Chapter 5 - The Face in the Dark
Without thinking, I pushed the door of the SUV open. The cold morning air rushed into my lungs, sharp and biting. I ignored Dominic’s strict orders, scrambled out onto the pavement, and ran toward the apartment building with my heart in my throat.
The front glass door of the complex was shattered into a million glittering shards. I pushed past the threshold, following the sound of heavy breathing and muffled shouts down the dimly lit hallway.
“Dominic!” I cried out, my voice echoing off the plaster walls.
“Stay back!” Dominic’s voice roared from the end of the hall, near the door of my mother’s old unit.
As I rounded the corner, the horrific scene unfolded before my eyes.
The apartment living room was completely trashed. Drawers had been ripped out of their frames, books and cushions scattered across the floor, and the wooden cedar chest had been smashed to pieces.
In the center of the room, two of Dominic’s guards were pinning a tall, muscular man to the ground. The man’s face was bruised, his dark hair matted with sweat, and a heavy black trench coat was bunched up around his waist.
And then, as the man turned his head in struggle, the overhead light caught his profile.
I gasped, stumbling backward against the doorframe, my hands flying to my mouth.
It wasn't Marcus.
The man pinned to the floor was not my dead husband. It was Robert Vance—Marcus’s estranged cousin and the former head of acquisitions for the rival Moretti shipping syndicate.
Dominic stepped over the debris, his gun lowered but his expression thunderous. He crouched down beside Robert, grabbing him by the collar of his trench coat and hauling him up to eye level.
“Robert,” Dominic said, his voice dangerously quiet. “I thought you were in federal custody in Zurich.”
Robert spat a glob of blood onto the hardwood floor, a twisted, mocking grin spreading across his bruised face. “Hello, cousin. Did you really think Marcus acted alone three years ago? We built the maritime smuggling routes together. And when Marcus tried to back out... well, let’s just say accidents happen on the piers.”
My knees buckled. I gripped the doorframe to keep from collapsing. “You... you killed Marcus?”
Robert turned his hollow, mocking gaze toward me. “Not directly, sweetheart. But when I found out his loyal little wife had hidden the master ledger containing every bank routing number and shell company account inside an old music box... well, I figured it was time to collect my inheritance.”
Dominic didn't hesitate. With a cold, calculated precision, the butt of his weapon came down hard against Robert’s temple, knocking the traitor unconscious in a single, brutal strike.
The guards hauled Robert’s limp body up, dragging him toward the exit without a word.
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Dominic turned around, his eyes locking onto mine across the wreckage of the room. He walked over slowly, the fierce, lethal aura of the boss completely melting away as he saw the profound shock and terror gripping my soul.
“It’s over, Elena,” he said softly, his voice steady and reassuring. “He’s not going to hurt you or Lily ever again.”
