Chapter 7 - The Night Sadi Finally Told Him EverythingSadi woke screaming.
She did not know she was screaming until the bedroom door burst open.
Dominic entered with a gun.
“Sadi!”
She was on the floor beside the bed.
Her hands were raised defensively.
Sweat soaked her shirt.
Her breathing came in sharp, painful gasps.
Dominic immediately lowered the weapon.
“Hey.”
“Get out.”
He ignored her.
“Dominic.”
He placed the pistol on the dresser.
“Get out.”
“No.”
Sadi pushed herself against the bed.
“I said get out.”
“And I heard you.”
He sat on the floor several feet away.
Not touching.
Not crowding.
Sadi stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Sitting.”
“I can see that.”
“Excellent. Neurological function intact.”
She almost threw something.
Instead, she closed her eyes.
The dream remained.
Concrete.
Blood.
A locked room.
Varga’s voice.
Dominic said nothing.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Eventually Sadi’s breathing slowed.
“You can go.”
“I know.”
He remained.
She looked at him.
“Why aren’t you asking?”
“You told me not to.”
Something inside her fractured.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Like ice beginning to thaw.
“I was twenty-two.”
Dominic did not move.
“My father died when I was nineteen. My mother had been gone since I was twelve.”
She stared at the carpet.
“I had scholarships. Good grades. No money.”
Varga had found her at university.
Not as a monster.
As a mentor.
He offered internships.
Training.
Travel.
Money.
Purpose.
“He made me feel chosen.”
Dominic understood immediately.
“That’s how men like him recruit.”
“Yes.”
Her voice became smaller.
“By twenty-four, I was doing things I didn’t understand. Breaking into systems. Following money. Building profiles.”
“When did you realize?”
“When people started dying after I identified them.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Sadi continued.
“I tried to leave at twenty-six.”
“The scar.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That came later.”
Varga had convinced her to stay.
He apologized.
Promised reforms.
Promised she would only gather intelligence.
For another year, she believed him.
Then she discovered the database.
Politicians.
Criminals.
Military contractors.
Police commanders.
Judges.
Business leaders.
Thousands of compromised people.
Varga was not selling information.
He was building an invisible government.
“So you stole it.”
“Yes.”
“And ran.”
“Yes.”
“When did they shoot you?”
“Prague.”
She touched her ribs.
“I almost died in a train station bathroom.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“How did you survive?”
“A janitor found me.”
The absurdity almost made her smile.
“A seventy-year-old Czech woman saved my life.”
Dominic listened.
“I spent nine months moving through Europe. Different names. Different cities.”
“And eventually America.”
“Yes.”
“Sadi.”
She looked at him.
“Where did that name come from?”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“The janitor.”
“What?”
“Her name was Sadie. She couldn’t pronounce Cassandra. She kept calling me Sadi.”
Dominic smiled softly.
“So you kept it.”
“She gave me another life.”
Silence.
Dominic leaned against the wall.
“Why didn’t you destroy the database?”
“Because then Varga would have no reason to keep me alive.”
He understood.
“It’s leverage.”
“It always is.”
“What happens if you die?”
Sadi looked at him.
“The database goes public.”
Dominic slowly exhaled.
“A dead-man switch.”
“Yes.”
“Who knows?”
“Until now?”
She looked directly at him.
“Nobody.”
The meaning landed between them.
Trust.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something deeper.
She had given him the one secret capable of destroying her final defense.
Dominic asked quietly, “Why tell me?”
Sadi’s eyes lowered.
“I don’t know.”
He did.
But he did not say it.
Instead he stood.
Sadi expected him to leave.
He approached.
Slowly.
Giving her every opportunity to stop him.
He sat on the edge of the bed.
She remained on the floor.
Dominic extended his hand.
Sadi looked at it.
Then took it.
He pulled her upright.
They stood inches apart.
“Separate bedrooms,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“No kissing.”
“You added that later.”
“Dominic.”
His mouth curved.
“Fine.”
She looked at him.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For listening.”
His smile disappeared.
“You don’t have to thank someone for listening.”
Sadi’s eyes suddenly burned.
She hated that.
She hated tears.
She turned away.
Dominic caught her gently.
“Sadi.”
“Don’t.”
He saw the tears anyway.
She looked furious about them.
Dominic did not mention them.
He simply opened his arms.
Sadi stared at him as though he had offered her a live grenade.
“No.”
“Fine.”
She stepped forward anyway.
Her forehead touched his chest.
Dominic froze.
Then slowly wrapped his arms around her.
Sadi had been held before.
By lovers.
By doctors.
By people restraining her.
But she could not remember the last time someone held her without wanting anything afterward.
She remained there.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Five.
Dominic rested his chin against her hair.
Eventually Sadi whispered, “This changes nothing.”
“Obviously.”
“This marriage remains transactional.”
“Absolutely.”
“I still dislike you.”
“Deeply.”
She pulled back.
He was smiling.
“Stop enjoying this.”
“Impossible.”
Sadi wiped her face.
“Go back to your room.”
Dominic retrieved his gun.
At the door he stopped.
“Sadi.”
“What?”
“If Varga comes for you—”
“He will.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Then he dies.”
Sadi’s expression became sad.
“No.”
Dominic frowned.
“I need him alive.”
“Why?”
“Because he isn’t the top.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
Sadi looked toward the dark window.
“Elias Varga works for someone.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Then we find out together.”
Three days later, Varga sent an invitation.
A black envelope arrived at the estate.
No stamp.
No courier.
Inside was an address.
An abandoned church in Queens.
And a time.
Midnight.
Below it were six words.
COME ALONE OR GIDEON DIES FIRST.
Dominic read it twice.
Then looked toward the empty chair at the conference table.
Gideon had not arrived for breakfast.
Sadi’s blood went cold.
His phone was disconnected.
His car had been found three blocks from the estate.
Empty.
Dominic crushed the paper in his fist.
Sadi took it from him.
“He wants me.”
“He took Gideon.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
Sadi met his eyes.
“He knows you’ll follow.”
“Good.”
“That means he prepared for you.”
“Better.”
“Dominic.”
He moved close.
“You think I’m going to sit here while you walk into that church?”
“Yes.”
“You have learned nothing about me.”
“And you have learned nothing about me if you think you can stop me.”
They stared at each other.
Finally Dominic smiled.
Not pleasantly.
“Fine.”
Sadi frowned.
“That was easy.”
“I’m growing as a person.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“What are you planning?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m offended.”
“You should be.”
Dominic kissed her forehead.
Sadi froze.
“Come back alive.”
Before she could answer, he walked away.
She watched him go.
May you like
And realized with absolute certainty that he intended to follow her.
For some reason, that made her smile.
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