Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Wanted Nothing From Him
Sadie refused to become a prisoner.
That was the first argument.
The second involved Dominic insisting she could not return to work.
The third began when Sadie discovered he had stationed two security men outside the apartment without telling her.
“You said you would ask.”
“I asked about money.”
“You know exactly what I meant.”
“You’re being watched.”
“So your solution is to have more people watch me?”
“My people are keeping you alive.”
Sadie stood in front of Dominic with her arms crossed.
He had negotiated multimillion-dollar agreements with men who would happily destroy him.
None had been as stubborn as the waitress in front of him.
“I need my life back,” she said.
“I’m trying to make sure you still have one.”
“Then help me live it.”
The sentence stopped him.
Sadie continued.
“I spent two years putting everything on hold. Nursing school. Friends. Plans. I worked because I had bills. I slept because I had work. Then I worked again. I’m not spending the rest of my life hiding because someone else decided I should be afraid.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What are you asking?”
“Let me go back to the diner.”
“No.”
Sadie raised an eyebrow.
Dominic exhaled.
“Let me reconsider.”
“Progress.”
Eventually they compromised.
Sadie returned to work.
Carmine sat in a booth pretending to read a newspaper.
He was terrible at pretending.
Sadie walked over with a coffeepot.
“Refill?”
“I’m good.”
“You’ve been drinking the same cup for ninety minutes.”
“I like cold coffee.”
“No human being likes cold diner coffee.”
Carmine lowered the paper.
“You want me to leave?”
“No. I want you to order pie so my manager stops wondering why a six-foot-four man has been staring at the door all afternoon.”
Carmine ordered apple pie.
Dominic arrived twenty minutes later.
Sadie stared at him.
“Seriously?”
“What?”
“Do you people travel in packs?”
“I came for lunch.”
“You’ve never eaten here.”
“I’m broadening my horizons.”
She handed him a menu.
“Today’s meatloaf can broaden them permanently.”
Dominic looked at her.
Sadie smiled.
For the first time in years, Dominic laughed.
Not the controlled half-smile Sadie had seen before.
An actual laugh.
Carmine stared.
Sadie stared too.
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Carmine said quickly.
Sadie walked away smiling.
Something was changing between them.
Neither wanted to name it.
Dominic began visiting Rosa whenever Sadie was there.
Sadie noticed he became different around his mother.
Quieter.
Younger somehow.
Rosa noticed something else.
“You look at her,” she told him one evening after Sadie left.
Dominic did not look up from his phone.
“I look at everyone.”
“Not like that.”
“Mother.”
“She challenges you.”
“She annoys me.”
Rosa smiled.
“That is not a denial.”
Dominic put away his phone.
“This is complicated.”
“No. Your life is complicated. Feelings are usually simple. People make them complicated because simple things frighten them.”
Dominic kissed his mother’s forehead.
“Get some sleep.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“Yes.”
Meanwhile, Sadie began thinking about nursing school.
Rosa’s words had opened a door she thought she had permanently closed.
One afternoon, Sadie pulled her old textbooks from storage.
She found her transcript.
She researched reinstatement.
She calculated tuition.
Then she closed the laptop.
Still impossible.
Two days later, Dominic found her staring at the nursing program website.
He did not offer money.
He had learned.
Instead he asked, “What would it take?”
Sadie glanced at him.
“About twelve thousand dollars and the ability to survive without working sixty hours a week.”
Dominic nodded.
“I know that face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you start solving problems with your wallet.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You were thinking loudly.”
Dominic sat opposite her.
“What if there were scholarships?”
“I’ve applied before.”
“What if you applied again?”
Sadie studied him suspiciously.
“Are these real scholarships?”
“Yes.”
“Not the Dominic Castile Saves Stubborn Waitresses Foundation?”
“That name needs work.”
She laughed.
He smiled.
Then Sadie noticed something.
Dominic had become easier to be around.
That should have frightened her.
Instead, it frightened him.
Because he knew the danger around her had not disappeared.
Behind the scenes, Carmine was following the people responsible for the fire.
Someone had rented a vehicle near Rosa’s brownstone.
Someone had purchased accelerant using a false identity.
Someone had photographed Sadie.
And then Carmine found the connection.
He entered Dominic’s office late one night.
“We identified the man who took the hospital photograph.”
Dominic looked up.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
“We don’t know.”
Carmine placed a second file on the desk.
“But before he disappeared, he called someone.”
Dominic opened the file.
His expression changed.
The number did not belong to an enemy across town.
It belonged to someone who had access to Dominic’s organization.
Someone close enough to know where Rosa lived.
Close enough to know when she would be alone.
Dominic slowly raised his eyes.
“We have someone inside.”
Carmine nodded.
And suddenly the fire was no longer simply an attack from an enemy.
May you like
Someone Dominic trusted had helped make it possible.
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