Healing The Assassin's Heart

Pit Stop

Lyla

“I am so happy you're here. My mom and dad said your parents were awesome,” Dominique said excitedly.

“Hi Lyla, I am Mel and this is my wife Sara. We are so happy to meet you,” Mel said, holding out his hand. I stared at it and then looked at him.

“I don’t like to be touched,” I said.

“Oh, ok. Sorry, I forgot, your parents did say that. Um, we have a bunch of blankets and pillows in the living room. We thought you’d like to build a fort with Domino, and then we could get you some snacks and you guys could watch a bunch of girly movies. We also have nail polish so you girls can paint each other's nails.”

I looked at Dominique. She had such a huge smile on her face. I’ve watched my aunts, mom, and Nana Kiki paint each other’s nails. I didn’t understand it, but if that’s what she wanted to do, I’d do it. And all because she was the person to not be afraid of me and wanted to be my friend.

“Okay,” I said. I watched Mel and Sara look at each other and then smile and nod at us to go to the living room.

“Do you like hot dogs and mac n cheese? It’s my favorite, and it’s what I wanted for dinner.

“Yeah, sure,” I hated hot dogs.

She directed me to how she wanted her fort. I didn’t mind that she took charge. She talked and talked like if she couldn’t get all the words out of her head before we went to bed, she’d never shut up.

I nodded at the appropriate places. We finished our fort, it was pretty awesome. We filled it with more blankets and pillows. She had a small doll collection. Out of my pack, I took out my favorite pillow. We had hot dogs and mac and cheese. She didn’t notice when I would sneak the cut up hot dogs from my plate to hers. She just ate happily as we watched One Hundred and One Dalmations.

“Why do your parents call you Domino?”

“Ugh, I hate it, they’ve always called me that.”

“I like it,” I said.

“You do?” she asked, perking up.

I nodded.

“Then you can call me that, or Nikki. My aunt calls me that. Do you have any nicknames your family calls you?”

“My daddy calls me Little Ninja, sometimes sweetheart. My mama calls me Little Shadow, but you can’t call me that. Only her. My aunts and uncles call me Ly, some of my cousins call me LaLa.”

“You don’t smile much, do you?” she asked.

“Sometimes I do.”

“You’re kind of grumpy, I’ve noticed that. You talk like a grown up too. Yesterday you were so grown up when you helped me get rid of those girls. Like a grizzly bear. Yeah, I like that. I’m going to call you Lyla Bear.”

“No,” I said, scowling at her.

“See, that. I can see you growling. “NO! Grrrr,” she said giggling. I felt my mouth twitch.

“Want to paint our nails Lyla Bear?”

“I’m going to put a pillow over your face if you call me that again,” I said.

“Oh, Lyla Bear, you won’t do that. I’m your best friend. Only I can call you Lyla Bear, no one else. I promise.”

“Okay,” I sighed.

She squealed and clapped. She told me to hold out my hand and I did. I let her paint my nails pink. I hated pink, but she was my new best friend, so I’d let her do whatever she wanted.

“Mistress.”

I was jolted awake by Conner's voice. Huh, that dream felt so real. I'd never dreamed about when Domino and I first met. It must have been because I finally got to talk to her.

“Baby boy, where are we?” I asked.

We had been on the road for two days already. I looked in the back of Conner’s truck and saw our two servants were fast asleep.

“We’re in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I have to use the restroom. I thought maybe we should wake these two up and let them go too. We should also find a place to stay for the night. We have almost an eleven-hour drive tomorrow.”

I looked around and saw we were at a small diner.

“Okay. Hey, you two!” I yelled. Both of their heads popped up. “Aimie, Gloria, welcome to Tennessee. It’s time to pee, let’s go. Remember, if either of you try to get away, I’ll just kill you, find a pig farm and dump your bodies.”

They both nodded. I got out and opened the back passenger door. They both got out and followed me into the diner and to the restroom. I made them both go in the handicap one, while I locked them in using a zip tie. Then I peed. Once I was done, I washed my hands and then let them out. They washed their hands, and we went back into the diner. Conner had a corner booth waiting for us. He smiled as I scooted in next to him. The other two got in, keeping their faces down.

“Hey folks, what can I get for you?” An elderly woman said as she came up to our table.

“Hello, my woman and I would like your breakfast special, our eggs scrambled, hers with sausage, mine with bacon and two cups of coffee. They will have two eggs over easy, two pieces of bacon and white toast with a glass of water. They’re mute,” Conner said. This was where we talked about how things would go. I’d let him call me his woman, and order food for us, while I kept an eye on our two guests.

“Alright, be back in a jiffy,” the waitress said.

“So, what’s the plan with these two? Why are we bringing them to Florida?”

“I need maids. Since moving the Underground to Florida, I’ve grown. I have double the number of assassins than I had in New York. When I took over, a lot of the assassins retired. They were older, and I was happy about that. I needed fresh young blood. I was able to lure some from overseas to me and in the last three years I’ve managed to increase my ranks to 40 assassins and 10 workers to keep them happy. But I need someone to do the laundry, dishes, and clean the toilets. My assassins can’t do it themselves, and our pets are not for that. So, these two falling into my lap at this moment in time was perfect.”

He nodded in understanding. I pulled out my phone and pushed number one. It rang once before it connected.

“Lyla,” said the sweet voice on the other end.

“Hanna, we will be arriving tomorrow around 6 or 7 p.m. I have two servants. See that one room with two beds, one dresser and the essentials are made up.”

“Yes, Lyla,” she said.

She and Tiffany have changed in the last three years. Both were almost eighteen and soon would be in charge. Not yet, but soon, maybe a few more years of seasoning. But they have come along in strides. Tiffany was a killing machine. She was as good as me, sometimes better if I thought about it. And Hanna. She had a mind for business, finance and strategy. Papa has taught her so well over the years, and she’s really watched how things were run in the Underground. Half my assassins realized her authority already and the other half were starting to understand. Tiffany had already killed two for disrespecting her sister while I wooed Conner. I’ve only been stopping in from time to time for the last year.

“Good, has Tiffany been gone?”

“She took two assignments in the last month. Both obviously successful or else I would have called. One was a corrupt Senator in Washington hired by someone higher than him. And the other some low-level Bratva boss that his own family wanted him taken out but didn’t want it to come back to them or any of their rivals. He was trying to start a war so he could become head of the family. It got wind to their Pakhan. I called Papa, he said it was okay for us to take care of it. He and dad have been busy with the twins. Marco and Giovanni are giving them palpitations with their two-year-old antics.”

I chuckled at that. My uncle’s boys were the embodiment of two-year-old terrors. The moment they both became mobile, they were off and running. Antiques have been broken, and they discovered that peeing standing up was awesome, and peed on everything. It didn’t help that my sister-in-law and the boy’s nanny couldn’t keep the boys in their clothes. Last time I was there I saw so much naked baby butts. They will be three in a few months and I can’t wait to see how they evolved. I thought Ray was wild. She’s got nothing on the twins.

“Alright, got to go, food’s here.” I hung up, told the women across from me to eat fast. Conner and I each placed a bacon or sausage on each other’s plates and I happily dug into my food.