Chapter 5 - The First Bullet Was Meant for DominicDominic moved before Sadi did.
He seized her around the waist and pulled her behind the stone column beside the office door.
Three seconds later, the window exploded.
Glass flew across the room.
A suppressed rifle round struck Dominic’s desk exactly where Sadi had been standing.
Gideon’s voice thundered from the corridor.
“LOCKDOWN!”
The mansion transformed instantly.
Steel shutters began descending over the ground-floor windows.
Security doors slammed shut.
Men appeared from hidden rooms carrying rifles.
Sadi pushed Dominic’s arm away.
“Roofline?”
“West ridge.”
“Distance?”
“Four hundred yards.”
“Maybe five.”
Another bullet struck the descending steel shutter.
Sadi listened.
“No second shooter.”
“You can tell?”
“Varga likes clean geometry.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You know his tactics.”
“I wrote some of them.”
That sentence stayed with him.
Gideon entered.
“Vehicle found abandoned near the north service road. Shooter is gone.”
“Casualties?”
“None.”
Dominic looked toward Sadi.
“That wasn’t intended to kill you.”
“No.”
“You were standing still.”
“Yes.”
“A professional could have taken the shot.”
“Yes.”
Dominic understood.
“It was a message.”
Sadi walked toward the shattered window.
On the floor, among the glass, lay something white.
A piece of paper.
The bullet had pinned it to the wooden paneling.
Sadi pulled it free.
Three words had been printed on it.
COME HOME, CASSANDRA.
Dominic read over her shoulder.
“No.”
Sadi turned.
“What?”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“That isn’t your decision.”
“It became my decision when someone fired into my home.”
She laughed bitterly.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“The man who thinks possession is protection.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“So was Varga.”
That stopped him.
Sadi folded the paper.
“He controlled where I slept, where I traveled, who I spoke to. Everything was justified because he was protecting me.”
“I am not him.”
“Then don’t behave like him.”
Dominic looked as though she had struck him.
She walked past him.
He caught her hand.
Not her wrist.
Her hand.
The distinction mattered.
“What are you going to do?”
Sadi looked down at their joined fingers.
“I’m going to find him before he finds another way inside.”
“And I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Not negotiable.”
“Everything is negotiable.”
“Not this.”
Sadi raised her eyes.
For several seconds they simply stared at one another.
Then something changed.
Dominic’s thumb moved once across her knuckles.
It was not possessive.
It was almost uncertain.
“I brought you into the light,” he said.
Sadi’s anger softened.
“You didn’t know.”
“That doesn’t change what happened.”
“No.”
“But it changes what happens next.”
His eyes held hers.
“You don’t fight this alone.”
Sadi swallowed.
She had forgotten how dangerous kindness could be.
Violence was simple.
Kindness created debts.
Attachment created weaknesses.
She gently removed her hand.
“Then follow instructions.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“There’s my wife.”
“Fake wife.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
They found the sniper six hours later.
Dead.
He was inside the trunk of a stolen sedan near the Hudson River.
No identification.
No fingerprints.
No phone.
One bullet through the heart.
Varga cleaning his own board.
Sadi stared at the photograph Gideon placed on the conference table.
“He’s accelerating.”
“Why?” Dominic asked.
“Because he knows I’m not running.”
Gideon leaned against the wall.
“What exactly does this man want from you?”
“The database.”
“You still have it?”
Sadi nodded.
“Where?”
“Not telling you.”
Dominic gave her a look.
She ignored it.
Gideon asked, “Can we use it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because the database contains enough information to start wars on three continents.”
Dominic sat across from her.
“And Varga wants it back.”
“He wants to know whether I copied it.”
“Did you?”
Sadi smiled without warmth.
“Of course.”
Dominic stared.
“You are completely insane.”
“Preparation looks like insanity to people who survive on luck.”
Gideon coughed to hide a laugh.
Dominic glared at him.
The phone rang.
Sadi looked at the screen.
Anthony Bell.
She answered.
“Talk.”
Bell’s voice shook.
“They contacted me.”
“What did they ask?”
“They want your schedule tomorrow.”
Sadi looked at Dominic.
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Tell them Dominic is attending the charity auction at the Metropolitan Museum tomorrow night.”
Dominic frowned.
“I canceled that.”
“I know.”
Bell hesitated.
“And Mrs. Russo?”
“Tell them I’ll be there.”
