Chapter 2 - The Man Outside Her WindowThe stranger collapsed unconscious beside Alora's front door.
Alora stood barefoot several feet away, holding her phone like a weapon even though she knew it would be useless.
Dominic looked down at the man.
Then at her.
“Are you hurt?”
It was the last question she expected.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“What are you doing here?”
Dominic ignored the accusation.
“Pack a bag.”
“What?”
“A few clothes. Essentials.”
Alora stared.
“You cannot break into my apartment in the middle of the night and tell me to pack.”
“I didn't break in.”
“You're standing inside my apartment.”
“The other man broke in.”
“That does not improve the situation.”
For one brief second, Dominic's mouth almost curved.
Then his expression hardened.
“Cross knows about you.”
“Who is Cross?”
“The person whose associate you saw die.”
Her stomach turned.
Dominic stepped closer.
“If Cross believes you saw enough to identify his people, he will remove the risk.”
“You told me I could leave.”
“I believed you could.”
“And now?”
“Now you're coming with me.”
Alora shook her head.
“No.”
“No?”
“I am not going anywhere with a man I saw standing over a murder scene.”
“You didn't see me kill anyone.”
“You were covered in blood.”
“Someone else's.”
“That was supposed to reassure me?”
Jax entered the apartment behind them.
He looked at the unconscious intruder.
“Alive?”
Dominic nodded.
“Unfortunately.”
Jax crouched and searched the man's pockets.
Alora stared at both of them.
“This is insane.”
Jax found a phone.
“Cross's burner.”
Dominic held out his hand.
Jax gave it to him.
A message remained visible.
CONFIRM WITNESS. REMOVE IF NECESSARY.
Alora read it.
The color left her face.
Dominic saw the change immediately.
“Pack.”
This time she did not argue.
Ten minutes later, she followed him into a black SUV parked behind her building.
“You have five minutes to explain,” she said.
Dominic sat opposite her in the rear passenger seat.
“What do you want explained?”
“Everything.”
“That would require significantly more than five minutes.”
“Start with why someone wants me dead.”
Dominic looked through the rain-streaked window.
“The man killed in the gallery worked for Adrian Cross.”
“And you?”
“I don't.”
“That was not my question.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“I run several businesses.”
“Legal ones?”
“Some.”
Alora stared.
“You actually said some.”
“You asked for honesty.”
She almost laughed from shock.
“Fine. Why was Cross's man killed?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“He stole from me and attempted to sell information to Cross.”
“So you murdered him.”
Dominic's gaze became cold.
“I didn't pull the trigger.”
“But you ordered it.”
Silence answered.
Alora turned away.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Eventually she whispered, “I should hate you.”
Dominic's expression was unreadable.
“You probably should.”
“Then why did you save me?”
He took longer to answer.
“Because you were never supposed to become part of this.”
The vehicle entered an underground garage beneath a modern high-rise.
Dominic brought Alora upstairs.
His penthouse was enormous, silent, and almost painfully immaculate.
It did not look like the home of a criminal.
It barely looked like a home at all.
No family photographs.
No clutter.
No warmth.
Alora noticed a grand piano near the windows.
“You play?”
Dominic glanced toward it.
“My mother did.”
Something closed behind his eyes.
Alora did not ask again.
A woman named Elena prepared a guest room.
Dominic positioned guards downstairs.
Then he told Alora she could sleep.
She laughed.
“You honestly think I'm going to sleep?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He began walking away.
“Dominic.”
He stopped.
She had never used his first name before.
He looked back.
“What happens tomorrow?”
“We determine whether Cross knows enough about you to remain interested.”
“And if he does?”
Dominic's expression was calm.
“Then I solve the problem.”
She understood what that meant.
“Without killing anyone.”
A muscle shifted in his jaw.
“You don't get to dictate how I keep you alive.”
“Then don't pretend you're protecting me for my benefit.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You're surprisingly argumentative for someone hiding in my home.”
“And you're surprisingly arrogant for someone who kidnapped an archivist.”
“You came voluntarily.”
“Under threat of assassination.”
“That still counts.”
Despite herself, Alora felt something dangerously close to amusement.
Dominic noticed.
His expression softened for a fraction of a second.
