Part 9
The private jet cleared the storm clouds, leveling out at thirty thousand feet where the sky was a peaceful, star-lit black ocean.
Inside the main cabin, Meline had changed into a soft, oversized cashmere sweater Silas had managed to source from the airport’s VIP lounge.
She sat by the window, a fresh cup of tea untouched on the table before her.
Dominic sat opposite her.
He had changed his wet clothes as well, now wearing a simple, dark grey crewneck sweater that made him look slightly less like a warlord and more like a man.
But the intensity in his eyes hadn't changed.
He hadn't stopped looking at her since they boarded.
“Are you warm enough?” he asked, breaking the long silence between them.
Meline didn't look away from the window. “Yes.”
“Are you hungry? The kitchen can prepare whatever you need.”
“No, Dominic. I’m not hungry.”
She finally turned her head to look at him. The exhaustion was deep in her bones, but her mind was sharp, fueled by the terrifying reality of her situation.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Back to New York,” Dominic replied smoothly. “The penthouse security has been completely overhauled. No one enters without my personal biometric clearance. You will have a dedicated medical team living in the lower apartment.”
Meline let out a soft, bitter laugh.
“A penthouse. A dedicated team. You mean a prison.”
Dominic’s expression didn't change, but his jaw tightened slightly. “It’s a sanctuary, Meline.”
“It’s a cage, Dominic! It’s the same cage I ran away from!” She leaned forward, her hands flat on the table.
“Don't you see what you’re doing? You’re already organizing my life like a military operation. I don't get to choose where I live, who I see, or how I raise my child.”
“Our child,” Dominic corrected her, his voice dropping into a firm, unyielding tone.
“And yes, I am organizing it. Because the alternative is what happened on that beach tonight. If I hadn't found you, Marcus would have you in a cellar right now, using your life to dismantle everything I own.”
Meline shook her head, tears finally spilling over her eyelashes, glittering in the soft cabin light.
“And whose fault is that, Dominic? Who made those enemies? You did.”
“I did it to survive,” he said, his voice quiet but incredibly intense. He reached across the table, his large hand capturing both of hers, clamping down gently so she couldn't pull away.
“When my father was killed, I was twenty-two years old. Every rival family in New York wanted my head on a spike. They came for everything I loved. I had to become a monster to keep them from tearing me apart.”
He leaned closer, his dark eyes wide with a desperate sincerity she had never seen in him before.
“But then I met you, Meline.”
“You were the only part of my life that wasn't covered in blood. The only place where I could breathe.”
“When you left… I didn't just lose a wife. I lost my anchor. I started turning back into the thing I was before you met me. Colder. Worse.”
He looked down at her hands trapped beneath his.
“And then I found out about the baby.”
“A child, Meline. A piece of you and a piece of me. A chance to build something that isn't a war.”
He looked back up, his gaze locking onto hers with a terrifyingly beautiful devotion.
“I will give you anything you want. I will give you the world if you ask for it. But I will not let you take my anchor away again. I will not let you raise my child in a quiet town where any low-level thug can find you and use you against me.”
Meline looked at him, her heart aching with a complicated mix of love and terror.
She knew he meant every word.
She knew he loved her with a ferocity that bordered on madness.
But she also knew that living with Dominic Valente meant living in the shadow of his castle forever.
“And what if I can't live like that, Dominic?” she whispered, her voice trembling. “What if the fear kills me anyway?”
Dominic slowly lifted her hands, pressing his lips to her knuckles, his eyes never leaving hers.
May you like
“Then I will build bigger walls,” he whispered against her skin.
“And I will stand outside them until you feel safe again.”
