Chapter 19 - Dominic
That morning, I slipped out of bed as Emily drifted back into sleep, her breathing soft and even. My jaw tightened at the thought of the marks on her body. I hadn’t realized how bad it was, and the guilt gnawed at me like a relentless ache. I’d failed to protect her.
I hadn’t anticipated things escalating to this point, and now I was left to grapple with the burden of not being more vigilant, the regret settling heavily within me.
But I didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on it. I forced myself to focus, shoving my emotions aside. My first order of business was handing the reins over to my second-in-command at the company. I trusted him to finalize deals, attend meetings, and keep everything running smoothly while I turned my attention elsewhere.
My phone buzzed relentlessly as I made call after call to my security team. Emily and Lucy were safe at home under Mrs. Kensington’s watchful eye, but that wasn’t enough. No one—besides my brothers and myself—was allowed onto the premises. I wouldn’t take any chances.
Donovan, head of my security team, finally brought me a glimmer of progress. They had narrowed down the location from where the emails were being sent. Despite the culprit’s attempts to disguise their tracks, they were transmitting from the same general area. Surveillance footage from nearby security cameras was being pulled to identify the sender. The gap was closing, and I could almost feel the noose tightening.
Then came the update I dreaded but expected. The driver of the vehicle that was hired to scare Emily had been found. He admitted he’d been paid ten thousand dollars to scare her. All arrangements had been made over the phone, with the cash left at a drop-off point. He claimed he had no idea who had hired him. A coward hiding in the shadows, pulling strings from a safe distance.
I was determined to make sure the driver disappeared into that prison, vanishing without a trace, never to be seen again.
By the time eleven-thirty rolled around, I was mentally drained, a tension headache thrumming behind my temples. A knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see Leo stride into the room.
“Dom, how are you holding up?” Leo asked, settling into the chair directly opposite me.
“As good as any man in my situation,” I replied, my tone flat.
Leo nodded, his expression serious. “And how are Lucy and Emily?”
“Lucy’s as resilient as any five-year-old. She slept through the night, and this morning, she was as chipper as ever.”
“And Emily?”
“She’s got bruises, but she’s alive. The bastard who did this was caught and he’s sitting in a cell as we speak.”
“Who got caught?” Seb asked as he entered the room, followed closely by Axel.
“The son of a bitch who almost ran over Emily and Lucy,” Leo said before shifting his attention to Axel. “And baby brother finally decided to show up.”
“Yeah, that’s because I went to his house and dragged his ass out. We couldn’t afford a repeat of yesterday,” Seb stated with a shrug.
As I began to fill them in on the security protocols at home, Vincent and Nathaniel arrived. Once I had updated them, it was time to address the real reason I had called them together.
“Now that we’re all here, we can begin the meeting,” I said, locking my office door. I motioned for my brothers to follow me into the private conference room at the back of my office. Once we were all seated, I began, my voice steady as I forced the words from my mouth.
“I wouldn’t have brought you all into this if it weren’t a risk to your reputations and your businesses,” I started, my eyes flicking to each of them. “When I first started out, I needed capital, and no one was willing to take a chance on a nameless twenty-year-old. So, I did some research and found a group willing to help. I took the risk and got involved with the Black Lotus Syndicate.”
The shock on my brothers’ faces was immediate.
Leonardo was the first to speak, his voice a mix of disbelief and anger. “Dominic, just so I’m hearing you right... Did you say the Black Lotus Syndicate? The criminal organization, the secret society of untouchable, powerful men and women known for assassinations, fraud, embezzlement, and all sorts of other criminal activities? Those are the people you got money from?”
“Yes,” I replied, my gaze unwavering. “After receiving one hundred million dollars from them, I struck a deal with the key players and vanished after my end of the deal was complete. I thought it was over.”
“What kind of deal?” Nathaniel asked, leaning forward, his voice colder now, his eyes sharp with suspicion.
“I agreed to use my company as a front for laundering their illegal funds for five years. They helped me clear out rivals, gave me access to their networks their resources, and made sure I had the space to grow.” I paused, swallowing hard. “In exchange, I kept evidence, encrypted records of their transactions and incriminating proof of their crimes. Things that, if exposed, can’t be swept under the carpet. If either side breached the deal, it would be catastrophic.”
Seb’s jaw clenched as he processed this. “But, they’re back. Why now, after all these years?” he asked.
I took a breath, knowing this part would hit hardest. “Honestly, I don’t know, but the first threatening email came a few days after I married Emily.”
The room was dead silent for a moment, the tension so thick I could feel it choking me.
“You’ve been married to Emily for what, five months now?” Vincent’s voice broke the silence, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. “And you never thought it’d be wise to tell us about any of this? Let’s put aside the secret of you taking money from a criminal organization. But you didn’t think that we, your brothers, should’ve known about the threats?”
“I kept it from you because I didn’t want to drag you into this mess. I figured I could handle it on my own, keep it from affecting the business.” I paused, looking each of them in the eye. “But now I can’t protect you all from this anymore. I can’t protect Lucy or Emily either without your help.”
Axel’s face twisted with anger. “Dom, if word gets out about this, if anyone finds out about the Black Lotus Syndicate, we’re finished. Our businesses, our lives, everything we’ve worked for... it’ll all go up in flames.”
I rubbed the back of my neck where the tension had settled, knowing he was right.
“I know,” I said quietly. “That’s why I kept it from you. I thought I could handle it. But now that they’re back, there’s no way around it. We’re all involved now. Whether you like it or not.”
