Chapter 5 - Dominic Romano's Dangerous Truth
Maya woke inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were bound.
A woman sat opposite her.
Maya stared.
She recognized her immediately.
“Claire?”
Claire raised a finger to her lips.
Maya's heart stopped.
Claire cut the restraints.
“Don't scream.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“I rescued you.”
“You might want to work on your technique.”
Claire almost smiled.
“The warehouse was compromised. Someone inside Dominic's security team leaked the operation.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Where's Dominic?”
“Looking for you.”
“Then call him.”
“I can't.”
Maya understood.
The mole would trace it.
Claire handed her Charles Mercer's phone.
“I took this from his office before he died.”
Maya opened the messages.
Charles had been communicating with “C.”
The messages revealed the entire operation.
Salvatore wasn't the mastermind.
He was another participant.
The real architect had manipulated both sides.
Maya searched older records.
Then she found a photograph.
Dominic stood beside his father at a corporate gala.
Next to them was a younger Charles Mercer.
And beside Charles stood a woman Maya recognized.
Her own former mentor.
Catherine Cross.
The cofounder of Bennett & Cross Consulting.
Maya stared.
“Catherine?”
Claire nodded.
“She recruited Charles.”
Maya remembered Catherine as brilliant, sophisticated, generous.
She had personally recommended Maya for promotion.
She had praised her attention to detail.
She had built Maya's career.
And she had chosen Maya as the fall person.
“Why?”
“Control.”
Catherine had quietly acquired debt from companies connected to Romano Global. The laundering operation wasn't merely about money.
It was designed to collapse Dominic's company.
Once banks froze Romano assets, Catherine's investment consortium would purchase the distressed logistics network for pennies on the dollar.
Billions.
Maya felt physically ill.
Then she found something worse.
An email from Catherine.
SUBJECT: BENNETT.
If she discovers Halcyon, move immediately to contingency. Dominic's known preference for women matching Bennett's appearance may provide an alternative leverage opportunity.
Maya read it twice.
Then looked at Claire.
“What does that mean?”
Claire didn't answer.
“Claire.”
“It means your meeting with Dominic might not have been completely accidental.”
Maya's world tilted.
“No.”
“Vanessa's invitation to that bar was arranged through a promotional event.”
Maya remembered.
Vanessa had received complimentary reservations.
Someone had placed Maya in the same room as Dominic.
Her dare.
The table.
The stranger.
Had Catherine predicted all of it?
No.
She couldn't have predicted the kiss.
But she had created the opportunity.
Maya's anger burned hotter than fear.
“They've been moving me around like a piece on a board.”
“Yes.”
“Not anymore.”
Meanwhile Dominic was tearing Chicago apart looking for her.
Maya knew it.
And she knew exactly how to reach him without alerting the mole.
The dare.
She opened the bar's public social-media account and commented beneath a photograph.
Thursday was better than Friday.
Dominic would understand.
Twenty-three minutes later, Luca arrived.
Alone.
Maya stiffened.
Claire reached for her weapon.
Luca raised both hands.
“Dominic sent me.”
“How do we know?” Maya asked.
Luca looked at her.
“He said to tell you he noticed.”
Maya almost laughed.
It was enough.
They reunited at a private Romano warehouse before dawn.
Dominic crossed the room toward Maya.
He stopped inches from her.
Anger and relief fought across his face.
“You disappeared.”
“I was kidnapped badly.”
Claire rolled her eyes.
Dominic ignored her.
“You're okay?”
“Yes.”
Then he pulled Maya against him.
No hesitation.
No performance.
She held him.
For several seconds, neither cared who watched.
When they separated, Maya showed him Catherine's messages.
Dominic read silently.
His face hardened.
“Cross.”
“You know her?”
“My father did.”
Catherine had advised Romano companies decades earlier.
Dominic's father discovered she was stealing.
He forced her out.
She spent twenty years building the means to destroy his family.
“This is revenge,” Maya said.
“And money,” Dominic replied.
“Mostly money.”
Dominic looked at her.
“There's something else.”
Maya waited.
“My father investigated Catherine before he died.”
“How did he die?”
Dominic's silence answered before his words did.
“Officially? Heart attack.”
Maya understood.
“You don't believe that.”
“No.”
Claire placed another file on the table.
Their father's medical report contained an anomaly.
A toxin.
Never investigated.
Catherine hadn't just attacked Dominic's company.
She may have murdered his father.
The evidence was incomplete.
But Catherine believed Maya had the complete ledger.
That gave them one advantage.
Maya proposed the next trap herself.
This time Dominic didn't say no.
He merely asked, “How dangerous?”
“Extremely.”
“Of course.”
Maya smiled.
“You kissed me back. This is partly your fault.”
“I believe you kissed me.”
“Details.”
For the first time since the nightmare began, Dominic laughed.
They contacted Catherine.
Maya claimed she wanted immunity.
In exchange, she would give Catherine the original ledger and testify against Dominic.
Catherine agreed.
The meeting would take place at Bennett & Cross headquarters.
The same boardroom where Maya's nightmare began.
At 9:00 p.m., Maya entered alone.
Catherine stood beside the windows.
Elegant.
Calm.
Almost maternal.
“Maya.”
“Catherine.”
“I always knew you were talented.”
“You planned to send me to prison.”
“Nothing personal.”
“It feels personal.”
Catherine smiled.
“Business often does.”
Maya placed the flash drive on the table.
“Tell me why.”
Catherine began talking.
Hidden microphones transmitted every word.
She admitted Charles forged Maya's credentials.
She admitted Salvatore helped move the money.
She admitted the scheme was designed to destroy Dominic.
Then Maya asked about Dominic's father.
Catherine's smile disappeared.
“That old man should have accepted retirement.”
Maya's pulse jumped.
“Did you kill him?”
Catherine approached.
“Some questions make people very difficult to keep alive.”
That was enough.
Maya touched the transmitter beneath her sleeve.
Nothing happened.
No agents.
No Dominic.
Catherine smiled.
“You really thought I wouldn't find the microphones?”
Two armed men entered.
Maya backed away.
Catherine picked up the flash drive.
“And you really thought Dominic's security belonged entirely to Dominic?”
The boardroom door opened again.
Luca stepped inside.
Maya stared at him.
May you like
Catherine smiled.
“Meet the man who's been telling me everything.”
