Chapter 355: Fractured
*If you have to sleep on a decision, it’s because you already know you’re making the wrong decision. – Nonna*
The morning after the… incident, Pagan woke up early with both girls in their bed. Maybe it was a little strange, but after everything, he himself slept better with his wife, daughters and sister in the same bed as him.
Was it crowded?
Hell yeah.
Would he change it?
Hell no.
He lay on his side with an arm around Shiloh and his girls. She also lay on her side and held both girls to her, Ashlyn closest to her.. Ciara lay on the far side, facing them with an arm thrown over Alyssa.
Pagan kissed the back of Shiloh’s head just before he rolled out of bed. Looking at the others in his bed, he leaned over and placed light kisses on all their temples. The sun was just barely starting to peek over the horizon when he stepped out of the bathroom and headed downstairs.
His plan was to fix a good healthy breakfast before anyone else got up. At least good. He would cut up some fruit to make it healthy. He found himself wondering if he still had Nessie’s crepe recipe.
Yes, the biker knew how odd it was that his happy place to work out problems was in the kitchen. When he was stressed or worried, he wanted to pound on metal. But when he needed to get into his headspace, he went to the kitchen.
Stepping into the kitchen, Pagan came to a complete standstill as he found Dom standing in the middle of the room.
“Where the fuck is her coffee pot?”
Chuckling, Pagan opened the cabinet door with the Keurig nestled into the little cubby. “She has a thing about everything being in its place.”
“Believe me, I know.” Dom replied as she made herself a large cup of coffee. “How did she sleep?”
“She slept fine.” Pagan asked as he moved around the kitchen getting things that he needed to make breakfast. “Soothed the girls and Ciara when they were restless. That’s not normal, is it?”
“It is for her.” Dom said as she moved over and sat at the bar, nursing her coffee. “It’s why the Don changed who his successor would be.”
“What happened?” He admitted as he began to sift flour.
“You fixing those rolled up pancakes?”
“Crepes, yeah. What happened, Dom?”
She gave a soft sigh and Pagan could tell that she didn’t really want to tell him. Something told him it was a lot worse than what Shiloh had told him.
“First, it started when Shiloh was still Sophia. She knew her role, knew that she would take her father’s place. She was the only living descendant of Joseph Giovani. Her father was killed when she was three, and her mother had high ambitions, mainly for herself at the expense of her daughters.”
“Elizabeth was determined to climb her way back to the top and didn’t care how. Her second husband sent Sophia to school and tried to weasel his way into his predecessor’s position.” Dom grinned as Pagan worked. “Want me to cut anything?”
“Fruit? Use one of the kitchen knives and wash your hands.”
Dom scoffed as she got up and went to the sink to wash her hands.
“As far as I know, Nonna only ever ordered one hit. It was on stepdad number one. Sophia came home on break and was telling Nonna about waking up and her stepdad being in her bedroom. He had uncovered her and lifted her night gown. She was eight, maybe nine.”
Pagan paused, cursing softly as the woman washed the berries and assorted fruit before moving back to the bar. Choosing a knife, Dom began to peel and slice the produce.
“The bastard never touched her, but you can imagine what he was doing. Nonna waited until Sophia went back to school, and then issued a contract. I was home on leave, had just started working with my team. There were little jobs that we would do on the side, don’t ask how we get them.”
The seemingly domestic chores that they were doing as Dom talked about killing a man who abused a child was a strange combination. Setting the batter aside, Pagan began to make the cream filling.
“Nonna ordered it, we took care of it. You don’t need any further details. Stepdad two was ordered by Nonno. Two sent Sophia to boarding school in Connecticut. She struggled, just wanted to come home to Nonno and Nonna.”
“Two was moving some bad product through the area and Nonno wasn’t taking it. He ordered the contract, and I came home. Again, don’t ask questions. It’s best if you don’t know a lot of those details.”
Pagan nodded in understanding.
“Her mother sent her to a boarding school in Switzerland. She saw the problem as Sophia, not the men. Nonno was not approving the marriages, they were not endorsed by the family. She was trying to climb, but she didn’t understand enough to know that she was going in the wrong direction.”
“Sophia was kidnapped while Elizabeth was married to stepdad number three. After we got her home, don’t ask, I gave her my number. She called me, begged me to come get her. Wouldn’t say anything over the phone.”
“Elizabeth tried to stop me from taking her,” Dom smiled at her friend, “you can guess who won that argument.”
He chuckled as he sat the cream to the side and got the pan to make the crepes.
“I took her to Nonno’s house, but she clung to me and wouldn’t let go. Three had gone to the house that she was being held at. She didn’t know that he was her stepdad, the asshole married her mom after Sophia was in Switzerland. As far as she knew, he was just another man that came through. The men that had her told three that he could have her if he could pay more than the family.”
“What?” Pagan asked.
“Elizabeth hired them, she wanted to eliminate her obstacle to climbing.”
“The fuck?”
“She was a very manipulative woman.”
“When did she find out that her mom had hired them?”
Dom shook her head. “She hasn’t, as far as I know. It came out during my…” she grinned at him just before licking the strawberry juice off the knife, “we’ll call it an interrogation.”
“You never told her?”
“She was still a child. Recovering from hell. I wasn’t going to add to it. But then Sophia told me about seeing him there and the men speaking in French, she’s fluent in several of the romantic languages. They told him that he could only have him if he paid more than the family had paid.”
Pulling out a soapstone, Dom began to sharpen the kitchen knife. “Shiloh thinks that Nonno and Nonna were paying to get her back. I’m okay with that. Three took another girl instead of her. The other girl was twelve. My team recovered her body. Sophia begged me to take care of three. She didn’t have to beg. All I needed was permission.”
“I know what happened to four.”
Dom nodded as she moved to the Keurig for another cup of coffee.
“Three was the first one that she ordered.”
“How many…”
“Three was the first. The fucking bastard that beat Gertie was the latest.”
“I thought that it was ruled a suicide.”
“Sure as hell was.” She agreed with a smirk. “I’m good at what I do.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Pagan asked. “She planning on having you kill me too?”
“Not you.” Dom leaned against the counter and sipped on her coffee. “Your ex has said that she wants to take custody away. She’ll use the kidnapping against you. Use Shiloh’s family against her. You are her declared untouchables.”
“The whole club is.”
“Shiloh declared the club as her chosen family, her protected. And yes, she will kill for the club. But if Amber comes after the girls, Sophia will come out to play.”
“You talk about her like she’s two people.”
“She is. Her way of dealing with everything was to create a new person. It’s called fractured personality disorder. She’s the only person I know that *chose* to have it. And who does better with it.”
“Will she hurt the girls? As Sophia?”
“No.” Dom assured him. “Both personalities share the same love and protectiveness. But Sophia can handle being the cold-hearted killer and Italian mafia boss. Shiloh cannot. She was forced to be Sophia. She chooses to be Shiloh.”
