Wicked Liar by Faith Summers

Chapter Thirty

Dominic

As I walk toward Aiden, I have that feeling of confliction again.

There are too many things on my mind competing for my attention.

It’s bad enough that the last few days have been shit with more dead soldiers and unanswered questions, but it doesn’t sit well with me that I found Candace’s father and uncle’s names on that list.

When I remember what her father said to me all those years ago, acting like he was some kind of fucking saint it pisses me off when I think of what he must have gotten up to.

My brothers and I agreed we wouldn’t say anything to Candace until we fully investigated what I found. It’s just that it feels like I’m keeping one more secret from her. This one’s a big one she’ll want to know because it might tie into why her parents were murdered.

Aiden smiles when I get up to him. We agreed to meet early to check out an address we found for Peter Dawson.

“You okay, old friend?” he asks and I dip my head.

I told him about the names on the list, but it was difficult explaining about the Riccis.

“I’m anxious and eager to see what we can find here.” I look around the place and knit my brows.

This area is Harmsworth, the next town over from Stormy Creek. Back when I was a kid I thought Stormy Creek was shit, but people who live in Harmsworth have it worst. There’s a trailer park over from us and a row of dilapidated buildings to our left. The whole town looks like a dive with a bar and a few shops that look like they’ve seen better days.

“Me too, I don’t like this place. It reeks of desperation.”

I agree when I look over at a burly man with a long beard leaning against the wall of the bar. He’s staring at us, assessing us. He was watching me moments ago when I parked my motorcycle. He looked like he wanted to steal it. One look from me and the flash of my gun put his ass in his place.

“Let’s go. The address we want is over there.” I point over the row of buildings to an apartment block. To get to it we have to go down an alleyway filled with market stalls.

We start walking. When we turn down the alley, we see the stallholders have just started setting up for the day.

People look at us as we walk by, but we keep our gaze trained ahead.

The apartment complex smells of piss and shit. When you’ve been around places like these as much as I have, you develop a strong stomach. Since I’ve been out of the game for a little while, though, I fight the urge to gag and vomit.

“Fucking hell, the place smells like a shitter.” Aiden frowns.

“You can say that again.”

The apartment we want is at the end. We got the address from Nick, Tristan’s street guy. He found the place listed in Peter Dawson’s name, but the listing was from a few years ago. We're about to find out if he’s still here.

I knock on the door when we get there, and we wait.

There’s a shuffle of feet on the other side, then whispers. It sounds like two women talking. I glance at Aiden, but he’s looking at the door.

It opens, and a dark-haired woman who looks like she's in her mid to late thirties stands before us with a wary expression. The angry bruise under her eye was undoubtedly caused by a fist, and she has that spaced out look I got used to seeing amongst some of the patients at rehab. Her dilated pupils is a tell she’s on drugs and like the place, she looks like she needs to be saved.

“Are you our ten o’clock?” she asks nervously.

“No.”

“You’re early, we’re just with another client.”

Aiden cuts me a glance and I look past her to see another girl in a negligee peeking out from the corner of the living room wall. When I listen carefully, I can hear people having sex in one of the back rooms.

They're prostitutes. I don’t like shit like this, and that girl trying to get a look at us couldn’t be more than sixteen.

“What is this place?” I demand and snap my gaze back to the woman in front of us.

“Look Mister, if you aren’t here for a service then I’m going to have to ask you to leave. We don’t want trouble.” She looks scared. When her eyes dart to the apartment across from us and I see a man looking back from the window, I realize it’s him she’s worried about.

“I’m looking for a man called Peter Dawson. Do you know him?” I ask.

At the mention of Peter's name, a wealth of sadness forces its way past the wariness in her gaze “Why?”

“Just answer the question sweetheart and we’ll leave you alone.”

“I used to know him. He tried to save me, but they got to him.”

“Who did?”

“People he worked for. I don’t know what happened to him. I saw him four years ago. He gave me this apartment to live in. I haven’t seen him since, but honestly, I’m not sure if he survived.”

Great. I guess I don’t know if he would have helped us, anyway.

“Do you know anybody else who might know him?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t. I don’t know anything else.”

I’m not sure if I believe her. There’s something cautious in the way she looks at me, like she doesn't want to get caught in a lie, or she's worried about saying the wrong thing.

“Okay, if he contacts you, tell him Dominic D’Agostino is looking for him. I have questions about the past, and I don’t mean any harm.”

She holds my gaze, then nods. “Okay, I’ll do that.”

I dip my head with appreciation and back away as she closes the door.

