Chapter 27
Dominic
The message came through half an hour later:
He’s fine. Mother’s barely responsive. Apartment’s a dump, fridge empty, but no immediate issue.
Dominic read it once. Then again. His jaw tightened more with each pass.
No immediate issue.
That didn’t mean no issue. It just meant Knox hadn’t walked into a fresh crisis waiting behind that door.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and turned away from the counter, moving through the loft without direction. Restless energy coiled under his skin, his thoughts circling the same place no matter how many times he tried to redirect them.
The taste of Knox still lingered. The memory of him in Dominic’s bed came back without permission—legs spread, skin flushed, those blue eyes wrecked and too open.
He could still feel the way Knox had trembled under him.
The way he’d looked after. Soft. Spent. Vulnerable in a way that sat badly under Dominic’s ribs.
Vulnerability was dangerous. It got people hurt. And Knox had given it to him anyway.
Dominic dragged a hand down his face and exhaled slowly. What the hell was he supposed to do with that? He’d thought fucking him would fix it. Get whatever this was out of his system so he could think straight again. Get back to a version of himself that resembled normal.
It hadn’t worked. If anything, it had made it spectacularly worse.
Now he knew exactly how Knox sounded, how easily he unraveled when pushed the right way.
He knew the look on his face when he came apart, the tremor in his voice when he whispered please, and the feel of his hair under his fingers as he smiled up at him, eyes half-closed.
Fuck. He wasn’t in a position to let this go any further than it already had. That line needed to hold.
His hand went to his phone before he could think better of it and dialed.
“Yeah, boss.”
“I need you to pick up groceries,” Dominic said.
A pause. “Groceries?”
Dominic’s tone didn’t change. “Enough for a week. Real food. Not garbage.”
Another beat. “You want it dropped at one of the properties or—”
“Knox Wolfe’s apartment.”
Silence stretched long enough to register.
“Got it,” he said. “Anything specific?”
“Fresh food. You drop it, you leave. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
Dominic ended the call. For a moment he just stood there with his phone in hand. This didn’t mean anything. The boy couldn’t function properly if he was running on nothing. That wasn’t sustainable. It would affect his work and his focus.
Thinking about it any longer wasn’t going to help.
Work would; it always did. He stepped into his office and sat behind the desk, and by the time he pulled the first stack of contracts toward him, the shift had already happened.
The kind of work that required nothing from him except focus and control.
The kind of problems that stayed where you put them once you handled them.
He read, signed, and made notes where needed.
Took two calls about a shipment delay at the docks and another about a licensing issue for one of the clubs.
For a couple of hours, it worked. His mind stayed where it was supposed to be.
The light outside had shifted slightly, the morning edging toward noon.
He reached for his phone. Cassian picked up on the second ring. “Tell me you’ve got something.”
“I always have something,” Cassian said. “Question is whether you’re going to like it.”
Dominic leaned back in his chair. “Start talking.”
“We’ve got a new name. Keegan. Mid-level, but he’s been moving things for Mercer. Enough that he knows how the setup works.”
“And?”
“He reached out himself. Says Mercer’s been getting unstable. Burning through people, making bad calls.” A pause. “Keegan doesn’t want to go down with him.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He’s offering information,” Cassian added. “But he wants protection.”
Of course he does. “Where is he?”
“Not stupid enough to give a location yet,” Cassian said. “Says he’ll only speak to you.”
Dominic considered that. A man like that didn’t switch sides unless things had gone wrong—fear, pressure, or survival instincts. Maybe all three. He could be useful. It could also be a trap. Either way, it was worth the risk.
“You think it’s clean?” Dominic asked.
Cassian exhaled. “I think he’s scared. Whether that makes him honest or desperate—”
“That’s what we’ll figure out.”
He’d have to see the man in person. And for that, he already knew who he was bringing.
The thought came fast, settling into place before Dominic could dismiss it. Knox would catch things other people missed: the hesitation, the cracks, the instant Keegan slipped, if he slipped at all.
