Chapter 17

Dominic POV

Last night was unexpected. More so than he ever could have imagined.

After tossing Theo out into the hallway, bloody and beaten, Dominic had the unmistakable urge to gather Aurora up into his arms, watch her as her senses were dulled by exhaustion and the lingering traces of the drug that had been used against her.

She had trusted him, leaned into him when she’d drifted in and out of consciousness all night, trusted him to take care of her in a way that made something deep inside his gut tighten—an unfamiliar emotion he refused to name.

But those moments between them could only last for so long before reality set in, this time in the form of a knock at the door.

Opening the door, Romero stood with a stoic expression, nothing betraying his thoughts aside from his gaze flickering over Dominic’s shoulder to the occupied bed for a second.

He didn’t even blink at the sight of them caught behind closed doors together, or comment on how unkempt Aurora’s appearance was.

Professional. Efficient. Always mindful of the situation.

Romero had been with Dominic long enough to understand when to ask questions and when to simply adapt. Still, Dominic saw the way his expression hardened for half a second before he masked it.

“Leonardo is awake,” Romero said smoothly. “He’s asking for you.”

Dominic exhaled, slow and measured, running a hand over his face before nodding.

His father waking so soon after being shot wasn’t that much of a surprise. That man could hardly ever be kept down, even with a bullet lodged into the left side of his body.

“I see,” Dominic said, already slipping out of the doorway and into the hall. “Take her home. She doesn’t need to be here any longer than necessary.”

Romero’s lips pressed into a thin line, but he nodded. “Understood.”

He didn’t agree, but he obeyed nonetheless. The sign of a well-trained right hand.

A valuable asset to have in this kind of political climate.

Leonardo had been sat up in the makeshift bed, an IV hooked up to his arm while his free hand rested against his ribs, hovering over the bandages that Dominic knew were hidden beneath his shirt.

He had color to his face again, along with more life to his eyes than when Dominic had dragged him up to the penthouse yesterday. A far cry from how close to death’s door he’d come during the shoot out before a doctor had pulled him back from the brink.

He looked tired, but not weak. Never weak.

“What is this I hear about Aurora being ill?” Leonardo asked, his tone deceptively mild.

While he had the opportunity to lie to his father about what really happened to Aurora the night before, there was hardly any benefit in hiding the truth from him. One way or another, Leonardo was guaranteed to find out, the only question was from who.

Keeping the situation covered up would only mean having to deal with it later on and by that point, it was likely to blow up in all of their faces. With other women, Leonardo had hardly shown any kind of care in the extra affairs they engaged in behind his back.

Why would he when he did much the same in his own spare time?

However, something strange had happened the moment he’d laid eyes on Aurora. As if meeting her for the first time that night at dinner had changed something in him, created a strange kind of obsession where Leonardo believed she belonged to only him.

While nothing actually happened between her and Theo, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t spike his father’s jealousy any less.

“She had a run in with Theo,” Dominic replied. “Apparently he wanted to humiliate her by giving her a drug to knock her out. For what purpose, he has yet to give a straight answer.”

Though, by now they both knew the real why behind Theo’s actions. It was quite obvious just as the man’s intentions had been every other time Dominic had caught him alone with Aurora.

Leonardo exhaled, dragging a hand over his chin. His irritation was evident, barely contained while his eyes shifted over to the door. “Bring him in here, I want him to answer for what he’s done.”

It didn’t take long for the man in question to be dragged from the other bedroom he’d been kept in since being beaten and into this one by two of Leonardo’s men. While his face was no longer bleeding in spots, it was bruised and disfigured.

In the light, it looked worse than Dominic remembered it being, though that could also be from the swelling too. If he had more time last night, he doubted Theo would have walked away from that confrontation alive. He was lucky Dominic had stopped himself right before he went too far in order to check on Aurora.

The man’s footsteps were hesitant unlike his usual arrogant stride. He knew he had fucked up and was now about to face the consequences, whatever they may be.

