so they gave him short notice orders, and we found out a few weeks ago. We’re only a couple of weeks away now. That’s all. Just a couple of weeks.”
“Goddammit!” Dominic barks as he jumps up and opens the door. He nearly falls out of the car and starts pacing around outside, pulling the drawstring on his sweats to keep his pants up. “Who’s this saying you have to go? Who said you have to go, because I’m not gonna let this happen, Alannah. You have to stay here. You tell me who it was, and I’ll tell my dad. You won’t go anywhere.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Dominic,” I bellow as I exit the car myself. “This is the military we’re talking about. The United States Air Force. They say we have to go, we have to go. Nobody’s stopping it.”
“Then I’ll talk to your dad. I’ll tell him you gotta stay here. Let’s go, I’ll go talk to your dad right fucking now.”
Dominic starts to walk to the driver’s side like he’s really going to do it, and I have to run over to him to stop him.
“Dominic, please stop,” I beg. “There’s nothing we can do about this. I always knew this could happen, and I guess I just hoped it wouldn’t. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, and nothing hurts me more than knowing I have to leave Belleville, but I don’t want to do anything to make things worse. I don’t want to feel any worse than I do right now, so please don’t confront my dad. It’s his job, and I’m his daughter. There’s no way he can stay here, and there’s no way he’d let me stay. You know that.”
Dominic stops moving and just looks at me. It takes a second, but for the first time since I met him, Dominic’s eyes fill with tears. He tries to push them away, and when he can’t, he turns his face so I can’t see him, but I know it’s happening. All I can do is wrap my arms around him and cry with him.
“I’m so sorry, Dominic,” I whisper as we lean against the car and sob together.
The truth eventually sets in. After all this time, we’re finally together, but we know it won’t last, and it’s the hardest thing either of us has ever had to accept.
Dominic
“Why ain’t you been returning my calls?”
I close the door to the Cadillac as I sit, but I don’t buckle my seat belt. The way I’ve been feeling the past few days, I wouldn’t care if we crashed into a brick wall and I flew through the windshield.
“You hear me talking to you?” my father snaps. He sounds pissed, and that’s all I have to go on because I haven’t looked at him yet. “I said, why ain’t you been returning my calls, Dominic? You missed out on two scores last week. That’s the kind of thing you need to be around for. What’s the matter with you?”
“I was with Alannah,” I reply, finally glancing at him for a second before staring out the window again. Dad steps on the gas and aims for the highway, back to River City.
“You were with Alannah? That’s all you have to say for yourself right now?”
“She’s moving soon, Dad. To Alaska, okay? It fucking sucks, and I’ve been trying to spend as much time with her as I can before she leaves. Cut me some slack here.”
“Cut you some slack?” he snaps, repeating me again. “So, you’re all depressed over some girl? You think you’ve got it bad right now, do ya’? Your personal life becoming too much for you to handle? Well, let me fill you in on what’s been going on this past week with The Family while you were sulking in your fucking bedroom. The FBI has been all over us. They claim they have store clerks and truck drivers coming forward, saying we’re extorting them. How about that? We got guys out there ready to rat. That make you feel better?”
“What? Of course not,” I reply with a furrowed brow.
“Nah? Well, how about this? The cops found Alfonse Cestone’s body in the river two days ago.”
“What?”
“That’s right. That fucking guy who tried to slit your throat in the garage at River City, fucking guy floated back to the top, and some family saw him and called the cops. Feds are trying to pin that on us too, claiming they know it was a mob hit. Feel