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DOMINIC

After getting into a heated fight with his father, Dominic brought Claudia back to the estate so he could talk to his men privately about business. To figure out how to get out of this mess, he called them all ten miles away to their hideout. Now, not only was his life in danger, but so was Claudia's. This was their fallout.

All of their enemies and families who were originally against them would soon find out about their fake wedding. People will chase after them.

There was a large audience in the room with Dominic, all eyes on him. He wouldn't feel jealous if he were anyone else in the crowd. However, he was born this way, and there was nothing he could do to change that. He had to make the best of this situation. He drove himself here on his own. Just him. He was the one who thought it would be a good idea to create such an awful contract. He should have been wiser. He should have been able to see through this nonsense and laugh at how ridiculous it was.

Was it too much to think he'd have to marry someone he didn't love? Should he have made this marriage to Irene happen?

He groaned.

Both of those were really stupid questions. He now knew better than to try to put out a fire with another fire. It was a simple idea, but it was right on the money. Using fire to fight fire would, at best, destroy a home. Someone he cared about and even loved was staying at his property. And that might have been the worst part of everything. He kept thinking about Claudia because she was the one he had dragged into this. He couldn't care less about himself at the moment. Dominic's only goal was to make sure she was safe.

"All right," he addressed the group of guys in the room. "As I told you before, I've brought you all here today to take responsibility for what happened. Only some of you knew about Claudia and our fake wedding."

Emiliano, Dominic's newest guard, said, "It's okay, boss," from the back. "Let us help you."

Dominic gritted his teeth in frustration at being interrupted. This was his chance to set the record straight and make things right. He asked the person who had spoken, "Did I tell you to speak?"

Blinking and shaking his head, Emiliano reacted. "No, sir."

"I don't like it when people talk over me, and that's something you should know. Do you understand?"

The guard stood up straight and gave a small nod. "Yes, sir."

Dominic turned back to the group. He folded his hands in his lap, took a big breath, and looked across the room. "I won't say I didn't do it or try to hide it. I did what was necessary. I did not like Irene Guarini enough to want to marry her. No one has the right to force us to marry. And I think it's a load of crap that my dad wants me to do that. So, against my better judgment, I agreed to work with Claudia and signed a contract. I talked her into coming to live with me and acting like she was going to be my wife. It was a bad idea, but I had to leave an unfavorable union with someone I couldn't stand."

Dominic kept going while watching his guards.

"I take full responsibility for everything that has gone wrong. We must decide what to do next now that everything's public. We're going to do exactly that. You only need to think about yourself. Always keep an eye out. You should trust your intuition if you suspect someone is being shady. Now is not the time to keep your mouth shut. This is no time to relax. Nobody should have to marry to combine households. I still believe that. Yes, we're fighting the other family, but that's life. Is everyone understanding me? We must take their threats seriously."

It was intimidating to lecture a group of outlaws. Most of them bore firm looks. They never got rid of that empty expression. In their culture, this was how they lived. They were not meant to feel anything. They had to stay quiet, do their jobs, and keep their feelings in check, or they would blow up. Dominic stood at his desk alone once everyone else left.

Wow, did he feel the whole universe pressing down on him? It was cliché to say that the world rested on his shoulders, but it was true. During warfare, he ignored both himself and his men. With each passing second, Claudia was the sole object of his attention. Involving her in this conflict devastated him.

Dominic sulked in his work area. He was never the kind of person who liked to beat himself up and do little to get himself out of a jam. He wasn't the type to feel sorry for himself or concentrate on bad things. In this case, he was put under restrictions without his permission or understanding.

He didn't have much time to think about what to do. There wasn't enough time. Because the sounds of blasts outside at the main entrance were ruining his mood. For a short moment, he couldn't figure out what was going on. He could hear big blasts. He could feel them in his chest as he crouched under his desk, but the booms didn't feel real. They appeared like something out of a dream or a hallucination.

After a few moments of being confused, Dominic got up and went to the window to look out. Outside, there were a dozen black cars, and he knew they weren't police cars. The windows were all covered up. A bullet broke the window next to him, making it hard for him to see what was going on. Almost for certain, he saw the hole go through the glass. It had come up on him slowly. Small pieces of glass were falling on his body.

