Chapter 15 - THE SECOND SHOT|
Dominic caught Emily before her head struck the platform.
Blood spread across the shoulder of her coat.
“Emily! Look at me!”
Her eyes fluttered.
“Rose?”
“She's safe,” he said desperately. “She's at home. She's safe.”
Emily tried to smile.
“Thank God.”
Marcus shouted into his radio while two guards rushed toward the far end of the platform. The attacker had vanished into the darkness.
Dominic pressed his hand against Emily's wound.
“Stay with me.”
She gripped his wrist.
“Don't take me to a public hospital.”
“I'm taking you somewhere with doctors.”
“Dominic, please.”
He stared at her, torn between fury and terror.
“Why?”
“Because they have people everywhere.”
Marcus returned.
“The shooter escaped through the service tunnel. We found a vehicle outside, but it's empty.”
Dominic looked at Emily.
“Where can we take her?”
She whispered an address on the north side of Chicago.
An hour later, Emily was being treated in a private clinic operated by a physician Dominic trusted. The bullet had passed through her shoulder without striking a major artery.
The doctor assured Dominic that she would recover.
Only then did Dominic allow himself to sit.
Emily opened her eyes.
He stood immediately.
“Don't move.”
She gave him a tired smile.
“You still sound like you're ordering the entire world around.”
“And you still have a talent for disappearing.”
Her smile faded.
“I'm sorry.”
Dominic looked at her for a long time.
“Tell me everything.”
Emily explained that after discovering the Circle's accounts, she had tried to leave Chicago with Rose. The highway accident had been staged to kill her, but a paramedic who had once worked for her father recognized her and helped her escape before the second vehicle arrived.
She had spent months recovering under a false identity.
When she tried to contact Dominic, she learned that Anthony had threatened to kill Rose if Emily returned.
“So you stayed away,” Dominic said.
“I thought I could destroy the Circle from the outside.”
“You could have told me.”
“I tried. Every message I sent was intercepted. Then I discovered that someone inside your organization was feeding Anthony information.”
“Robert?”
“Not at first. I believed it was Serena.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“She was working for Anthony.”
“She was. But she was also trying to protect Daniel. She told me once that she wanted out.”
“Why didn't she help you?”
“Because Anthony had her brother.”
Dominic paced beside the bed.
“And the photograph with Rose?”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“I watched her from a distance. I couldn't approach her without exposing her location.”
“You let her believe she was seeing ghosts.”
“I know.”
Dominic looked away.
He wanted to forgive Emily. He wanted to hold her and never let her leave again.
But he also wanted to scream at her for making decisions that had cost their daughter years of confusion and grief.
Emily reached for his hand.
“I didn't stop loving you.”
He looked at her.
“Love isn't the question. Trust is.”
She nodded, accepting the pain of his words.
“I know.”
Before he could say more, Marcus entered carrying a tablet.
“We recovered the attacker's vehicle. The plates were registered to a security company owned by Victor Sloane.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Can you prove Victor ordered the shooting?”
“Not yet. But we found a phone in the vehicle.”
Marcus played a recording.
Victor's voice was unmistakable.
“Once Emily is gone, the girl becomes the only remaining witness. Get her to the safe house before midnight.”
Another voice answered.
“And Dominic?”
Victor replied coldly.
“He'll do what he's always done. He'll protect the family name instead of the truth.”
Dominic stopped the recording.
“Send copies to the federal investigators.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Are you sure?”
Dominic looked at Emily.
For years, he had protected his empire by keeping its secrets buried.
Now he understood that every buried secret had become another weapon in someone else's hands.
“I'm sure.”
Emily squeezed his hand.
Then Marcus's tablet chimed with an incoming message.
A photograph appeared.
Rose was standing in the mansion's garden, surrounded by security officers.
Behind them, a black vehicle had stopped at the gate.
A man stepped out.
May you like
Daniel Carter.
And beside him was Serena.
