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I jump behind the couch just in time to dodge a bullet Gio aimed at me. It hits the Christmas tree and shatters some shiny red bulbs. I crawl around the couch to try and avoid being in the crosshairs of his next shot. Another bullet shoots through the back of the couch, inches away from my face.
To my right, there’s a wall leading into the dining room. I quickly run for it, jumping the last few feet to quicken my pace. A bullet trails behind me, but Gio is thankfully too slow for me. Unfortunately, there are two entrances into the dining room and no other exit. Gio stands in one doorway, pointing his gun at me and ordering me to put my hands up while Paulie stands in the other.
I have nowhere to run.
“Put the gun down, Gio,” Paulie says as he grabs my arms and holds them behind my back. “We’ve got her now.”
I watch as Gio slides the gun into the holster before the burlap sack is brought down over my eyes and I can’t see anything.
15
DOM
Icome to on the pavement in my driveway, with my head throbbing from the blow I took. I don’t stay down long enough to try and recover. Instead, I rush right into the house.
“Daniella!” My voice is hoarse and broken. It was definitely more than just the blow to the head that I took. Whoever attacked me took the liberty of beating me while I was unconscious like the coward they are. They couldn’t face me in a fair fight, so they had to play dirty.
She isn’t in the living room where I last saw her. She’s not in the kitchen, the dining room, or the bedroom. She’s missing. I scream her name over again, hoping she might appear out of thin air and prove me wrong, but she doesn’t.
I sprint to my office and log in to my computer. The surveillance cameras I have are hidden, so I don’t think whoever attacked me would have had the foresight to tamper with them.
First, I check the living room footage. Figuring out what happened to Daniella is my priority. I scrub through the footage, searching for the most recent timestamps when she was decorating. I find the footage and watch it for a minute before I see what happened. The worry I felt before watching the footage turns into a white-hot rage. I slam my fists down onto my desk and knock over some of the items on top of it.
Those fuckers.
I’m shaking from the fury I feel. Paulie did this to me. Of all the people in the world, Paulie betrayed me. I don’t take a second to even think about what I’m going to do before I grab my keys and run out of the house. I’m going to kill him.
I slam my car door shut behind me and put the key in the ignition, halting when I realize I don't know where Paulie had taken her. I run through all the options of places I think he would take her to. His house in the city doesn't seem like a safe place to hide from me, so I write that off. But as I think about that, I remember him telling me about a lake house he bought a few months ago about an hour away. I don't know how long I've been out, but I know he's got a decent headstart against me. Driving an hour away right now is a gamble, but it's a risk I have to take.
I don't know the address, so the first thing I do is drive to Paulie's house and hope I can find it there. There's no car in the driveway when I arrive, so I assume his wife is out. That's best for me. I walk around the back of the house and break the glass on the back door to get it.
I've been at Paulie’s house enough times to know his security code, so I type it in and the alarm stops before it alerts anyone. I run up to his office and dig through his drawers for any paperwork involving the closing of his lake house. Thankfully, I find a contract for it with the address listed on the top.
I sneak back out of the house before I get caught by Paulie's wife whenever she returns home. The last thing I need is for her to call him and tell him that I was at the house. I type the location of the lake house into my GPS and make my way there hastily.
It takes me a little under an hour to drive to the lake where his house is, which I'm very thankful for because of the lack of traffic. If Paulie had waited one day and decided to do this on Christmas Eve, I might not have made it to Daniella in time.
I don't park in front of his house because I don't want him to hear me and be aware that I found him. Instead, I park on the street a few houses down and run over. His car is in the driveway, so I know I was right to assume she’s here. I let out a relieved breath knowing that, unfortunately, I don’t know what state she’s in right now.
Movement in one of the windows catches my eye, and I watch for a moment. Gio stands there with his hand on the hilt of a gun, looking down at something. I don’t hesitate rushing inside. If Gio’s pointing a gun at her again, there isn’t time to waste trying to sneak.
The front door is locked, but that doesn’t stop me from kicking it in. The loud bang obviously catches Gio and Paulie’s attention, and they both rush downstairs. Paulie stares at me as if he’s in shock by my presence. Gio points his gun at me and looks to Paulie for an answer.
“Not yet,” Paulie calmly says, resting a hand on Gio’s to push the gun down. “What brings you here, Dom?”
“Where is she?” I snarl, demanding an answer from them both. Before they can say anything, I hear stomping on the floor above me alongside some muffled screaming.
“Is that a good enough answer for you?” Paulie asks with a sick smile on his face. “I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t expect to see you yet. But now that you’re here, I might have use for you.” He holds his finger to his chin and paces the floor in front of me.
“Just let her go. This doesn’t have to end in violence,” I warn him. He looks at Gio, and they both laugh. They think they have the upper hand on me because of one gun. In any other circumstance, I would play along with them to protect myself, but that isn’t an option here. Not when Daniella is in danger.
If I have to throw myself in front of a bullet for her, so be it.
“I would have left her out of this if I hadn’t known she was your little girlfriend,” Paulie continues, gesturing to the stairwell and shrugging. “Now I get to have the death of two cops on my resume.”
I can’t listen to him anymore. I don’t want an explanation. I don’t want to hear his voice or how amused he is with himself. I want him on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.
Before I can hurt Paulie, I need to take care of the gun.
