25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sophia
“Something is wrong, I can feel it. Please go check on him,” I beg Shadow. “Dominic told Tucker to stay with me in case of an emergency while I’m pregnant, so he won’t leave me. I’m about to drive into downtown Dallas and check on him myself!”
“All right, little one. Let me see what I can do. You’re just lucky I’m back in the area this week,” he playfully chides me. “Where are you anyway?”
“I’m at the main house looking at color swatches for the nursery. Do you want me to meet you at the office?”
“No, ma’am. You stay put. Dominic would have my head if something is wrong and I put you in danger,” Shadow laughs. “Leave it to me.”
“Thank you, Shadow. Call me as soon as you can. Dominic isn’t answering his phone. He wouldn’t ignore repeated calls from me.”
“No, he definitely wouldn’t do that. Give me a few minutes. I’m not far from his office now.”
We hang up and I pace the floor, not knowing what else to do. Over the past month, Shadow has called and checked on us a couple of times a week. We really became attached to him when he was here all the time and missed him when he left after‘the incident.’ I knew we couldn’t keep him, but the big guy is really great to have around.
It’s killing me to wait and do absolutely nothing. Pacing back and forth, wringing my hands, and looking at the clock every sixty seconds is not helping at all. “Tucker!” I yell as I jog down the hall.
He steps out from the kitchen doorway. “Are you okay?”
“No, something’s wrong. I’m doing to Dominic’s office. You can follow me if you can keep up or you can drive me.”
“That’s not a good idea, Sophia,” Tucker says, but even he can’t hide his concern for Dominic.
“Good idea or not, I’m going.” I grab the keys and briskly walk to the garage door.
“Hang on,” he says with resignation. “I’ll drive.”
I toss him the keys and we jump into the car. Tucker floors it when we turn on the main road. Time seems to stand still as we fly by the other cars. The miles are longer and longer the closer we get. The usual forty-minute drive might as well be a three-day cross-country excursion. Dominic still hasn’t called me back and my imagination is running away with terrifying scenarios. This hasn’t happened since the day I thought he’d been shot. I’ve had nothing but good thoughts and good feelings. But this just isn’t like him, at all.
“Hurry, Tucker,” I plead. “I’m sorry. I know you’re doing all you can do. I’m just scared.”
“I understand, Sophia. You don’t need to apologize. We’re almost there.”
When the building is finally is sight, my heart is beating even faster than Tucker was driving. When we pull into the parking garage twenty minutes after we left the house, my pounding heart comes to a halt and tears spring to my eyes. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.No, God, please!
An ambulance and several police cars are in the parking garage and their emergency lights are still going. The paramedics are rolling the stretcher toward the open door in the back and Dominic is lying motionless on the stretcher. Shadow is following closely behind them, his ear glued to his cell phone, and a cop is putting Darren Hardy in handcuffs. Tucker screeches to a stop and I jump out of the car in a mad dash to my Dom.
“Dominic!” My scream echoes through the empty parking garage.
Dominic’s head jerks up off the stretcher in search of my voice. “Stop! Let me off this thing!” he demands.
He sits up and swings his legs over the side and that’s when I see his blood-soaked shirt. I finally reach his side and all I want to do is wrap my arms around him, but I don’t want to hurt him. “You’re bleeding! What happened? Where are you hurt?”
“Calm down, love. You’re scaring my son,” he smiles. “I’m okay, thanks to Shadow.”
“I knew something was wrong! What happened? Tell me,” I demand, not feeling the whole submissive thing right now.
“Seems our friend Darren was behind most everything,” he says and my mouth literally drops open. “Anyway, he came to my office tonight to finish what he started but he wanted to do it here in the garage to look like a cartel retaliation. He said he was coming after you, too, so he could get my company and the money. When I opened my office door, I saw Shadow hiding in Dana’s closet.”
“He only saw me because Iwantedhim to see me,” Shadow clarifies.
“Anyway,” Dominic grins and cuts his eyes to Shadow, “when Shadow let me see him in the closet, I made a break for it to get away from Darren. He fired his gun and it grazed my shoulder. Shadow’s scared of you, Sophia, so he called an ambulance to take me to the hospital.”
“She’s scary as shit, man. You should’ve heard her on the phone earlier,” Shadow replies and shivers exaggeratedly.