Even though he had fallen just a few seconds before, he couldn't remember doing that. But he already had his feet on the ground. After he came to this decision, he took a good look at himself. He had to look to see if he was hurt. He couldn't see any wounds or blood, so he knew he was okay.

Dominic moved slowly across the floor as shots went off. He tried to make as little of an effect as possible as if he were at war in another country. He was quick to breathe. He had never been so worried about dropping anything before and revealing where he was. What made him move his elbows across the broken glass was the woman he respected. He longed for just one more look at Claudia. All he wanted was to wake up next to her and kiss those lips again in the morning. This was a fascinating sentiment. But it only did one thing for him: the thought of her alive kept him crawling. So how could he say anything against it?

The door opened when he gently touched the lock. At this point, he went into the dark hole. He still wasn't up on his hands and knees. The sound of the gunshots was getting louder, and it was drawing close. He thought about what he could do, and in the end, he chose to pull out his handgun. As the machine gun fire got closer, it made his gun worthless.

In the building, the room next to the janitor's closet had a fake bookcase that led to a hidden compartment with weapons. Down the hall was where the door was. Dominic was closer to the end. The scariest thing was that whoever was shooting at everybody knew exactly where this meeting took place.

There was a spy among them—someone who leaked the information.

Dominic was on all fours as he crawled to the janitor's area. His mind was full of a million things. He stood up for the first time since he got to his office and opened the door. Glass shards went through the tips of his fingers and hands. It looked like he stuck his hand into a bowl of ketchup. The entire place radiated with crimson. He had no idea how he had gotten through the glass.

He found the hidden spot where weapons were kept and took out a machine gun. And that was all he needed to make himself feel better. He ran as fast as he could to the main door after leaving the room. He wasn't going to let his men handle this act by themselves; they needed to see their boss get up and help. When he got closer to his crew, the cars had already left, and most of his men were lying on the ground, hurt but still alive.

A message was sent.

"Is everyone all right?" Dominic asked, already knowing the answer.

It was hard to hear anything because of how loud the crowd was. He didn't intend to be absent. His mind was going so fast that it was scary. Everything looked like it was ready in a flash. Then he realized that it wasn't the time to ask questions but to help people who were in trouble. Find out what's going on with Claudia, the woman who meant the world to him. He realized at that moment that he loved her. He truly loved her and had to check to make sure she was okay.

"I have to go check up on Claudia." That line seemed to ruin everything he had accomplished as a leader, but he didn't care. He quickly ran to his car.

Dominic had no idea that openly carrying his machine gun was making it obvious what he was about to do. He knew the police were coming after hearing all that shooting, but he still left.

Not a soul came after him. Neither his men nor any of the local law enforcement were driving behind him. While speeding, that was the one thing that made him feel better. Everything was now a disaster. He imagined the worst possible outcomes involving Claudia. He worried that someone had killed her. He dreaded returning home to see her lifeless body on the floor. All because of an absurd contract?

Just how naive could I be? Bringing her into this world was a mistake. Why couldn't I have done a better job?

He knew his ego was silly at a time like this.

While internally criticizing his driving in this particular circumstance, Dominic did run a few red lights. He broke the speed limit and drove faster. He hoped Claudia was all right and watching TV. He once thought her fascination with reality TV was silly, but he realized it was entertaining for her. She found it amusing to watch ordinary people put on a show for the world. He found it interesting that she was never drawn into the Mafia lifestyle like so many others.

He returned to his house at last. Looking at his home from the street, Dominic got the impression that it was empty. It was because he was absent-minded in his emotional state. He could have been on his way to an ambush. There were no cars parked on the street, which was good. On the one hand, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. In reality, that was a pleasant turn of events. Where, though, was his Lamborghini? Was this all a set-up?

Dominic grabbed his weapons from the trunk. He was all set to face whatever was beyond the foyer. This time, enemies wouldn't catch him off guard; he'd be the one to catch them by surprise.

He put his key in since the door was still locked. Yet there was silence when he stepped inside. Nobody was around and everything was still in order. He went room by room, checking out the furnishings and the windows. Nothing.

"Dia?" he called, and there was no answer. "Hello?"

Certainly, it was a relief not to be shot at when he entered his house. But where on Earth was Claudia?

Dominic hoped that nobody kidnapped her because he would wreak havoc on anyone who got in his way. That was a fact, and he intended to fulfill it.  

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