Chapter 2 - The Price on Her Name
Diana refused to leave until Dominic received stitches.
It was irrational considering she had just been told someone might be hunting her, but nursing instincts were difficult to switch off. Dominic could command half the city if the rumors were true, yet when Diana pointed at the examination table and ordered him to sit down, he stared at her for several seconds and obeyed.
His men tried very hard not to smile.
The bullet had grazed Dominic's side rather than entered his body. The physician cleaned and stitched the wound while Diana sat across the room with Rook's heavy head resting beside her knee.
She still hadn't touched the dog.
Rook apparently considered that a temporary misunderstanding.
“Where were you shot?” Diana asked.
“Parking garage.”
“By whom?”
“A man with poor judgment.”
“That is not a medical answer.”
“Fortunately you're currently off duty.”
Diana narrowed her eyes.
Dominic almost smiled.
She hated how familiar that expression felt.
When she was fourteen, Dominic had sometimes visited their apartment to speak with Maria. Diana remembered him bringing expensive pastries he claimed were leftovers from meetings. She remembered her mother laughing whenever Dominic tried to repair something and made it worse.
Then came the gunshot.
Then blood.
Then twelve years of silence.
Now he was back.
And apparently somebody knew the connection.
An hour later, Dominic's black SUV moved through wet Manhattan streets while another vehicle followed behind.
Diana sat in the rear seat beside Rook.
“This is kidnapping,” she muttered.
“You walked into the car.”
“Under protest.”
“Then it's inconvenient transportation.”
She turned toward Dominic.
“Where are we going?”
“A house in Westchester.”
“No.”
“It has security.”
“My apartment has locks.”
“The men watching it know where those locks are.”
Diana looked out the window.
Christmas decorations passed in streaks of gold and red.
“What exactly does Eddie owe?”
Dominic remained silent long enough to irritate her.
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
Diana turned sharply.
“He doesn't have two hundred dollars.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Gambling.”
That made sense.
Eddie had always gambled.
Cards. Sports. Horses. Online casinos.
When Diana was a teenager, he sometimes disappeared for days after losing rent money. Maria had repeatedly threatened to leave him. Then she died, and Eddie became worse.
“Who loaned him that much?”
Dominic looked toward the rain.
“Victor Kane.”
The name meant nothing to Diana.
Her confusion must have shown.
Dominic continued.
“Kane controls several gambling operations. Extortion. Smuggling. Other businesses.”
“You mean another criminal.”
“Yes.”
“You said that surprisingly comfortably.”
“I've been called worse.”
Diana folded her arms and immediately regretted it when her ribs protested.
“Why would Victor Kane care about me?”
“Because he cares about me.”
The answer settled heavily between them.
Dominic explained.
Three months earlier, Eddie had accumulated impossible debts. Kane's people began investigating anyone Eddie might use for money. They discovered his stepdaughter worked as a nurse.
Then someone dug deeper.
They found Maria Martinez.
They found the old police report.
They found Dominic's name.
Diana stared at him.
“So Eddie knows who you are?”
“He knows enough.”
“And he sold them information about me?”
“We don't know that yet.”
“You think he did.”
“Yes.”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“My own stepfather.”
Dominic's expression darkened. “Blood doesn't make someone family.”
“No. Apparently promises don't either.”
The words struck.
Diana almost apologized.
Then she remembered twelve years of birthdays he had missed.
Graduation.
Her nursing pinning ceremony.
The night she slept in her car because Eddie had found her old address.
She had needed help.
Dominic had been watching from a distance.
“Why didn't you ever contact me?” she asked.
“Because your mother made me promise.”
“My mother was dying.”
“I know.”
“She was terrified.”
“I know.”
“She probably wanted you away from me because she thought you were dangerous.”
“She was right.”
Diana studied him.
“And are you?”
Dominic's eyes met hers.
“To you? Never.”
It was the wrong answer.
Or perhaps the worst possible right answer.
Diana looked away first.
The property in Westchester was nothing like she expected.
She imagined a dark mansion filled with armed criminals and marble statues.
Instead, they arrived at an elegant stone house surrounded by snow-dusted trees. Warm lights glowed from tall windows. Christmas garlands covered the front entry.
Rook jumped out and immediately disappeared toward the porch.
Diana remained seated.
Dominic opened her door.
“You can still take me home.”
“No.”
“I knew there was a dictator hiding under that suit.”
“Diana.”
“What?”
“Please.”
That stopped her.
Dominic Cross did not seem like a man who said please often.
She accepted his hand.
Only because the ground was icy, she told herself.
Inside, the house was quiet.
An older woman hurried from the kitchen.
“Mr. Cross, I heard—”
She stopped when she saw Diana.
Her hand covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Dominic's voice softened. “Elena, this is Diana Martinez.”
The woman's eyes widened.
“Maria's daughter?”
Diana froze.
“You knew my mother?”
Elena looked toward Dominic.
Something unspoken passed between them.
“Yes,” Elena said. “A long time ago.”
Before Diana could ask anything more, one of Dominic's security men approached.
“Boss.”
Dominic turned.
“We found the vehicle from outside Miss Martinez's building.”
“And?”
“Abandoned in Queens.”
“Prints?”
“Being checked.”
The man hesitated.
Dominic noticed.
“What else?”
“There was something inside.”
Diana felt the atmosphere change.
The security man produced a plastic evidence sleeve.
Inside was a photograph.
Diana recognized herself immediately.
She was leaving the hospital after a shift.
The picture had been taken from across the street.
Her face had been circled in red.
At the bottom someone had written:
MARIA'S GIRL.
