“Raven, pretended to be me? She hasn’t done that in years. How was she? And how did she pretend to be me without ID?” I asked, because I had my driver’s license with me, but I also was curious if he kissed her. She did have to pretend to be his wife after all.
“If you're asking if I kissed her, then the answer is yes, but only on her cheek. She took your passport with her for ID, being you had your license with you.”
“So did she do a good enough job to get them to drop the charges against you?”
“No, Baby, they haven’t dropped the charges and they have even gone so far as suspending my license here and globally until this situation is resolved.”
“You have got to be kidding?”
“No, I’m quite serious.” Dominick tone was that of a broken man.
“Dominick, we need to fine out who did this. No one knew about us, except family.”
“And Conte’s brother?”
“You think Michael did this, but why?”
“I don’t know, Rain, but I do intend to find out.” Dominick was determined and so was I.
“And I will be right along there with you.”
“Rain…”
I stopped him from continuing with that scolding tone. “Don’t even think about leaving me out of this. You're my husband, my family. You're the love of my life, Dominick. You can’t believe I would just sit back and watch and be a quiet observer, not this time.”
“Listen, I love you for everything that you are and everything that you do. You know that. Yet, I would be wrong if I didn’t protect you at every turn. Baby, you have been through so much in your life already. You've experienced more negative shit than most people. Somewhere along the line it has to stop and I need to be the one stopping it, here and now. Stay out of this, Rain. Your dad and I will handle it. You're not experienced in the legalities of the situation, we are and we have people who are experts that we can turn to. People who are more experienced in these types of cases. More experienced than even your dad or myself. Let’s leave this to them.” He tried his best to convince me that he would leave it to others to handle, but I knew better.
“Who are you kidding? You’re a control freak? You're doing it with me right now. You really think I believe that you will leave your case to someone else? Be serious.” As much as I loved my stubborn husband, I was completed annoyed with him at the moment.
“I’m only trying to protect you, Rain.” He seemed just as annoyed with me, as I was with him.
“For the love of God, when will you learn I don’t need rescuing, Dominick?”
“When you learn to stop sticking that pretty little nose of yours into matters that are not your concern, Angel.” He stated and kissed that pretty little nose of mine.
I would not allow him to dismiss me like that.
“Dominick, for your information, I will stick this nose anywhere I damn well please, when it concerns you and my family.”
“We are not doing this here. It is not the right time nor place for this.”
“Oh, yes we are. We are doing this here and now, before they release me to go home.”
“You’re serious?” He quipped.
“Dead serious”
“Okay, then let me make this perfectly clear to you, Mrs. Kane. If you continue on this path, then I will have no choice, but to separate myself from the situation at hand.” He hinted at something, but didn’t reveal it fully just yet.
“Separate yourself from me? In what way, Mr. Kane?” I played along, but didn’t appreciate the way this conversation was going.
“I will take my things and stay at our place in the city. I will call you only to discuss our children and you personally. I will triple security to keep you safe. I will put the monitor back on your phone, so I know where you are 24/7. If you think you were restricted when you were my prisoner, that will seem like nothing compared to this.” His announcement was resolute, but my determination would win out, even if I had to keep it a secret from him at the moment.
I bowed my head and even though I wanted him to believe his statement hurt me and that I would agree to stay out of it, so that he would stay close to home, a tear fell from my eye. Maybe it was due to what he just stated? Maybe it was due to his arrest? Maybe it was due to my accident? Or maybe it was simpler than all of the above. Maybe I just wanted my family together. The family I dreamed about when I was a little girl. The family I never thought I would be able to have as I grew into a woman.
The truth was I would never give up on Dominick. I would never stop fighting for us and I would always try my best to fix what was broken in him. Being taken saved me.
“Rain, don’t cry. I don’t want to be away from you or our children. You must know that, but you’re not giving me much of a choice. Please, Rain, trust me and let the experts handle this.” He looked to me for my answer.
Our eyes locked and I search his soul for my answer. Then I responded to his request.
“I’ll do what you're asking of me. I don’t want us to be apart over this or anything else either.”
He nodded with a relieved smile, before he took me in his arms once again.
There was only one problem.
I lied.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Home…At Last
Rain
Dominick and I left the hospital with my dad, Raven, and Joseph. Dominick stated that he would drive. He was wide awake at this point.
