Chapter 8 - The Trigger in the Dark
My heart slammed against my ribs with terrifying force. The cold steel of the pistol barrel bit through the thin silk of my dress.
"If you shoot me here," I gasped through his heavy gloved fingers, "Dominic will tear this city apart until he finds you."
"Dominic is a dead man walking!" Marcus hissed, dragging me backward toward the rear alley exit doors of the kitchen. "My men are already taking out his perimeter guards in the lobby. By the time he realizes you're gone, the entire third floor will be on fire."
Suddenly, the heavy metal door to the service kitchen flew off its hinges with a deafening CRACK.
Dominic stepped into the kitchen.
He wasn't wearing his tuxedo jacket. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his eyes completely consumed by a dark, terrifying fury that made him look less like a man and more like an apex predator.
He held no weapon in his hands.
"Put the gun down, Marcus," Dominic said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying growl that echoed off the stainless steel countertops.
"Stay back, Salvatore!" Marcus yelled, tightening his grip on my neck, pressing the barrel deeper into my side. "One step closer and I put a bullet through her heart!"
Dominic didn't stop. He took a slow, deliberate step forward.
"You don't understand, Marcus," Dominic said softly. "You think she's my weakness. You think taking her gives you leverage."
He took another step.
"The truth is, Marcus... she is the only reason I haven't burned your entire family to the ground yet. Because she asked me not to be a monster."
Dominic’s hand moved faster than the human eye could follow.
He pulled a hidden tactical knife from his belt sleeve and threw it with absolute, terrifying precision across the twenty-foot gap.
THUNK.
The heavy steel blade buried itself four inches deep into Marcus’s right shoulder.
Marcus shrieked in agony, dropping the pistol onto the linoleum floor.
I instantly bit down hard on his leather glove, twisted out of his grip, and kicked the dropped gun across the floor toward the stove.
Dominic closed the distance in a fraction of a second. He grabbed Marcus by his hair, slamming his head face-first into the stainless steel prep counter with a brutal, crushing thud.
Marcus collapsed onto the floor, unconscious and bleeding, as three of Dominic's guards rushed through the door, securing the room.
Dominic didn't look down at Marcus. He spun around, grabbing me by my shoulders, his hands shaking slightly as his dark eyes swept over my face and body.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded, his voice cracking with a sudden, raw emotion I had never heard from him before. "Emma... did he touch you?"
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"I'm okay," I gasped, burying my face into his chest, my hands clutching his blood-stained white shirt. "I'm okay, Dominic..."
His arms wrapped tightly around me, pulling me against his broad chest, holding me so close I could feel his frantic, hammering heartbeat against my cheek.
