Chapter 2 - Touch Her AgainNobody lowered a weapon.
Not immediately.
Dominic stepped around the table.
“Matteo.”
The lead bodyguard looked at him.
“Boss?”
“I said stand down.”
Matteo slowly lowered his handgun.
The others followed.
Khloe exhaled.
Dominic stopped beside Vivien.
She reached for him.
“Finally. Help me up.”
He stared at her hand.
Then at the red mark across Khloe’s cheek.
“Did you hit her?”
Vivien blinked.
“What?”
“I watched you trip her. I watched you insult her. Then I watched you strike her.”
“She ruined my dress!”
Dominic crouched until they were eye level.
His voice became frighteningly quiet.
“Touch her again, and the dress will be the cheapest thing you lose tonight.”
The restaurant froze.
Vivien stared at him.
“You're threatening me?”
“No.”
Dominic stood.
“I’m ending our engagement.”
Someone gasped.
Vivien laughed because the alternative was accepting that he was serious.
“Our engagement?”
She climbed unsteadily to her feet.
“My father practically put you in control of half the waterfront.”
“Your father gave me political protection. I gave him money and influence. Don't confuse business with love.”
Vivien’s face went white.
Dominic removed the engagement ring from her butter-covered hand.
“You humiliated an employee because you thought she couldn't fight back. Then you ordered my men to murder her in a crowded restaurant because your dress got dirty.”
He slipped the ring into his pocket.
“We're finished.”
Vivien stared at him.
“You can't do this.”
“I just did.”
Then Dominic turned toward Khloe.
Her cheek was swelling.
“Are you hurt?”
She almost laughed.
“You let her humiliate me for an hour.”
Something changed in his expression.
It wasn't anger.
It looked more like shame.
“Yes.”
The simple admission surprised her.
“You could have stopped her.”
“I should have.”
“Then don't stand there acting like my hero because you finally discovered your conscience.”
Matteo’s eyebrows rose.
Nobody spoke to Dominic Costello like that.
Dominic, however, merely nodded.
“Fair.”
Khloe untied her apron.
Lorenzo rushed forward.
“What are you doing?”
“Quitting.”
“You can't quit in the middle of—”
She pushed the apron into his hands.
“You told me to keep my head down because you owed my father a debt. Consider it paid.”
Lorenzo paled.
Dominic looked sharply at him.
“What debt?”
“Nothing.”
Khloe started walking.
“Khloe.”
Dominic’s voice stopped her.
She turned.
He was holding out a business card.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Keep it.”
“Then take this for another reason.”
“I don't want your money.”
“It isn't money.”
She looked at the card but didn't touch it.
Dominic placed it on the table.
“If Lorenzo fires you, threatens you, or anyone follows you tonight, call that number.”
Vivien gave a bitter laugh.
“Unbelievable. You're protecting her?”
Dominic turned.
The warmth disappeared from his face.
“Matteo, escort Miss Kensington home.”
“Dominic—”
“And make sure Senator Kensington understands the engagement is over.”
Vivien’s face hardened.
Something colder than humiliation entered her eyes.
“You have no idea what you just destroyed.”
Dominic held her gaze.
“I think I do.”
Khloe walked out.
Twenty minutes later, she was standing beneath a streetlamp waiting for a rideshare she couldn't really afford when a black SUV stopped at the curb.
Her stomach dropped.
The passenger window lowered.
Dominic sat inside.
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“I haven't asked anything.”
“And the answer is still no.”
“Your ride canceled.”
Khloe checked her phone.
Canceled.
“How did you know?”
“I saw you staring at the screen like you wanted to kill it.”
She folded her arms.
“I'll call another.”
“It's after midnight.”
“I live in Quincy.”
“I know.”
That disturbed her.
“How?”
“Lorenzo gave Matteo your employee information.”
“That's incredibly creepy.”
“I agree.”
That actually pulled a reluctant laugh from her.
Dominic opened the door.
“I'll have the driver take you home. I won't come.”
Khloe hesitated.
Then a second black sedan turned onto the street.
Dominic’s expression changed instantly.
“Get in.”
“What?”
“Now.”
The sedan accelerated.
A window lowered.
Dominic moved before Khloe understood.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her behind the SUV.
Three gunshots cracked through the night.
Glass shattered.
Dominic covered Khloe with his body.
Matteo fired back.
The sedan disappeared around the corner.
For several seconds Khloe heard nothing except her breathing.
Dominic lifted his head.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
He checked her anyway.
Hands at her shoulders.
Her arms.
Her face.
Then he froze.
A thin line of blood ran down his side.
“You're shot.”
“Graze.”
“You need a hospital.”
“No hospitals.”
“Of course. Because apparently that would be too normal.”
His mouth twitched despite the pain.
Matteo approached.
“License plate was covered.”
Dominic stared down the street.
“Kensington?”
“Too fast.”
Khloe looked between them.
“You think Vivien's family just tried to kill you?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Matteo did.
“We think someone knew exactly where he'd be.”
Khloe’s stomach tightened.
Dominic looked toward Laura.
Then back at her.
“Who knew you were working my table tonight?”
“Everyone.”
“Who assigned you?”
“Lorenzo.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
Khloe remembered Lorenzo's hand digging into her arm.
His insistence that she serve them.
His strange comment about owing her father.
Suddenly something else surfaced.
“Wait.”
She reached into her purse.
“What?”
“Before my father died, he gave me something.”
She removed an old brass key.
“I've carried it for seven years because I never knew what it opened.”
Dominic stared at the engraving on its head.
C-17.
His face changed.
“Where did your father get that?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic looked at Matteo.
Matteo whispered, “Jesus.”
Khloe tightened her fingers around the key.
“What does it open?”
Dominic met her eyes.
“A Costello vault.”
Her blood went cold.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
He looked at the key again.
“What's impossible is that your father had it.”
Khloe thought about the medical debts.
The apartment.
Her father's mysterious death.
Lorenzo’s promise.
And suddenly the night was no longer about a ruined dress.
“Who was my father to you?”
May you like
Dominic’s answer came softly.
“I think he was the man murdered for trying to save my family.”
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