Once we reached the shore house, Anna opened the door to reveal an anxious audience. Besides her, Tommy and Daniel were also up and seated in the living room as they waited for our return.
All of their questions hit us at once, but at this point exhaustion began to swallow up Dominick and myself, so we weren’t in any mood for the inquisition. All we wanted to do was get the twins and climb into bed as a family to rest and be alone together.
Dominick kissed my cheek and went to the nursery to check on the twins. I told him I would be in there shortly.
Joseph told Anna he would explain everything, as they headed into the kitchen for a much-desired cup of coffee. Tommy, Daniel, and my dad were right behind them. Raven was just about to follow the end of the line, but I stopped her.
“Raven,” I addressed her, as I took her arm. “Now, that I finally have this chance, I can’t thank you enough for what you did tonight.”
“That’s what twins are for.” She said with a smile, as she embraced me tightly.
“Listen, Rain, I know you're worried, but try not to be. Dominick and dad are brilliant attorneys and they have a team of lawyers at the firm that deal with these specific types of cases. It will all work out.”
“I know you’re right, but it’s hard not to be worried. I mean, who could have done this? Only family and close friends knew about Dominick and me.”
“That seems to be the question on everyone’s mind right now, but we’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll get through this and come out on top. I promise.” Raven stated in her most confident attorney’s tone, yet with a loving sister’s edge.
“We will?” I was perplexed by her comment.
“Rain, I’m your twin. If you think I believe that you are going to stay out of this like Dominick announced to us earlier in the car, you’re even crazier than he is.”
“I hated to agree to stay out of the situation, but he gave me no choice.”
“Now you know how he feels when you do that to him.”
I grinned and shook my head, because I knew Raven was right.
“You’re not going to rat me out, are you?”
“Don’t be silly. I will tell you though, that with Dominick’s new situation and all the fallout the firm will be dealing with now, I’m going to have to break my promise to you. My rest and relaxation here is clearly over. I’m heading back to work on Monday with dad and Dominick.”
“I get it and I appreciate the fact that you will be there with them through all of this.”
“Look at it this way; now the tables a
re turned.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, normally Dominick is monitoring you. With me there, you’ll have the inside track on monitoring him. I promise I’ll keep you updated on everything.” With her statement came a reassuring smile.
“I owe you one.” I replied.
“And you know at some point I will collect.”
Raven smiled and winked at me before she disappeared into the kitchen with the others.
As Raven left, Dominick reappeared with a baby cradled in each arm. I smiled and immediately joined him.
“Let’s go be together.” He stated as he handed Angel to me.
We went off to be with our babies for some much needed rest and quiet family time alone.
We fell asleep, but within a short time the twins were restless; I knew it was a hint that they were hungry. Dominick began to stir and stretch. When he opened his eyes, a glimmer of a smile played on his lips and shone in his eyes.
“So much for sleep.” He said as he admired his children.
“I’ll go make their bottles.” I went to leave our bed, but he took hold of my wrist and gently tugged me to get my attention.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He hinted as that familiar, tempting, devilish smile formed his expression.
I tilted my head to one side, as if I had no idea what he was talking about. Unfortunately, my blatantly flirtatious smile gave me away.
Dominick tapped two fingers on his pursed lips to let me know that there would be a price to pay if I left this room with no kiss for him. I crawled back into our bed to oblige his request. A soft moan escaped him, so I knew he was more than satisfied that I complied and for the record, so was I.
Dominick’s hand left my wrist to cradle the side of my face. He was tender, loving…gentle. This kiss was more than just his way of saying good morning. It was his way to confirm that this was the way it should be between us…always. It was his normal. He kissed to me and my reciprocation of it was where Dominick found his peace and his comfort.
My second attempt to leave our bed wasn’t interrupted. I left Dominick to watch the twins, as I headed into the kitchen to prepare the bottles and to get some coffee for the two of us.
As I entered the room, I noticed two of the adults in the house beat me to the coffee. Clearly after a night on the singles scene, Tommy and Daniel needed as coffee as much as ,Dominick and I.
“Hey, Rain, why are you up so early? With everything that happened last night I thought you would have slept in.” Tommy questioned from the family room off the kitchen.
I smiled and held up two baby bottles.
“Nothing, not even sleep gets in the way of my babies when they’re hungry.”
“How are you feeling this morning?” Daniel inquired.
