Chapter 3
His gaze moved across her wet hair and the oversized clothes.
“Are you going to tell me what I’m actually doing here?”
Norah’s voice was rough.
She refused to retreat.
“You have accountants. Fixers. You don’t need a mid-level auditor.”
“My accountants lie.”
Dominic placed the glass down.
“My fixers solve physical problems.”
He stood.
“The rot in my organization is not physical.”
His approach made the room feel smaller.
“It’s numbers.”
Dominic stopped a few feet away.
“And numbers don’t bleed, which means most of my usual methods for extracting truth are ineffective.”
Norah’s arms stayed crossed.
“That still doesn’t explain why you care about my personal life.”
Exhaustion destroyed her filter.
“You interrogated me.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You practically celebrated when I told you how pathetic my life was.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“I did not celebrate.”
He stepped closer.
Norah had to look upward.
“I live in a world where everything is for sale.”
His voice lowered.
“Loyalty. Bodies. Secrets.”
Dominic’s gaze became intense.
“Everyone I know has been bought, sold, or compromised.”
He raised 1 hand.
For a moment, it hovered near her face.
Then he tucked damp hair behind her ear.
His knuckles touched her cheek.
Norah shivered.
“And then I meet a woman who sacrificed the best years of her life out of unrewarded duty to a dying mother.”
His hand moved down.
His palm rested lightly over the pulse in her neck.
Norah’s heartbeat hammered against his skin.
“You called your confession pathetic.”
His voice became almost a whisper.
“You don’t understand the currency of my world.”
Dominic stared into her eyes.
“A woman untouched by other people’s filth.”
His grip remained gentle.
“A woman who owes nothing to anyone.”
A pause.
“A woman who belongs to no 1.”
His expression darkened.
“You are not pathetic, Norah.”
May you like
The possession in his voice was unmistakable.
“You are the most valuable thing I have ever seen.”