Leonardo slammed his fist on the table. “You always keep things from us. Always try to handle everything yourself. Do you think we’re still kids? Do you think we wouldn’t have had your back if you’d just been honest with us from the beginning? Do you have any idea how much you’ve risked, Dom? What you almost lost yesterday?”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I shot back, my voice sharp. “Do you think I wanted any of this? To put you all at risk, to put Emily and Lucy in danger? I did what I had to do to keep this family together. To keep us alive at the time.”
Vincent’s voice was quieter now, but the anger still burned beneath it. “But what kept us alive then is back to kill us, to destroy everything we’ve built. And you think you’re the only one who can fix it?”
Nathaniel cut in, his tone firm but measured, “We’re all in this together, Dom. Yes, you’re the oldest, but that doesn’t mean you have to carry everything on your own.”
There was a brief pause before Sebastien’s voice came, tinged with disappointment. “I get it, Dom. You made a choice, one that, if we’re honest, has benefited all of us. But now that things aren’t going as they should, you chose to hide this from us? I’m highly disappointed, Dominic.”
Axel leaned forward, his eyes filled with determination. “Alright, enough about the past. We can’t change it. We know what the problem is, so the real question is, how are we going to fix it?”
“I hired a PI, one that I’ve been working with for quite some time, to dig up any and everything on the key players that I made the deal with. I’m planning to blackmail them, by going to their rivals with the info my PI found if they don’t back off.”
I felt the burden of my past choices with the Syndicate more than ever, knowing my family was now at risk because of them. The guilt hit hard, but pride coursed through my veins—my brothers had chosen to stand with me, despite it all. Yet, the cold edge of my instincts sharpened, and I knew there was no room for failure going forward. I would not allow them to suffer for my mistakes, nor would I allow anyone to touch my wife and daughter again. I’d burn everything to the ground if I had to, my family was off-limits.
“From now on, everyone gets plainclothes security at home and at the businesses. No exceptions. Keep it discreet—we can’t afford to spark speculation or attract unnecessary attention.” My eyes swept the room, daring any of them to question it. They didn’t. Good.
“As for the Syndicate,” I continued, leaning forward, my elbows braced on the table, “I hired a PI, a damn good one I’ve been working with for years. He has been digging into the key players I dealt with, unearthing anything and everything. I’ve got a binder filled with their darkest secrets. If this goes public, it doesn’t just ruin the key players, it dismantles their entire empire from the inside out.”
Low whistles rippled through the room as I turned to Leo. “Leo, I’ll need you to go through that binder. When I meet with these bastards, I want them to know we’re not playing games. We’ll make it clear: they back off, or I’ll hand their dirty laundry straight to their rivals. If they think they’re untouchable, I’ll remind them that every chain has a weak link and I have the hammer to shatter it.”
This wasn’t just strategy—it was war. And I wasn’t about to let my family become collateral damage.
Axel asked, “Do you think it’ll be enough to work?”
My gaze hardened as I locked eyes with Axel. “It’s not about thinking it’ll work,” I said. “It’s about making it work. These people thrive on fear and leverage.”
The cold fire in my chest burned hotter with every word. The Syndicate had made their move; now it was my turn. I’d crush them, dismantle their power.
“I’m going to show them they’re not the only ones holding the cards. If they even hesitate for a second, I’ll make them regret it. This isn’t a gamble, Axel. It’s strategy.”
“Dom, you know you can’t go there alone, nor can you go with an entourage of security details,” Nathaniel stated.
“I’ve already thought of that,” I said, glancing toward Seb. He sat back in his chair, arms crossed, a faint smirk tugging at his lips like he already knew where this was going. “Seb will be going with me.” His smirk shifted into something more serious.
His connections ran deep, deeper than most of us realized until we needed them. He didn’t just know people—he knew how to navigate their weaknesses and exploit their strengths.
“His connections are invaluable,” I continued, my gaze sweeping over the room. “And he knows how to handle himself when the line between business and chaos gets blurry.”
I leaned back, my fingers drumming against the table. This wasn’t just about who had the sharpest suit or the biggest ego. If things went south—and I had no doubt there was a chance they would—I needed someone who could read the room as easily as he read a cocktail menu.
“Seb’s got a knack for reading people, cutting through the noise to see the real angles.” I shifted my focus back to him. “If this meeting takes a wrong turn, I need someone who can think fast and act faster.”
A memory surfaced, uninvited, of Seb diffusing a bar fight with nothing but a sharp tongue and a steady hand on a broken bottle. I pushed it aside and added, “And let’s be real—when it comes to keeping things cool under pressure, nobody does it better than Seb.”
He raised an eyebrow at me, his smirk returning. “Damn right.”
We sat around the table and mapped out every detail of the plan. Every t was crossed, every i dotted—including contingencies to get Lucy, Emily, and Mrs. Kensington out of the country if it came to that. I wasn’t naive; I knew exactly who I was going up against. If we were going to move forward, every piece had to be perfectly aligned.
By the time we wrapped up, the clock read a little after 4 p.m. We agreed to reconvene in three days, giving everyone enough time to check off their assignments and tighten the loose ends.
Despite the exhaustion settling into my shoulders, I couldn’t shake the restlessness that tugged at me. My thoughts drifted—no, fixated—on Emily. No amount of planning or preparation could quiet the ache to be near her, to make sure she was safe, to see her face.
The day had drained me, but the pull toward home, toward her, was stronger than my fatigue. Rest could wait; I couldn’t. I needed to be there. Now.