Chapter 7 - The Night Dominic Had to Choose
Rosa remembered a voice.
That was all.
A voice downstairs.
Minutes before she smelled smoke.
She had been half asleep when she heard someone arguing near the entrance.
Anthony’s voice was one of them.
The other belonged to someone Rosa knew.
Carmine.
Sadie stared at her.
“Are you certain?”
“No.”
That mattered.
Rosa was seventy-five.
She had been asleep.
There had been smoke.
Fear could distort memory.
Sadie refused to accuse a man based on uncertainty.
Neither did Dominic.
When Sadie told him, he became very quiet.
“Carmine has been with me fifteen years.”
“I know.”
“He helped identify Anthony.”
“I know.”
“He has saved my life.”
“I know.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You think he did it?”
“I think Rosa deserves to know what happened.”
Dominic investigated quietly.
The truth emerged two days later.
Carmine had been at Rosa’s house.
But not as an accomplice.
He had discovered Anthony meeting someone outside and followed him.
Carmine confronted Anthony.
Anthony fled.
Carmine left to follow him, unaware another person had already placed the accelerant.
Minutes later, the fire began.
Carmine had spent weeks carrying the guilt.
“If I’d stayed,” he told Dominic, “your mother wouldn’t have been trapped.”
Dominic understood that kind of guilt.
Sadie did too.
“You didn’t start the fire,” she said.
Carmine looked at her.
“That’s what you told him, isn’t it?”
Sadie glanced at Dominic.
“Apparently I repeat myself.”
The investigation eventually identified everyone involved.
The threat that had followed Sadie since the fire finally ended.
There was no dramatic celebration.
No triumphant announcement.
Just one phone call from Dominic.
“It’s over.”
Sadie was leaving class when he told her.
She stopped beneath the afternoon sun.
“Over?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
For weeks, she had looked over her shoulder.
Now she didn’t have to.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
Dominic was silent.
That question frightened him more than any enemy had.
Because danger had given him an excuse to keep Sadie close.
Without it, she was free.
Free to leave.
“You go back to your life,” he said.
Sadie heard something in his voice.
“And you?”
“I go back to mine.”
She frowned.
“That sounds depressing.”
“It’s reality.”
“No. It sounds like you’re deciding for me again.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
He should have expected that.
That evening, Sadie came to the penthouse.
Dominic opened the door.
“You didn’t need to come.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because apparently you’re an idiot.”
He stared at her.
Sadie stepped inside.
“You think the only reason I spent time with you was because someone was watching me?”
“I think circumstances forced us together.”
“They introduced us.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes.”
Sadie moved closer.
“The fire introduced me to Rosa. Danger introduced me to you. Everything after that was choice.”
Dominic said nothing.
“You chose to listen when I told you no.”
“Eventually.”
“You chose to let Anthony face the law instead of handling things your old way.”
“Yes.”
“You chose to help me without owning me.”
Dominic’s expression softened.
“And you?”
Sadie smiled.
“I chose to keep answering your calls.”
He laughed quietly.
Then his expression became serious.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Normal.”
Sadie stepped closer.
“Neither do I.”
“You deserve someone whose life isn’t complicated.”
“My life was complicated before you.”
“You deserve safety.”
“I decide what I deserve.”
He smiled.
“There she is.”
Sadie looked up at him.
“Ask me again.”
“What?”
“Dinner.”
Dominic understood.
“Sadie Brooks, would you have dinner with me?”
“Are there armed guards?”
“Probably somewhere.”
“Your mother?”
“No.”
“Carmine?”
“Definitely not.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
Their first real date was not glamorous.
Sadie refused the private dining room Dominic had reserved.
Instead, they ate pizza at a neighborhood restaurant where nobody recognized him.
Dominic had not eaten pizza with his hands in years.
Sadie photographed him struggling with melted cheese.
“Delete that.”
“Never.”
“I have lawyers.”
“I have cloud backup.”
For three hours, they were simply two people.
Sadie talked about nursing school.
Dominic talked about Rosa.
He told her about his father.
About the expectations he inherited.
About becoming someone people feared before he was old enough to understand what fear cost.
Sadie listened.
She did not excuse him.
She did not judge him.
She simply listened.
When they walked outside, snow had begun falling.
Sadie stopped.
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You stopped walking.”
“Look.”
Snow drifted through the streetlights.
Dominic looked.
“You’ve seen snow before.”
Sadie smiled.
“Remember what I told you?”
“About getting used to beautiful things.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic looked at the snow.
Then at her.
He finally understood.
Some beautiful things disappeared if you assumed they would always be there.
He touched her cheek.
“Can I kiss you?”
Sadie smiled.
“You’re learning to ask.”
“Slowly.”
“Yes.”
He kissed her.
Softly.
No urgency.
No possession.
Just choice.
When they separated, Sadie rested her forehead against his.
For once, Dominic Castile did not think about enemies, debts or obligations.
But their happiness still had one test remaining.
Because the following morning, Dominic received an offer that could remove him permanently from the dangerous world he had inherited.
It would cost him almost everything he had built.
May you like
And for the first time in his life, Dominic had to decide whether power was worth keeping.
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