POV: Raphael
“If you are here to give me attitude and make my job more difficult for me, I suggest you get the fuck out of here right now. I’m too busy to deal with your attitude, Raphael, I mean it!” He told me furiously, glaring daggers at me. It’s obvious to everyone looking that this guy is angry with me for a completely different reason. I mean, he cannot be this furious because I said I wasn’t helping, right?
“I’ll do anything to save Victoria, even if it means putting up with your bullshit!” I told him, repeating my earlier response and ignoring his earlier comments about my attitude.
“Are you testing my patience? Are you trying to piss me off?” he yelled at me, letting the others turn to us curiously as they wondered what was going on between us. I turned to face him and he came to stand in front of me, glaring at me as if he wanted to punch me.
“If you have something to say, why don’t you say it to my fucking face, Dominic. You keep saying you have moved past my betrayal, but I can see it in your eyes and attitude that you fucking hate me now. So I’m giving you the opportunity to let it out, man. If you have something to say to me, I want you to look me in the fucking eyes and say it to my fucking face!” I told him angrily.
“Fine!
You want to know how I feel about you?
Well, I’m going to say it then. I don’t hate you, Raphael Hawkins; you are the closest thing to a brother that I have. But I don’t want to have to work with you or do business with you because I don’t trust you enough. You could turn around and stab me in the fucking back because that’s who you are, a fucking backstabber. I don’t trust you with my life, and that’s a problem with me because I would have to watch my back every fucking second.
I lost my fiancee and my child because of your betrayal. I lost good men today, too, and it’s all because of your Betrayal. If my fight with Carlos has taught me anything today, its the fact that I can’t trust you around me anymore. I wanted to look past your Betrayal a keep you close by and my brother and best friend. But after the bloodshed today, I just can’t forget it so soon!” he told me sternly, fixing me a very stern gaze.
“To think that you never bothered to check up on me when you knew I was trying to fix the problem that you caused for me. You didn’t even show up to help when it was all your fault to begin with. That’s not how a brother treats another, that’s not how a true friend behaves!” he added in anger, glaring at me.
“So, that’s it!
That’s the problem, right there, you just said it Dominic. You are not pissed because I betrayed you. We have moved past my Betrayal and you forgave me already. Or, were you lying when you said that you forgave my betrayal, were you lying when you said you were ready to move on and let it go?” I asked him sternly, earning me a groan as he scrunched his face in anger, grinding his teeth to keep him from responding to my question. But I’m not letting him off so easily, I won’t let this go. There is a rift between us and it must be mended today, like, right here and now.
“No Dominic, you don’t get to do that, not today. You don’t get to get away so easily, I won’t let you. Yes, you meant it, you did. You meant every fucking word, you forgave me. You are just mad at me for not lending a helping hand when you faced Carlos. You seem to forget that I was facing another crisis over here, you forget that my fiancee and her sister are missing, and Eloise Kendall was after my life as well.
You were only thinking about yourself, Dominic. What about me,? What about the girls, Dominic,? What about them?
Now, I know I promised to help, I know I said I was going to sort it out and get you back your title and territory. And I’m very sorry that I wasn’t able to help when you really needed me. But you have to remember that it’s not my fault; it was never my intention to stand you up; I never meant to betray you, Dominic. I thought I was doing the right thing; I thought you would understand that I just wanted to do the right thing; I never meant to hurt you. Why can’t you understand that, why don’t you want to get over it?” I asked him furiously.
“Maybe I would get over it if you actually apologized for what you did instead of just expecting me to get over it and move on?” he retorted furiously, glaring daggers at me.
“Fine Dominic, I’m sorry!
I’m sorry, okay?
Is that what you want, is that what it’s going to take to get you to forgive me?
What do you want from me?
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m fucking sorry!” I yelled in his face, sounding furious. He looked at me fixedly and turned away, going back to the table where he was working with Carl and the rest of the guys. I didn’t even know that Carl was back. If he had Carl working with him all along, then why the hell was he bothering me and Miguel?
“No, Ralph. You are not sorry!” he let out in a sarcastic tone, ignoring me again. I tried once more to talk to him, but he was done talking and I decided to let it go because we had serious work to do. I guess I should have thought of him too, I should have helped him like I promised to.
I thought he would handle it without me, I knew he could handle it without me. And yeah, he could handle it without me, that was not the issue. It’s the gesture that counts, he just wanted me there like I promised, and I totally understand him. I can’t blame him, though, he thought I knew what he wanted, and I thought that he understood the issue I was facing at that point. But he didn’t know that it would take this long to find the girls and I didn’t know that he would openly challenge Carlos on the street and demand for his territory and status.
We both have our faults here, but he chose to blame me alone and that’s just not right. I know I should have known that Dominic would not leave Claire out there if he knew she was in danger. I should have called to find out why he was not trying to get her back. If only I’d called him, maybe he would have told me that he is out for war and I would have gone over there to help or at least send him some boys to help him.
That would have reduced the casualties on his side and he wouldn’t be this furious with me. But Dominic did call to inform me, and I didn’t think about it that way, I didn’t even know that he was going to war. So I don’t care what he thinks of me right now, it’s my fault and his too.
I will bring this up later, but I’m never accepting all the blame. I will put the facts before him and let him know that we are both to blame for this. And at the same time, I will apologize and make up with him. He is the only friend I have that I trust and I can’t lose him.
As Dominic went back to work, the guys went back to work as well, pretending as if they weren’t listening to us right now. I went over and stood by his left side, with Miguel on his right. I know everyone must be thinking that I Betrayed Dominic and I’m not to be trusted. I refuse to think about all those things because those guys do not know the bond I share with Dominic.
They just knew that we were friends and we cared about each other until I sold him out to his enemies. They have no idea how long I’ve known him, they have no idea what we’ve been through together. He is the one man who would always look out for me no matter what I do to offend him. And even right now as his boys kept giving me some mean side looks, he glared dangerously at them, giving them a warning gaze that made them go back to their jobs immediately.
“One more glance in this direction and I’ll pluck out your eyes and feed them to the birds!” he warns them. My boys were also glaring at hhim, and I warned them to stop and focus, too. I didn’t need to say much, they know I’m not a man of many words,
“My business with Dominic is nobodys business. Face your jobs and focus!
I don’t want you making a mistake tomorrow; I would not fail to shoot you in the fucking head if you try to sabotage our mission tomorrow!” I warned them sternly. That was enough to send them back to their jobs as we all focused on the plans that were laid on the table in front of us.
It turns out that I’d underestimated Dominic, as usual. Turns out that he knows how to disable Eloise’s security system without her knowledge. He blinked the blind spots in her security system and how to get in undetected. I should have come to him first, I always forget that he deals with arms, and he knows how to detect and disable the motion sensors without triggering an alarm.
Now I know why he looked at me as if I were a damn fool. I did sound like an idiot. I feel so stupid!