Chapter 2 - The Woman Nobody Chose
Claire Bell stared at Dominic and said, "I'm not marrying you."
Dominic placed Elias's silver key on the hospital table.
Claire's eyes dropped toward the three scratched numbers.
Her face lost all color.
Dominic noticed.
"So you recognize it."
"No."
"You're a terrible liar."
"And you're asking a woman with a concussion to marry you."
"Bruised ribs."
"That's supposed to make this conversation better?"
Dominic pulled a chair closer to her bed.
Claire looked different from the photograph Elias had shown him.
Her dark hair was tied back badly.
A purple bruise colored one temple.
She wore a hospital gown beneath a borrowed gray cardigan.
No makeup.
No jewelry.
No effort to appear composed.
Yet there was something steady in the way she met his eyes.
Fear was there.
So was intelligence.
She was not fragile.
Elias had been right about that.
Dominic placed the black envelope beside the key.
"Did you open it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because your name was on it."
"That didn't answer the question."
"Fine. Because someone nearly killed me tonight, and then a stranger somehow entered a secure hospital floor long enough to leave an envelope addressed to Boston's most terrifying businessman beside my water cup."
Dominic leaned back.
"Most terrifying?"
"Do you object?"
"No."
"Good."
"Open it."
Claire hesitated.
"You open it."
"It's on your bed."
"Your name."
"Your room."
"This is absurd."
"Agreed."
Claire picked up the envelope.
Her fingers trembled only slightly.
Dominic noticed that too.
She broke the seal.
Inside was one photograph.
She turned it over.
Her eyes froze.
"What?"
Claire didn't answer.
Dominic reached for it.
She pulled back.
"Claire."
"Wait."
Her gaze moved over the image.
Dominic's patience lasted three seconds.
Then he took it.
The photograph had been shot through a restaurant window.
Claire sat across from Elias six weeks earlier.
Beneath the photo someone had written:
SHE KNOWS MORE THAN SHE THINKS.
Dominic looked at Claire.
"What did Elias tell you that night?"
"Nothing."
"Claire."
"He asked me about accounting records."
"What records?"
She looked toward the door.
Dominic followed her gaze.
Two of his men stood outside.
"They can't hear us."
"Can they be trusted?"
"With my life."
"That's not what I asked."
Dominic looked at her again.
Interesting.
"Elias said you remember people."
Claire's expression changed.
"He said that?"
"Among other things."
"Like what?"
"That you're stubborn."
"Accurate."
"That you run when frightened."
"Less accurate."
"You stayed after someone drove you into a barrier."
"I couldn't exactly walk out of the hospital attached to an IV."
Dominic nearly smiled.
Claire saw it.
"Was that a smile?"
"No."
"Good. It looked painful."
Dominic folded the photograph.
"Records."
Claire sighed.
"Three months ago I found duplicate vendor payments in Bell Maritime accounts."
"How much?"
"At first? Forty thousand."
"And later?"
"Eight million."
Dominic's eyes hardened.
Claire continued.
"The vendors existed. But the addresses didn't match. Some invoices were copied from legitimate companies and altered."
"You told Elias."
"Eventually."
"Why not Frank?"
Claire looked at him as though the answer should be obvious.
"Because every fake payment required executive approval."
"Frank's."
She nodded.
Dominic studied her.
"Did you copy the files?"
"No."
"Another bad lie."
Claire looked offended.
"I'm an excellent liar."
"You blink twice."
"I do not."
"You just did."
She folded her arms.
Dominic waited.
Finally she said, "Elias told me never to keep evidence on a computer."
Smart.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"You made a copy and don't know where it is?"
"I mailed it."
"To whom?"
"Myself."
"Where?"
"Somewhere safe."
Dominic stared at her.
"Elias taught you well."
"He taught me to distrust powerful men who ask too many questions."
"Did he mention me specifically?"
"Several times."
Dominic felt the old ache return.
Elias's voice.
His laugh.
His ridiculous couch.
Gone.
Claire must have seen something change in his face, because her tone softened.
"He really asked you to marry me?"
"Yes."
"Before he died?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Dominic told her.
Not everything.
Enough.
About Frank.
About Elias's fear.
About the locker.
About the protection Dominic's name could provide.
Claire listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she looked at the ring finger of her left hand.
Bare.
"I don't want to be someone's obligation."
"You wouldn't be."
"You promised a dying man."
"That makes you my responsibility."
"That's exactly an obligation."
Dominic paused.
She had him.
Claire looked toward the window.
Morning had begun to gray the city.
"My family spent my entire life reminding me I was the woman nobody would choose."
Dominic said nothing.
She continued.
"My mother used to tell me I'd have to become useful because I wasn't beautiful enough to be adored."
His jaw tightened.
"Your mother sounds unpleasant."
"She thought she was preparing me for reality."
"She was wrong."
Claire looked at him.
He realized too late how personal the words sounded.
Neither spoke.
Dominic broke the silence.
"You don't need to love me."
"That's romantic."
"I'm not proposing romance."
"Clearly."
"I'm proposing safety."
"And what do you get?"
"Peace."
"Meaning?"
"I keep my promise."
Claire looked at the silver key again.
"You're leaving something out."
Dominic respected her enough not to deny it.
"If Frank believes you've connected the accounts to him, he won't stop."
