Chapter 74

Dominic POV

Days passed by with a dull, relentless ache in Dominic’s chest. One he refused to name, even in the privacy of his own mind.

The twins had been working overtime, scouring border records, combing through hours of surveillance footage, bribing anyone who owed the Guerreros’ favors in order to into every possible lead like bloodhounds on a scent.

Dominic didn’t sleep much, he barely ate. Every hour without Aurora, without knowing she was safe, stretched time like a wire being pulled taut, ready to snap at any moment.

It wasn’t until a week after their disappearance that his phone lit up with a number he recognized immediately.

Alek.

Dominic stared at the screen as it buzzed on the table in front of him. The Russian had called before, left vague messages he was uninterested in entertaining by returning the call. They were always in that bastard's smug voice, muttering some variation of “let’s talk about our arrangement”.

The only thing those voicemails solidified, and the one silver lining in all of this, was that Alek had no idea the girls had smuggled themselves out of the country, let alone were no longer in Dominic’s custody.

He wasn’t playing Alek’s game. Not when they had to be close to finding the girls. It was only a matter of time before they were tracked and located, even in as big of a country as Mexico. Two American women with no formal Spanish training meant they’d stick out like sore thumbs sooner or later.

So, Dominic let it ring until it cut to voicemail.

Not five minutes later, the twins came to him with their laptops and a whole lot of documents pulled up on their screens. They were placed on the table in front of him, one screen having a folder already pulled up with grainy CCTV stills.

“There,” Luca said, stabbing a finger toward the screen. “That is them. Hotel Gran Vista. About forty minutes from the airport in Tulum. Checked in under fake names. Their passport documents were good. Very legit looking. We matched them through facial software from the airport.”

Dominic leaned forward, his pulse jumping. The image was slightly blurred, but Aurora’s face was unmistakable. She wore a baseball cap pulled low and sunglasses, but her posture, the curve of her mouth and even the tension in her shoulders… he recognized it immediately. Gianna was right behind her, looking equally nervous, holding the strap of her duffel bag with one hand while a suitcase was rolled behind her using the other.

“They’re still there?” Dominic asked, running a finger over the trackpad to forward through the stills taken. Various shots of Aurora and Gianna walking up to a hotel concierge, passing what looked like ID over and then a credit card. Keys exchanged and then they were moving across the lobby and over to an elevator.

“Yes. Hotel records show no check-out,” Marco confirmed. “The staff hasn’t reported any disturbances. Seems like they are really laying low.”

Dominic didn’t waste another second, he shoved back from the table, already pulling out his phone to call up the hanger to get his father’s jet ready.

When Romero appeared in the room, it was like a shadow sliding across sunlight darkening everything around them. He stood in front of the door, blocking the one path that would allow Dominic to leave this place, climb into one of the cars parked out back, and get to the hanger right as the crew would most likely be pulling up.

Though, as he took a step towards Romero, the man refused to move. “You’re not going.”

Dominic only stopped long enough to give his second a cursory glance. “Move.”

“No, Dominic.”

Dominic didn’t stop moving. “If you don’t get out of my way, I will make sure you regret that decision.”

“You’re not going.” He repeated.

“I’m not asking for permission.”

“I’m also not giving you a choice,” Romero snapped. “You walk out that door, you walk away from everything we’ve built. From this empire that we are trying to forge from the ashes of what your father left behind. From all of us. Is that what you really want? To choose a woman over your own family?”

Romero’s words lit a bitter anger in him, the flames of which were fanned hot and bright when he still refused to move away from the door. How ironic that he considered this the first time Dominic had chosen a woman—Aurora, specifically—over his own selfish interests.

This wasn’t the first time, let alone the second or third. Little did Romero know, this was merely a small piece of the choices he had made in order to secure a life with Aurora, whether he had been aware at the time or not.

Oftentimes he found himself reminiscing about his past with her, and of their tumultuous relationship before they had finally begun to see eye-to-eye, the little details he’d overlooked that he was soon forced to examine deeply now with so much time on his hands as she remained missing. Events where he believed he had acted out of pure self interest but in turn were in fact beneficial to her too. Protecting her from not only his father but from Theo when he didn’t have to, taking her away from her abusive father and making sure he never laid a hand on her again.

None of that could be confused as self-serving. Deep down, he’d done all of that in order to keep her safe.

His father’s death relieved her of her mission to help him, yet he’d convinced her to marry him anyway. Not for some grand master plan, but because he wanted to keep her close.

He wanted her all for himself.

Romero accused him of choosing a woman over his own family at this moment but in reality, he’d been choosing Aurora far longer than that.

He’d been choosing her over and over again without apology.

And he wasn’t about to stop doing so now.

“Yes.”

Romero’s eyes went wide for a second before his expression tempered back down into anger. “What has happened to you? Because I sure as hell don’t recognize you as the man I’ve been following for the last ten years. The Dominic Guerrero I know wouldn’t chase after someone who left the she got the chance to. He’d cut his losses and be done with it”

“She was talked into it. She wouldn’t have left of her own accord.”

Romero’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not what the documents they had on them said. This was all a plan from the start. This took time… it wasn’t some spur of the moment decision on her part.”

Dominic stepped forward, fists clenched at his sides. “Either way, I intend to get her back. You or anyone else, will regret standing in my way. Do you understand me? I will take you out if I have to.”

“Gentlemen,” Luca appeared between them, his hands outstretched towards both of their chests. “Emotions are high right now. Let us not say things we don’t mean. No need for this situation to get out of hand.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind,” Romero spat. “You’re willing to torch everything we’ve worked for, every deal, every alliance, just because you enjoy putting her on her back and spreading her legs?”

Dominic didn’t flinch. “Move, Romero.”

He shook his head. “She is a tool. That’s all she’s good for. Building a life with her is pointless when—”

“I love her.”

Silence fell like a hammer.

Luca blinked at him, his jaw slackening. Even Romero flinched back like he’d been hit. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. Hell, he hadn’t even known that this was the feeling that had been overwhelming him for the past week now until the moment it passed through his lips.

But it was true.

He loved her. He loved her fire, her fight, her ability to smile even when the world was burning around her. He loved that she challenged him, that she didn’t flinch when he bared the ugliest parts of himself. He loved her despite the chaos she’d caused and maybe because of it.

Romero’s voice was low, stunned. “You… what?”

“I love her,” Dominic said again, firmer this time.

“She’s a Caruso, Dominic.”

“I know,” he replied. “And I don’t care.”

Romero stared at him, breathing hard, shoulders tense. His eyes were full of disbelief and something darker: hurt. “They helped kill our friends… her family is the sole reason that they are both dead.”

“I know.”

“If you walk out that door,” Romero said after a long moment, “you’re choosing her over us. There’s no going back after that.”

Years of blood and loyalty, nights spent watching each other’s backs, the weight of everything they’d built—everything they’d survived together—hung between them like a blade held to the soft juncture of a throat. Ready to bear down and slice at the delicate skin until red spilled.

Dominic looked at Romero and felt the ache in his chest bloom into something heavy. If he walked out that door, he wasn’t just walking away from a business. He was walking away from his brother.

But the thought of letting Aurora go, allowing her to live in a foreign country away from him where he could no longer protect her was worse. He couldn’t live with that. It would slowly rot at him until it eventually killed him.

So, Dominic moved toward the door again, pausing only long enough for Romero to slowly step out of the way. His second said nothing as he opened it, the fresh air from outside hitting him immediately.

This was it—no turning back now.

His footsteps pattered softly against the asphalt as he walked to one of the cars, each one heavier than the last. But he didn’t look back.

Not this time.