The Dominator by DD Prince Page A

after what he’d just done to me upstairs. After how I’d participated. I knew my face was red, I could feel it. And I could feel his eyes on me.
    “Uh, you want your things picked up at your old place or are we starting over?”
    I was shocked at the question, “I, um… I have to talk to them, tell them, uh…” tell them what?
    “I’ll take care of it. I’ll have your things brought here. Then whatever else you need, I’ll arrange.” He got up, pulled me up to standing and took me into his arms, “Be a good girl,” he said and poked me gently on the nose, “No phone calls yet and no attempts to run.” I caught sight of his hand; it was covered in scratches from our scuffle last night. He saw that I’d noticed and smiled devilishly at me and then touched his lips to mine. His tongue darted in and his arms pulled me closer. I didn’t react, I didn’t respond. I guess was in shock. He let go of me and then said, “Watch her.” I glanced behind him and the Michael Clarke Duncan guy was standing in the doorway. I guess I had a babysitter.
    I robotically dropped back to sitting and stared at my plate. Ms. Martinez sat down with a cup of coffee,
    “Shoo Earl!” she said him, annoyed. He backed away. She sat down and put her coffee in front of herself, “He can go. Leave us girls to talk. Food not okay?”
    “I---I uh, haven’t tried it.”
    “Eat! I’ll keep you company,” she took a sip of her coffee, “Are you okay?”

I stared, dumbfounded at her, then finally answered, “Not really.”
    “Tell. Tell me everything,” she leaned forward and propped her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table and stared at me with big brown doe eyes.
    I winced.
    “You don’t trust me. I understand. I’m a stranger to you. Let me talk while you eat. We’ll become friends in no time.”
    I took a bite of cubed melon from the plate.
    “I’ve been with the family since Tommy was a small boy. His mother died when he was just a boy. The Ferrano family hired me to look after him. I was an illegal alien with no future. I’d been smuggled into the country by a nasty piece of shit, who wanted to work me and my family to the death in payment for getting us into the states. Mr. Ferrano, Tommy’s father, Tom, he broke up the operation that was ruining lives of a lot of people. He freed dozens of people treated like slaves. In thanks to him, I offered to work for their family for nothing; they saved us, a lot of us. Of course they have paid me generously all these years, anyway. He got me citizenship, too. I stayed anyway; I wanted to be surrounded by people who cared.”
    “Slaves? They saved you from slavery?” I shook my head, a sour look on my face.
    She continued, “This family, they don’t play everything by the books. But they did a lot for me. There are a lot of people out there like them, don’t kid yourself. They don’t all get called by the same names but there are some very bad people out there disguised as good people and there are people who do bad things sometimes but are not bad, they do what they need to do. This family, what you see is what you get. They did good for me.” She pointed her thumb at her chest, “And for my parents.” She looked up to the sky and then kissed her fingertips and pointed them at the sky, “They’ve become family to me.” She motioned to my plate again, “Please, Chiquita; you need to eat.”
    I took a bite of food. She kept talking.
    “Tommy is the oldest of four. He’s taking over the family business after he marries you. He has big responsibilities. Big. This means you will have an important position. He’s like a son to me, you know? I have no kids but his mother died and so I was like his mother. We’re like family. You’re resistant to this. I know a bit about your father. I know that he gave you to pay them. Having a man like this for your father, what he did was a blessing. Better to be with the Ferrano family than a man like that.” She spat the