Chapter 6 - The Woman Dominic Could Not BuyThe attacker survived.
Barely.
Dominic’s men found him in a subway tunnel six blocks from the museum after he collapsed from blood loss.
He had been shot once during the exchange.
By sunrise, he was tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse.
Sadi entered alone.
Dominic watched through one-way glass.
The attacker smiled when he saw her.
“Cassandra.”
Sadi stopped.
Nobody in Dominic’s organization called her that.
“Name.”
“Does it matter?”
“No.”
She pulled up a chair.
“Where is Varga?”
The man laughed.
“You think marriage makes you safe?”
“No.”
“You think Russo can protect you?”
Sadi leaned forward.
“No.”
Behind the glass, Dominic’s jaw tightened.
The attacker smiled.
“Good.”
Sadi continued.
“I think Elias made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“He came himself.”
The smile faded.
“He could have sent people. Instead, he entered the country.”
Silence.
“That means he’s afraid.”
The attacker said nothing.
Sadi watched his pupils.
A tiny reaction.
Enough.
“He doesn’t know where the database is.”
Nothing.
“He doesn’t know whether I made copies.”
Again.
Tiny reaction.
Sadi smiled.
“Thank you.”
The attacker frowned.
“For what?”
“For answering my questions.”
“I didn’t answer anything.”
“You answered everything.”
She stood.
The man’s confidence cracked.
“Cassandra.”
She turned.
“Elias said something else.”
Sadi waited.
“He said Russo will betray you.”
Behind the glass Dominic became completely still.
The prisoner continued.
“He said men like Russo always choose empires over women.”
Sadi’s face revealed nothing.
“He said eventually someone will offer him enough money, territory, or peace.”
The man smiled.
“And when they do, your husband will sell you.”
Sadi left.
Dominic waited in the corridor.
She walked past him.
“Sadi.”
She kept walking.
He followed.
“You believe him?”
“No.”
“Then stop.”
She stopped.
Dominic stepped in front of her.
“You believe him.”
“I believe people act according to incentives.”
“And what is my incentive?”
“Your empire.”
His face hardened.
“You think I would trade you for territory?”
“I think you would make whatever decision protects the largest number of your people.”
“You say that like it’s a flaw.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that one day the logical decision may be sacrificing me.”
Dominic stared at her.
Sadi walked away.
He caught up.
“You’re wrong.”
She laughed softly.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Dominic—”
“I would burn the territory.”
She stopped.
His voice was quiet now.
“If someone offered me peace in exchange for you, I would burn the peace.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
“You have hundreds of people depending on you.”
“I know.”
“You cannot make decisions emotionally.”
“You kissed me back.”
Sadi froze.
Dominic stepped closer.
“You slapped me afterward, but you kissed me back first.”
“That was adrenaline.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“I didn’t know adrenaline had your tongue involved.”
Her eyes widened.
Dominic smiled.
Sadi walked away.
He followed.
“You are impossible.”
“So are you.”
“Separate bedrooms.”
“Still agreed.”
“No kissing.”
“That wasn’t in the original contract.”
“I’m amending it.”
“Request denied.”
Sadi turned.
“You don’t get to deny amendments.”
“I’m the husband.”
“I broke Nox’s arm.”
“Compelling legal argument.”
Against every instinct, Sadi laughed.
It escaped before she could stop it.
Dominic stared.
He had never heard her laugh.
Not sarcastically.
Not bitterly.
Actually laugh.
Sadi realized what had happened and immediately stopped.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
She could not answer.
Like she was something worth protecting rather than something useful.
Like he saw a woman beneath the weapon.
She walked away.
Dominic did not follow this time.
But he smiled long after she disappeared.
That evening, Sadi discovered the second traitor.
Not Anthony Bell.
Someone closer.
Someone with access to the estate’s security architecture.
She sat before three monitors in the basement server room.
Dominic entered carrying two coffees.
He placed one beside her.
She accepted it without looking.
“You’re improving as a husband.”
“I’m devastated by the low standard.”
Sadi enlarged a security log.
“What is Gideon’s access code?”
Dominic became serious.
“Why?”
“Because someone using his credentials disabled camera seventeen for nine minutes before the sniper attack.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Gideon wouldn’t.”
“I agree.”
“Then?”
“Someone cloned his credentials.”
“Who can do that?”
Sadi typed.
Three names appeared.
Dominic read them.
His face changed at the third.
Marco Russo.
Sadi looked at him.
