Chapter 14
DOMINIC
Rafe has terrible fucking timing. Sofia scrambles off my lap so quickly, I have to reach for her to make sure she doesn’t stumble.
I help her close her blouse, but she pushes me away, her face bright red.
I carefully adjust myself back into my pants, grateful she’s blocking Rafe’s view.
We’re as close as brothers, but we’re not close enough that we’ve shown each other our dicks.
He’s covering his eyes, which at least proves he has some sense. If only he’d used it and stayed out of here in the first place.
“Get out,” I shout, but he doesn’t move.
“I would love to,” he says. “Really, there’s nothing I want more than to walk into traffic and forget what I just saw, but this can’t wait.”
“It can wait five goddamn minutes,” I snap.
“No,” he says, lowering his hand carefully to check that we’re both decent. “It really can’t.”
That gets my attention. Rafe’s been egging me on with Sofia since day one. He wouldn’t be pushing his way in now if it weren’t important.
I turn to Sofia. She’s facing the wall, buttoning her blouse with shaking hands. I hate how embarrassed she looks, but not as much as I hate that I can’t do a damn thing about it with Rafe standing there.
“Sofia,” I say quietly.
“Nope,” she shoots back, not turning around. “I’m fine. This is fine. Everything here is perfectly fine.”
Rafe lets out an awkward cough. I shoot him a look that could kill him, and he drops his eyes to the floor with some modicum of respect.
“Sofia,” I try again.
She finally turns around. Her hair is loose around her shoulders, her lips are swollen, and her eyes are bright. There’s a small bruise forming on her neck that I probably put there with my lips. The sight of it nearly undoes all my self-control.
“I need you to go home,” I tell her. “But this isn’t about you.”
She nods, but I still catch the embarrassment on her face. Fuck, I hate watching her leave like this. We should talk about it, or at least have more than five goddamn seconds to breathe.
“It’s late.” She shrugs. “I was leaving anyway.”
“There will be a car waiting downstairs in two minutes,” I tell her.
“I don’t need a car,” she argues, her resolve finally breaking. “It’s been too much. I’m fine with the subway.”
I shake my head. “I’m not asking you. Like I said, it’s a new policy. Take the car.”
Her jaw tightens, but she nods anyway. I watch her walk toward the door, my heart pounding, reprimanding me for letting her go.
“Goodnight, Rafe,” she huffs as she walks through the door.
“Take the car,” I shout to her as a reminder. She throws up a thumbs up as she rushes away.
“What. The. Fuck?” Rafe says the second she’s gone. “Jesus Christ, I knew you had a hard-on for her, but in the fucking conference room? Anybody could’ve walked in.”
“But anybody didn’t walk in,” I say through clenched teeth. “Just you.”
I push the door open and we head toward my office. He knows better than to talk while we’re walking. Even with the floor mostly empty, there are certain conversations we don’t have in the open, just to be safe.
“What the fuck was so important?” I ask, turning on him as soon as we’re back in my office.
I slam the door in frustration before rushing to my computer to check the security cameras. I find Sofia in the elevator, covering her face with her hands. The second it chimes, she straightens up and walks out, like she’s totally unbothered by what we just did.
I watch as she exits the building, then thankfully gets in the car that’s waiting for her. Once it pulls away from the building, I turn my attention back to Rafe.
“What happened?” I ask him.
His face is devoid of any humor. “Carlos was taken.”
Carlos is one of my best drivers. I use him for everything because I know I can trust him. He’s even driven Sofia home a few times.
“What the hell do you mean he was taken?”
Rafe nods gravely. “He was on a dock run when two SUVs boxed him in, and the men dragged him out of the car. We’ve got the whole thing on video.”
“When did this happen?”
“About an hour ago.”
My jaw tightens. “Then why the hell did you wait so long to get me?”
“We were still confirming. He missed his check-in, which is what made us look in the first place. Then Tomasso went over there and found his phone two blocks away.”
“Who took him?” I ask, though I’m pretty certain I already know the answer.
“Calderone’s men,” he says, confirming my suspicion.