Dominic stood.
“No.”
Sadi covered the microphone.
“You said follow instructions.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Convenient.”
“You are not walking into a sniper’s scope.”
“That is exactly what I’m doing.”
“Sadi.”
She uncovered the phone.
“Bell, send it.”
She hung up.
Dominic stared at her.
“You enjoy testing my patience.”
“No. I enjoy surviving.”
“The museum is too exposed.”
“Which is why Varga will believe it.”
“He knows you.”
“Yes.”
“He knows you’ll expect him.”
“Yes.”
“So he’ll change the plan.”
Sadi smiled.
“Now you’re learning.”
The next evening, the museum glittered beneath television lights.
Dominic had not canceled the charity event after all.
Instead, he doubled security.
Sadi wore dark green silk.
No high collar this time.
The dress exposed her shoulders.
The scar across her back was visible.
Dominic noticed immediately.
“You changed the dress.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’m tired of hiding receipts.”
Something in his expression softened.
He offered his arm.
Sadi took it.
Cameras flashed.
To the outside world they looked like a glamorous newlywed couple.
Only they knew that fourteen armed men were positioned throughout the building.
Only they knew that Sadi wore a ceramic blade against her thigh.
Only they knew that Dominic’s tuxedo concealed a pistol.
They entered the main gallery.
Two hundred guests.
Politicians.
Actors.
Businessmen.
Donors.
Sadi scanned reflections rather than faces.
Windows.
Glass cases.
Polished silver.
Mirrors.
Dominic murmured, “Anything?”
“No.”
They moved deeper into the crowd.
Then Sadi stopped.
A waiter crossed the gallery carrying champagne.
Perfect posture.
Perfect uniform.
Perfectly polished shoes.
But wrong hands.
There were calluses along the thumb and trigger finger.
Sadi released Dominic’s arm.
“Three o’clock.”
Dominic saw him.
The waiter reached beneath the tray.
Sadi moved.
She struck the tray upward.
Crystal exploded.
A pistol appeared.
Dominic drove his shoulder into the attacker.
The gun discharged.
Guests screamed.
Security surged.
The attacker twisted free and sprinted toward the service corridor.
Sadi chased him.
“SADI!”
Dominic followed.
They entered the kitchen.
Staff scattered.
The attacker overturned a stainless-steel cart.
Sadi vaulted it.
He fired twice.
She slid behind a counter.
Dominic returned fire.
The attacker disappeared through a service door.
Sadi reached it first.
She kicked it open.
Empty corridor.
Then she heard Dominic grunt.
She turned.
He stood behind her.
His hand was pressed against his side.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
Everything inside Sadi stopped.
“Dominic.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Excellent observation.”
She reached him.
The bullet had grazed his ribs.
Not deep.
But there was blood.
Too much blood for Sadi’s mind to remain rational.
Suddenly she was somewhere else.
Concrete floor.
Gunfire.
Varga shouting.
Blood pouring down her own side.
Sadi’s breathing changed.
Dominic saw it.
“Look at me.”
She could not.
“Sadi.”
His hands closed around her shoulders.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“I’m fine.”
Her eyes were huge.
For the first time since he had met her, Dominic saw genuine panic.
Not for herself.
For him.
“You got shot because of me.”
“Grazed.”
“Because of me.”
“I have been shot before.”
“That doesn’t help.”
Despite the pain, Dominic smiled.
“You care.”
Sadi stared.
“This is not the time.”
“You care.”
“Shut up.”
“You’re terrified.”
She pressed harder against his wound.
Dominic winced.
“Vindictive.”
“Shut up.”
Then he did something neither expected.
He kissed her.
Not violently.
Not possessively.
A brief, stunned collision of lips.
Sadi froze.
Dominic pulled away almost immediately.
They stared at each other.
“Well,” he said.
Sadi slapped him.
Not hard.
But hard enough.
Dominic blinked.
“You kissed me while bleeding.”
“I was emotionally compromised.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Yes.”
Footsteps thundered toward them.
Gideon appeared with security.
Sadi stepped away.
Her face burned.
Dominic was smiling.
“Stop smiling.”
“I can’t.”
“I will reopen the bullet wound.”
“That sounds affectionate.”
She glared at him.
But something had changed.
They both knew it.
May you like
The contract had developed a crack.
And something far more dangerous than violence was beginning to grow through it.
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