Chapter 8 - The Trap at Pier Nineteen
Khloe wanted to go alone.
Dominic refused.
“You don't get to decide for me.”
“No.”
His voice remained calm.
“I get to tell you that walking into a kidnapping while seven months pregnant is a catastrophically bad idea.”
“Sofia is there because of me.”
“Sofia is there because of Derek.”
Khloe stared.
The distinction mattered.
Dominic handed the message to police.
Detectives traced the image metadata to an abandoned warehouse near Pier Nineteen.
Derek wanted the flash drive.
He didn't know copies already existed.
Federal investigators had them.
So did three attorneys.
Destroying one accomplished nothing.
But desperate men rarely made rational calculations.
At 9:10 p.m., Khloe arrived at the pier.
Not alone.
Police surveillance surrounded the district, but officers remained out of sight.
Dominic hated the plan.
Khloe could tell from the way his jaw remained locked.
“You stay in the car,” she told him.
He looked at her.
“Absolutely not.”
“That wasn't a request.”
“Neither is this.”
Despite terror, she smiled.
“You're impossible.”
“Frequently.”
“Dominic.”
His expression softened.
“I already failed to protect one woman I loved.”
Khloe's breath caught.
He seemed to realize what he had said.
Neither corrected it.
She touched his cheek.
“You didn't fail your mother.”
His eyes closed briefly.
“And you're not going to lose me.”
Then Khloe entered the warehouse.
Derek waited beneath a hanging industrial light.
Sofia sat twenty feet behind him.
Her lip was bleeding.
But she was conscious.
“Khloe!”
“I'm okay,” Sofia shouted.
Derek pointed a handgun.
“Shut up.”
Khloe stopped.
Her baby moved inside her.
“Here's the drive.”
She held it up.
Derek laughed.
“Look at you.”
“What?”
“You finally learned courage.”
“No.”
Khloe looked directly at him.
“I learned the difference between courage and permission.”
His smile disappeared.
“You spent years waiting for my permission to exist.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now I don't need it.”
Derek aimed the weapon at her.
“You ruined everything.”
“You did that.”
“I built Hale Development from nothing.”
“With stolen money.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me things.”
Khloe's voice shook but didn't break.
“You never gave me respect.”
Derek's hand tightened.
“You betrayed me.”
“With Vanessa?”
His expression flickered.
Khloe almost laughed.
“You brought your mistress to humiliate me, forged my signature, used my identity to steal millions, and tried to frame me.”
She stepped closer.
“And somehow, in your head, you're still the victim.”
“Give me the drive.”
Khloe tossed it.
Derek bent to retrieve it.
That was the distraction.
Sofia slammed her chair sideways.
Dominic emerged from behind a support pillar.
Police shouted.
“Drop the weapon!”
Derek spun.
A gunshot exploded.
Khloe screamed.
Dominic staggered.
Blood appeared across his white shirt.
“Dominic!”
Everything became chaos.
Police tackled Derek.
Sofia screamed.
Khloe ran toward Dominic despite officers shouting at her to stay back.
He was on one knee.
Blood covered his shoulder.
“Look at me.”
She grabbed his face.
“Dominic, look at me.”
His eyes found hers.
“Baby?”
“What?”
“Are you hurt?”
Khloe began crying.
“You got shot and you're asking about the baby?”
“Yes.”
“No. We're okay.”
“Good.”
Then he collapsed.
At the hospital, Khloe sat beside his bed for seven hours.
The bullet passed through muscle without striking an artery.
He would recover.
When Dominic finally opened his eyes, Khloe was asleep with her head beside his hand.
He moved his fingers.
She woke instantly.
“You're awake.”
“You drool.”
Her mouth fell open.
“I absolutely do not.”
“Evidence says otherwise.”
She began laughing.
Then crying.
Then hit his uninjured arm.
“Ow.”
“You got shot!”
“I noticed.”
“You could have died.”
“So could you.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“It doesn't.”
Silence settled.
Khloe's anger dissolved.
She took his hand.
“You said something in the car.”
“Pain medication has destroyed my memory.”
“This was before you were shot.”
“Then age.”
“You said you already failed to protect one woman you loved.”
Dominic stopped joking.
Khloe waited.
He looked at their joined hands.
“My mother taught me that love meant protecting someone.”
He raised his eyes.
“You taught me something different.”
“What?”
“That sometimes love means trusting someone to stand.”
Khloe's heart hammered.
“Dominic…”
“I love you.”
No performance.
No grand speech.
Just truth.
Khloe leaned toward him.
She kissed him.
Softly.
Nothing like the gala.
That kiss had been rebellion.
This one was a choice.
When she pulled away, Dominic smiled.
Then the hospital door opened.
A federal agent entered.
“Mrs. Hale?”
Khloe turned.
“We searched Derek's private storage facility.”
“And?”
The agent placed a sealed evidence bag on the table.
Inside was a handwritten ledger.
“We found records connecting Derek to the financial fraud, Curtis Vale, and Evan Carlisle.”
Khloe's face changed.
“Evan's boating accident?”
May you like
The agent nodded.
“We no longer believe it was an accident.”
