Chapter 6 - Dominic Took Avery to Geneva, Where Her Dead Father Was Waiting
Avery spent the flight staring through the window.
Dominic barely spoke.
He sat beside her, one hand resting close to hers but never forcing contact.
Finally Avery whispered, “What if he doesn't want me?”
Dominic turned.
“He left you a message.”
“He left me a secret.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“What if everything he did was for a reason I can't forgive?”
“Then you don't forgive him.”
She looked at him.
“You always make decisions like that?”
“Yes.”
“And if you love someone?”
He paused.
“Especially then.”
She took his hand.
This time he held it.
Geneva was cold.
They found Samuel Hart through an old banking trail.
He was living under another name in a quiet lakeside town.
Avery stood outside his house trembling.
Dominic stayed behind her.
“I'll go in first.”
“No.”
She stepped forward.
“I need to see him.”
The door opened.
An older man stood there.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
He looked at Avery.
The world stopped.
“Avie?”
Avery's knees nearly failed.
“Dad?”
He covered his mouth.
“Oh God.”
She stared at him.
“You're alive.”
Samuel cried.
He reached for her.
Avery did not move.
“You left me.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Dominic watched silently.
Samuel looked at him.
“Richard's son.”
Dominic nodded.
“My father died protecting you.”
“Yes.”
“You owe Avery the truth.”
Samuel looked down.
“I know.”
Inside the house, Samuel told them everything.
In 2001, he had discovered the network.
He planned to expose it.
Rourke learned about the plan and threatened the family.
Samuel and his wife were forced into hiding.
But his wife, Eleanor, chose differently.
She believed survival required power.
She began working with Rourke.
Samuel escaped alone.
Avery's childhood memories returned in fragments.
Her mother disappearing.
Her father yelling.
A suitcase by the door.
Claire crying.
Samuel finally explained the final secret.
“Your mother didn't abandon us because she hated us.”
“Then why?”
“She believed Rourke would spare you if she became valuable to him.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Samuel looked at Dominic.
“He wanted Avery because of the information you never knew she carried.”
“What information?”
“The architecture.”
Avery frowned.
“What?”
Samuel explained that the Lakehaven renovation plans weren't just plans.
The original blueprints contained hidden access routes designed decades earlier for moving people and money through the city.
Avery had unknowingly recreated part of the network.
Someone had used her professional work to restore an old criminal infrastructure.
Dominic's face hardened.
“Who hired her?”
“Rourke.”
Avery looked confused.
“But Dominic hired me.”
Samuel nodded.
“Which is why someone manipulated the hiring process.”
Dominic understood.
Martin Keller.
The entire relationship between Avery and Lakehaven had been engineered.
But one thing hadn't been planned.
Their feelings.
Samuel looked at Avery.
“That is why you were targeted.”
Avery shook her head.
“No. I refuse to believe everything between us was arranged.”
Dominic stepped toward her.
“It wasn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because nobody could have planned me falling in love with you.”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“That part was never in the plan.”
They stayed in Geneva three days.
For the first time, Avery experienced a strange peace.
She met her father again.
She walked beside Dominic along the lake.
One night, she asked him the question she had been avoiding.
“Do you regret loving me?”
“Never.”
“Even now?”
“Especially now.”
She moved closer.
He touched her face.
“Do you remember what you told me?” he whispered.
“That no man had ever touched me.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“And you stepped away.”
“I'd step away every time if you asked me to.”
“What if I ask you not to?”
Dominic's eyes darkened.
“Then I stay.”
Avery leaned forward.
She kissed him.
It was gentle.
Unhurried.
Nothing like the stories she had heard about Dominic Vale.
When they parted, he rested his forehead against hers.
“I've wanted to do that for months.”
“So have I.”
He smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Marcus.
Dominic answered.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
“Rourke attacked Vale Tower.”
“Casualties?”
“Three injured.”
Dominic's jaw clenched.
“Anyone else?”
Marcus hesitated.
“The safe files were stolen.”
“What files?”
“The ones on your father.”
Dominic looked at Avery.
“He has the history now.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“No.”
“What?”
Samuel's face had gone pale.
“He doesn't want the history.”
“Then what?”
“He wants the final document.”
“What document?”
Samuel whispered.
“The ledger proving who controls the entire network.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Where is it?”
Samuel looked at Avery.
“I hid it inside something your mother could never find.”
“What?”
May you like
Samuel pointed toward the blueprints.
“The Lakehaven.”
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