Alannah
What in the holy fuck is happening?
Dominic and I ride in silence towards Belleville, and I have no idea what’s about to take place. I don’t have an idea aboutanythinganymore. All of this has just become too much to even think about, let alone make sense of.
I sat in that house with Tommy for nearly two hours before Dominic showed up, and from the moment I got there, everything has been pure craziness. Tommy’s phone call, watching Dominic show up just as Tommy was making the decision that it’d be okay to kill me, and then watching Dominic and Tommy literally fight to the death was maximum overload to my brain. But things really went berserk and to a whole different level when we looked in Tommy’s phone and saw the name Gloria as one of the contacts.
Now, there’s a chance, of course, that this Gloria is some other Gloria. It could be some old lady living in Chicago or some place, with some sort of vendetta against Dominic for some reason we don’t know, but that’d be the most insane coincidence known to man, and we both know there’s no chance that’s the case. So, I sat there with Dominic for about twenty minutes in silence, while he tried to understand why his mother would do something like this. Why would she be working behind the scenes with Tommy to try to have her own son killed? What does she stand to gain from Dominic’s death? How the fuck is this even possible? Did she go to Tommy about this or did Tommy go to her? If Tommy went to her, why would he go to the boss’s mother, of all people? What is this, kindergarten? You don’t like how things are going down, so you go to the mom and tattle-tell? So many questions that are truly mind-blowing, but we’re going to get the answers.
Dominic didn’t say much after we saw the phone, but the one thing he did say was definite and final. He didn’t care what time of night it was, we were going to go see Gloria tonight. Right now. So, Dominic grabbed everything in the house that could be linked to either of us, and set the abandoned house on fire with Tommy’s body in it before we left. The house was already burned out from a previous fire, but it’ll come crashing down to the ground now, right on top of Dominic’s betrayer. The city didn’t want to tear the house down since it was in a poor neighborhood, now they won’t have a choice.
After all that’s happened, it’s obvious we’re in something really deep. Tommy’s death isn’t the end of something, it’s the beginning. Victor Fronzo has tried to call Dominic twice since we left the abandoned house, so the issue with him still isn’t over.
And the thing with Tommy presents another problem of its own. The fact that Tommy killed Raphy, another made guy, without Commission approval, means he was bound to be killed, sooner or later. The Commission doesn’t allow made guys to be killed without the green light from them, so if Dominic would’ve gone to them and told them about Raphy, Tommy was going to die anyway. However, Dominic didn’t go to the Commission. He took matters into his own hands and killed Tommy without talking to the Commission first, so there’s a chance this whole thing could blow up in Dominic’s face. If the Commission finds out about Tommy’s death, they could put a contract on Dominic’s head, and then every member of the Family could potentially be after us.
So, things just got crazy, and I know Dominic is going to need my support now more than ever. His best friend is dead, he can’t trust anybody else at this point, and Victor’s money is still a problem. It’s a lot of pressure to be under, so I have to make sure to be his sidekick as best I can. We’re partners in this, from now until forever.
I thought I was going to die tonight. I was convinced Tommy was going to pull that trigger, and I’d only hear the beginning of the gun’s pop before everything went black and my consciousness ended. I thought I’d never see Dominic again, and in that moment, I’d never been more convinced of my love for him. I love Dominic more than I love myself, more than I’ve loved anything, and being with him is the driving force behind everything I do. Just when I thought the lights would go out forever, Dominic came in and shined his light on me, making sure I’d never be in the dark again. I could never repay him for how good he is to me, but making sure that I’m his rock at the time he needs me most is a good start, I think.
After a silent forty-five-minute drive, Dominic turns the Challenger into a residential area in Belleville, Illinois. The houses here are beautiful, all two-stories with bright green landscaping that is beautiful even in the dark. It’s gorgeous, and I can’t help but think of how nice it’d be to live here, to get away from the hassle of living in St. Louis, with all its traffic and murder. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been here since I dropped a letter off in Gloria’s mailbox the day I moved to Alaska.