“You said that like you expect him to contact her,” Aiden notes as we walk away.

“Maybe I do. She just looked like she might have been lying to some extent.”

“That was the only lead we had for Peter. I can’t find anything else.”

Me neither. I've had men looking for Lucas and the others, but they're coming up with nothing.

“We'll look into the others. I want to know if Tobias and Federico are in L.A. as well.” It would be helpful to know who’s where.

“You sure you don’t want to go home and check in?” He quirks a brow. “You look like you’re missing your girl.”

“I am.”

“I can bet it must have been difficult finding your girl’s family on that list.” Aiden gives me a sympathetic look.

“It was Aiden. I’m not sure what bothers me more. Finding things about people we used to trust, or the façade of who they pretended to be.”

He glances at me. “I get it. I guess I’ve been fortunate not to have that happen. It makes you feel foolish when you find out someone betrayed you.”

He hits the nail with the fucking hammer.

“Yeah, it’s exactly that. I keep wondering what we’ll find next.” Because I’ll have to be the one who tells Candace what her father got up to.

“Bad news is never good, ever. Even if it gives you a lead. It still fucks with you the same.”

We get back out to where we parked and stop by his motorcycle.

“You look like you’ve got more shit on your mind,” he adds.

I think for a moment and stare at him. Over the last few weeks, he’s proven to be a good friend. The kind of friend I could talk to about shit I haven’t even spoken to my brothers about.

I’ve never had a friend like that because I’ve always been so close to my brothers. Then again, I’ve never needed a friend like that until now.

“My head’s spinning,” I confess, and he looks concerned.

“Why?”

“I’m not gonna lie, seeing Candace’s father on that list really shocked me. I keep trying to tell myself it’s not what it looks like, but it has to be. I didn’t really know her uncle all that well, but her father wasn’t that kind of guy.”

Aiden bites the inside of his lip. “Well, he must have been Dominic if he’s on the list. There’s no mistake, it points to human trafficking and if he’s there, then he was involved.”

I nod and decide to shed more light on what’s up my ass. “Aiden, when I was seventeen, the man told me to stay away from his daughter.”

His brows arch. “Really?”

“Yeah. He did that, knowing he was up to shady shit. He painted this good picture of himself and his family, making me feel like I wasn’t good enough. I went through the years that followed believing that and Candace never knew how I felt about her. The worst thing was nobody could have hurt her more than him because of the way he and his wife were killed. The whole event devastated her. I feel like killing his ass all over again for getting mixed up in shit.”

“Does she know he told you to stay away?”

“No. A part of me has always tried to preserve the good memories she had of her father. He was an idiot for getting himself in trouble, but he loved her. I don’t want to taint that. He was a man like my father when it came to loving his child. It’s rare in our world.”

Aiden nods at that. “Yeah, that’s why I miss mine so much. Why don’t you go spend some time with her? I got research covered for today.”

I chuckle. “I can’t let you do all the work. I’ve taken enough time already, and lately, I seem to be a bastard who has his priorities crossed. I need to be out here.”

“Keeping yourself balanced is also a priority. We’re only going to be looking through documents. I can do that. While things are quiet, you should utilize your time in better ways that help you.”

“Aiden, you know if I go home I’m just going to be taking my girl to bed,” I smirk.

He gives me a chuckle. “Take it from me, sometimes you need that. It’s called downtime. Time to cool off. It’s all the better when you’re with someone you care about. That hasn’t happened for me in a long time. I have women, but I will never have the one I really wanted ever again.”

A pang of guilt tugs at me. “Sorry.”

“Like I said before, old friend, don’t feel sorry for me. I'm just telling you so you don’t make the same mistakes I did. They’re not the kind you can fix. Go home, Dominic. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“Thanks.”

I leave him and head over to the street my bike is parked on. It’s just over by the bar. I consider what Aiden said, knowing there’s more to his story he’ll probably never share.

A day with Candace does sound like the thing I need. Last night was amazing. It was like we just forgot everything outside the walls of my home. I can’t deny that I don’t crave a repeat.

As I’m about to get on my bike, I stop when I feel eyes on me. When I look over my shoulder, I swear I see the shadows in the alley opposite me shift. There are quite a few people around, so I could be mistaken in thinking someone was specifically watching me. But I don’t think so.

Just to be sure, I rush over to the alley. When I get there I see a guy ahead in a hooded shirt glance back, then turn down one of the corners quickly when he sees me.

The guy looked ordinary, but that’s exactly what the enemies might want me to believe.

Or maybe he wasn’t an enemy.

If not, who was he?