DOMINIC POV
Dominic knows Richard Chen is about to make a desperate move.
He doesn't know what form it will take, but he can feel it coming. The way you can feel a storm approaching before the clouds arrive. Richard has realized that his daughter is no longer his. Richard has understood that Dominic is using Maya to dismantle everything Richard built.
And Richard will do whatever it takes to stop it.
What Dominic isn't prepared for is how much he needs to actually marry her.
It started as strategy. Buy the girl. Use her intelligence. Destroy her father. Clean calculation. Smart business. But somewhere in the past two weeks, the calculation shifted. She stopped being a tool and started being essential to more than his empire.
She became essential to him.
He calls James into his office late on the day of the press conference. The city is dark outside. The crime family members have all left. The celebration is over. It's just Dominic and the weight of what he's about to do.
"I'm going to marry her," Dominic says. "Soon. This week if possible."
James closes the office door carefully.
"That's moving fast," James says. "The crime families will see it as emotional. Weak. They'll think you're losing control because of a woman."
"Let them think that," Dominic replies. "Let them think I'm making a mistake. It's easier to beat an enemy who underestimates you."
But that's not the whole truth and James knows it.
The truth is more complicated. The truth is that Dominic is falling in love with her and he's terrified of what that means. A man with his kind of power isn't supposed to need someone. A man in his position can't afford vulnerability. A crime boss doesn't get to have love because love means weakness and weakness means death.
Yet he is. Vulnerable. In love. Willing to risk everything for a woman he bought at an auction.
"What about her father?" James asks carefully. "Richard Chen isn't going to accept this."
"Richard Chen doesn't have a choice," Dominic says. "By the end of the week, he'll either be cooperating with me or he'll be dead. Either way, Maya will be my wife. Either way, he'll understand that he can't touch her."
James moves to the window. He's worked for Dominic long enough to know when arguments are pointless.
"You're in love with her," James says. It's not a question.
"Yes," Dominic admits. For the first time, he says it out loud. For the first time, he acknowledges what he's been denying.
"That's dangerous," James says.
"I know," Dominic replies. "But she's dangerous too. She understands what her father is. She's choosing to help me destroy him. That kind of strength, that kind of willingness to cross lines for something she believes in. That's not something I can walk away from."
He stands and walks to his desk. He pulls up legal documents on his computer. Marriage contracts. Prenuptial agreements. Official documents that will make Maya legally his wife.
"Call my lawyer," Dominic says. "I want these documents ready by tomorrow morning. I want her added to every company board. I want her name on accounts. I want to tie her to my fate so completely that there's no separation between us."
"You're entangling her," James observes.
"I'm protecting her," Dominic corrects. "And I'm making a promise. If she's my wife legally, she has rights. She has protection. Anyone who touches her will answer to me. Anyone who tries to take her will find out that she belongs to me in every way that matters."
James turns from the window.
"And what about love?" he asks. "Is that part of this? Or is this just another business deal?"
"It's both," Dominic says. "It's always both for people like us. We don't get to separate business from love. We don't get to choose between protecting our empire and protecting the people we care about. We have to do both simultaneously and hope we don't destroy everything in the process."
He looks at the legal documents.
"I'm going to ask her to marry me properly," Dominic says. "Not as strategy. As a real proposal. I'm going to give her a choice, and if she says yes, it's because she wants to. Not because I forced her. Not because I threatened her. Because she chooses me."
"And if she says no?" James asks.
"Then I'll respect that choice," Dominic says. But even as he says it, he knows it's a lie. He couldn't respect that choice. He couldn't walk away from her now. He's already too far gone.
He's already lost.
That night, Dominic can't sleep.
He walks through his penthouse and finds Maya on the terrace. She's looking out at the city and her expression is troubled. She's thinking about something. Calculating something. Running numbers in her head the way she always does.
He comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.
"Vivian told me I should run," Maya says without turning around. "She told me that blood debts can never fully be paid."
"Vivian is cynical," Dominic says.
"Vivian is right," Maya replies. "My father did something terrible eight years ago. You've been hunting him because of it. And I've chosen to help you destroy him. But when it's done, when everything is ashes, the debt won't be settled. It will just transfer to me."
Dominic turns her to face him.
"Your father made his choices," he says. "You're making yours. Those aren't the same thing."
"Aren't they?" Maya asks. "His choice to order the bombing led to your choice to hunt him. Your choice to hunt him led to my choice to help you. How many choices can flow from one decision before we all end up destroyed?"
"We don't," Dominic says. "That's the point. Your choice is different. Your choice can break the cycle."
He kisses her then. It's not a gentle kiss. It's desperate and intense and carries the weight of everything he can't say. It carries his obsession. His need. His inability to imagine a world where she's not standing next to him.
When he pulls back, Maya is shaking.
"Marry me," Dominic says. "Not because you have to. Not because of strategy or protection or leverage. Marry me because you want to."
Before Maya can answer, Dominic's phone rings.
It's his contact inside the federal prosecutor's office. The voice on the other end is urgent.
"Sir, we have a situation. Richard Chen just walked into FBI headquarters. He's surrendering. He's offering to testify against every crime family in the city."
Dominic closes his eyes.
Richard Chen just went nuclear.
Everything is about to change.