Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Tried to Steal the Heir
Livia Russo arrived the next morning without permission.
Dominic met her at the front entrance with six armed guards behind him.
His sister stepped out of the car wearing a cream coat and dark sunglasses.
She looked calm.
Too calm.
“You're being dramatic,” she said.
“You followed Norah.”
“I followed a threat.”
“She isn't a threat.”
Livia removed her sunglasses.
“You're certain?”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Talk.”
Livia glanced toward the house.
“Not here.”
“You're not walking inside.”
She sighed.
“Then you're going to regret this.”
Dominic stared.
“Try me.”
Livia's smile disappeared.
“There is a broker in Chicago who has been selling information about your family.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He knows Lily's schedule.”
Her expression changed.
“He knows where Norah goes.”
“And?”
“He knows about the pregnancy.”
Dominic's face became unreadable.
“Who?”
“Elias Vane.”
The name meant nothing to Norah when she later heard it.
But it meant something to Dominic.
He went still.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
“He died.”
“Three years ago.”
“Exactly.”
Livia shook her head.
“Someone has been using his identity.”
Dominic's phone buzzed.
A message.
One photograph.
Lily asleep in her bed.
Taken from inside the compound.
Dominic's hand tightened around the phone.
“Find the camera,” he ordered.
His men scattered.
Norah had never seen fear on Dominic.
Until that moment.
Not fear for himself.
For Lily.
For the unborn child.
For her.
The image had been taken through Lily's bedroom window.
There were no external access points.
Which meant the person who took it had been inside the house.
The investigation turned inward.
And that was when Dominic found the hidden ledger.
It was inside a vent beneath the east staircase.
A small black notebook.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
One name appeared again and again.
Maria.
Norah stared.
“No.”
Dominic didn't react.
“Do you trust her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she raised Lily when no one else stayed.”
Dominic turned a page.
The payments were not made to Maria.
They were made to a charity bearing her late husband's name.
Norah understood.
“She was laundering money through the charity.”
Dominic nodded.
“But the money wasn't going to her.”
He pointed to a final entry.
A code.
An address.
And a note.
The Mother and child must remain alive until transfer.
Norah's blood ran cold.
“Transfer?”
Dominic closed the book.
“Someone planned to take you.”
She stared.
“Me?”
“And the baby.”
Norah stepped backward.
“I should leave.”
Dominic looked at her.
“No.”
“I can't stay here.”
“This is the safest place.”
“This is the place they want me because they know I am here.”
He approached.
“And the street is safer?”
She said nothing.
“You leave this house and they will take you before you reach the corner.”
Norah's eyes filled.
“You can't keep me locked up.”
“I won't.”
“Then what?”
“I'll move you.”
“To where?”
“A place no one knows exists.”
She shook her head.
“And Lily?”
“Comes with us.”
They left that night.
The safe house was a converted lake cabin two hours outside the city.
No cameras.
No guards visible.
Only a steel gate hidden behind trees.
Norah stepped inside and felt something unfamiliar.
Quiet.
Real quiet.
Lily ran toward the windows.
“There's a lake!”
Dominic watched her.
Then he looked at Norah.
“You're staying here until this is over.”
She nodded.
For the first time, she believed him.
But there was one thing Dominic had not told her.
He had found Livia's financial records.
She had received a payment.
A large one.
From the same account that funded the surveillance operation.
Dominic confronted her alone.
“You sold my family.”
Livia's face went pale.
“I didn't know about the baby.”
“You knew enough.”
“I knew they wanted Norah.”
“Why?”
Livia looked away.
“They threatened me.”
“With what?”
“My daughter.”
Dominic froze.
“You have a daughter?”
Livia closed her eyes.
“She died at birth.”
His expression changed.
“She never told me.”
“She told me you would use my grief against me.”
“And did they?”
Livia nodded.
“They promised to expose everything.”
“Everything?”
She whispered, “Your father's old operation.”
Dominic understood.
The truth about the Russo empire had never started with him.
It had started with his father.
And there were people still alive who had helped build it.
People who knew the one secret Dominic had spent years burying.
That his father had not merely been a criminal.
He had been an informant.
He had built alliances by selling information to both sides.
And someone now wanted that information back.
Livia had been the weak link.
Not because she was greedy.
Because she was afraid.
Dominic left her alive.
But he stopped trusting everyone.
At the cabin, Norah woke from a nightmare.
She walked into the kitchen and found Dominic sitting alone.
“You're awake.”
“So are you.”
He looked at her.
“You should sleep.”
“I can't.”
She sat across from him.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to carry.”
“You keep saying that.”
He sighed.
“I'm trying to protect you.”
“You keep protecting me from the truth.”
He stared at her.
Then slowly, Dominic told her everything.
His father.
The informants.
The hidden files.
The enemies.
The reason the pregnancy had suddenly become so dangerous.
Norah listened.
When he finished, she whispered:
“They aren't after the baby because he's your heir.”
“No.”
“They are after him because they think he can unlock something.”
Dominic nodded.
“Something hidden in my father's records.”
Norah swallowed.
“Then we're not just hiding a child.”
“No.”
“We're hiding the key to a war.”
Dominic reached across the table.
His hand covered hers.
Norah looked down.
Neither moved.
Then the baby's tiny movement pressed against her palm.
Dominic felt it.
His expression softened.
“You felt that?”
She nodded.
He smiled.
It was the first real smile she had ever seen from him.
And for a few precious seconds, there was no mafia boss.
No rival cartel.
May you like
No war.
Only a man feeling his unborn child move beneath the hand of the woman he had already lost his heart to.
