Chapter 2 - The Night Neither of Them Forgot
Norah did not sleep.
At two thirteen in the morning, she gave up pretending.
She slipped from bed, pulled on a robe, and walked toward the kitchen.
Two guards stood outside the east wing.
There had been one yesterday.
Dominic had doubled security within an hour of discovering the pregnancy.
Exactly what she had feared.
Exactly what part of her was secretly grateful for.
She hated the contradiction.
The kitchen lights were already on.
Dominic stood at the island wearing black trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms.
He held the ultrasound.
Norah stopped.
“You kept it?”
He looked up.
“You left it downstairs.”
“I thought it was in my pocket.”
“It fell again.”
“That picture has terrible survival instincts.”
Dominic looked back at it.
“Apparently it runs in the family.”
She almost smiled.
Then remembered she was angry.
“You increased the guards.”
“Yes.”
“You put someone outside my bedroom.”
“Yes.”
“Remove him.”
“No.”
Norah folded her arms.
“Here we go.”
Dominic exhaled.
“You really want to fight at two in the morning?”
“You really want to control me at two in the morning?”
“Yes.”
That answer was so honest she paused.
Dominic poured water into a glass.
“No caffeine.”
Norah stared.
“You’re policing coffee now?”
“I read pregnancy guidelines.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Of course you did.”
He pushed the water toward her.
She ignored it.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Dominic said:
“I remember everything.”
Norah’s eyes shifted toward him.
“About what?”
He gave her a look.
The safe room.
She looked away.
Dominic leaned against the island.
“The gate attack started at nine fourteen.”
“Dominic.”
“You and Lily were in the playroom.”
“I remember.”
“I locked you both inside the safe room.”
“You were injured.”
“Shoulder.”
“You lost a lot of blood.”
“Not that much.”
“You soaked two towels.”
“One and a half.”
She finally looked at him.
“Are we really arguing about blood volume?”
“It was not two towels.”
The absurdity loosened something between them.
Only briefly.
Dominic continued.
“I thought Luca was dead.”
“He wasn’t.”
“I didn’t know that.”
His voice became quieter.
“I thought the house might fall. I thought those men were going to reach Lily.”
Norah remembered.
Dominic had sat on the safe-room floor with a gun in one hand while she cleaned his shoulder.
For hours the cameras outside had gone dark one by one.
There had been screaming over the radio.
Then silence.
Lily slept through almost everything.
At four in the morning, Dominic asked Norah why she was not afraid.
She told him she was terrified.
He asked why she looked calm.
Because Lily was watching.
That answer had changed something.
Neither understood what.
Later, with Lily asleep behind reinforced glass and both of them believing sunrise might never come, Dominic kissed her.
She kissed him back.
Nothing about it was planned.
Nothing sensible followed.
By morning, Luca regained control of the compound.
And Dominic became Mr. Russo again.
Norah became the nanny.
“We should never have let it happen,” she whispered.
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“You regret it?”
She placed a hand unconsciously over her abdomen.
“No.”
He saw.
“So you regret me.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s close.”
Norah sighed.
“I regret that we never talked afterward.”
Dominic looked away.
“That was my mistake.”
“You barely looked at me for a week.”
“I was trying not to do it again.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“That’s remarkably flattering.”
His mouth twitched.
“I wanted you constantly.”
Norah stared.
Dominic’s expression remained serious.
“I thought distance was better.”
“For whom?”
“Everyone.”
“You made that decision alone.”
“Yes.”
“That seems to be a theme.”
He absorbed the criticism instead of fighting it.
Another surprise.
Norah sat across from him.
“Why didn’t you ever ask whether I was okay?”
“I assumed if you weren’t, you would tell me.”
She laughed once.
“You’re the most intimidating man I’ve ever met.”
“You insult me daily.”
“That doesn’t mean emotional vulnerability comes naturally.”
“Fair.”
Silence settled.
Dominic looked at the ultrasound.
“When Lily’s mother was pregnant, I missed almost everything.”
