Chapter 11 - The Billionaire Mobster Showed Up at My Crappy Apartment in the Pouring Rain with One Impossible Question
Chloe looked through the peephole and stopped breathing.
She opened the door.
Dominic Moretti stood in the dimly lit hallway. His suit was dripping wet from the rain. He didn't have Leo with him. He was completely alone.
He looked at her, his dark eyes intense, stripped of all the cold authority he usually wore as armor.
"You didn't spend any of the money," Dominic said, skipping a greeting entirely.
"I didn't want it," Chloe replied, gripping the edge of the door.
"You haven't applied for a new job."
"I've been resting."
"You're lying." Dominic stepped closer, breaching her space, bringing the smell of rain and danger with him. "You're miserable."
"How would you know?" she shot back, her heart racing.
"Because I am miserable," he confessed, the words raw and sharp.
Chloe froze.
Dominic stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him.
"I tried to let you go. I tried to do the decent thing for once in my cursed life and let you live in the light. But my organization is blind without you. I am blind without you."
"Dominic..."
"You saw Vincent's betrayal when I couldn't. You saw Rossi's weakness when I was too angry to think clearly." He reached out, his warm hands gently cupping her face. "You aren't background noise, Chloe. You are the only person who sees the board clearly."
"I'm a waitress," she whispered, her voice trembling as she looked up into his eyes.
"You were a waitress," he corrected, his thumb brushing her lower lip. "Now, you are the only woman I trust."
"What are you asking me, Dominic?"
May you like
He leaned in, his forehead resting against hers.
"I am asking you to come back. Not as a hostage. Not as an employee. As my partner."
