Chapter 78

Dominic POV

“I want fifty percent of Guerrero territory like we originally discussed as well as a seat at your syndicate’s table. Permanently. Think about it and call me back.”

Dominic's jaw clenched at the words that continued to play in his head long after he’d hung up the phone.

It wasn’t just a steep demand, it was an open declaration of war and the bastard had chosen the perfect pressure point to make it happen.

Alek wanted a seat at the table.

Not as an ally, not as a partner, but as a co-ruler over the city. He wanted Dominic to hand over half the kingdom the moment he stepped foot in the State with the expectation that by the time he did, no one would dare question it. Least of all his Leonardo’s old circle.

He stood abruptly, pushing the chair he’d folded himself into after the phone call ended back with a screech across the patio outside of the hotel. The air out here still felt thick and humid, but it had nothing to do with the climate.

It was the weight of Alek’s words pressing down on him, suffocating and inescapable.

Dominic didn’t have any bargaining chips. No leverage. Nothing Alek wanted that didn’t already belong to him. He already had Gianna. He already had Aurora and was using her against him.

The Russian held all the cards and he knew it.

The worst part? The man knew he’d had Dominic right where he wanted. Alek knew he’d do anything without hesitation if it meant bringing Aurora home alive. He’d burn his legacy to the ground, walk away from every plan he and Romero had built from the ground up if that was what it took.

The moment her name entered the equation, nothing else mattered but that didn’t mean he was going to bend over without a fight.

Not yet.

He grabbed his phone from the table and redialed Alek. The Russian answered after a few rings, his voice as smug and infuriating as ever.

“Dominic. Ah, miss me already?”

“You think this is funny?” Dominic bit out.

“I think it is business,” Alek replied smoothly. “And you of all people should understand that. At least, that was my impression when you were in Russia.”

“You want your demands met? I want proof of life. How do I know she isn’t already dead?”

“She is being well taken care of. I assure you of that. They both are. Do you think I would so easily dispose of them when I know they can get me what I want?”

Dominic’s blood simmered. “Again, all you’re doing is talking. I’m not seeing any proof that you haven’t already stuffed them both in freezers and are planning on shipping them to Russia on a cargo plane just to fuck with me.”

“Agree and I will give her back to you. It is that simple.”

“And if I say no to this new set of terms? What then.”

There was a pause on the line.

Then, in a voice that lost all pretense of charm, Alek said, “Then I send her home to you in a box. Chopped up into little pieces in order to save me on shipping costs.”

Dominic went still, the silence around him now deafening.

“But as I keep telling you, she is perfectly safe. Untouched. Unharmed. I am not a monster, Dominic. I like my deals clean and civilized. And so long as you continue to entertain this negotiation, she will stay that way.”

Dominic shut his eyes. He could see her trapped, alone and scared, locking in a room with no windows and intimidatingly large guards outside of her door. He remembered the way she’d looked the last time he’d held her, half-asleep in bed, her lips curled into a smile when he brushed her hair off her face.

That memory burned hotter than the rage in his veins.

“Before I agree to anything, I want a meeting.” His voice came out like gravel. “You want a deal? Then I want to know she’s alive. Unharmed like you said. You give me that and I will say yes.”

Alek let out another laugh. “Always so demanding. But sure, I will humor you. Be back at the hotel they were staying at in three days. I am sure I do not have to tell you which one it is. You should know by now, yes? I will be there with her and then we can put this all to rest. Shake hands like real men and call it a good deal.”

“Fine.” He bit out.

“Excellent. I will see you then.”

The line went dead.

Dominic stared at the screen, the call ended message blinking back at him.

Three days… an entire lifetime away.

He tossed the phone onto the table in front of him and braced his arms on the edge of it, staring out across the parking lot and the cars slowly drifting by, their figures morphed by the rising heat.

If he turned, he knew he would see his reflection in the glass doors leading inside.

Predictably he knew he’d find the outline of a man torn between power and something far more dangerous. He didn’t look like the man he’d set out to become. The heir to Leonardo Guerrero. The Guerrero tactician. The future king of the city.

He looked like a man unraveling.

He’d always told himself Aurora was merely leverage, a pawn, but the truth was staring back at him with bright fluorescent lights. She had become something else, something dangerous. Someone who could destroy everything he had worked to build.

He hadn’t meant to fall for her.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened.

Maybe it had been the first time she fought back against him instead of flinching away like she usually did. Or the way she touched him like she saw the man beneath the carefully crafted mask, not just the heir to his father’s empire.

He supposed it didn’t matter how. What’s done was done and now Alek held her life in his hands.

Dominic knew the rules—you didn’t trade territory for a woman. You didn’t compromise your power over emotion. Weakness got you killed.

But he also knew this: he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her. He could rebuild an empire but he couldn’t bring her back from the dead.

Instead, he stared out at the dark city, its lights blinking like stars that had fallen and shattered across the pavement.

Let Alek think he’d won. Let him believe Dominic was cornered. Because if there was one thing Dominic had learned from his father, it was this: the best revenge wasn’t rage, it was patience.

Waiting until the very moment your enemy thought they had everything and then taking it all away.

Dominic would make sure the Russian never saw the sun rise again.