Chapter 2 - The Offer Sophia Couldn’t Believe
Sophia's first instinct was that something had gone wrong.
Her second was that Lily had somehow made it worse.
Dominic Moretti did not visit the staff wing.
People went to him.
House managers entered his study when summoned. Security officers used the side office. Employees with administrative problems spoke to Mrs. Alvarez.
Dominic did not knock on a maid's apartment door at nearly midnight.
Sophia immediately straightened.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Is Lily asleep?”
Sophia glanced behind her.
The apartment was modest but comfortable. Lily had fallen asleep on the sofa beneath a yellow blanket, Mr. Whiskers trapped beneath one arm.
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at the child for a moment.
Sophia shifted until she blocked his view.
Not aggressively.
Instinctively.
Dominic noticed.
He raised the folded drawing.
“She dropped this.”
Sophia's face tightened.
“I'll take it.”
He gave it to her.
“Thank you.”
She waited.
Dominic didn't move.
Sophia finally asked, “Was there something else?”
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly.
Sophia's stomach tightened.
“I need Saturday off?” she guessed. “I've already arranged coverage with Mrs. Alvarez. I'll return Sunday night.”
“That isn't what I came to discuss.”
Sophia stared.
Dominic put both hands into his coat pockets.
“Your daughter believes you require a boyfriend.”
Sophia wanted the floor to open.
“Please forget that conversation happened.”
“I've tried.”
That almost sounded like humor.
Sophia wasn't sure Dominic Moretti possessed humor.
“She is four.”
“I gathered.”
“She hears things and misunderstands them.”
“She seemed unusually specific about Saturday.”
Sophia covered her eyes briefly.
“My mother shouldn't have said anything in front of her.”
“Your mother wants you to bring someone to the wedding?”
“No.”
Sophia paused.
“Yes.”
Dominic waited.
Sophia exhaled.
“My sister is getting married. My mother has been sick for almost a year. Every conversation has become…” She searched for the word. “Important.”
Dominic understood that better than she knew.
“She worries I'll be alone,” Sophia continued. “She thinks I spend all my time working.”
“Do you?”
“That is not relevant.”
“It was relevant to Lily.”
Sophia gave him a tired look.
“Lily also believes cereal is dinner if it has marshmallows.”
Dominic's mouth moved slightly.
There it was again.
Almost a smile.
Sophia noticed and immediately looked away.
“Mr. Moretti, I'm embarrassed enough already. You don't have to be polite about this.”
“I'm rarely accused of excessive politeness.”
Despite herself, Sophia let out a short laugh.
It surprised both of them.
The sound disappeared almost instantly.
Then Dominic said, “I'll go.”
Sophia stared.
“Go where?”
“To Pennsylvania.”
She blinked.
“With you.”
Silence.
Sophia actually stepped backward.
“No.”
Dominic's eyebrow lifted.
“No?”
“No.”
“You answered very quickly.”
“Because I understood the sentence.”
“Your mother wants you to bring someone.”
“My mother wants me to date a normal man.”
Dominic looked at himself.
“Define normal.”
Sophia nearly laughed again.
Then she remembered who stood in front of her.
“This isn't funny.”
“I wasn't joking.”
“That's worse.”
Dominic leaned against the opposite wall.
It was such an ordinary movement that it made him look briefly less like the man newspapers had described and more like someone who simply did not know how to have this conversation.
“Your daughter asked me for help,” he said.
“My daughter asks the delivery driver to live with us every Tuesday because he brings pizza.”
“Does he have Saturday free?”
Sophia stared at him.
This time she did laugh.
She immediately pressed a hand over her mouth.
Dominic looked almost satisfied.
Then his expression changed.
“Sophia.”
She had rarely heard him use her first name.
Her laughter stopped.
“My mother died before I reached her room.”
Sophia said nothing.
Dominic continued.
“I was eight minutes late.”
The words were controlled.
The emotion beneath them was not.
“If your mother has months, maybe less, then one Saturday matters.”
Sophia's eyes softened despite herself.
“I am sorry.”
“So am I.”
They stood silently.
Then Sophia shook her head.
“You still cannot come.”
“Why?”
“Because you're my employer.”
“Not on Saturday.”
“You don't stop being my employer because we cross a state line.”
“I can give you the week off.”
“That isn't the point.”
“Then tell me the point.”
Sophia hesitated.
The truth felt dangerous.
But Dominic had asked for it.
“The point is that people like you do not pretend to be boyfriends for women like me.”
His eyes narrowed.
“People like me?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“Say it.”
Sophia looked toward Lily.
Then lowered her voice.
“You scare people.”
Dominic did not react.
“My family is ordinary. My sister's fiancé teaches high school. My uncle fixes farm equipment. My cousin sells insurance. My mother still believes every expensive suit means somebody works at a bank.”
“Then I'll tell her I'm in finance.”
Sophia gave him an incredulous look.
Dominic shrugged.
“Technically, money is involved.”
She shook her head.
“You would arrive with bodyguards.”
“No.”
“A convoy.”
“No.”
“A gun.”
Dominic remained silent.
Sophia pointed.
“That silence is exactly why the answer is no.”
“I can leave it with security.”
“You have security?”
“Everyone should.”
“No, Dominic. Everyone should not require armed security to attend a wedding in Pennsylvania.”
