Chapter 9
The jet touched down as the first shades of the sunrise appeared on the horizon. Richie glanced out of the window but it was too dark to see anything.
The bodyguard accompanying him said, “There’s a car waiting for you.”
“Where am I going?”
“To Sonny’s villa. He thought maybe you’d like to get some sleep and a shower before you went to see Nikki.”
“That would be nice.” Richie grabbed his things and made his way out to the car.
The trip was quick and as the car pulled into the driveway, the headlights swept across the front to reveal a Spanish villa. Richie could also tell that it was heavily guarded. Stepping out of the car and making his way to the front door, he could hear the ocean waves breaking on the beach.
An
older Hispanic lady greeted him, “Buenos Dias Senor Sambora. Cómo fue su vuelo?”
“Smooth. Do you speak English?”
“Si. Don Corinthos has a room prepared for you and asked me to tell you that he will be here soon and breakfast is at seven.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll show you to the room now.”
Richie followed the older lady to his room and when she was gone, he set his things on the bed. Looking around the room, he spotted a picture so he moved to it and picked it up. It was a picture of Dominique and Sonny on the beach.
From behind him, “She was fourteen when that picture was taken…just before she met you.”
“She’s even more beautiful when she smiles.”
“She has her mother’s smile.” Sonny moved to the French doors and opened them. “This is her favorite place to be alone. She use to come in here at night after dinner, open the doors, and move one of the chairs so that she could see out and just sit here listening to the ocean. Sometimes she’d draw and sometimes she’d read and other times, she’d just sit and watch the water.”
Richie felt his stomach drop. “Is….is she okay?”
“She will be.” Turning around, he realized Richie was scared. “I’m sorry. Nikki is in the hospital. Noah is helping her to get off the drugs.”
Richie relaxed and looked around the room. “Did she do the drawings?”
Sonny looked at the one closest to him. “Yeah, she did. She had so much talent. I don’t even know if she can still draw or if she likes to draw any more. I’m letting you stay here because well, I thought you’d want to be closer to her.”
“Thank you.” Looking back at Sonny, he asked, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Why didn’t I try to rescue her?” Sonny looked at him to see Richie nod ‘yes’. “I tried.”
“The night she was forced to give Jason a lap dance?”
Sonny
nodded. “Santadio had her heavily guarded, especially if he knew I was in
town. I couldn’t risk him killing her.”
“Would he have killed her?”
“I don’t know.” Looking around, Sonny said, “I’ll give you some time.”
Sonny left and Richie looked around at the pictures on the wall. There was one that he immediately recognized of himself and he smiled. It was really good. Then, he decided to do what she used to do…sit and just listen to the ocean. So much had happened that he just wanted time to think. He pulled a worn-out, over-sized chair into the middle of the door way; turned out the lights; and took a seat to just simply listen and think. For the next hour, his thoughts were of Dominique. He was anxious to see her but would she remember him?
As the sun cleared the horizon, Richie got up and went to get a shower. Dressed, he grabbed his guitar and checked inside the case for the gift he’d bought.