“Better than I had expected. I have a slight headache, but I’m sure it was more the lack of sleep and worry for Dominick that caused it; and not my concussion.”
“Did the doctors give you any special instructions when you were released?” Tommy asked.
“You know, the usual. Call if my headache worsens. Get as much rest as possible and see my family doctor as a precautionary follow-up in a few days. Dominick already took care of that one.” I smirked.
“What do you mean?” Daniel looked confused.
I shook my head as I thought about it. “Dominick called Dr. Roth in the middle of everything last night to make sure he would see me first thing Monday morning.”
“I should have guessed that Dominick had Dr. Roth on retainer.” Tommy stated, amused.
“You should have guessed and I should have known.” I said, as we all laughed, unfortunately at Dominick’s expense.
I knew he meant well and that Dominick was just being Dominick, but the person on the receiving end of his obsessive tendencies didn’t always know. Although, thank goodness that was not the case with Dr. Roth. He knew full well how Dominick could be when it came to me. I was sincerely glad he didn’t hold it against us.
I sat down with my coffee as I waited for the water to warm the bottles.
“So… what happens now with Dominick’s arrest?” Daniel cautiously asked.
I sighed.
“I’m not sure. Dominick and my dad explained that they have a special department that focuses on cases like this and that they would head back to the city on Monday to work closely with them. Unfortunately, Dominick’s privileges have been suspended in NewYork and internationally.”
“Kane must have lost it when that happened.” Tommy remarked.
“I’m sure he wanted to, but he couldn't let his emotions get the better of him in front of the detectives. They arrested him for kidnapping me. If he had appeared out of control that would have been evidence against him. He yelled. Who wouldn’t in his situation? Let’s just say he kept his temper tantrum to a gentle roar.” I smiled to lighten the awkward mood in the room.
The bottles were ready and I was just about to head back to the bedroom when Tommy inquired about the other investigation and my plans to discuss it with Dominick.
“Where does all of that stand now, Baby?”
“I’m not sure, Tommy, but I will tell both of you that I’m not done figuring out what happened. Especially now that Dominick was arrested.”
“Yeah, Tommy and I were just saying before you walked in that it was more than strange that the authorities would have found out about what happened between the both of you last year.” Daniel admitted that he and Tommy both felt the way the rest of us did; that Dominick’s arrest was more than a coincidence. But how and why were two crucial questions.
“Hopefully, we will find out exactly who caused all of this before Dominick’s hearing.”
“Do you know when that is?” Daniel asked.
I shook my head. “No, it’s too soon. Besides the courts aren’t opened on the weekend, so nothing can get done until Monday. We were lucky that my dad called in some favors to get a judge to release Dominick this soon or he would have been waking up in a much uglier place than he did this morning.”
I picked up the tray with the bottles and coffee and walked back toward the bedroom. Tommy stopped me with some lame excuse that I forgot the napkins. He really did it to speak with me privately for a moment.
“Baby, what are you going to do about the evidence you uncovered?”
“If Dominick wants to have our talk, then I’ll go over everything I found out with him, but if he doesn’t bring it up, neither will I. Then I’ll just wait for a better time to talk with him about it.”
“So are you giving up on your little investigation?”
“Are you kidding? Of course I’m not giving up. Like I said to both of you back there, now more than ever I need to find out what happened. You're still going to help me, right?”
“More like keep you out of trouble.”
I looked at him with annoyance, but also prompted him for an answer.
“Okay, okay I’m still up for it.”
“Tommy, listen, you need to know something. Dominick thinks Mike is to blame for his arrest. He feels he is the one who ratted him out, so if you change your mind or things get too tense because of this, I’ll understand if you want to bail.”
Tommy, smiled and kissed my cheek.
“I’d never bail on you, Rain. Don’t worry; everything will work itself out. Besides to be honest with you, Daniel and I said the very same thing. We both thought of Mike when we heard the news of Kane’s arrest.”
“I’m sorry, Tommy.” I didn’t know how to comfort my friend now, too much had broken Tommy and Mike apart, and now this.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. I hope it’s not true about Mike, or at the very least, he has a good explanation for his actions, but if in fact, he was the one who set this into motion, then he and he only will have to suffer the consequences of what he did, Rain.”
“I know you're right, but this is Mike we’re talking about here.” I was very uncomfortable. None of this was sitting right w
ith me.
The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3) Page 22