“Relative?”
“My cousin.”
“How close?”
“We grew up together.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“He was my best man at my first wedding.”
Sadi turned slowly.
“First wedding?”
Dominic looked uncomfortable.
“You never asked.”
“You were married?”
“Briefly.”
“What happened?”
“She left.”
“Why?”
Dominic stared at the monitors.
“Because being married to me was unbearable.”
Sadi expected a joke.
None came.
“What was her name?”
“Isabella.”
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Something strange tightened in Sadi’s chest.
She disliked it immediately.
“Where is she?”
“California. Married to a dentist.”
Sadi blinked.
“A dentist?”
“He seems nice.”
“You investigated him.”
“Obviously.”
She shook her head.
“Psychotic.”
“I wanted to make sure she was safe.”
“That’s almost sweet.”
“Don’t spread it around.”
Sadi returned to the screen.
“Marco.”
Dominic’s humor disappeared.
“He handles transportation.”
“He could have provided the sniper access.”
“He could.”
“Would he?”
Dominic did not answer.
That told Sadi everything.
Marco arrived at midnight.
He entered the library smiling.
“Dom.”
Dominic stood near the fireplace.
Sadi sat in the leather chair.
Gideon waited beside the door.
Marco saw their faces.
His smile disappeared.
Dominic held up a printed security log.
“You used Gideon’s credentials.”
Marco looked at the paper.
“No.”
“Try again.”
“I didn’t.”
Sadi spoke.
“Your daughter has leukemia.”
Marco turned toward her.
Dominic’s face changed.
“What?”
Marco closed his eyes.
Sadi continued softly.
“Diagnosed eight months ago. Experimental treatment in Switzerland. Insurance refused coverage.”
Dominic stared at his cousin.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Marco looked ashamed.
“Because I didn’t want your money.”
“You betrayed me instead?”
“They contacted me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Sadi already knew.
“Varga.”
Marco looked at her.
“He offered treatment.”
Dominic’s voice cracked with fury.
“You could have asked me.”
“I have spent my entire life asking you!”
Marco shouted suddenly.
The room froze.
“You paid for my house. My job. My mother’s surgery. Every time I look in the mirror, I see something Dominic Russo bought.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I wanted to save my daughter myself.”
Dominic looked devastated.
Sadi understood.
Pride.
The most expensive currency in the world.
“What did you give them?” she asked.
Marco looked at the floor.
“Security schedules.”
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
“Did you know about the sniper?”
“No.”
“The museum?”
“No.”
“Would you swear on your daughter?”
“Yes.”
Sadi believed him.
Dominic walked toward Marco.
Gideon shifted.
Sadi stood.
Dominic stopped inches from his cousin.
Marco closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic raised his hand.
Marco flinched.
Dominic placed it on the back of his neck.
Then pulled him into an embrace.
Marco broke.
He sobbed against Dominic’s shoulder.
Sadi looked away.
Violence she understood.
Forgiveness was harder.
Later, after Marco had been escorted to a secure room, Dominic stood alone on the terrace.
Snow had begun falling.
Sadi joined him.
“You surprised me.”
“With what?”
“Not killing him.”
Dominic looked into the darkness.
“You stopped me from killing Bell.”
“You stopped yourself tonight.”
He nodded.
“My father would have killed him.”
“You aren’t your father.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Apparently he tried to kill my mother.”
Sadi’s expression tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“Because I was the one who told you.”
“No.”
He moved closer.
“You told me the truth.”
Snow collected in Sadi’s hair.
Dominic reached up and brushed a white flake away.
She did not retreat.
“Why did Varga have that information?” he asked.
“Insurance.”
“Against my father?”
“Against everyone.”
Dominic’s fingers lingered beside her temple.
“What happened to my mother wasn’t an accident, was it?”
Sadi shook her head.
Dominic closed his eyes.
For years he had believed the car crash was random.
His mother had died instantly.
His father had survived another six years.
Dominic had mourned beside him.
Built an empire beside him.
Loved him.
“Why?”
“Your mother discovered what your father was becoming.”
Dominic opened his eyes.
“She wanted to leave him?”
“She wanted to testify.”
The snow continued falling.
Dominic’s hand dropped.
“My entire life was built on a lie.”
Sadi understood that sentence better than he knew.
She reached for his hand.
This time she initiated it.
Dominic looked down.
Their fingers intertwined.
May you like
Neither spoke.
For the first time, the marriage contract between them felt irrelevant.
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