Chapter 61

The last of the customers exited the club. Cecily gathered her tip money from around the stage. Zane, one of the bouncers, walked up to the stage and helped her slip on a robe. She thanked him and made her way back to the dressing area. The other dancers were busy removing the makeup caked to their faces. Not in the mood to stick around for a long time Cecily put her tips in her purse and threw on a tracksuit over her g-string and bra. With a wave goodbye to the other dancers Cecily was out the backdoor and on her way to her place five blocks away.

The lights were on at the apartment of her next door neighbor. She knocked lightly on the door. A woman close to Cecily's age answered, "Hey girl how was the perv club tonight?"

"Funny Rachel, very funny. You know if the stripper thing don't work out you might want to try out stand-up comedy. How was my little one tonight?"

"She was an angel as always, didn't give me one problem. I gave her a bath at 9 and put her to bed without a fight. Hey I'll go get her so you can get to bed girl. You look beat."

Cecily with the child in her arms walked across the hall to her place. Dom had left the door unlocked for her. When she entered she could hear a loud banging noise coming from the kitchen. "Dom is that you?" She called out from the hallway. There was no response. "Dominic," Her voice echoed off the walls of the hallway. The child in her arms woke at the sound of her raised voice. "Sorry baby Mommy didn't mean to yell in your ear. Baby I need you to go to your room and lock the door. Do just like we practiced and don't open the door until I give you the magic word."

She watched her little girl run off toward the bedroom. Once the child was safely in her room, she slipped off her heels and walked into her living room. Cecily took the Japanese sword from the wall that was disguised as a wall decoration and unsheathed it. Her plan was to catch the person by surprise. She rounded the corner of the kitchen with the blade of the sword held aloft ready to strike. Fear kept her from stepping into the kitchen. She took a deep breath and rushed into the kitchen to find the noise was coming from Dom. He was standing on the side of the cabinets slamming his shoulder into them. "Dom what the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He turned around to face her and noticed the sword resting on her shoulder. "Maybe the question should be what the hell are you doing? Do you normally come into your kitchen with a sword?"

"You didn't answer me when I called out you name. I thought it was one of the Trans tearing the place apart."

"Sorry. I was trying to get my shoulder back in place."

"Any luck?"

"No."

"Let me go tuck Ileana into bed and I will help you." Cecily put the sword back in its sheath and slipped it into the wall mount. She went to her daughter's bedroom door and knocked lightly. "Ileana, it's Mommy."

"What's the magic word please?"

"Narnia," Cecily whispered into the door. It was the name of the land the children in 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' found inside the wardrobe. It was one of Ileana's favorite stories. Cecily read part of the story each night to her child before putting her to bed. The door to the bedroom crept open and the child stepped out from behind it. "Come here baby I want you to see someone before I put you to bed." The child climbed into her outstretched arms. Cecily put the child on her hip and walked into the living room. The little girl got visibly excited at the sight of Dom sitting on the couch. "Who is that Ileana?"

"Uncle Dom, you came to see me." Cecily put the girl on the floor so she could run over to him.

"I can't believe how big you have gotten since I saw you last." Standing in front of him was a bright eyed four year old girl. She had many of her father's Asian features including her round face and shape of her eyes, but she definitely had her mother's smile and long wavy brown hair. He reached out to the child with his good arm.

"Be careful Uncle Dom hurt his arm."

Cecily watched her daughter crawl up into Dom's lap and give him a kiss on the cheek. It had been a while since they had seen each other, but the girl remembered him none the less. To most people Dom was a thug with no redeeming qualities, but within the presence of a child he became this oversize teddy bear.

"How did you get hurt?" The child asked innocently a question that Cecily also wanted the answer to.

Dom thought for a minute on how to approach the answer without scaring the child, "Do you remember the black car that I kept in the garage at my house? The one I let you sit in and pretend that you were driving?" She nodded. "Well I took it out for a drive and had a little accident."

"Are you hurt bad?"

"I'll be ok. Don't you worry."

Cecily left the two to get reacquainted while she took a shower to wash away the smell of the club that clung to her skin. Cecily spent a little extra time in the shower knowing her daughter was safe with Dom. Since the birth of the child Cecily had watched over her closely always afraid that her daughter's father would steal her away. Her life changed the day Ileana was born. She assumed a new name and social security number. She left her life in Los Angeles behind and went into hiding. Only one person knew where she was and their contact was infrequent for fear of being found.

When she stepped out of the bathroom Dom was standing in the hall waiting for her. "So you wanna tell me why you're dancing in that club?"

"I told you already I needed the money."

"Money that I could've easily provided."

"I can handle it ok."

"No not ok. I swore to protect and provide for you and Ileana. I don't go back on my word."

"You haven't gone back on your word Dom." She rested her hand on his chest. "You've taken great care of us, but I can't keep asking for money from you. I have to stand on my own two feet."

He placed his large hand over hers, "Ces…please don't tell me that you're ashamed to take money from me."

"I'm not ashamed. You just have so many people to take care of that I thought I would lessen your burden."

"You're not a burden."

"Yeah whatever you say. Well now that my secret's out in the open, you gonna tell me what the hell happened to you."

"I think we should sit down. I've got a lot to tell you."

"First things first, I need to get that shoulder back in place. Lie down on the living room floor." Dom did as she asked and she took a blanket from the couch and wrapped it around his upper arm. "This going to hurt like hell, are you ready?" He nodded. She placed her feet on his ribcage and positioned herself to pull. "1, 2, 3" she counted off. On three she pulled the ends of the blanket with all her strength. With a pop the shoulder moved back in place. Dom screamed into a pillow he held with his right hand. "Sorry."

Cecily helped Dom get up from the floor and fashioned a sling out of one of her scarves. They made their way to the couch and Cecily handed him a bottle of Jack "for the pain." He took a few drinks and started to tell her what had happened. He told her all about the trucks and about Brian. His entire world had come down around him.

After a few minutes of silence she spoke, "I don't understand why you would make a deal with Johnny in the first place. Three million dollars and you just let him keep it."

"He found you and Ileana." As he spoke the words, fear washed over her face. "When the deal went bad he promised to leave you alone in exchange for the money. Your safety meant a whole lot more than the money."

"Does anyone from the team know that you did this?"

"I gave them another version of the story and they accepted it."

"Then Letty doesn't know that you've been helping me?"

"No she doesn't. No need to unleash the green monster if you know what I mean."

"Yeah that girl has a jealousy streak a mile long."

"Tell me about it and where you're concerned it's all the more worse."

"Can you blame her? Before you went to Lompoc we were pretty serious."

"If I hadn't of went in maybe things would've been different?"

"Don't start that shit again. You're going to prison didn't get my brother Diego killed and it sure wasn't the reason I ended up with Johnny Tran."

"Diego got shot trying to keep Tran from taking over. If I had been out that wouldn't have been an issue." Dom grinded his teeth as the anger built inside of him. "Johnny took you from your family and what he did to you…"

"But as soon as you got out you took me away from him. Me and little girl in there are alive because of you. He would've killed me if he knew that I was pregnant with his child."

"You don't ever have to fear him again. I watched Brian gun him down. Johnny's dead." He let the news set in. "You're free to live where you want and be who you want to be. But, I've got to leave you again. The cops'll be on my trail soon and I can't risk you going to jail over helping me."

"You're not leaving without me."