If The Seas Catch Fire(112)
“I’d never make you suffer,” Sergei breathed.
“Then you have to—”
“No.” Sergei set his jaw. “I’m not—”
“Sergei, for God’s sake, just do it. Then you can walk away from this town and never look back. You don’t fill this contract, you’re going to be wearing a bull’s eye for the rest of your very, very short life.” Dom swallowed. “Because they will find you, and they will kill me. And I think we both know that they won’t just put a bullet through your head.”
Sergei shuddered, his mother’s screams echoing through his mind as she stared at the bodies of her slowly dying husband and sons. “Dom…”
“You know how this works. We both do. And I don’t want you being tortured for letting me live. They’re going to kill me either way, so—”
“No. There’s enough money. We can… we—”
Dom gripped Sergei’s shoulders tighter. “Look at me.”
Sergei met his gaze, though it was a struggle, and the pain and desperation in Dom’s eyes only made his heart sink deeper and deeper.
“These people have taken everything from me too,” Dom said. “I got roped into this life, and I’ve done things I’m not looking forward to answering to in the next one. The bottom line, though, is no matter what we do, someone is going to make sure I’m dead.”
“Dom, we—”
“Listen to me.” The hurt in Dom’s eyes intensified as he held Sergei’s gaze. “The only variables here are how I die and if you do. If I can’t get away from all this alive, then I would rather go down knowing that you’re going to make a clean break and get out of here. If you promise me you’ll do it quickly, and then you’ll leave Cape Swan forever and go have the life neither of us have ever been able to… I can’t think of anything that would give me more peace.”
That hit Sergei in the chest. He’d craved peace even more than he’d craved vengeance, and to be able to grant that to Dom would mean he could sleep at night. But not like this.
“What if we fake our deaths?” His mouth had gone dry. “A burned out car in the ocean, it’ll—”
“No.” Dom shook his head. “We both know no one will believe I’m dead without a body.”
Sergei chewed his lip. He couldn’t argue with that. “And if we run? We have money. We—”
Dom shook his head.
Sergei squeezed his eyes shut. Dom was right. There was no way around it.
Shoulders sinking beneath Dom’s gentle hands, Sergei exhaled and met his gaze. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Dom pulled in a breath and stood a little straighter. “We shouldn’t do it here. The cops… they’ll…”
Sergei winced. “Are we really…”
“What else do you suggest?”
He flinched.
“There are places all over this area,” Dom said. “The woods. The beach.” Dom half-shrugged. “I don’t care where they find me as long as they don’t find you.”
“You’re…” Sergei struggled against a wave of nausea. “How the hell can you be so casual about where I’m supposed to kill you and leave your body?”
“Because the alternative is letting you get killed,” Dom shot back.
“Fine,” Sergei snapped. “But I’m not—”
“Do you hear yourself? This is out of our hands, Sergei. All we can do is damage control.”
“And damage control is me killing you?”
“Yes!” Dom threw up his hands. “It’s either that or—”
“I know what the f*cking alternatives are!”
“Then what else do you suggest, because I’m out of ideas.”
Sergei swallowed, wondering when that lump had started rising in his throat. He didn’t have any more ideas either. Because there weren’t any. The unwritten laws of this town were evil and cruel, but they bent for no man.
“What if we kill Felice?” he asked. “You’re the boss, for God’s sake. Put a hit out—”
“And how many of Felice’s goons know you’re contracted to kill me?” Dom shook his head. “Anyone lays a hand on him while I’m still alive, they’ll know damn well you turned.”
Sergei’s skin crawled. Dom had a point.
What the f*ck was he supposed to do now? His plan hadn’t included this. Dom wasn’t supposed to inherit his uncle’s position. Felice wasn’t supposed to contract Sergei to kill Dom. Even if Dom had and Felice had, Sergei wasn’t supposed to care about Dom. He wasn’t supposed to be too in love to pull the f*cking trigger.
But they had. And he was. And here they were.
And if Sergei didn’t kill Dom, someone else would. Brutally. Mercilessly.
Slumping against the counter, he whispered, “You’re right. We can’t do this here.”
Dom exhaled. “I know a few places.”
“Me too.” Sergei ran a hand through his hair. Then he brushed past Dom. “I’ll get my keys.”
*
They ditched Dom’s car in a lot near the edge of town. Then he joined Sergei, and neither of them spoke as Sergei followed that familiar highway into the thickly forested hills.