Diana stopped breathing.
Dominic took the photograph.
His entire body became still.
“How old is this?”
“At least three weeks.”
Three weeks.
Someone had been watching her before Eddie attacked.
Diana suddenly remembered unfamiliar cars.
A man standing across from her coffee shop.
The strange sensation that someone followed her from the subway two weeks earlier.
She had dismissed everything.
New York made everyone paranoid eventually.
Apparently she had not been paranoid enough.
Dominic turned toward his security chief.
“Lock the property down.”
“Already done.”
“Double the perimeter.”
“Yes, sir.”
Diana grabbed Dominic's sleeve.
“No.”
He looked down.
“You need to tell me everything.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
Elena quietly left.
Rook sat beside Diana.
Dominic gestured toward his study.
The room smelled of cedar and old books.
Diana remained standing.
“Victor Kane,” she said. “Why does he hate you?”
Dominic closed the door.
“Because twelve years ago his father tried to kill me.”
A strange pressure filled Diana's chest.
“The night my mother died?”
“Yes.”
She stared.
“You told police it was a robbery.”
“That was the story used to keep you safe.”
“My mother died because of Victor Kane's father?”
Dominic's face tightened.
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“You were fourteen.”
“I grew up.”
“I know.”
“Apparently everyone knew except me.”
“No. Very few people knew.”
Diana began pacing.
Pain made her stop.
Dominic stepped toward her.
She raised a hand.
“Don't.”
He stopped instantly.
“Why did my mother step in front of you?”
“She didn't know there was going to be a shooting.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Dominic looked toward the fireplace.
“Maria worked for my family.”
Diana's heart pounded.
“What?”
“She handled accounts for several legitimate businesses.”
“That isn't what you're avoiding.”
“No.”
He breathed slowly.
“Your mother discovered money was disappearing. She discovered someone inside my organization was working with Kane's father.”
Diana felt cold.
“She knew who?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Dominic didn't answer.
She stepped closer.
“Who betrayed you?”
“Eddie.”
The word dropped like glass.
Diana stared at him.
“My stepfather?”
“He wasn't your stepfather then.”
Her mind struggled to keep up.
“Eddie knew my mother?”
“He met her through us.”
Diana shook her head.
“No. My mom told me she met him after my father died.”
“She lied to protect you.”
“From what?”
Dominic's expression carried something worse than anger.
“From knowing Eddie helped arrange the shooting that killed her.”
Diana stopped moving.
The room became silent except for fire cracking behind the grate.
“No.”
“Diana—”
“No.”
She backed away.
“My mother married the man who helped kill her?”
“She didn't know when she married him.”
“When did she discover it?”
“The night she died.”
Diana's face drained of color.
“She was coming to tell you.”
“Yes.”
“And Eddie knew?”
“We believe he realized she had discovered him.”
Diana remembered everything differently now.
Eddie arriving at the funeral.
Eddie crying.
Eddie telling fourteen-year-old Diana he would take care of her because Maria would have wanted it.
He had become her legal guardian months later.
He had spent years controlling her money.
Years frightening her.
Years insisting nobody else cared.
Her stomach twisted.
“Why didn't you take me away from him?”
Dominic's face went pale.
“I didn't know he was involved until much later.”
“How much later?”
“Three years.”
Diana stared at him.
“You knew for nine years?”
“I tried to prove it.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you?”
Dominic looked broken in a way she had never expected to see.
“Because by then you hated everything associated with me. And because every enemy I had was still looking for leverage. I believed distance was protection.”
Diana's eyes burned.
“Distance wasn't protection.”
“I know that now.”
“No. You don't.”
Her voice cracked.
“I lived with him.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“He raised me.”
“I know.”
“He hit me for the first time when I was seventeen.”
Dominic's eyes opened.
The room changed.
“He what?”
Diana realized instantly that he had not known.
She laughed through sudden tears.
“So much for watching.”
Dominic looked as if she had put a knife through him.
“When?”
“It doesn't matter.”
“It matters.”
“Stop saying that.”
Her voice broke.
Rook moved between them and rested his head against Diana's leg.
She finally touched him.
One hand disappeared into the thick fur at his neck.
Dominic stared at the gesture.
Then his phone rang.
His security chief.
Dominic answered.
“Yes?”
He listened.
His face hardened.
“Where?”
Another pause.
“Do not approach. Keep eyes on him.”
He ended the call.
Diana wiped her tears.
“What happened?”
“We found Eddie.”
“Where?”
“A motel in the Bronx.”
“Then call police.”
Dominic didn't move.
“Dominic.”
“He's not alone.”
“Victor Kane?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Dominic looked at her.
“A woman.”
Diana frowned.
“So?”
“They sent a photograph.”
He turned his phone toward her.
Diana recognized the woman immediately.
Her coworker.
Her closest friend.
Nurse Rachel Owens.
Rachel sat tied to a motel chair.
And Eddie was standing behind her.
Diana grabbed the phone.
“No.”
A message arrived beneath the photograph.
Bring Diana Martinez, or the nurse dies before sunrise.
Diana looked up at Dominic.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“She'll die.”
“No one is going to die.”
“You can't promise that.”
Dominic's gaze turned deadly calm.
“I promised your mother I would protect you.”
Diana's hands trembled.
“Then protect Rachel too.”
Dominic stared at her.
Outside, somewhere beyond the dark windows, security vehicles were already starting their engines.
And for the first time since Dominic Cross returned to her life, Diana understood something more frightening than his reputation.
When Dominic gave his word, he did not care what it cost him to keep it.
May you like
Continued in Chapter 3…
---
