Chapter 2 - The Photograph She Never Meant Him to See
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Rain tapped against the windows.
Water dripped from Dominic’s shirt onto Chloe’s hardwood floor.
The towel hung forgotten from her hand.
Dominic held the photograph carefully, but his expression had become unreadable.
“Answer me.”
Chloe swallowed.
“His name was Adrian.”
“I know his name.”
Of course he did.
Adrian Russo.
Dominic’s younger brother.
The charming one.
The reckless one.
The brother who had disappeared three years earlier after a violent fracture inside the Russo organization.
Dominic had searched for him for months.
Nothing.
No bank activity.
No calls.
No body.
Eventually, everyone assumed the obvious.
Adrian was dead.
Yet here he was in a photograph beside Chloe Bennett.
Alive.
Smiling.
And apparently close enough to her that she had kept the picture.
“When was this taken?”
“Four years ago.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“How did you know him?”
Chloe folded her arms around herself.
“He was my brother’s friend.”
“David?”
She nodded.
Dominic remembered the name from her employment file.
David Bennett.
Older brother.
Former military communications specialist.
Current occupation listed as freelance cybersecurity consultant.
Dominic had barely noticed it before.
Now every detail mattered.
“How close?”
“Dominic, please.”
“How close was Adrian to your brother?”
“Very.”
“And to you?”
Chloe looked away.
That was answer enough.
Dominic set the photograph down.
“Were you involved with him?”
Her eyes snapped back.
“No.”
The speed of the answer surprised him.
“He was like family.”
Dominic studied her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I needed the job.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Yes, it is.”
Something changed in Chloe.
The timid assistant disappeared for a moment.
“I had sixty-three dollars in my bank account when Russo Holdings hired me. My mother’s medical bills had eaten through what little savings we had. David had disappeared from my life, and every company I interviewed with wanted experience I didn’t have.”
She pointed toward the photograph.
“If I had walked into your office and announced that I knew your missing brother, would you have hired me?”
Dominic said nothing.
“No,” Chloe continued. “You would have investigated me.”
“I investigated you anyway.”
“I know.”
That stopped him.
“You know?”
“Of course I know.”
“How?”
A faint, humorless smile crossed her face.
“You think I manage every appointment, phone call, travel arrangement, expense report, security schedule and private meeting in your life without noticing when three different people suddenly start asking my former professors questions?”
Dominic stared at her.
Perhaps Chloe Bennett was not nearly as oblivious as everyone assumed.
“What happened to Adrian?”
Her expression softened.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
“Then tell me everything.”
Chloe sat down slowly.
Dominic remained standing.
She looked toward the rain-darkened window.
“David met Adrian when I was nineteen. I never knew exactly what they were doing together. David told me they were working security contracts.”
Dominic gave a quiet, humorless breath.
“That sounds like Adrian.”
“He came to our house sometimes. My mom loved him.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“He could do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make people love him.”
Chloe looked at the photograph.
“He talked about you.”
Dominic went still.
“What did he say?”
“That you were impossible.”
For the first time that night, something almost human flickered across Dominic’s face.
“That also sounds like Adrian.”
“He admired you.”
Dominic looked away.
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
“It does to me.”
Silence returned.
Chloe continued.
“The last time I saw Adrian was three years ago. He came here late at night. He was frightened.”
“Adrian wasn’t frightened of anything.”
“He was that night.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What did he say?”
“He asked for David.”
“And?”
“David wasn’t home.”
“What happened?”
“He gave me something.”
Dominic’s entire posture changed.
“What?”
Chloe stood.
She walked toward a bookshelf and pulled down an old hardcover dictionary.
Inside was a small brass key taped beneath the back cover.
Dominic stared at it.
“He told me to keep this somewhere safe.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Chloe closed her eyes, remembering.
“He said, ‘If anything happens to me, David will know what this opens.’”
Dominic took the key.
It was old.
Small.
A number had been engraved along one side.
317.
A storage locker.
Safe-deposit box.
Train station locker.
Anything.
“When did David disappear?”
“Eight months after Adrian.”
Dominic looked up sharply.
“You said he disappeared from your life. Your employment file says he moved overseas.”
“That’s what I tell people.”
“You lied on your application.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know where my brother is.”
Her voice cracked.
Dominic’s anger cooled immediately.
Chloe continued.
“One morning, David called me. He sounded terrified. He told me not to look for him and not to trust anyone who asked about Adrian.”
“Did he mention me?”
Chloe hesitated.
Dominic saw it.
“What did he say about me?”
