Chapter 94: Chapter 94
Dominic’s lips curved as he scrolled through the pictures Celeste sent. Every picture was a sultry echo of what he’d done to her in her office. It was a teasing reminder meant to haunt him, and it made him chuckle.
One image captured only her collarbone. The lighting and angle of the snap made it almost indecent in its simplicity. Another was a short video, where her delicate fingers trailed down the soft valley of her breasts. Her movement was slow enough to make his breath catch.
Another snap was a full-length mirror shot. She wore nothing but a scrap of black lace. Her gaze on the camera dared him to imagine the rest.
He stared at the pictures and videos for a moment too long. His jaw was tight as his thumb hovered over the screen.
If she was out to tempt him, she’d won. No reply he could type would match the message she’d already sent.
He shut his eyes, leaning back in his chair, as he allowed the images sink into his mind. Even the screen couldn’t stop him.
A silent sound sliced disturbed his quiet moment. The sound was not loud. It was almost invisible, but the shift of weight, and the whisper of a shoe against the carpet, was almost invisible, but made a wrong move for him to ignore. The step was distant, but wrong.
His eyes opened sharply.
Stillness filled the office. He knew this space better than anyone. He knew the shadows, its corners, and the way the air shifted when the AC kicked in. This wasn’t that.
The phone went dark in his hand. He set it face down on the desk. His fingers were already curling toward the control pad for the lights. He silently pressed the button of his control pad, and the room plunged into darkness.
The city lights spilling in from the wide glass windows weren’t enough to reveal more than vague shapes. Dominic relaxed a bit. He didn’t need sight. He knew this office, and whoever this intruder was didn’t.
He moved without a sound. Dominic slid his chair back, just enough to free his legs. His hand found the hidden gun beneath the desk.
The cold metal of his pistol met his palm. Next to it, his fingers curled around the handle of a screwdriver. It was well weighted, balanced, and sharpened just for moments like this.
He stepped out from behind the desk. His breathing was slow, with his eyes fixed on the faint disturbance in the air ahead.
The footsteps came again. Deliberate this time, and searching. The shadow drifted closer, angling toward his desk.
The intruder’s outline shifted as they bent slightly, their hand brushing along the edge of the desk, feeling for the light control. Dominic caught the faint gleam of a weapon in the dim glow. The intruder came with a pistol.
Dominic’s lips curled into a humorless nod. His survival instinct had always been right, and he wasn’t just paranoid.
The moment stretched.
Then, like a striking snake, Dominic surged forward. The screwdriver punched into the man’s collarbone with a wet, tearing sound.
The intruder’s scream split the dark. Dominic didn’t pause. His free hand slammed into the back of the man’s head. He slammed the man’s face into the unyielding marble edge of his desk. Bone and cartilage crunched immediately.
The man stumbled, clutching his shoulder, as he swinged blindly with the gun. Dominic twisted, knocking the weapon from his hand with a sharp strike to the wrist. The gun clattered across the floor.
The intruder lunged desperately. Dominic’s forehead met his with a brutal crack. Stars exploded in the man’s eyes.
Dominic felt the jolt up his spine but didn’t flinch. He shoved the man backward, and violently forced him onto the floor.
His breath came hard now, but his aim didn’t shift. This was either he killed the intruder, or he got killed. This wasn’t a fucking message.
One of his hands leveled the pistol at the writhing body beneath him, and his other reached behind him, finding the light switch. He reached it, and pressed the control button.
The room flooded with cold white light.
The man was already a mess beneath him. Blood streamed from his nose, and his collarbone. His skin was already pale with pain.
"You know what I do, right?" Dominic’s voice was low, steady, and dangerous as he asked with zero patience. "You know I’ll fucking kill you right now."
The man spat blood onto the pristine floor and gave a half-smile that was more of a challenge than amusement.
"Who sent you?" Dominic asked.
The man wore a smug expression, and didn’t reply.
The man’s silence lasted only a second too long. Dominic’s boot drove into his stomach with bone-rattling force when he didn’t get a response. The man curled in on himself with a choked groan.
Dominic crouched, straddling him. He pressed the pistol against the man’s temple. The intruder’s eyes locked on his.
There was no single fear in the intruder’s eyes. Just a silent daring challange. Pissed, Dominic sharply pulled off the trigger.
The sound of it was deafening in the enclosed room. The man’s body jerked once, then stilled. Warm blood splattered across Dominic’s cheek, dripping down his jaw.
He exhaled. With a slow, measured breath, he wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
He scanned the dead body, and that’s when he saw it. There was a tattoo, barely visible beneath the cuff of the dead man’s sleeve. A black serpent coiled around a dagger.
Dominic froze. That logo was burned into his memory. It belonged to Carlos, Theresa’s father. The group he’d buried in his past, convinced it was dead with the man himself.
"Fuck," he breathed, his voice low, but his pulse pounded in his ears. He stood, and his gun dangling loosely from his fingers. "Fuck!!!" This time, he roared.
He yanked his second phone from his pocket, and dialed on it without hesitation. "Get in here now. You have to dispose a body."
He ended the call immediately, and dialed another line. His tone was sharper when this person picked up. "Find Grigor. Tell him he picked the wrong side."
His mind was already two steps ahead. If they’d gotten this close, to the point of having a clue on how to get inside his office, then someone had opened the door for them.
And Dominic already had a good idea who that someone was. Grigor did this.