Chapter 5 - secrets in the cedar chest
By midnight, Leo was fast asleep in his bedroom, clutching his towel rabbit under the heavy duvet. Savannah sat on the living room sofa with a cup of chamomile tea, listening to the rain tap softly against the glass.
The heavy door to the private study swung open. Frankie emerged first, his face unusually grim, followed by Dominic. Dominic’s jacket was off, his white shirt unbuttoned at the throat, the dark ink on his collarbones visible in the dim light.
"Savannah," Dominic said evenly. "Come into the office for a moment."
A chill ran down her spine. The warmth from earlier had evaporated into a cold, heavy tension. She set her teacup down and followed them into the wood-paneled room.
Frankie closed the heavy oak door and leaned against it, his arms crossed over his chest. On the desk lay an open folder, thicker than the one from three days ago, containing bank statements and medical records stamped with official red seals.
Dominic walked behind the desk, but he did not sit. He placed both palms flat on the leather blotter, looking across at her with eyes that were cold, calculating, and dangerously sharp.
"Who paid for your brother’s hospice care during his final six months, Savannah?" Dominic asked softly.
Savannah’s heart leaped into her throat. Her hands curled into tight balls at her sides. "I worked. I took out loans."
"The hospital bills totaled four hundred and eighty thousand dollars," Frankie stated from the door, his tone flat. "A housekeeper at the Elysian doesn't make that in a decade. The payments were funneled through an offshore holding company called St. Jude Memorial Fund."
Dominic leaned forward, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper. "Do you know who owns St. Jude Memorial Fund, Savannah? Julian Vance."
The name hung in the room like poison.
"Julian Vance has been trying to take my shipping terminals in Brooklyn for five years," Dominic said, every syllable deliberate and terrifyingly calm. "He has tried to bribe my captains, blackmail my associates, and plant listening devices in my cars. And now, a girl whose brother had his medical bills secretly underwritten by Vance’s charity foundation manages to walk straight into my penthouse, bypass my security, and make my nonverbal son fall in love with her in seventy-two hours."
Savannah felt the blood drain from her face. She looked at Dominic, seeing for the first time the cold, lethal predator that the rest of the underworld feared.
"I didn't know," she whispered, her voice shaking with raw indignity. "I swear to God, I didn't know."
"Convince me," Dominic said, taking a step around the desk toward her. "Because if you were sent here by Vance to use my son as leverage, there is nowhere on this earth you can hide from me."
"Do you really think that?" Savannah cried, tears finally spilling over her rosy cheeks as the humiliation and grief tore through her. "You think I would use a child? You think I would use Toby’s memory to spy on you?"
She took two steps straight toward Dominic, not backing down, her chin lifted despite the tears streaming down her face.
"I didn't know where the charity money came from! The hospital social worker told me an anonymous donor had taken Toby’s case. Toby was dying, Mr. Moretti! He was twelve years old, he couldn't speak, and he was in agony every single night! Do you think I cared whose name was on the foundation check? I signed the paperwork because it meant my brother wouldn't die on a county ward floor!"
Her chest heaved with ragged breaths. Her voice broke on the final word, filling the opulent office with the raw, agonizing truth of a sister’s desperate love.
Dominic stared at her. His intense blue eyes scanned every inch of her face, looking for deception, for hesitation, for a single flicker of guilt.
He found nothing. Only the fierce, unyielding protection of a woman who had bled herself dry for someone she loved.
Frankie cleared his throat softly from the back of the room. "Boss. We checked the metadata on the foundation filings. Vance set up that tax-write-off fund eight years ago. It’s managed by a third-party trust. She’s not on Vance’s payroll. She never met him. It was completely blind."
Dominic didn't break eye contact with Savannah. The dangerous coldness in his expression shattered, replaced by a sudden, profound remorse. He saw the bruises of exhaustion beneath her eyes, the trembling of her small hands, and the proud tilt of her chin that refused to beg for mercy.
"Savannah," Dominic murmured, taking a slow step toward her, his voice dropping to a low, rough register. "I had to be certain."
"You looked at my grief and saw a weapon," she said, her voice trembling as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I came here for Leo. Because when I looked at him, I saw my brother. But you… you see enemies everywhere you look."
She turned toward the door, her hand reaching for the brass handle. "I’ll pack my things. I’ll leave before he wakes up."
"No," Dominic said, his voice ringing out with sudden, desperate authority.
May you like
Before she could turn the latch, Dominic’s hand closed gently over hers on the handle. His body was warm, large, and solid behind her. He didn't trap her, but he didn't let go.
"Please," Dominic whispered, his breath warm against the side of her neck, sending a shiver racing through her entire body. "Don't go. Leo needs you." He paused, his voice dropping so low it was meant only for her ears. "I need you."
