Chapter 4 - The Debt That Started a War
Dominic didn't try to snatch the folder from my hands. Instead, he walked over to the leather armchair, poured two fingers of amber bourbon into a heavy glass, and stared down into the golden liquid before looking back up at me.
"Five years ago," Dominic began, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly tone, "your father was an accountant for the shipping docks under our control. He discovered that a rival faction within our syndicate was funneling illegal contraband through the cargo manifests. He tried to do the right thing—he tried to blow the whistle."
My breath caught in my throat. My father had died in a suspicious car accident when I was twenty-one, a tragedy the police had officially ruled as driver fatigue.
"The rival faction wanted him eliminated," Dominic continued, his eyes darkening with a retained fury. "They planted the bomb in his car. I found out about the hit twenty minutes too late to stop the explosion, but I managed to intercept the men who did it. Before your father died, he called my private line. He didn't beg for his own life. He just whispered one thing: 'Protect my wife and my little girl.'"
I stood frozen, the folder slipping slightly from my trembling fingers.
"From that day on," Dominic said softly, stepping closer until I could feel the heat radiating from his chest, "you became my responsibility. I paid for your mother’s treatments, I ensured you were never bothered by debt collectors, and I watched over you from a distance to make sure you could finish college and live a peaceful life. I never intended to pull you into my world. I never wanted you at that hotel. But when that assassin pulled a gun on my mother, and you threw yourself in front of her... I realized fate had already tied our strings together long before those bullets ever entered your body."
Tears streamed down my cheeks, hot and heavy, washing away years of grief, confusion, and resentment. "You protected me in secret... but you also kept me in the dark. You made decisions about my life without ever giving me a choice."
"I know," Dominic admitted, reaching out and gently wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb. His touch was shockingly tender for a man feared by every criminal syndicate on the East Coast. "And if you want an annulment the moment you're fully healed, I will sign the papers, give you a secure estate in Europe, and ensure you and your mother never have to worry about money again. But I couldn't let you die on that hotel floor, Nora. Because losing you would have destroyed me long before any bullet ever could."
May you like
Before I could answer, the electronic security console on the study wall suddenly began flashing a harsh, blinking red light.
Enzo burst through the door without knocking, his face pale and sweating. "Boss! We have a major breach! Victor Costa’s strike team just bypassed the outer security gate! They’ve surrounded the mansion, and they're heavily armed!"
