Chapter 1 - “Who are you?”
Vanessa’s smile collapsed.
“I’m Vanessa Mercer. I work with Derek.”
“Then work somewhere else for thirty seconds.”
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Dominic returned his attention to Chloe.
“Do you want to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Then you leave.”
Derek stepped forward.
“With respect, Mr. Moretti—”
“I wouldn’t recommend that sentence.”
Derek stopped.
Dominic’s voice remained quiet.
That made it worse.
“I spent this afternoon reviewing the Harbor Point financing your company submitted.”
Every bit of anger vanished from Derek’s face.
“What?”
Dominic adjusted one cuff.
“There are three sets of projected subcontractor costs in your file. The version sent to my office is considerably higher than the one your accountants prepared.”
Chloe saw Derek’s pupils widen.
Dominic continued.
“I was going to ask you about it Monday.”
“Dominic, I can explain.”
“You may explain it to the auditors.”
“It’s normal project accounting.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Derek’s face went gray.
The affair suddenly seemed very far from his mind.
“You can’t pull the loan over a paperwork discrepancy.”
“I can suspend funding while I investigate inaccurate disclosures.”
“My firm won’t survive that.”
“That sounds like something your wife no longer needs to solve for you.”
Derek looked at Chloe.
The instinct was immediate.
“Tell him.”
She almost laughed.
“What?”
“Tell him I’m not dishonest.”
Chloe stared at him.
Ten minutes earlier he had threatened to leave her without money for diapers.
Now he expected her to protect his business.
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“No.”
His disbelief hurt more than his anger ever had.
He truly believed she existed to soften his consequences.
Dominic moved slightly, not quite standing in front of Chloe but making it clear Derek would have to go through him to reach her.
Derek noticed.
“So that’s what this is?”
Chloe frowned.
“What?”
Derek gave a bitter laugh.
“You’ve got him lined up already?”
“Stop.”
“No wonder you suddenly grew a spine.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
Chloe touched his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“Please.”
He stepped back.
That small act mattered more than Chloe could explain.
Derek never stepped back when asked.
Dominic had.
Derek laughed again.
“Unbelievable. My pregnant wife and Dominic Moretti.”
Chloe felt six months of fear, two months of betrayal and three years of swallowed words gather behind her ribs.
Then something inside her broke free.
“Do you know what’s unbelievable, Derek?”
He stared.
“That I spent three years believing losing you would destroy me.”
Her voice trembled, but she did not stop.
“You cheated on me. You lied. You took control of every account after convincing me to leave my architecture job. You threatened me with money whenever I disagreed with you.”
“Chloe—”
“And tonight you brought Vanessa because you wanted me humiliated enough to remember my place.”
People had appeared at the ballroom entrance now.
Watching.
Derek saw them.
His face changed.
Chloe saw the panic.
Not remorse.
Exposure.
That told her everything.
She removed her wedding ring.
Derek stared at it.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Chloe placed it in his palm.
“I’m filing for divorce.”
His fingers closed around the ring.
“You won’t last a week.”
Chloe looked at him for a long moment.
“Then it’ll be my week.”
She turned.
Her legs were shaking.
Dominic fell into step beside her.
They had nearly reached the elevators when Derek called after them.
“Enjoy being his charity case!”
Chloe stopped.
She hated herself for stopping.
Dominic did too.
He studied her face.
Then, softly enough that only she could hear, he asked, “Do you want me to make him regret that sentence?”
Chloe let out a breath that almost became a laugh.
“You already ruined his financing.”
“That was business.”
“What exactly are you proposing?”
His gaze dropped briefly toward her mouth, then returned to her eyes.
Understanding hit Chloe.
Her heart thudded.
Dominic waited.
He did not touch her.
Did not decide for her.
For the first time that night, someone powerful was waiting for Chloe Bennett to choose.
Behind them, Derek was still watching.
Chloe should have walked away.
Instead she whispered, “Give him something worth gossiping about.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He put one hand gently against her cheek.
Then he kissed her.
It lasted perhaps three seconds.
There was nothing crude about it, nothing careless.
It was warm, controlled and devastatingly public.
When he pulled back, Chloe’s pulse was racing.
Behind them, Derek made a strangled sound.
Dominic did not look at him.
Neither did Chloe.
She entered the elevator with her hand over the place her daughter had just kicked.
For the first time all evening, she smiled.
The smile disappeared ten minutes later.
Once Dominic’s SUV pulled away from the hotel, reality arrived.
Chloe stared through the tinted window at Manhattan sliding past beneath November rain.
“What have I done?”
Dominic sat beside her.
“Ended a bad evening efficiently.”
“I mean my marriage.”
“That ended before tonight.”
“That’s comforting.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
She looked at him.
To her surprise, his mouth twitched.