"And marriage stops him?"
"It makes touching you expensive."
"What does that mean?"
"It means everybody in my world understands that attacking my wife is attacking me."
Claire's eyes narrowed.
"Your world."
He didn't answer.
She had known enough not to ask direct questions before.
Now she did.
"Are the rumors about you true?"
"Which rumors?"
"That's not reassuring."
"Claire."
"Are you a criminal?"
Dominic held her gaze.
"I run businesses my father left me."
"Legal businesses?"
"Some."
She exhaled.
"Wonderful."
"I told you not to romanticize this."
"I wasn't in danger of that."
Dominic stood.
"I'll arrange security whether you marry me or not."
Claire looked startled.
"You would?"
"I promised Elias."
"Even if I say no?"
"Especially then."
"Why?"
"Because you'll be harder to protect."
She stared at him.
A nurse entered to check Claire's blood pressure.
Dominic stepped away.
His phone vibrated.
Marco.
Dominic answered quietly.
"Talk."
"We checked the traffic cameras."
"And?"
"The vehicle that hit her was stolen."
"Expected."
"But we got the driver."
Dominic turned slightly away from Claire.
"Who?"
"Anthony Bell."
Dominic went silent.
Frank's son.
Claire's cousin.
Marco continued.
"There's more."
Dominic's eyes returned to Claire.
She was watching him.
"What?"
"Anthony made three calls before the collision."
"To Frank?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"Someone on our side."
Dominic walked into the hallway.
His voice dropped.
"Name."
Marco hesitated.
That hesitation was enough to set every instinct in Dominic's body on fire.
"Marco."
"It's Luca Ferraro."
Dominic stopped.
Luca had been his father's closest lieutenant.
Then Dominic's.
He had attended Elias's funeral arrangements.
He had eaten at Dominic's table.
"You're certain?"
"The number matches."
Dominic looked through the glass at Claire.
Someone inside his own organization had helped target her.
Suddenly marriage was no longer merely Elias's desperate idea.
It was protection from enemies Dominic could not yet identify.
And perhaps protection from people standing beside him.
Dominic returned to Claire's room.
She looked at his face.
"What happened?"
"You were right."
"About?"
"I left something out."
Claire waited.
Dominic pulled a small velvet box from his coat.
He had brought it intending to give her time.
That option was disappearing.
He opened it.
Inside sat a simple diamond ring that had belonged to his grandmother.
Claire stared at him.
"Dominic."
"Someone I trusted helped the man who hit your car."
Her face changed.
He put the box on the table.
"I'm not asking you for love."
Claire's breathing slowed.
"I'm asking you to survive long enough to discover why Elias died frightened."
She looked at the ring.
Then at the silver key.
Then at the black envelope.
"When?"
"Today."
Claire gave a disbelieving laugh.
"You plan weddings quickly."
"I know people."
"I'm sure you do."
"If you say no, I still protect you."
"And if I say yes?"
"You move into my house. You use my name. You get access to everything you need to find out what Frank stole."
"Everything?"
Dominic hesitated.
Claire noticed.
"Almost everything."
"Then no."
He frowned.
"No?"
"If we're doing this because neither of us knows who to trust, then there can't be locked doors between us."
Dominic studied her for a long moment.
"You negotiate while wearing a hospital bracelet."
"I work in accounting."
"That explains nothing."
"It explains everything."
For the first time since Elias died, Dominic laughed.
Quietly.
Briefly.
Claire smiled despite herself.
Then she reached for the velvet box.
"I have conditions."
"Of course you do."
"Separate bedrooms."
"Fine."
"No controlling what I eat, wear, or weigh."
Dominic's brows drew together.
"Why would I?"
"You'd be amazed."
"Fine."
"I keep working."
"No."
"Dominic."
"Temporarily."
She stared.
He stared back.
"Fine," she said.
He extended his hand.
"Then we have a deal."
Claire looked at it.
"That might be the least romantic proposal in history."
"Probably."
She took his hand.
Twenty-four hours later, Claire Bell became Claire Castellano beneath crystal chandeliers overlooking a lake outside Boston.
Dominic wore black trousers and no jacket after a late security complication destroyed half his formal wardrobe plans.
His tattooed chest and arms drew whispers.
Claire pretended not to hear them.
She wore ivory lace.
She carried white roses.
When the officiant asked whether Dominic accepted her as his wife, he looked directly into her eyes.
"I do."
Claire's throat tightened unexpectedly.
She answered the same.
Then, while applause filled the hall, Dominic noticed three men in the back row stand.
Leave.
No congratulations.
No eye contact.
He took Claire's hand.
"Stay close."
She turned.
"Why?"
Dominic's gaze followed the men.
"Because they weren't invited."
That night, Claire found an envelope hidden inside her bouquet.
She carried it to her new bedroom.
Locked the door.
Opened it.
Inside was a handwritten ledger page.
At the top, Elias had written one sentence.
IF I AM DEAD, DOMINIC HAS A TRAITOR.
Below it was a list of payments.
Claire read the first name.
Her breath stopped.
A knock sounded.
"Claire?"
Dominic.
She looked at the page again.
The name belonged to someone who had stood beside him at the altar.
Claire reached for the door handle.
May you like
It turned before she touched it.
Someone was already opening it from the other side.
