23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sophia
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt a full-fledged panic attack threaten to overtake me, but it’s here now. As I pace back and forth in my office, I am picturing what’s happening in Dominic’s office while he meets with Cortez. None of the scenes I create in my mind have a good ending and I’m making myself sick with worry. The morning sickness has passed, so I know this nausea is simply from a severe case of nerves.
I put my hand on the doorknob at least a dozen times–ready to run to the ladies room as my lunch threatens to make a reappearance. My promise to Dominic is the only thing that’s stopping me. Turning away from the door, I walk the same path across the floor toward the windows. One hand is on our baby and the other hand is on my forehead, shielding my eyes, as I say another silent prayer to keep my Dom safe.
A gunshot suddenly rings out across the office, causing me to jump and shriek from surprise. Tears instantly spring to my eyes and both hands are steepled over my mouth. My body starts shaking, my knees give out from under me, and I crumble to the floor.No, please God, no–not Dominic!
Uncontrollable sobs wrack my body, making it impossible to take a full breath. My tears pour from my eyes, blurring my vision as I collapse into a fetal position. Dominic had a bad feeling something would happen to me, but I’ve had a bad feeling something terrible would happen to him. I’m afraid to leave my office–I’m afraid I’ll find that Cortez has killed him. Grasping my chest in pain, I have no doubt that someone could die of a broken heart. It was bad enough when we were apart, but this feeling is even worse. Helplessness. Despair. Afraid to hope. Afraid to know the truth. One question swirls in my mind, stuck on repeat and tormenting me.How can I go on with my life without him?
I don’t know how much time has passed with me in the floor repeatedly begging God for a miracle when the door to my office swings open and a man rushes toward me. Excitement overcomes me because I know it has to be Dominic. He’s fine and has come to take me home where it’s safe, where we’ll be together, and where we’ll raise our family. My heart swells, and the tears of pain that still blur my vision turn to tears of gratitude. Wiping my eyes and struggling to bring my breathing back under control, I raise my eyes to meet his sexy blue ones.
“Awww, what’s the matter, you little bitch? Your boyfriend get shot?” Harrison taunts me. “He should’ve died a long time ago.”
Terror has robbed me of the ability to move and has rendered me mute. How can Harrison be here? Why is he here? What is he going to do to me–and my baby? My muscles are locked down and refuse to cooperate with the voice screaming in my head, telling me to get out of here and run as fast as I can. I should be screaming for Dominic, or Tucker, or Shadow, foranyonewho can get me away from this deranged man. But I’m suddenly a lifeless mute–because if he’s here, it must mean that my Dom is gone.
Carrying his duffle bag, Harrison moves behind my desk and sits in my chair where he’s hidden from the line of sight of my office door. Removing his gun from his waistband, he places it on my desk while glaring at me with the most menacing eyes I’ve ever seen. Moving slowly in my attempt to avoid alarming him, I push up from the floor and stand, leaning against the window. Thankfully, my high-heels came off my feet while I was crouched in the floor. If I get a chance to run for it, I can run much faster in my bare feet.
One disadvantage of standing is that my pregnant belly is much more prominently visible. I know the very second that Harrison realizes my condition. “Fucking hell, you’re pregnant with his fucking baby, ain’t you?”
My arms unconsciously cover our baby and I take a step backward. Harrison continues his tirade without waiting for my confirmation. “That’s just fucking great,” he scoffs.
Then his face changes, lightens, and he looks almost happy. “Actually, it may be great after all. Daddy Dom-Big-Bucks would pay through the fucking nose for his baby and his bitch. We’re going to wait right here for him to come for you.”
“He’s okay?” I manage to squeak out.
Harrison scoffs, mocking me with his absurd jealousy of Dominic, “Yes, your pathetic excuse of a Sir is okay, Sophia. I heard him say he shot Cortez. His security team was way too busy with the dead body cleanup to notice that I slipped in through the back stairwell.”
Relief washes over me after hearing that my Dom is alive and well. When that shot rang out, and with Harrison’s cruelness, I just knew I’d lost him. Hearing that he’s okay, even from this dickhead, is the best news I’ve ever heard in my life. I know he’ll come for me as soon as he can, but now I can calm myself, even withHarry Dick-manhere.
“What do you want from me, Harrison?”
“I want you to sit down in that chair right there,” he points to the chair in front of my desk, “and don’t speak until your boyfriend comes looking for you.”
Moving toward me, he removes a rope from his duffle bag and smiles his twisted, sadistic grin. I try to run but he easily grabs me by my hair and drags me back, forcing me into the chair. After tying my wrists and ankles to the chair, he pulls something else out of the bag and I can’t see what it is at first. When he holds it up to taunt and harass me, I feel all the air being sucked out of my lungs.
It’s the ball-gag.
“Now hold your pretty little head still or I’ll have to fuck it up again,” he warns. Knowing he’ll do that and much worse, I don’t struggle against him too much. If it weren’t for my baby, I’d fight him until I passed out, but I have to try to keep my wits about me for the baby’s sake. For the next hour, we sit in complete silence and wait for Dom to walk into this trap. I’m silent because of the gag and I’m also unable to swallow very well. The humiliation of slobbering on myself is part of what gets Harrison off. But this time, he doesn’t even seem to notice, so I think it has more to do with Dom’s reaction to seeing me like this than anything else.
Harrison picks up his gun and moves over to the floor to ceiling windows. His arm is bent at an angle and his forehead is resting on his forearm as he stares off into the Dallas city streets. The soft clicking of the door opening catches his attention and he quickly moves behind my chair. He turns it so that we’re both facing the door and he’s behind me with the gun pressed against my temple. I can’t stop the tears that flow because I know he’s capable of pulling the trigger as soon as Dom walks in.
When the door fully opens, my Dom is standing there, filling up the open space and looking larger than life. His eyes are hard and the muscles in his jaw are ticking. Mad, angry, livid, furious, enraged–none of these can describe the intensity of the fire building inside my Dom’s eyes. He’s staring Harrison down, daring him to make the wrong move, and challenging him to look him in the eye like a man.
“We have some business to finish,Dick-man,” Dom’s voice is hard, cold, and dangerous.
“That we do, Mr. Powers,” Harrison replies, his voice holds a different tone. “I’ve had enough of playing the fool in this whole charade. In fact, I’ve had enough of our entire game, and I’m going to finish what Ramon couldn’t.”
Harrison’s uneducated, unsophisticated drawl is obviously missing. His speech is more refined but his demeanor is even more calculating. I don’t know who this man is or where he came from. The rules of engagement have suddenly shifted on me and I’m struggling to keep up.
“You killed your own sister,Harry Dick-man,” Dominic spits his words out at him in disgust. “Why? What did Carol Ann ever do to you?”
I involuntarily gasp, but with the ball-gag still restricting my verbal abilities, it doesn’t draw either man’s attention. My head is reeling from Dominic’s statement. If Harrison killed his own sister, he’d have no qualms about killing Dominic or me. Not that he ever really cared about me, but it speaks volumes to what the man is capable of doing.
Harrison removes the gun from my head as he moves to my side. Sitting on my credenza, he smiles at Dominic. “So Ramon told you, huh? It was unfortunate, actually. I went over to try to talk some sense into her. It wasembarrassingto be part of the toughest criminal organization ever, at my level, and have to admit that my sister was some rich-boy’s whore-toy.
