar and ran a trembling hand over the low-cut waves in his hair. “What was I thinking to let him hold the drugs…” he mumbled to himself.

  “Angelo, Dom is sixteen years old! We can have him out by the time he’s eighteen.”

  Angel swung around to face Oscar with an incredulous expression. “What?! No! I don't want my brother to spend one fucking minute in jail, let alone two years! Are you even listening to what you’re saying?”

  Oscar walked over and stared at him intently. “Two years compared to a lifetime. Do you think Dominick would want that for you? He loves you just as much as you love him.”

  Angel shook his head, still not allowing the words Oscar was speaking to settle and take root in his mind, but Oscar persisted.

  “We can make sure his time is easy. No one – and I mean no one – will touch him.”

  Angel took staggering steps back and dropped down on the chair behind him. His head fell into his hands as the enormity of what Oscar was proposing became clear.

  Oscar continued. “Their so called 'informant'?” Oscar spat the word out as if it was something vile and revolting. “He’s a dead man and doesn’t even know it yet. So is his family. I don’t give a fuck how safe they think they’re keeping him. I’ll have his whereabouts within the hour. A judge on our payroll will preside over the trial. This is the best option for everyone, Angelo.”

  Oscar became silent as he waited on Angel’s decision. Finally, Angel gave him an imperceptible nod to proceed. In doing so, he knew he may have lost the only family he had left.

  Back in Vegas, Dominick's public defender was abruptly fired and a high powered attorney took his place. When Dominick entered the small room to consult with his new lawyer, he was surprised, then relieved to see Angel there as well. Angel walked over and pulled Dominick to him and hugged him tight.

  “I need to speak to my brother. Alone,” he told the attorney.

  Once the other man left the room, Angel looked Dominick over as if making sure he was okay, and saw the fear in Dom’s eyes that he so valiantly tried to hide. “Are you alright, Nick? Did they hurt you?”

  “No.” Dominick shook his head. “I didn’t tell them anything, though. I swear. Angel, when can I go home?”

  Angel blinked rapidly and looked away for a moment before meeting his brother's eyes. “Nicky, I need to talk to you.”

  He slowly outlined the plan Oscar had come up with for Dominick to take the rap for the charges, and how it would be arranged for him to serve a couple of years. “Nicky, I'm not telling you that you have to do this. But...”

  “But if you take the blame, they would lock you up for life,” Dominick finished. He was under no illusion as to who and what his brother was.

  Angel's anguish showed on his face as he stood there in silence. He would never forgive himself for putting Dominick in this situation.

  “Are you sure I would only have to do two years?”

  “Yes.”

  Dominick stared over his brother's shoulder, deep in thought, but it only took him a few minutes to meet Angel’s eyes and nod. “Okay.”

  “Nicky...”

  “We have to, Angel. It'll be okay.” He gave his brother a shaky smile of reassurance. “I can do two years with my eyes closed.”

  But the sentence handed down to Dom was five times that. He was given ten years. He would serve time in a juvenile detention center, and then be transferred to a maximum security prison once he turned eighteen.

  As he was being led out of the court room amid mournful wails from his mother, Dom stared at Angel with accusing eyes
full of disbelief. Angel could clearly read the expression on Dominick's face: he thought Angel had set him up.

  Their mother turned to Angel with loathing clouding her face and slapped him so hard his head snapped around on his neck. “You did this, Angelo! You did this! You are the devil! I curse the day you were born!” She was still spewing words of hatred in a mixture of English as well as her native French tongue as his father led her out the courtroom.

  Angel's jaw jumped and flexed as he stared at the doors his parents had exited out of before turning his rage on the lawyer. “What in the hell happened! He was only supposed to get a couple of years!”

  The lawyer nervously cleared his throat. “He was looking at twenty-five to life. I assume the judge didn’t want it to be obvious that he was going easy on Dominick.”

  Angel lowered his face to the lawyer's. “He was paid to go easy! And YOU were paid to make sure things went smoothly!” he hissed.

  The lawyer’s body literally quaked with fear. “I-I’m sorry, Mr. Lacroix. “W-w-we’ll appeal.”

  Turning piercing, wintergreen eyes to the judge, Angel's fury reached across the courtroom to wrap around the corrupt judge like a constricting blanket. The judge refused to even look his way.

  Oscar pulled at Angel's arm as he, too, glared at the judge. “Angelo, we'll fix it.”

  Angel jerked his arm away from Oscar and walked out of the courtroom without another word, ignoring the continuous flash of light from the cameras and the barrage of questions being thrown at him by reporters covering the trial.

  That night, as the judge's wife walked into their bedroom to go to sleep, she called out a weary goodnight to her husband who was lying with his back to her. He'd just gotten into bed ten minutes ago, so she knew he wasn't asleep yet. His usual routine was to read for thirty minutes before he nodded off, more times than not, still resting with his back against the headboard and the book in his hand. It was unlike him to have dozed off so quickly.