Chapter 4 - The Choice
Claire expected coffee.
She did not expect Dominic to place a photograph of her on the table.
Her smile vanished.
“What is this?”
“A threat.”
The beachfront café suddenly felt colder.
Dominic explained Victor Salerno.
Not every detail.
Enough.
Victor’s father and Dominic’s father had once been partners. Dominic’s decision to move the Russo companies into legitimate businesses had cost Victor access to money, influence, and shipping routes.
Six years earlier, Victor had disappeared after a federal investigation.
Now he was back.
“And he thinks I matter to you?”
“Yes.”
Claire stared at him.
“We’ve had one dinner.”
“I’m aware.”
“That seems excessive.”
“I don’t choose the timing of psychotic people.”
Despite herself, Claire almost smiled.
Then she saw Dominic was genuinely frightened.
Not for himself.
For her.
“What do you want me to do?”
His jaw tightened.
“Whatever you choose.”
That surprised her.
“I can arrange security. You can leave today. You can stay. I can explain everything to local law enforcement. I can also make sure you never see me again.”
Claire looked at him.
“That last one sounds dramatic.”
“It may be safest.”
“And what do you want?”
Dominic hesitated.
“You asked what I want.”
“Yes.”
“I want you somewhere I know nobody can reach you.”
“There it is.”
He nodded.
“The controlling part?”
“The controlling part.”
“I know.”
“But you’re not ordering me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because you asked me not to.”
Something inside Claire shifted.
Her ex, Ryan Mercer, had spent three years turning preferences into permissions.
What she wore.
Which friends were “bad influences.”
Where they vacationed.
Whether she should take a promotion.
Ryan always had reasons.
Safety.
Money.
Her future.
Love.
Dominic, a man raised in a world where control meant survival, was visibly fighting every instinct he possessed because she had established a boundary after knowing him less than two days.
“I want security,” Claire said.
Dominic nodded.
“But not inside my room.”
“Agreed.”
“No following me into bathrooms.”
“Claire.”
“I’m establishing parameters.”
“I regret encouraging this.”
“And I choose who knows.”
“Agreed.”
She leaned forward.
“And I’m not canceling my vacation.”
Dominic’s jaw flexed.
“You hate that.”
“Deeply.”
“Still my choice.”
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You look like agreeing physically hurts.”
“It does.”
She laughed.
For the next two days, something strange happened.
Claire saw Dominic when he did not know she was watching.
He stopped to speak with gardeners.
He remembered a dishwasher’s son had graduated.
He carried his mother’s luggage when Elena Russo unexpectedly arrived at the resort.
That meeting was catastrophic.
Elena Russo was five-foot-three, sixty-two, elegant, terrifying, and immediately interested in Claire.
“So you’re the teacher.”
Dominic nearly dropped a suitcase.
“Ma.”
“What?”
“You’ve been here forty seconds.”
“I work efficiently.”
Claire extended her hand.
Elena ignored it and hugged her.
Over Elena’s shoulder, Claire saw Dominic staring toward heaven.
“I like her,” Elena announced.
“You don’t know her.”
“I know she made you answer your phone.”
Claire laughed.
Dominic looked betrayed.
That evening they ate dinner together.
Elena told embarrassing childhood stories.
Dominic threatened to have her driver removed.
Elena reminded him she had changed his diapers.
Ethan ate quietly, clearly enjoying every second.
For three hours, Claire forgot the threat.
Then the lights went out.
Every light across the private terrace.
Darkness swallowed them.
Ethan stood instantly.
“Inside.”
Dominic did not touch Claire.
“Claire, we need to move.”
A sharp crack came from the parking structure.
Not a gunshot.
Glass.
Then alarms screamed.
Guests began shouting.
Claire’s heart hammered.
Dominic moved between her and the sound.
“Your choice,” he said quickly. “Kitchen or lobby?”
Even now.
Choice.
“Kitchen.”
They moved.
Security surrounded Elena.
Claire ran beside Dominic.
Then she heard crying.
A child.
Near the pool.
A little boy stood alone beside an overturned chair, screaming for his mother.
Security shouted for Dominic to keep moving.
He stopped anyway.
“Dominic!”
He crossed the terrace.
Claire watched him scoop the boy into his arms and shield him with his body as another window shattered.
No cameras.
No applause.
No advantage.
Just instinct.
Kind to people who cannot help him.
Dominic carried the child into the kitchen.
Minutes later, the boy’s mother arrived sobbing.
Dominic handed him over and stepped away before she even learned his name.
Claire stared.
He noticed.
“What?”
“You’re making this very difficult.”
“What?”
“Disliking you.”
Before he could answer, Ethan entered holding an envelope.
“Found it taped beneath the emergency panel.”
Dominic opened it.
Inside was another photograph.
This one showed Claire leaving her elementary school in Philadelphia.
Taken three months earlier.
Before she had ever met Dominic.
The room went silent.
Claire felt cold spread through her body.
Dominic looked at Ethan.
“If Victor photographed her three months ago…”
Ethan finished the thought.
“Then Claire wasn’t targeted because of you.”
Claire stared at the photograph.
May you like
Someone had been watching her long before Dominic Russo entered her life.
And suddenly rule seven was no longer the most frightening problem she had.
