Chapter 6 - The Fall of Victor CostaThe realization hit me like a physical blow.
Dominic hadn't met me by accident at the Aster Crown Hotel. He had arranged for his security team to monitor the catering staff because he knew Costa was planning a move against his family that night.
I hadn't just saved his mother—I had unwittingly stepped directly into the crossfire of a ten-year war fought over my father's legacy.
"You used me," I whispered, pulling my ring hand back against my chest.
"I tracked you to keep you alive, Clara," Dominic corrected fiercely, taking two fast strides toward me, grabbing my hands into his broad, warm palms. "I swore on my father's grave that I would clear your father's name and destroy the man who murdered him. But when you took those bullets for my mother... when I saw you lying on that marble floor bleeding... my world stopped."
He looked directly into my eyes, his voice breaking with a raw, unvarnished emotion I had never heard from him before.
"I didn't marry you just to stop Costa's hitmen, Clara. I married you because from the second you looked up at me and asked if my mother was safe while your own heart was stopping... I knew I would give my life to protect yours."
Before I could answer, the mansion's emergency sirens began to wail across the grounds.
Enzo burst through the library doors, a tactical submachine gun in his hands. "Boss! Costa’s perimeter team breached the south gate! They brought thirty men! They know the ledger is here!"
Dominic didn't panic. He pulled a custom suppressed pistol from his leather harness, stepping firmly between me and the door, his gray eyes turning into dark, lethal slits of cold steel.
"Enzo, take Clara to the safe room below the wine cellar," Dominic commanded softly.
"No," I spoke up, stepping out from behind the desk, my hands steady despite the fear hammering in my chest. "The ledger isn't in Cleveland, Dominic. I know where my father hid the encryption keys."
Dominic turned his head, staring at me in total shock. "What?"
"My father left me a silver locket on my sixteenth birthday," I revealed, reaching into my collar, pulling out a small, worn silver pendant I had worn every day of my life. "The serial code on the back is the master password."
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A cold, terrifying smile touched Dominic’s carved lips—a look of pure, absolute victory.
"Enzo," Dominic ordered smoothly, checking his weapon's magazine. "Upload the locket serial to the federal prosecutor's portal immediately. Let's finish this."
