Chapter 3 - The Message Hidden Inside the Flowers
The police never came.
That was the first sign that Dominic's world existed outside the normal rules.
The shattered glass had been from a window in the west corridor.
Someone had thrown a stone through it.
Tied around the stone was a piece of paper.
Three words.
We found her.
Dominic burned the message before I could see it.
But I saw enough.
Her.
Not him.
Her.
And the way Marcus looked at Dominic told me those words weren't random.
For the next two days, Dominic barely spoke to me.
Not because he was angry.
Because he was afraid.
I realized that on the third morning.
I was arranging flowers in the dining room when he entered.
“You're staying home today.”
I looked up.
“Why?”
“It's safer.”
“From what?”
“From me.”
My hands stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone knows you're important to me.”
I stared.
“I’m a housekeeper.”
“Not anymore.”
He walked closer.
“You are now the one person in this house enemies can use to hurt me.”
My heart raced.
“I didn't ask for that.”
“I know.”
“I don't want it.”
“I know.”
“Then let me leave.”
He looked at me.
“That is exactly what I'm trying to prevent.”
I frowned.
“How?”
“By keeping you alive.”
His voice cracked on the final word.
I had never heard fear in Dominic's voice.
It frightened me.
That evening, I packed a bag.
Not because I wanted to leave him.
Because I knew I was becoming a liability.
Marcus found me downstairs.
“You're leaving.”
“Yes.”
He sighed.
“Dominic won't like that.”
“He doesn't have a choice.”
Marcus studied me.
“You care about him.”
I shook my head.
“I barely know him.”
He smiled.
“That's not what I asked.”
I looked away.
Before I could answer, I heard footsteps.
Dominic.
He saw the suitcase.
His face went blank.
“No.”
I swallowed.
“Dominic—”
“No.”
“I have to.”
“You don't.”
“You said someone knows about me.”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm leaving.”
He crossed the room.
“Emma.”
“I am not going to be the reason someone you love gets hurt.”
He stopped.
“You think that's what you are?”
I looked at him.
“A weakness.”
He stared.
Then he said something I would remember forever.
“You are not my weakness.”
He came closer.
“You are the first thing in years that makes me want to be better than I am.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Dominic…”
“You think I don't know what my life is?”
“I do.”
“You think I don't know what it can cost you?”
“I do.”
“Then understand this.”
He reached for my hand.
I let him.
“I don't want to own you.”
His thumb moved gently across my knuckles.
“I want you to stay because you choose to.”
I stared at our hands.
“And if I choose to leave?”
“I will help you.”
His answer broke me.
Because it meant he was serious.
He wasn't asking for obedience.
He was asking for trust.
I stayed.
That night, someone left a bouquet outside my room.
White roses.
I opened the card.
For Elena.
My blood went cold.
I took it downstairs.
Dominic read it.
His face changed.
“This is not for you.”
“Then who?”
He looked at Marcus.
Marcus moved toward the security cameras.
Thirty minutes later, they found the answer.
The roses had come through the mansion's own supply company.
Which meant someone inside the business had arranged them.
Dominic called his head florist.
The woman broke down.
She had been paid to deliver the roses.
By a man who used a company account belonging to Dominic's deceased father.
That was impossible.
Dominic's father had been dead for fifteen years.
“Someone has access to my father's accounts,” he said.
Marcus looked grim.
“Or someone wants us to think they do.”
Dominic nodded.
Then he turned toward me.
“Have you ever seen this symbol?”
He placed a photograph on the table.
A black bird stamped on a silver ring.
I shook my head.
But I knew it.
I'd seen it once.
Years ago.
On the hand of my mother's employer.
My blood drained from my face.
“Emma?”
“I've seen that ring.”
“Where?”
“My mother’s old employer.”
“Name?”
“Arthur Kane.”
Dominic became very still.
Marcus whispered, “No.”
I looked between them.
“Who is Arthur Kane?”
May you like
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“The man who ordered Elena's murder.”
