Animal: Confessions Of a Dominant Man(Book 1)

Chapter 13 - Coming Home

That night, Tony and I stayed up trying to come up with some ideas or plans to keep a low profile from Carlos and my father. Just the thought of them working together makes me sick.

I know my father and I never had the best of a father-son relationship but I've tired, damnit I've tired. But him and I just never seen eye to eye from what I can remember. Even when I was younger he never bother to try and raise me like a real father would. He never taught me how to ride a bike or how to throw and catch a football.

He never wanted to sit down and tell me about himself, he was a huge mystery to me all my life until he showed who he really was. A self-centered, arrgonate, woman beating asshole who I hope will rot in hell where me and him could finally have our father-son chat.

When I finally woke up the next day it was already going on in the afternoon. Lily was already up since the bed was empty. I get up and take my shower, thinking all about last night and from what Tony told me, things are only going to get harder from here. I know that it's killing him to keep Elizabeth in the dark about all of this but he knows it's the only way to keep her safe and I have to do the same with Lily.

I get dress and walk down the hallway, hearing laughter coming from the kitchen. I step in and see Lily and Elizabeth laughing. "Oh hey Julius." Lily says

"Hey..where's Tony?" I ask looking between the two of them. "He's somewhere around here, he was up all night so maybe he is still sleeping. I don't know." Elizabeth shrugs her shoulders before going back to chatting.

I walk back down the hallway, looking out at the great view before I see Tony sitting there on the beach, watching his girls play in the water. I walk onto the shore as he yells."Don't go in the water too deep!"

"I'm guessing you slept well." I come over and sit next to him. Tony sighs, rubbing his hands through his hair.

"Yeah, rough night that's all." Tony takes a gulp of his drink. "Maybe I've just overreacting you know? It's just when I saw those photos it just..freaked me out."

"That'll freak anyone out man." I look out at the clear blue water as we sit in silence. "How long are you planning on keeping this from Elizabeth? Because I'm not sure I can keep this all from Lily."

Tony sighs. "I know, I know alright? I just need some time that's all. If I just where Carlos and if he's at a far away distance then I'll be okay and as far as telling Elizabeth about this, I'm not sure when it'll be the right time."

I can't help but chuckle at that. "If you don't tell her soon then when you finally do tell her she's going to kick your ass." Tony snorts, nodding his head in agreement. "You're right, I don't want to go through that again."

Silence falls over us again and I know that Tony's in his thoughts again. I can see all of this is starting to get to him and a lot of things don't normally get to him. But Carlos is going to far with involving Tony's family when they don't have anything to do with it. The thought just pisses me off.

"I think I should head back home for a while. Just to check how things are going back there." Tony shakes his head quickly. "Nope, you and Lily are not heading back to New York. It's to dangerous. My finally answer is no."

I sigh, hitting Tony in the back of the head. "I'm not taking Lily with me dumb-ass. I said that I was going back home, not Lily." I shake my head. "I've already booked my flight and would be leaving early in the morning."

"And what am I going to tell Lily and the girls?" Tony ask as I stand up, brushing the sand off my shorts. "Just tell her I had to leave in a hurry because HR laying people off without my permission and I had to handle it in person." I hold out my hand and help Tony up.

"I'm guessing you've been planning this all night huh?" He looks at me, shaking his head. "I've always thought that I was the dumb older brother and you were the smart younger brother who always corrected me on everything I did and said. I guess I was wrong." Tony smirks.

I push him in the shoulder as he laughs. "I'm still smarter than you asshole so don't get too cocky. I'm only going for a week or so to keep up with apperances. I'm not going to do anything crazy." We start heading back to the house with Tony daughter running ahead of us. "Hey. You be careful alright?" Tony pats my shoulder in a brotherly way. I simply nod my head, not clearly sure if it's a good idea but not gving myself the time to think.

I lay in bed that night with Lily finally asleep next to me after we went at it for a couple of hours. Sitting up, I slowly start getting out of bed. Finding my clothes on the floor I quickly change, grabbing my suit case that's already been packed.

I look over Lily one more time, seeing how beautiful she is as she sleeps. So stree and worry free. Something that I hope she'll feel once this is all over. Leaning down, I move a strand of hair from her face before kissing her gently on cheek. Knowing I'm going to see her soon but not as soon as I think.

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It's been four days since I've seen or heard from Lily. The first day when I got home we talked on the phone, it was actually her yelling at me for leaving without telling her but Tony already told her why I had to leave. I talked to Tony on the phone as well and he wanted me to keep all my phone calls short. "Just in case they try to track the calls." I remember him saying.

Since then it's been nothing but work, gym, work, home, work, gym. A pattern that I've grown used too for the pass couple of days. When I was at work I was frustrated because I could talk to anyone about this and when I got home it just felt cold and empty without having Lily here.

After another long work day, I quickly shut down my computer, grabbing my suit case and leaving the office, seeing that everyone else left for home. I've been staying late at the office on purpose just to avoid going home and sitting there in boredom or pacing my living room. I make it home right before midnight which is the time Lily and I can talk on the phone for a short amount of time. I hated lying to her whenever  time was up, always having to make excuses. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want to talk tonight again.

I unlock the door to my penthouse, closing and locking it behind me as I set my suit case down on the kitchen counter along with my jacket. I walk over to my little mini-bar, loosing up my tie and pouring myself something strong to drink before calling Lily. I soon start getting an edgey feeling that something was off in my home, like somehting didn't belong.

Setting my glass down, I turn around and see a man dressed in all black standing there with a gun pointed right at me and the only thing I can think of is if Lily will call.

"You shouldn't of came home Julius." He says before finally pulling the trigger and the only thing I hear as I fall down on the ground is the phone ringing.