Shouting echoes through the room, and I cringe as Dom's voice filters from his office to us.
"I don't fucking care! If you can't help me, then consider the deal we have in place to be void."
A beat of silence follows, and then his harsh tone starts up again.
"We both know you couldn't retaliate, Gil, so don't even think about throwing that threat at me."
Each set of eyes in this room are locked on the stairs as we listen to Dom's raised voice. I sigh, turning away from the stairs and slumping down on the sofa between Rory and Jess.
"He's been like this all morning," I tell them. "He hasn't even come out to eat."
They shuffle beside me as they, too, look away from the stairs, and Rory places her hand on my shoulder.
"He's worried, Lissa. He wants you to be safe, and he wants Lenny to pay for what he's done. Not only to you, but to Percy as well."
"He won't rest until he knows where he is and finds a solution," Jess adds. "He's probably losing his mind because he doesn't know anything."
"If there's one thing Dom hates, it's when he has no control over a situation," Sophia says, rubbing her hand over her protruding belly as she shifts into a more comfortable position.
Her comment makes me smirk, not only because it's the truth, but because it sparks images inside my mind of last night—his cock in my mouth, running my tongue over his piercings, swallowing his dick whole while watching him with rapt attention as he let me have control, even if it was only for a little while.
"I'll go check on him. See if I can help him come up with a solution for his problem," Kaleb says, his eyes scanning Sophia once more before he makes his way up the stairs.
Once he's out of sight, Sophia sighs loudly, hanging her arms loosely over the chair she's sitting in and closing her eyes.
"Do you hear that?" she mutters.
Jess, Rory, and I glance at each other with furrowed brows.
"What?" Jess asks, turning back to face her cousin.
"The blissful sound of silence," Sophia says, her lips tugging up into a smile. "No overbearing man by my side, asking me a millionquestions and making absurd suggestions that make me want to slap him around the face. It's heaven."
We all chuckle at her, and she opens her eyes, glaring at each of us.
"It's not funny. Just you wait until you're in my position! You think they're annoying now with their protectiveness, but once you have a tiny human growing inside of you, they become worse."
"I don't have to worry about that," Jess says, shrugging.
"And I highly doubt Jaylen would be as bad as Kaleb," Rory adds, a dreamy smile spreading across her face. "Jaylen's not the type to ask if putting a tracking chip into his child's arm is considered to be morally wrong."
My brows raise in surprise.
"Kaleb asked that?" I ask.
Sophia nods while Jess and Rory giggle.
"Obviously, I shut the idea down immediately, but now he's trying to come up with other ways to make sure we can always know where the baby is. Apparently, trackers in her dummies won't suffice." She sighs. "I can't really fault him for it in all honesty. It is a big worry."
"Jesus. I knew he was slightly unhinged from everything I'd heard about him, but I didn't realise how much," I tell her. "I don't know how you can cope with that."
"Says the woman who's married to a man that handcuffs her to the bed because he doesn't want her leaving the apartment," she retorts with jest, no malice in her tone.
"He just wanted to keep me safe," I protest.
All three of them gasp, turning to stare at me with wide eyes.
"Did you just defend him?"
