Chapter 3
Dominic went very still.
“Where did he get this?” he asked, voice deadly quiet.
“That’s the problem,” Rourke said. “That angle only exists from inside the security office. Someone with clearance took it.”
I looked between them, my pulse climbing. “You’re saying someone inside your own family set this up?”
Dominic didn’t answer. His jaw was set, his eyes distant, already running through names.
“Marco,” he said finally. “Get him here. Now.”
Rourke hesitated. “Boss, if Marco’s involved—”
“I said now.”
An hour later, Marco Moretti walked into the safehouse, younger than Dominic by a decade, sharp-eyed and visibly rattled.
“What happened?” Marco asked, looking between his brother’s bandaged shoulder and my pale face.
“Someone tried to kill Emily,” Dominic said. “And they had a photo of you taken from inside our own security system.”
Marco’s face drained of color. “You think I did this?”
“I think someone close to us did,” Dominic said. “And I need to know who.”
“It wasn’t me,” Marco said, voice cracking with something between fear and anger. “Dominic, I would never—”
“Then help me find who would,” Dominic said.
Marco ran a hand through his hair, pacing. “There’s been talk. Whispers. Someone’s been feeding information to the Calloway family for months.”
I straightened. “The Calloways?”
“Old rivals,” Dominic said grimly. “We pushed them out of the ports three years ago. They’ve wanted revenge ever since.”
“But why target me?” I asked. “I’m not part of any of this.”
“You’re the accountant’s witness,” Marco said quietly. “If the Calloways know you saw the shipment tracking, killing you erases the evidence and hurts Dominic at the same time.”
The pieces clicked into place, cold and clear.
“Someone told them about me,” I said. “Someone inside this house.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened. “Rourke, pull every staff record. Every guard, every driver, every housekeeper who’s had access to Emily’s schedule.”
“On it,” Rourke said, already moving.
Marco lingered after Rourke left, looking at me with something like guilt.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” he said quietly.
“You didn’t drag me in,” I said. “Your family’s business did.”
He winced but didn’t argue.
That night, unable to sleep, I found Dominic sitting alone in the safehouse kitchen, his bandaged shoulder stiff beneath his shirt.
“You should be resting,” I said.
“So should you.”
I sat across from him anyway.
“Do you regret marrying me?” I asked quietly. “Now that it’s put a target on your family?”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“No,” he said. “I regret that you’re paying the price for my world.”
“I chose this,” I said. “The alternative was disappearing forever.”
“There’s still time to disappear,” he said, voice low. “If that’s what you want. I’ll make sure you’re protected either way.”
I studied him, searching for the emotionless man from our wedding night.
He wasn’t there anymore.
“What if I don’t want to disappear?” I asked softly.
Before he could answer, Rourke burst back into the kitchen, phone in hand, face grim.
“Boss,” he said. “We found the leak. It’s not staff.”
Dominic stood. “Then who?”
Rourke turned the phone toward us, revealing a name that made Dominic go rigid.
