Chapter 2 - The Boss Who Could Terrify a City but Couldn’t Bring Himself to Kiss Her
For Dominic Vale, control had never been a personality trait.
It had been survival.
He had learned it at seventeen, after his father was murdered outside a warehouse on the South Side and every man who claimed loyalty to the Vale family suddenly began calculating how much power could be stolen from a grieving boy.
Dominic learned to control his voice.
His expression.
His temper.
His fists.
Eventually, his entire world.
At thirty-eight, he had become the man nobody crossed twice.
But Avery Hart had discovered the one weakness he couldn't negotiate away.
She made him want things.
Things he had stopped allowing himself to want.
A normal life.
A quiet home.
Someone who looked at him and saw a man instead of a weapon.
On the morning after the gala, Dominic arrived at Lakehaven before Avery.
He stood in the unfinished lobby watching snow gather on the windows.
“You’re early,” Avery said behind him.
He turned.
She wore a cream sweater under her coat, cheeks pink from the cold.
“You’re later than usual.”
“Five minutes.”
“I noticed.”
She smiled.
That smile nearly ruined his concentration.
Dominic looked away.
“You need to approve the revised lighting layout.”
“I already did.”
“You did?”
“I trust you.”
Avery stared at him.
“You read twelve pages of electrical specifications?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“You really are strange.”
“I've been told worse.”
They worked side by side.
The attraction between them became impossible to deny.
Yet Dominic kept it contained.
There was another reason.
Avery's name had appeared in a report three weeks earlier.
Not because of anything she had done.
Because someone had asked questions about her.
Dominic's head of security, Marcus Reed, had noticed a black sedan parked outside the Lakehaven on four different nights.
Same vehicle.
Same driver.
Never approaching the building.
Watching.
Dominic had ordered Marcus to find out why.
The answer had come back incomplete.
Someone wanted information about Avery Hart.
That was enough.
Dominic became protective without telling her why.
He changed the security schedule.
Assigned a discreet driver to her.
Had the Lakehaven's cameras replaced.
Avery noticed.
Of course she noticed.
“Are you following me?” she asked one evening.
Dominic looked offended.
“No.”
“Your driver is.”
“He is protecting you.”
“From what?”
Dominic paused.
“Chicago.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“That answer is ridiculous.”
“It’s accurate.”
Avery crossed her arms.
“You know, for a terrifying crime boss, you’re terrible at explanations.”
Dominic's gaze hardened.
“Who told you I’m a crime boss?”
“My sister.”
“Your sister talks too much.”
“She says that’s because you're impossible to interrogate.”
“She hasn't succeeded.”
Avery smiled.
He tried not to smile back.
He failed.
That was the first time she saw it clearly.
The coldest man in Chicago could smile.
And somehow, he only did it around her.
Their bond deepened over the next weeks.
Avery told him about growing up in Indiana with Claire.
Their parents had died when Avery was twenty-three, leaving the sisters alone.
Claire became a nurse.
Avery became an architect.
Neither married.
Neither seemed particularly interested.
But Avery's reason was deeper.
At twenty-six, she had watched a close friend enter an abusive relationship.
She had witnessed the gradual shrinking of a woman who once filled every room.
When the friend escaped, she left Avery with one lesson.
Never mistake control for love.
Avery had taken that lesson seriously.
Dominic listened.
He never mocked her caution.
One night, after they finished reviewing construction documents, Avery asked him about his family.
He went silent.
“My father was killed.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My mother disappeared two years later.”
Avery looked up.
“Disappeared?”
“She left Chicago.”
“Without you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
She sensed the subject was closed.
She didn't push.
Instead she said, “You don't have to tell me things before you're ready.”
Dominic studied her.
“You're the first person who has ever said that to me.”
She smiled softly.
“I don't want a man who gives me everything because he feels obligated.”
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
He looked away.
Because the truth was complicated.
The Vale empire had two faces.
The legal businesses belonged to Dominic.
The illegal operations belonged to the people who had existed around his family for decades.
Dominic had spent years trying to dismantle them.
But some men had grown rich under the old system and were not interested in becoming legitimate simply because Dominic wanted peace.
One of those men was Silas Rourke.
A ruthless fixer who had once worked with Dominic's father.
Silas believed Dominic had become weak.
Especially since Avery entered his life.
That belief would become dangerous.
Meanwhile, Avery's life changed in smaller ways.
Dominic started eating lunch with her.
Avery began attending meetings with him.
People in the building noticed.
Whispers started.
Some called her his secretary.
Others called her his mistress.
Avery ignored them.
Dominic didn't.
One afternoon a senior executive made a crude remark about her.
Dominic removed him from the project before lunch.
Avery confronted him.
“You fired him?”
“Yes.”
“Because he insulted me?”
“Yes.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
“You shouldn't have to.”
She stared at him.
“Dominic.”
“I will not allow anyone to diminish you because they think they can reach me through you.”
The words landed differently than he intended.
“You think people can reach you through me?”
“They already are.”
Silence.
Avery's face changed.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic's expression closed.
“Nothing.”
“That's not true.”
“Avery, trust me.”
“I do. But trust doesn't mean blindness.”
He almost told her.
Instead he said, “I'm dealing with something.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Yes.”
“Am I involved?”
Dominic did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Avery left angry.
That night, Dominic sat alone in his penthouse.
Marcus entered.
“We found the sedan.”
Dominic looked up.
“And?”
“It belongs to a shell company tied to Silas Rourke.”
Dominic's hand tightened.
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
“Does Rourke know about Avery?”
“We don't know.”
Dominic stood.
“Find out.”
Marcus hesitated.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“A woman has been asking about Avery too.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“Claire Hart.”
Dominic went completely still.
“Avery's sister?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
Dominic stared at the city.
Something wasn't right.
The following morning, Avery arrived at Lakehaven looking exhausted.
Dominic noticed immediately.
“You didn't sleep.”
“Neither did you.”
“I had work.”
“So did I.”
She placed a folder on his desk.
“Someone mailed this to me.”
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Avery's parents.
Young.
Standing beside a man Dominic knew.
His father.
Dominic's blood ran cold.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written six words.
Ask Dominic what happened in 2001.
Dominic looked up.
Avery watched him carefully.
“You know something.”
He had spent his life surviving the consequences of his father's secrets.
Now those secrets had found the woman he loved.
May you like
And suddenly Dominic realized something far more terrifying than losing his empire.
He could lose Avery before he had ever truly had her.
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