Chapter 4 - The Cleaning Lady Disappeared With the One File That Could Destroy the Cross Family—And Dominic Realized He Would Rather Lose His Empire Than Lose HerNora had one rule.
Never trust anyone who says they can protect you.
Her father had trusted someone.
He died.
Her mother had trusted someone.
She died.
Nora had trusted Dominic.
Now she wasn't sure whether that had been another mistake.
She went to her apartment.
It was empty.
The door was unlocked.
Her files were untouched.
Her clothes were untouched.
But the floor had been searched.
Someone wanted the hidden file.
She knew where it was.
Inside an old suitcase beneath the bed.
She opened it.
Nothing.
Gone.
Her stomach dropped.
A note remained.
You don't know what you stole.
Nora sat down.
She had never stolen anything.
Then she remembered.
The first day Dominic offered her the contract.
He had given her access to old shipping records.
Maybe that's what they meant.
Her father had left something.
A ledger.
She just hadn't known.
A phone rang.
Unknown.
She answered.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Hale.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who wants you alive.”
“Where's the file?”
“You don't have it.”
She froze.
“Then what do you want?”
“You.”
She hung up.
Then the lights went out.
Someone entered.
Nora ran.
She reached the stairwell.
A hand grabbed her.
She fought.
Screamed.
Then someone pulled the attacker away.
Dominic.
He had found her.
She stared.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving your life.”
“I don't need saving.”
“Clearly.”
She looked at him.
“I left your world.”
“You were kidnapped in your apartment.”
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He stared.
“Because I couldn't stop.”
She went quiet.
He handed her a coat.
“Come home.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“You lied.”
“When?”
“You knew my father.”
“I didn't.”
“You knew his name.”
“I knew the company.”
“That's not better.”
Dominic sighed.
“I found the records after you disappeared.”
She stared.
“What did they say?”
“That your father was a whistleblower.”
“And?”
“He saved evidence.”
“Where?”
Dominic didn't answer.
Nora understood.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I needed to be sure.”
“You needed to be sure while someone hunted me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
She laughed.
“Everyone says that.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Then let me be different.”
He took her back to the estate.
Not the mansion.
A secure residence.
Nora refused to sleep there.
He gave her a private room.
No locks from outside.
No guards in the hallway.
No conditions.
She began reading.
The file was not what they expected.
It contained shipping manifests.
Payments.
Names.
But the final pages revealed something huge.
The Cross family wasn't the original organization.
They had inherited it.
The real network belonged to an international group called The Meridian Circle.
Dominic's family was one branch.
Helena was only a regional administrator.
Someone above her controlled everything.
Nora looked at Dominic.
“Your family wasn't the top.”
“No.”
“Who is?”
“We don't know.”
The file contained a symbol.
A black compass.
Nora recognized it.
“My father drew this.”
“Where?”
“In his notebook.”
She remembered.
A child.
A kitchen table.
Her father drawing maps.
He had told her:
“If you ever see this symbol, run.”
She had never understood.
Now she did.
The Meridian Circle had survived.
They had been watching Dominic.
They had used Helena.
Used his family.
And they wanted the ledger.
Nora asked:
“Why me?”
“Because your father left it for you.”
“What?”
“He believed you'd survive.”
She looked down.
A small metal key had been stitched into the notebook.
Nora had carried it for years.
She never knew what it opened.
They searched the estate.
The key fit an old safe in Dominic's father's office.
Inside—
a second ledger.
A letter.
And a photograph.
Nora's father.
Dominic's father.
Helena.
All three standing together.
Nora stared.
“They knew each other.”
Dominic nodded.
“Years before us.”
The letter was addressed to Dominic.
My son,
If Nora Hale ever comes to you, protect her.
He stopped reading.
Nora took the letter.
The rest said:
Her father paid the price for trying to expose us.
Do not let his daughter pay too.
Dominic looked at Nora.
His father had known she might one day appear.
He had predicted it.
Then another line:
If you love her, leave the empire.
Silence.
Nora looked up.
“What?”
Dominic's face had gone pale.
His father had written the words twenty years earlier.
The empire was doomed.
The only way to survive was to walk away.
Dominic looked at Nora.
“I think my father knew you would become important to me.”
She shook her head.
“This isn't romantic.”
“I know.”
“It's terrifying.”
“I know.”
She stared at the photograph.
Then noticed something.
A date.
The photograph was taken three months before her father died.
And someone had written on the back:
THE CHILDREN MUST NEVER KNOW.
Nora looked at Dominic.
“Children?”
He frowned.
“What children?”
She turned the photo over.
There were two names.
Dominic.
Nora.
Both had been written as unborn children.
Their fathers had known.
Their families had planned something.
Something involving them.
May you like
The past had been waiting for them to meet.
And now Dominic understood why.
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