Norah had never heard him discuss Sofia Russo.
Lily’s mother had died when Lily was two.
The official story said illness.
Norah had never asked more.
“I was building the organization. Traveling. Fighting people I thought were threats.”
He laughed without humor.
“I convinced myself providing money was the same as being there.”
Norah said nothing.
“When Lily was born, I was in Mexico.”
His voice lowered.
“I met my daughter eleven hours after she entered the world.”
“That bothered you.”
“It still does.”
Norah watched him.
Dominic Russo carried regret like he carried weapons—concealed, close, and constantly.
“I’m not Sofia,” Norah said.
“I know.”
“This baby doesn’t erase what happened between you and her.”
“I know.”
“And you cannot turn my pregnancy into your second chance.”
Dominic finally met her eyes.
“I know.”
She believed him.
Almost.
Then Luca entered.
He held a tablet.
“We traced the clinic breach.”
Dominic stood.
“Who?”
“Somebody used credentials belonging to Dr. Aris.”
Norah frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“She was with me.”
Luca’s expression darkened.
“Then someone stole them.”
Dominic looked at Norah.
“Who knew about the appointment?”
“No one.”
“Think.”
“Nobody.”
“The doctor?”
“Obviously.”
“Receptionist?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone from here?”
“No.”
Luca scrolled.
“The login originated from a private network owned by Orsini Medical Holdings.”
Dominic went completely still.
Norah noticed.
“Who are the Orsinis?”
Luca answered.
“People who hate him.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
The Orsini family controlled a competing organization across the river.
For years there had been a tense truce.
No attacks.
No cooperation.
Everyone respected boundaries.
But three months earlier, someone had sabotaged a Russo shipment and made it appear Orsini was responsible.
Dominic had not retaliated.
Yet.
Norah stared.
“You think they know?”
“I think someone wants me to believe they know.”
“What does that mean?”
Dominic looked at Luca.
“Find Dr. Aris.”
Luca’s silence answered before his words.
“We tried.”
Norah stood.
“What happened?”
“She didn’t go home.”
The kitchen suddenly felt colder.
“When?”
“After your appointment.”
Dominic’s hand curled around the countertop.
Norah remembered Dr. Aris.
Gray hair.
Tired smile.
No judgment.
The woman who had shown her the baby’s heartbeat.
“She has a family?”
“A husband. Adult daughter.”
Norah’s stomach tightened.
“This is because of me.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice was immediate.
“Someone chose this. Not you.”
She looked at him.
The sentence mattered.
Maybe he understood more than she thought.
Luca’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
Then looked up.
“We found her car.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned beneath the Franklin Bridge.”
Norah pressed one hand against her mouth.
Dominic moved around the island.
“I’m taking you upstairs.”
“I’m not a child.”
“No. You’re a witness.”
“To what?”
He looked at her.
“The beginning of something.”
His hand hovered near her back but did not touch without permission.
That restraint did not escape her.
Norah walked with him.
Halfway to the stairs, Lily appeared in the hallway, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
“Dad?”
Dominic crouched.
“What happened?”
“I had a bad dream.”
He opened his arms.
Lily climbed into them immediately.
Then she looked at Norah’s stomach.
“Did the baby have a bad dream too?”
Norah’s throat tightened.
“I don’t think so.”
Lily considered this.
Then placed one small hand on Norah’s cardigan.
“Goodnight, baby.”
Dominic looked at Norah over his daughter’s head.
Something passed between them.
Fear.
Hope.
Possibility.
Then Luca called from the kitchen.
“Boss.”
Dominic turned.
Luca held his phone out.
A photograph had arrived from an unknown number.
Dr. Aris sat in a chair.
Alive.
Terrified.
Beside her was a handwritten card.
Dominic read it.
His face changed.
Norah knew before he spoke that the message involved her.
“What does it say?”
Dominic did not answer.
“Dominic.”
Slowly, he turned the phone toward her.
May you like
Four words were written beneath the doctor’s frightened face.
WE KNOW ABOUT THE HEIR.