Memories flood my brain of that day, so I know as Dominic comes to a stop across the street from the house he used to live in with his mother, he’s filled with more emotions than I can even imagine.
He doesn’t say anything, choosing only to stare out the window at the house like he hates it. I’m not sure what to say at the moment, but I want to be whatever he needs me to be, so I decide to break the ice.
“You okay?” I ask, then immediately regret it. That’s a stupid question, of course he’s not.
“Definitely not,” he replies, confirming the idiocy of my inquiry.
“What are we gonna do?” I ask, a better question this time.
“I wanna hear her admit it,” he answers, nearly snarling. “I wanna hear it come out of her mouth—that she tried to have me killed. I wanna know why.”
The darkness of the night mixed with the orange glow of the streetlights casts a shadow across Dominic’s face, making him look even more menacing and sending chills careening up my back. I wonder what could happen tonight. I just watched Dominic break his best friend’s neck without thinking twice for kidnapping me, so I’m starting to ask myself if Dominic is capable of killing his own mother for her part in this. La Cosa Nostra is not something to be fucked with, and when Gloria got herself involved with Tommy, she fucked with it. In fact, when she told Tommy to kill me, she involved me in it as well. I’ve always tried to stay on the outside of Dominic’s business with the Family, but Gloria has pulled me in, albeit inadvertently. So what justice would I want carried out for her? What justice is there for trying to have me killed and my body disposed of without anyone ever having a chance to find me? What’s the payment for disregarding my life and my parents’ need for closure when they never hear from me again? How would I want her to pay for that? As we exit the car and start up the sidewalk to the house, I’m still not sure of the answer, but I’ll know soon.
When we reach the door, Dominic hesitates momentarily, looking down at the welcome mat on the ground in front of us—brown with thick black letters. He seems to be in shock from all of this, and I’m in shock too, so I’m not sure what to say to him.
He slowly lifts his hand and presses the doorbell, and it chimes throughout the house loud enough to be heard across the street where the car is parked. At first, there’s nothing. It’s nearly three o’clock in the morning now, so surely Gloria is asleep, but that won’t deter Dominic. This is happening now.
He presses the doorbell again, this time followed by his fist pounding on the door. Still, there’s nothing. So Dominic bangs on the door like he’s the police, then rings the bell while he continues to knock loud enough to wake the entire street.
Finally, there’s movement inside. A light comes on in the back of the house, then another closer to us as Gloria makes her way to the door. I hear Dominic exhale as the deadbolt turns, steadying himself for whatever is about to happen, preparing himself for what he’ll feel when he sees her.
The door swings open and my heart explodes into a flurry of quick, erratic beats, caused by extreme nervousness. Gloria Giaculo stands at the door wearing a black robe that she holds closed with one hand. Her long black hair is somehow still wavy and beautiful, even though she just got out of bed. Her face is beautiful and soft, especially for a woman in her fifties, and I can see so much of Dominic’s face in hers. But her expression when she sees us tells me she isn’t as soft and gentle as her face would have me believe. She looks astonished that the two of us are here, then her demeanor shifts to something else. Fear.
“Dom?” she says with a bit a shakiness in her voice that she can’t hide. “Wh . . . what are you doing here?”
Dominic tries to respond, but the words catch in his throat. He takes a second to shake it off, even smoothing out the wrinkles in his suit before starting again.
“Just wanted to come and see you,” he says with surprising placidity.
“Oh,” Gloria says, unsure of how to hide her nerves. “Why?”
“Why?” Dominic snips quickly. “Why not? A son can’t come see his mother once in a while?”
Gloria clears her throat. “Of course you can, sweetie. It’s just that it’s three in the morning. It’s a little bit of a strange time.”
“Were you asleep?” I interrupt, feeling my own anger building up inside of me. I’m usually silent when Dominic meets with people, but like I said before, Gloria pulled me into this, and I’m a part of it now.