Chloe wrapped his tuxedo jacket tighter around herself.
“Take me to a hotel.”
“No.”
Her shoulders stiffened immediately.
Dominic noticed.
He corrected himself.
“I think a hotel is unsafe. But the decision is yours.”
“Why unsafe?”
“Joint credit cards?”
“Yes.”
“Derek can see the charges.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
Of course.
“Friends?”
“Most are connected to him.”
“Family?”
“My parents moved to Naples, Florida. My mother has a heart condition. If I call tonight, she’ll panic and my father will be on the first flight north.”
Dominic considered this.
“I have a guest suite.”
Chloe looked at him.
He added, “Separate floor. Lock on the inside. Housekeeper. Security. You may leave whenever you want.”
“You make that sound almost normal.”
“My life is occasionally normal.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Your driver looks like he could pull a car apart with his hands.”
From the front seat Leo said, “Only older models, ma’am.”
Chloe stared.
Dominic’s mouth curved.
She laughed.
It came out unexpectedly, half relief and half exhaustion.
Then tears followed it.
Chloe turned toward the window.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“This.”
“Crying?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve survived it before.”
She looked at him.
“Have you?”
Dominic stared ahead.
“My mother raised three boys after my father died. There was plenty of crying.”
The answer contained a door he clearly did not intend to open further.
Chloe respected it.
After a minute she asked, “Why were you watching us?”
“I wasn’t.”
“At the gala.”
“I was walking out.”
“That’s not what I mean. You knew about Derek’s loan. You knew enough about him to scare him.”
“That’s my job.”
“And the kiss?”
Dominic was quiet.
Streetlights moved across his face.
Finally he said, “I’ve seen you at events before.”
Chloe waited.
“You always looked like you were apologizing for occupying space.”
The words landed harder than she expected.
Dominic continued.
“My mother used to look like that around my father’s brothers after he died. They controlled the family money. Every grocery receipt became an interrogation.”
Chloe looked down.
“She eventually left?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I got old enough to earn money.”
There was no pride in his voice.
Only memory.
“So this is personal.”
“Partly.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“No.”
“Then don’t rescue me because I remind you of someone.”
His eyes turned toward her.
Good, Chloe thought.
Let him be offended.
Instead Dominic nodded.
“Fair.”
She blinked.
“That’s it?”
“You’re right.”
Derek had never said those two words without a qualification.
Chloe felt something inside her loosen.
Dominic leaned back.
“I’ll make you another promise. I won’t make decisions about your marriage, your child or your future unless you ask for help.”
“The Harbor Point investigation?”
“That decision concerns my money. Derek apparently tried to inflate invoices on a project I’m financing.”
“You were going to investigate him anyway?”
“Yes.”
“So tonight didn’t destroy him.”
“No.”
“Derek did.”
“Yes.”
Chloe let that settle.
By the time the SUV reached Dominic’s tower in Lower Manhattan, exhaustion had hollowed her out.
Maria, his fifty-eight-year-old house manager, met them upstairs.
No shocked stare.
No questions.
She simply took Chloe’s coat and said, “The guest room is ready. There’s tea if you want it.”
Chloe almost cried again.
Instead she slept for ten hours.
The next morning, she woke to thirty-seven missed calls forwarded from the number Dominic’s staff had helped her replace.
Derek.
Then twelve from Vanessa.
Then six from Derek’s mother.
Chloe turned the phone facedown.
At breakfast Dominic sat across from her reading financial reports.
“You don’t have to ignore him,” he said.
“I know.”
“If you want to speak with him, Leo can arrange somewhere public.”
“I know.”
“If you want a lawyer—”
“I need one.”
Dominic closed the file.
“I know a good family attorney.”
“No.”
He studied her.
Chloe took a sip of orange juice.
“I don’t want your lawyer.”
“Why?”
“Because then Derek gets to say you orchestrated everything.”
Dominic leaned back.
Something that looked suspiciously like approval entered his expression.
“What do you want?”
“My own attorney. Someone with no connection to you.”
“I’ll have Maria give you a list of independent firms.”
“No.”
His eyebrow lifted.
Chloe smiled faintly.
“I can use the internet, Dominic.”
For the first time, he laughed.
That morning Chloe hired Rachel Kim, a family attorney recommended through the local bar association referral service.
Rachel did not promise miracles.
That was why Chloe trusted her.
“The baby is Derek’s,” Rachel explained at their first meeting. “He has parental rights unless a court determines otherwise. We can seek temporary financial orders, preserve marital assets and document threats or controlling behavior. But nobody gets erased because you’re angry.”
“I don’t want him erased.”
Chloe surprised herself by meaning it.
May you like
“I want him unable to use our daughter to control me.”
Rachel nodded.
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