Dominic pushed back from the desk and stood. “Set it up. This afternoon.”
“Location?”
“Somewhere open,” Dominic said. “Not crowded, but not isolated either.”
“Alright.”
“And have people in position,” Dominic added. “Out of sight. I want coverage on every exit. I’m not walking in blind.”
“Understood.”
Dominic ended the call. The meeting didn’t concern him. Cassian would set it up right, and Keegan would either be useful or he wouldn’t. That part was simple. Bringing Knox made sense; he would be an asset. It was a strategic decision.
Who was he kidding?
He knew this wasn’t smart. Knew it by every measure he’d ever used to evaluate a decision.
But apparently that didn’t matter anymore.
He was taking Knox with him anyway, and the reasons he kept constructing to justify it were getting thinner by the hour.
The honest reason—the real one—was simply that he wanted Knox near him.
That was it. That was the whole thing. Dominic picked up his keys and headed for the door.
Consequences be damned.
* * *
Knox’s door came into view. Dominic stopped in front of it, his gaze settling on the chipped paint and the scuff marks near the handle—signs of a life pressed into a space that had too little room for it.
He lifted his hand and rang the bell, the sound echoing through the thin walls.
The door opened and Knox stood there, filling the frame—barefoot, fresh clothes, a dark shirt that fit him too well. His hair was still damp and disheveled, like he’d just stepped out of a shower.
Dominic’s eyes went straight to his mouth. They caught on Knox’s full lips before he could stop it. The awareness hit him a second too late, and by then his attention had lingered longer than it should have. Annoyance moved through him at his own lack of discipline.
He looked up and found Knox watching him. He had noticed the glance at his lips—of course he had. A brief flicker of curiosity crossed his eyes, yet he said nothing.
“What are you doing here?” Knox asked.
“I told you,” he said evenly. “You’re shadowing me for a while.”
Knox leaned against the doorframe, arms loose at his sides. “Yeah. Didn’t think that meant showing up at my place.”
“There’s a meeting this afternoon,” Dominic continued, ignoring that. “I need you there.”
Knox’s brows creased. “What kind of meeting?”
“One where I want you paying attention.”
That was enough to tell him this wasn’t routine. Knox’s posture shifted, the casual lean turned into something more alert. His gaze flicked away, then back. “Groceries showed up,” he said.
Dominic didn’t react immediately. He hadn’t expected Knox to bring it up. Had expected him to pretend it away, the way he did with most things that touched too close to home.
“Sounded like you needed them,” he said finally.
Knox studied him, something unreadable passing through his expression—not gratitude exactly, something more complicated. “Thanks,” he said. Almost a whisper.
The word landed strangely. Dominic wasn’t used to being thanked for things like that. Wasn’t even sure why he’d done it in the first place.
“Don’t make it a thing,” he said, tone flattening.
Knox’s mouth twitched. “Wasn’t planning to.”
Good.
Dominic reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, holding it out without ceremony. “This is for last month.”
Knox took it, glancing down before looking up. “What’s this?”
“Your pay,” Dominic said.
Knox blinked once, like he hadn’t expected it.
“From now on you’ll get paid every month. On time.”
Knox didn’t open it, just turned it once between his fingers before slipping it into his back pocket. “Alright.”
The exchange should have been simple, but it didn’t feel like it. Dominic let the silence sit, then said, “We need to go. I want to debrief you on Mercer before the meeting.”
That got Knox’s full attention. He straightened instantly, the last bit of slack leaving his shoulders. “What kind of meeting is it?”
“We’ll talk in the car.”
Knox nodded. “Give me a minute.” He stepped back from the door. “Wait here.”
Dominic stayed where he was. He had no business crossing that threshold. Not into the private ugliness of a life he already knew too much about. And yet he itched to step inside, to see more, to understand how Knox lived when Dominic wasn’t around. The impulse was unwelcome, so he ignored it.
He was getting very good at ignoring things that involved Knox Wolfe. The problem was that the list kept growing.