Chapter 2 - The Man Across the Table
Sophia’s dinner was supposed to make her life simpler.
Instead, it nearly started a war.
Dr. Nathan Cole was exactly the kind of man Sophia’s mother had spent years telling her she should date.
Thirty-eight. Divorced without scandal. A respected trauma surgeon at Northwestern Memorial. Polite to waiters. Financially independent. No armed men outside his office.
Most importantly, Nathan did not make people disappear when negotiations went badly.
Sophia considered that a promising quality.
They met at a quiet Italian restaurant in River North.
“You look beautiful,” Nathan said when she arrived.
“Thank you.”
He pulled out her chair.
Sophia sat.
And immediately thought of Alexander.
She hated herself for it.
Nathan ordered wine. They talked about travel, Sophia’s disastrous attempt at learning French, and Nathan’s teenage daughter, who had recently informed him that every shirt he owned made him look like “a substitute math teacher going through a divorce.”
Sophia laughed.
A real laugh.
Nathan smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The woman who exists outside her job.”
Sophia’s smile weakened.
“Is she difficult to locate?”
“Apparently she works late.”
“Occupational hazard.”
“What exactly do you do for Moretti Holdings?”
Sophia lifted her glass.
“Mostly prevent grown men from destroying their own calendars.”
Nathan laughed.
Then his expression changed.
He was looking past her.
Sophia noticed.
“What?”
“Do you know that man?”
She turned.
Dominic Russo sat at the bar.
Alexander’s capo lifted his whiskey in greeting.
Sophia stared at him.
Dominic had the decency to look embarrassed.
She excused herself and crossed the restaurant.
“You have ten seconds.”
Dominic sighed.
“I knew this assignment was going to be unpleasant.”
“Alexander sent you?”
“Technically, he told me to make sure you got home safely.”
“Technically, that is following me.”
“He used the phrase ‘discreet protective observation.’”
Sophia’s eyes narrowed.
Dominic drank.
“I suggested flowers instead.”
“Go home.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I enjoy having kneecaps.”
Sophia pulled out her phone.
Alexander answered on the first ring.
“Sophia.”
“You sent Dominic to follow me?”
Across town, silence.
Then, “Chicago is dangerous.”
“So is your office. Should I have you followed there?”
“Sophia—”
“No.”
Dominic slowly moved his whiskey away from the potential blast radius.
“You don’t get to do this,” she continued. “You are my employer. Not my father. Not my husband. And definitely not my keeper.”
Alexander’s voice dropped.
“Who is he?”
She closed her eyes.
“Good night, Alexander.”
“Sophia.”
She hung up.
Dominic winced.
“I have never seen anyone do that.”
“Now you have.”
She returned to Nathan.
Unfortunately, the evening never recovered.
Nathan was gracious about it.
Too gracious.
When dinner ended, he walked her outside.
“I’m guessing your boss is complicated.”
“You have no idea.”
“I’d like to see you again.”
Sophia hesitated.
Nathan noticed.
“No pressure.”
“That would be nice.”
But before she could say more, headlights swept across the sidewalk.
A black Bentley stopped at the curb.
Sophia’s stomach sank.
The rear door opened.
Alexander stepped out.
He wore a charcoal overcoat over his black suit. Silver threaded his dark hair at the temples, and his expression was controlled enough to terrify anyone who knew him.
Sophia knew him.
He was furious.
Nathan looked between them.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Alexander’s eyes went to Nathan’s hand resting lightly against Sophia’s elbow.
“Yes.”
Nathan extended his hand.
“Nathan Cole.”
Alexander looked at it for one beat too long before shaking it.
“Sophia’s mentioned you.”
Sophia’s head snapped toward him.
“No, I haven’t.”
Alexander did not blink.
Nathan almost smiled.
Interesting.
“I was just saying good night.”
“So I see.”
Sophia stepped between them.
“Alexander, why are you here?”
“Dominic reported a problem.”
From twenty feet away, Dominic suddenly became fascinated by traffic.
“There is no problem.”
Alexander’s gaze moved toward a dark sedan parked across the street.
“Actually, there is.”
Everything changed.
Sophia knew that tone.
Not jealousy.
Danger.
Alexander placed one hand against the small of her back.
“Get in the car.”
“Alexander—”
“Now.”
Nathan looked toward the sedan.
Its headlights came on.
Then it accelerated.
Dominic moved first.
Alexander pulled Sophia against him as the sedan jumped the curb.
Nathan threw himself backward.
Tires screamed.
The car missed them by feet, slammed into a parking meter, reversed, and vanished through the intersection.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Sophia’s pulse hammered.
Alexander’s arms were still around her.
His body had positioned itself between hers and the street without hesitation.
Dominic shouted orders into his phone.
Nathan stared after the disappearing vehicle.
“What the hell was that?”
Alexander looked at Sophia.
And the jealousy was gone.
Something colder had replaced it.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Get in the car.”
This time, Sophia obeyed.
Twenty minutes later, she stood inside Alexander’s penthouse while security teams searched the city.
Nathan had been escorted home.
Dominic was downstairs.
Sophia turned on Alexander.
“Who was driving?”
“We don’t know.”
“You have enemies.”
“Yes.”
“And now one of them knows where I go to dinner.”
His silence answered.
Sophia folded her arms.
“You were right.”
Alexander looked surprised.
She continued.
“There was a security problem.”
“I wish there hadn’t been.”
“But that doesn’t explain the dress.”
His expression froze.
Sophia stepped closer.
“You were angry before anyone followed me.”
Alexander turned toward the windows.
“Sophia.”
“No. You asked where I was going. You asked who I was with. You sent Dominic after me before you knew there was a threat.”
He said nothing.
“Why?”
Alexander’s reflection stared back from the glass.
“Because I didn’t like it.”
“Didn’t like what?”
“The idea of you with him.”
There it was.
Sophia stopped breathing for half a second.
Alexander turned.
He looked almost angry at himself.
“I have spent four years pretending that what happens after you leave my office is none of my concern.”
“It isn’t.”
“I know.”
“Then why does it bother you?”
His eyes met hers.
“Because I am apparently not as disciplined as I thought.”
Sophia’s heartbeat changed.
She stepped closer.
“So the dress really wasn’t about security.”
“No.”
“What was it about?”
Alexander looked at her for a long moment.
Then his phone rang.
Dominic.
Alexander answered.
His face changed almost immediately.
“What?”
Sophia watched the blood drain from his expression.
“When?”
A pause.
“Bring it upstairs.”
He disconnected.
“What happened?”
Alexander looked at her.
“The car wasn’t targeting me.”
Sophia felt suddenly cold.
“How do you know?”
“Because Dominic found something outside the restaurant.”
“What?”
Alexander did not answer until the elevator doors opened.
Dominic entered carrying a small white envelope in a plastic evidence sleeve.
On the front, written in black ink, were three words.
FOR SOPHIA BENNETT.
Inside was a photograph.
Sophia leaving Alexander’s building three days earlier.
A red circle had been drawn around her face.
On the back was a single sentence.
Tell Moretti his secretary pays for his brother.
May you like
Alexander read it twice.
Then his perfect control disappeared.