Leonardo sighed, rubbing his temple. “Come here.”

Theo obeyed immediately, stepping forward. “Boss, I—”

Leonardo raised a hand, shutting him up instantly. There was a long pause while his father took in the ugly sight of the beating that had taken place, a slight curl to his lips as he fought the scowl that was desperately trying to make its way onto his face.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know Theo had already been dealt with. Thoroughly.

“Kneel,” Leonardo said flatly.

The moment the man’s knees hit the floor, the tension in the room shifted. Leonardo could be ruthless, but he wasn’t impulsive. He wouldn’t kill Theo for this—not over an affair that had clearly already been dealt with.

Nothing had actually happened, and as predicted, Theo’s life would be spared. But only out of sheer luck.

Dominic had a feeling that if this situation had happened any differently, not even Leonardo’s bond with Theo’s father, the Consigliere, would be strong enough to stop him from being beaten, maybe even killed. Not in honor of protecting Aurora and her dignity, but because what had been Leonardo’s property had been taken from him before he could have it himself.

That was how it worked in their world. Women were nothing more than things to own and use until they were no longer useful. Discarded like ruined investments with no seconds thoughts.

That realization curled inside him like something dangerous—something personal. It made his hands itch to finish what he had started last night, to take Theo’s life and erase him from the world completely.

But not now.

Not here.

Because even though Leonardo was angry, he wouldn’t allow for Dominic to kill his right-hand man’s son over something like this. Which meant Dominic would have to wait for the right moment to strike.

This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

Leonardo sat back against the bed frame behind him, watching Theo kneel next to the bed.

“What do you think,” he said slowly, almost bored, “I should’ve done if my bride-to-be had been tainted by another man’s hands?”

Theo visibly tensed.

There was a long beat of silence before Leonardo spoke again.

“You are lucky someone else punished you before I did. This is the only warning you will receive. Don’t make the same mistake twice.”

Theo bowed his head deeply, practically pressing his forehead to the carpet. “Yes, sir.”

“Get out of my sight.”

Aurora POV

My hands grip the sheets around me as I watch Dominic’s figure disappear around the corner of the doorway, leaving me alone with Romero and his cold, calculating gaze that sweeps over me.

His face is devoid of emotion. He doesn’t greet me, doesn’t waste time with pleasantries. Instead, he simply steps into the room, his presence looming while his body language makes it painfully clear that I am beneath him.

“I’ll say this once: stay away from Dominic.” His voice is flat. Empty. A warning wrapped in ice.

I swallow hard, keeping my expression as neutral as I can despite the way my heart pounds. I expected a warning like this to come eventually, knew it would given the moment I was left by myself again without Dominic around to act as the buffer.

And yet, hearing it out loud feels different. It feels way scarier than I thought it would. Trapped in a room with one of Dominic’s men shouldn’t scare the shit out of me like this, yet the longer Romero stands in the doorway, blocking my only exit, I’m left feeling completely vulnerable.

At his mercy.

I force myself to stay calm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Romero doesn’t buy it for a second.

He takes another step closer, the air between us growing tense, his stare sharp enough to cut through me and see down to the very essence of my soul.

“I don’t care what you think is happening between you two,” he continues. “But it stops. Now. He has too much he has to deal with right now. You are a distraction he doesn’t need.”

I grit my teeth, anger flickering through me. “What happens between Dominic and me is none of your business.”

Romero’s expression doesn’t change. “As I said, whatever you think is going on between you, isn’t. You are just a pawn tangled in a game you have absolutely no way of winning. Mind your place.”

I exhale slowly, refusing to look away. “And what happens if I don’t listen?”

Romero’s lips curve into something that isn’t quite a smile. It’s something much more sinister. “Then you will live to regret it.”

A cold chill slides down my spine. “Is that a threat?”

Romero shrugs, turning to head back for the hallway. He stops only when he reaches it.

“No,” he says over his shoulder. “It’s a promise.”

Then, without another word, he walks away, leaving me alone while my mind races.