Chapter 2 - THE MAN SHE NEVER EXPECTED TO SEE AGAIN
“No.”
The word left Mara too fast.
Dominic stared at her.
She hated herself immediately.
He had always been difficult to read, even that night at the hotel. But there was something terrible about watching his expression close now.
“No?” he repeated.
Mara pushed herself upright.
“I said no.”
“You hesitated.”
“I was almost hit by a car.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Bianca, forgotten for several seconds, let out a sharp laugh.
“Oh, this is perfect.”
Dominic turned.
“Leave.”
“You don’t order me around.”
“I just did.”
“My father owns half the people in this city.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“I own the other half.”
Bianca’s mouth shut.
One of his men approached.
“Vehicle had stolen plates. Driver ditched it two blocks east.”
Dominic looked toward the ruined cemetery gate.
“Witnesses?”
“Groundskeeper saw one person inside. Male. Masked.”
“Find the cameras.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mara stood slowly.
Her knees shook.
She hated that Dominic noticed.
“I’m going to work.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“No?”
“You just got assaulted and someone drove a truck through a cemetery trying to reach you.”
“That doesn’t mean they were trying to reach me.”
Dominic glanced at Bianca.
“No. It could have been aimed at Senator Thorne’s daughter.”
Bianca lifted her chin.
“Exactly.”
Dominic’s expression was almost bored.
“Then you should be eager to leave.”
She walked away without another word.
At the cemetery gate, Bianca stopped and turned back.
Her eyes found Mara.
The hatred in them was no longer hot.
It was cold.
Controlled.
“Don’t come back to my house.”
Mara’s heart sank.
“My things are there.”
“They’ll be on the street by noon.”
“You can’t—”
“I can.”
Bianca looked at Dominic.
“You want her? Take her.”
Then she left.
Mara stood beside her mother’s grave with nothing but a broken bracelet, thirty-eight dollars in her purse and no place to sleep.
Dominic took off his coat and held it out.
“I don’t need that.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m angry.”
“You’re still shaking.”
She snatched the coat.
It smelled like cedar and expensive soap.
And him.
That made everything worse.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were about to.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Dominic watched her for a moment.
“You always this stubborn?”
“You’ve known me for one night.”
“I remember that night.”
Her face heated.
“So do I. Unfortunately.”
The corner of his mouth almost moved.
Almost.
Then his gaze returned to the headstone.
“You asked how I knew your mother.”
Mara tightened the coat around herself.
“Yes.”
Dominic looked toward Eleanor’s grave.
“When I was nineteen, somebody put two bullets in me.”
Mara froze.
“Your mother found me behind a grocery store. She could’ve called the police and walked away.”
“But she didn’t.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“She brought me into her apartment. Stopped the bleeding. Fed me for three days. Then told me I was an idiot.”
That sounded so much like Eleanor that Mara almost laughed.
Instead her eyes filled.
“She never told me.”
“She made me promise to stay away from you.”
Mara looked at him sharply.
“Why?”
“Because she knew what I became.”
He handed her the bracelet.
“She also made me promise something else.”
“What?”
“If anything ever happened to her, I was supposed to make sure you were safe.”
Mara stared at him.
“My mother died two years ago.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I found out late.”
“How?”
Before he could answer, his phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
The calm left his face.
“What is it?” Mara asked.
Dominic showed her a photograph.
It had been sent from an unknown number.
A picture of Mara sleeping in her tiny room at the Thorne estate.
Taken from inside the room.
Under the photograph were six words.
THE BABY DOESN’T BELONG TO PRESTON.
Mara stopped breathing.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
BUT WE KNOW WHO IT BELONGS TO.