That terrified her in a new way.
The next morning, she woke to sunlight and the smell of coffee.
Dominic was in the kitchen reading reports.
He had removed his jacket and rolled his sleeves to his forearms.
Without the suit jacket, he looked younger.
Less untouchable.
She hated noticing.
“You drink coffee?” he asked.
“Normally.”
“Normally?”
“When I'm not hiding from criminals.”
He poured a cup anyway.
“You're adapting.”
“No, I'm surviving.”
His eyes lifted.
“There's a difference.”
Alora sat opposite him.
“Do you ever regret it?”
“What?”
“The things you do.”
He did not answer immediately.
“That isn't a question people ask me.”
“Maybe people around you are afraid.”
“They are.”
“I'm afraid too.”
“You don't behave like it.”
“My hands are under the table.”
Dominic glanced down.
They were trembling.
Something changed in his face.
He looked away first.
Over the following three days, Alora remained at the penthouse.
Dominic spent hours away.
Whenever he returned, he asked Elena whether Alora had eaten.
He never asked Alora directly.
She noticed anyway.
She also noticed he never slept much.
His office light remained on past three every morning.
On the fourth night, Alora found him sitting at the piano.
He wasn't playing.
Just staring at the keys.
“I thought your mother played.”
“She did.”
“Was she good?”
“She was extraordinary.”
Alora leaned against the doorway.
“Where is she?”
“Dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic gave a humorless laugh.
“Don't be.”
“Why?”
“She married my father.”
The bitterness in his voice silenced her.
After a moment, Dominic continued.
“He believed love was possession. She believed patience could change him.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
Alora looked at his hands.
“What happened?”
“She tried to leave.”
Dominic's voice lowered.
“My father found out.”
Alora's breath caught.
“He killed her?”
Dominic did not answer.
He did not need to.
Suddenly the empty apartment made sense.
The control.
The coldness.
The way Dominic had grabbed her wrist in the gallery but had deliberately avoided hurting her.
“You became him,” she whispered.
His eyes snapped toward her.
Alora held his gaze.
“But not completely.”
Dominic stood.
“Don't romanticize me, Alora.”
“I'm not.”
“You don't know what I've done.”
“I know enough.”
“Then you should be afraid.”
“I am.”
He moved closer.
“Good.”
“But you're afraid too.”
Dominic stopped.
The words struck somewhere deep.
“Of what?”
“Becoming him.”
His face changed.
For a moment, Alora thought she had gone too far.
Then Dominic said quietly, “Go to bed.”
She did.
But neither slept.
Two days later, Dominic received information that changed everything.
Jax entered the office carrying a laptop.
“We identified the leak.”
Dominic looked up.
“Who?”
Jax hesitated.
“That is the problem.”
Alora was reading in the living room, close enough to hear.
“Say it,” Dominic ordered.
“Marcus Vale.”
Dominic's face became expressionless.
Alora had learned enough about him to know that was dangerous.
“Who is Marcus?” she asked.
Neither man answered.
Finally Jax looked at her.
“Dominic's uncle.”
Dominic stood.
“My father's brother.”
“And he's working with Cross?”
“Apparently.”
Jax opened the laptop.
“We intercepted messages. Marcus told Cross about the gallery. He also gave them Bennett's identity.”
Alora went cold.
Dominic stared at the screen.
Why would his uncle expose her?
Jax clicked another message.
The answer appeared.
KEEP THE GIRL ALIVE IF POSSIBLE. SHE MAY BE USEFUL AGAINST WOLFE.
Dominic read it twice.
Then slowly turned toward Alora.
Something dangerous moved behind his eyes.
Alora whispered, “Useful how?”
Jax exhaled.
“They've noticed Dominic protecting you.”
Alora looked at Dominic.
“And?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Jax answered for him.
“They think you are his weakness.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Alora almost laughed.
“That is ridiculous.”
Dominic said nothing.
Her smile disappeared.
“Dominic?”
He still did not answer.
And for the first time since the gallery, Alora Bennett became afraid not of Dominic Wolfe's violence—
but of what she saw when he looked at her.
May you like
Because Adrian Cross might have been wrong about many things.
But he was no longer wrong about that.
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