Chapter 1 - The Message Beneath the Wine Glass“Your check, Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic looked up.
For one second, Chloe thought he saw only the check presenter.
Then his eyes moved to hers.
The message was beneath it.
GUNMAN BEHIND YOU.
Everything changed.
Dominic didn't turn around.
That was what impressed Chloe later, when she replayed those three seconds in her mind.
He didn't flinch.
Didn't look over his shoulder.
Didn't grab the gun.
He simply lifted his wineglass.
And asked casually, “Did you enjoy your shift tonight, Chloe?”
Her heart stopped.
He was giving her an opportunity to walk away.
She nodded.
“Long.”
“Go to the kitchen.”
She froze.
He continued speaking in the same calm tone.
“Tell Sarah we need another bottle of Bordeaux.”
The words meant nothing.
But his eyes did.
Go.
Now.
Chloe turned.
She took two steps.
Then the gunman moved.
A chair scraped.
Dominic stood.
Everything happened in less than a second.
Leo knocked over a barstool.
Someone screamed.
The suppressed shot barely sounded.
Dominic ducked.
The bullet shattered the mirror behind him.
Chloe dropped instinctively behind a service cart.
Another shot.
Then three men from the kitchen rushed through the dining room.
The gunman ran.
Leo chased him through the back exit.
Dominic remained still for a moment.
Then his gaze found Chloe.
“Stay there.”
She obeyed.
Police arrived seven minutes later.
The gunman was gone.
But the restaurant camera had caught him.
So had Chloe.
Except when an officer asked what she saw, she discovered something frightening.
She couldn't describe his face.
She remembered his coat.
His hands.
His boots.
But his face?
Gone.
Blank.
As though her mind had intentionally deleted it.
Dominic watched her.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“What did you notice?”
Chloe thought.
“Green jacket.”
“Anything else?”
She shook her head.
Dominic dismissed the officers.
That made Chloe nervous.
“Shouldn't you file a report?”
“I will.”
“When?”
“After I know who I can trust.”
She stared at him.
“That's a terrible answer.”
One corner of his mouth moved.
“You're surprisingly brave.”
“I'm surprisingly broke.”
He looked at her hands.
The pen she'd used was still in her fingers.
“You saved my life with a dying pen.”
“I almost threw up.”
“You hid it well.”
“No, I didn't.”
He smiled.
It was the first time she had ever seen Dominic Moretti smile.
It made him more dangerous.
Not less.
He reached for his phone.
“What time do you finish?”
“Midnight.”
“You're not going home alone.”
“I always go home alone.”
“Not tonight.”
She folded her arms.
“You can't order me around.”
“I can.”
“That's not charming.”
“I wasn't trying to be charming.”
Leo returned.
The gunman had escaped.
Dominic looked at him.
“Anything?”
“Driver waited two blocks away.”
“Plate?”
“Stolen.”
Dominic nodded.
Then looked back at Chloe.
“Come with me.”
She laughed.
“No.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“No?”
“I don't get into black SUVs with men who've just been shot at.”
“You're not afraid of me?”
“I am.”
He looked almost amused.
“Then you're smarter than most people.”
He handed her a business card.
Nothing on it except a number.
“If anything happens, call.”
She took it.
The next morning, Chloe woke to a knock at her apartment.
Three men stood in the hallway.
They said nothing.
One handed her an envelope.
Inside was her mother's overdue hospital bill.
Paid.
Every dollar.
At the bottom was a note.
You saved my life. Let me return the favor. —D
Chloe stared at it.
Then her phone rang.
Dominic.
“You didn't have to pay that.”
“I know.”
“You can't just solve people's problems.”
“I can't.”
“Then why?”
“Because I wanted to.”
She sighed.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“No.”
A pause.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“Your mother wasn't supposed to have died with unpaid bills.”
Chloe's stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean someone accessed her medical records before she died.”
“What?”
“Someone changed them.”
She sat down.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“How do you know?”
“I had someone look.”
Chloe stared at the wall.
Her mother had died three months ago.
She had spent every night wondering whether she had missed something.
Now Dominic Moretti was telling her somebody might have interfered with her care.
“Who?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because I think the man who tried to kill me tonight is connected.”
Chloe went cold.
“What does that have to do with my mother?”
“I don't know.”
That answer frightened her more than certainty.
Dominic continued.
“But I think you do.”
“I've never met him.”
“You may have.”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
Her mother had always been secretive about one period of her life.
Boston.
Before Chloe was born.
She had never explained it.
Chloe had assumed it was because of an old relationship.
Now she wondered.
“Dominic?”
“Yes?”
“My mother used to work in Boston.”
He went silent.
“Doing what?”
“She said she was a housekeeper.”
Another pause.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she ever mention a name?”
Chloe thought.
Then remembered.
One name.
A name her mother had once written inside an old recipe book.
Moretti.
She swallowed.
“Dominic?”
“Yes.”
“My mother knew your family.”
The silence on the phone lasted five seconds.
Then Dominic said:
“I know.”
Chloe froze.
“You knew?”
“I didn't know it was your mother.”
“How?”
“Because your mother once saved my father's life.”
Chloe's heart slammed.
“What?”
“She worked for us.”
“Worked for your family?”
“Yes.”
“Doing what?”
Dominic's voice changed.
“She wasn't a housekeeper.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
“What was she?”
“She was my father's accountant.”
That single sentence opened a door neither of them had expected.
May you like
And behind it was a secret twenty years old.
A secret that someone had just killed to protect.
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