“He said if I ever met Dominic Russo…”
She stopped.
“Finish.”
“He said I should stay away from you.”
The words settled heavily between them.
Dominic looked at the key.
“Yet you applied to work for me.”
“I didn’t know Russo Holdings belonged to Adrian’s brother until after I got the interview.”
“And you stayed.”
“I needed the money.”
“That’s the only reason?”
Chloe looked directly at him.
“No.”
Dominic waited.
“I thought maybe working near you would help me understand what happened to David.”
There it was.
The truth.
Dominic should have been furious.
His assistant had entered his company under false pretenses.
She had concealed a connection to his missing brother.
She possessed a mysterious key Adrian had entrusted to her.
Yet when Dominic looked at Chloe, he did not see a spy.
He saw a frightened twenty-four-year-old woman who had spent years waiting for her brother to come home.
“What have you found?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“You’re very difficult to spy on.”
Dominic stared.
Chloe realized what she had said.
“I didn’t mean—”
A short laugh escaped him.
Chloe froze.
She had never heard Dominic Russo laugh.
It transformed him.
Only briefly.
Then his expression became serious again.
“Pack a bag.”
“What?”
“You’re not staying here.”
“Why?”
“Because if Adrian gave you that key and someone knows about it, this apartment isn’t safe.”
“No one knows.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve lived here for three years.”
“And tonight, a stranger followed you outside a nightclub.”
“That had nothing to do with Adrian.”
“Maybe.”
Chloe frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Did the man say your name?”
“No.”
“Did he ask where you worked?”
“No.”
“Did he try to take your purse?”
“No.”
Dominic’s eyes shifted toward her dead phone.
“Where is your purse?”
Chloe froze.
She had left the club with it.
She remembered.
She had carried it into the alley.
Then the man had approached.
Then Dominic had arrived.
Now?
She looked around.
Gone.
“My purse…”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“What was inside?”
“Wallet. Apartment keys. Work badge.”
Dominic looked toward the door.
“You used your spare key to enter?”
“Yes.”
“Chloe.”
The way he said her name made fear return.
Dominic immediately pulled out his phone.
“Leo.”
He turned toward the window.
“Send two men to the Neon Moth. Find Bennett’s purse. Check cameras. Nobody touches anything.”
He listened.
Then added, “And Leo?”
A pause.
“Find out who the man in the alley was.”
He ended the call.
Chloe stared.
“You think he took it?”
“I think coincidences are expensive.”
She wrapped her arms around herself.
“What do we do?”
“We?”
Dominic looked at her.
The question seemed to surprise him.
For six months, Chloe had existed outside his world.
She arranged it.
Scheduled it.
Cleaned up its paperwork.
But she had never been part of it.
Now Adrian’s photograph and the brass key had changed everything.
Dominic walked toward her.
“Pack enough clothes for a few days.”
“Where am I going?”
“My penthouse.”
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I work for you.”
“Correct.”
“I am not moving into my boss’s apartment.”
“You’re temporarily staying somewhere secure.”
“Which happens to be your apartment.”
“Which happens to have armed security, reinforced doors and cameras.”
Chloe stared at him.
“You are unbelievably controlling.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“I’m sure you have.”
He almost smiled again.
Almost.
Twenty minutes later, Chloe appeared carrying a small suitcase.
Dominic took it from her without asking.
They descended the stairs.
Outside, the rain had softened.
Dominic opened the passenger door.
Chloe stopped.
“Dominic?”
He looked at her.
“Do you really think Adrian might still be alive?”
For once, Dominic had no immediate answer.
“I don’t know.”
She nodded.
Then his phone rang.
Leo.
Dominic answered.
“What?”
Leo’s voice was low.
“We found the purse.”
“Where?”
“Dumpster behind the club.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“Anything missing?”
“Wallet’s there. Cash is there. Credit cards too.”
Dominic looked at Chloe.
“What’s missing?”
Leo paused.
“Her Russo Holdings security badge.”
Dominic’s blood ran cold.
But Leo was not finished.
“And boss?”
“What?”
“We pulled the alley camera.”
Dominic waited.
“The drunk guy wasn’t alone.”
Dominic slowly turned toward the dark windows of Chloe’s apartment.
Across the street, a parked sedan started its engine.
Leo continued.
“There was another man watching Chloe the entire time.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Who?”
“We ran his face.”
Another pause.
Then Leo said the name.
Dominic stopped breathing.
May you like
Because the man who had watched Chloe from across the alley was supposed to have died three years ago.
“Boss,” Leo whispered, “it was Adrian.”