He noticed she had used his first name.
Sophia noticed too.
Her cheeks warmed.
He allowed it to pass.
“What if I went as a friend?”
“That is somehow less believable.”
“Lily wrote it on the picture.”
Sophia looked down at the folded page in her hand.
Friend.
The uneven letters suddenly felt heavier.
“She thinks you are kind,” Sophia said.
“She has poor judgment.”
“No.”
The answer escaped her before she could stop it.
Dominic looked at her.
Sophia's eyes dropped.
“I mean… you're good with her.”
“I haven't done anything.”
“Exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“You don't treat her like she's inconvenient.”
Dominic looked past Sophia toward the sofa.
Lily slept with her mouth slightly open, one hand wrapped around Mr. Whiskers.
“Children notice people adults ignore,” Sophia said quietly.
Dominic looked back at her.
“And adults ignore things children notice.”
Sophia wished he had not said it that way.
It made the hallway feel smaller.
More intimate.
She folded her arms.
“What exactly are you proposing?”
“One day.”
“One day?”
“I drive you and Lily to Pennsylvania. I attend the wedding. Your mother sees you are not alone. Your daughter stops recruiting men in my foyer. Sunday, we return.”
Sophia studied him.
“And what do you get?”
Dominic's face became unreadable.
“Nothing.”
“Nobody does anything for nothing.”
“My mother used to say that.”
“And?”
“She was usually wrong about me.”
Sophia watched him.
There was sadness in the sentence.
Very carefully, she said, “No criminal business near my family.”
“Agreed.”
“No guards inside the wedding.”
“Agreed.”
“No intimidating my relatives.”
“I don't intimidate people intentionally.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow.
Dominic conceded.
“I'll try.”
“No expensive gifts.”
“Define expensive.”
“Nothing.”
“That's restrictive.”
“And Lily doesn't get whatever she asks for.”
“That seems unrelated.”
“It is extremely related.”
Dominic looked toward the sleeping child.
“What has she asked for?”
“A pony.”
He considered it.
Sophia pointed at him again.
“No.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“You thought something.”
“That can't possibly be against the rules.”
“It is now.”
Dominic surprised her by smiling.
A real one.
Small, but unmistakable.
Sophia had worked in his house for four years.
She had never seen it.
That was the exact moment she made her mistake.
“Fine.”
Dominic's smile disappeared.
“Fine?”
“One day.”
Sophia held up a finger.
“This is not a date.”
“Understood.”
“You are not my boyfriend.”
“Understood.”
“You are pretending because my mother is dying.”
Dominic nodded.
“And because Lily asked.”
Sophia glanced at the little girl.
“Yes.”
Dominic stepped away from the wall.
“I'll have a car ready at eight.”
“One car.”
“Yes.”
“No convoy.”
“One car.”
“No guards.”
Dominic paused.
Sophia narrowed her eyes.
“One discreet follow vehicle,” he said.
“No.”
“Non-negotiable.”
“Then the whole thing is off.”
Their eyes met.
For nearly ten seconds neither moved.
Dominic Moretti had negotiated shipping contracts worth millions.
He had negotiated with politicians.
He had negotiated with men who had killed people for less than the cost of his watch.
And yet Sophia Carter stood barefoot in the staff hallway wearing an old cardigan and refused to blink.
“Fine,” he said finally.
“No follow vehicle.”
Sophia nodded.
“Eight o'clock.”
He turned.
Then she called after him.
“Dominic?”
He looked back.
“What will you tell people you do?”
He considered the question.
Then said, “Import and logistics.”
“Is that true?”
“Parts of it.”
Sophia sighed.
He almost smiled again.
Then he walked away.
Sophia shut the door.
She leaned against it.
For several seconds, she simply stared ahead.
“What did he say?”
Sophia jumped.
Lily was sitting upright on the sofa.
Her eyes were half closed.
Mr. Whiskers was clutched to her chest.
“You were supposed to be sleeping.”
“I was.”
“You were listening.”
“Only after I woke up.”
Sophia crossed the room.
She crouched beside her.
“Sweetheart, Mr. Moretti is only coming as a friend.”
Lily smiled sleepily.
“I know.”
Sophia narrowed her eyes.
“What?”
Lily hugged the rabbit.
“Boyfriends start as friends.”
Sophia stared.
“Who told you that?”
“Grandma.”
“Of course she did.”
Lily collapsed back onto her pillow.
Within a minute, she was asleep.
Sophia stood and looked through the small window.
Across the courtyard, a light burned in Dominic's study.
She had no idea that at that exact moment, Marco Bellini was standing across from Dominic's desk.
And Marco was not smiling.
“You cannot go to Pennsylvania Saturday,” he said.
Dominic closed the file in front of him.
“I wasn't asking permission.”
“Victor Romano scheduled that waterfront meeting because he wants to know whether you are weak.”
“Then he'll learn patience.”
Marco leaned forward.
“No, Dominic. You don't understand.”
He pushed a photograph across the desk.
It showed a man standing near the gates of the Moretti estate.
A man Sophia had never seen.
A man Victor Romano had used before.
Marco's voice dropped.
“He wasn't asking about your Saturday schedule.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“He was asking about hers.”
And for the first time since agreeing to attend the wedding, Dominic felt something colder than regret.
May you like
He felt fear.
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