“Do you know that for a fact?” I ask slowly, between gritted teeth.
I’m ready to burn their whole operation to the ground, but I’m not going to do that without proof that they threw the first punch.
“They wanted us to know,” he says carefully.
“What do you mean?”
“They already gave him back,” he answers. “About fifteen minutes ago, one of our men found him near the Queensboro Bridge.”
“Is he alive?”
“Barely. They roughed him up pretty bad. Not bad enough for us to escalate, but he’ll need a few days to recover.”
“Why would they do that?” I ask.
“Because they wanted to send you a message.”
“As if goddamn cell phones don’t exist,” I seethe. “This went too far. Where is he now?”
“He’s at a safehouse in Long Island City. Our doctor is with him.”
“Can he talk?”
“I don’t know what else there is to say.” He shrugs. “He already passed along the message. They want you to stop interfering with their debt collectors.”
It goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop. There’s only one debt collector I interfered with, and only one debt I paid. Marco Bellini.
“We need to double Sofia’s security,” I tell him urgently.
“Dom,” he starts to protest.
“Double it,” I repeat. “I want 24/7 surveillance on her building, and two men to trail her at all times.”
“This is a bad idea, Dom,” he says automatically. “It’s one thing to have one guy on her building, but this is probably overkill. Nobody even named her father.”
“They shouldn’t have known about the interference in the first place!” I shout at him. “We went through back channels. You handled the drop. There’s no way it had our fingerprint on it.”
“Then we need to consider the possibility that someone in our organization is leaking information,” he says seriously. “But I don’t think putting Sofia in a cage she doesn’t even know about is the right move.”
“Are you really questioning me about this?”
“Dominic,” he says. “I know you like her. This isn’t just about sex for you, you have actual goddamn feelings for her. Which means that you’re not thinking rationally. You’re not even capable of it.”
“Excuse me?” I roar.
“Dominic,” he says patiently. “If this was any other employee you’d helped, would you be reacting the same way?”
I take a deep breath. We both know he’s right, but I’m not giving him the benefit of admitting it.
“If you’re going to insist on this, you should tell her the truth,” he says into the silence. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“So now you’re a moral expert?” I answer tensely.
“I’m a Dominic expert,” he answers smoothly. “I’ve known you damn near my entire life, and I know how you can be. I also know that you act impulsively, and this whole thing could blow up in your face if you don’t tread lightly.”
“Then it blows up in my face,” I say. “Because I’m not telling her anything. Telling her would be more dangerous. Right now, she’s in the dark.”
“Do you really think that would help her if Calderone got to her?” he asks seriously. “He won’t give a fuck whether she knows about you or not. She’s leverage now, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“Which is exactly why she needs the protection.”
“Then she needs to know why she’s being protected.”
We stare at each other, both breathing hard, and I realize we’ve hit a stalemate.
There’s no way in hell I’m telling Sofia the truth about who I am.
Not about the extra security, not about Enzo Calderone.
She doesn’t need to be afraid of any of it.
That’s the only thing telling her would accomplish.
“Double her security,” I tell him again. “And the next time you think about questioning my authority, don’t.”
His jaw tightens and he stares at me, full of a thousand words that are better left unsaid in this moment.
“Fine,” he says. “But for the record, I think you’re making a mistake.”
“Your opinion has been noted,” I tell him. “You can go.”
He storms out and I go back to my desk and look at my monitor. Sofia is long gone, so there’s nothing to see. At least I know she’s safe for now. Still, for good measure, I take out my phone and text her.
I just want to know that you made it home safely.
There, easy enough. Innocuous enough to not raise her suspicions, but should give me the peace of mind that she’s okay.
I live in Queens, Dominic. It takes longer than 15 minutes.
I can’t help but chuckle, and some of the tension drains out of me. I’ve never texted her about anything that wasn’t work. Even though we just had sex, something about this feels more intimate.
Then text me when you are home.
I’m fine, Dominic. You don’t have to babysit me.
She’s wrong, though. I won’t get any rest until I know that no threat can reach her.