Chapter 2 - The Man at Booth Four
Dominic Costello did not raise his voice.
“Take your hand off her.”
Arthur turned.
For a second, his expression suggested he hadn't understood that someone was speaking to him.
Then he saw Dominic.
The restaurant seemed to become quieter.
Norah felt Arthur's fingers tighten once more around her arm.
“Excuse me?”
Dominic stepped away from booth four.
Behind him, three members of his security team moved forward.
They didn't rush.
That made them more intimidating.
Arthur looked from them to Dominic.
Then back to Norah.
“Friend of yours?”
“No,” Norah whispered.
Arthur smiled.
“Good.”
Dominic stopped several feet away.
“I won't repeat myself.”
Arthur released her.
Norah immediately cradled her injured arm.
Dominic's eyes dropped toward the movement.
Confirmation.
He had already suspected the bruises weren't caused by stairs.
Now he knew.
Arthur adjusted his shirt.
“You know who you're talking to?”
“Yes.”
The certainty irritated him.
Arthur reached toward his badge.
“Detective Arthur Miller.”
“I know.”
That stopped him.
Norah looked at Dominic.
Arthur did too.
“You know me?”
Dominic's expression remained unreadable.
“I make it a habit to know the names of police officers who walk into my businesses.”
Arthur laughed.
“Your businesses.”
“My restaurant.”
“Right.”
Arthur glanced around.
“I've heard about you.”
“I'd be disappointed if you hadn't.”
Norah's heart pounded.
This was getting worse.
Arthur hated being challenged.
Especially publicly.
Especially by another man.
She stepped between them before she realized what she was doing.
“Please.”
Both men looked at her.
“Arthur was leaving.”
Arthur's face changed.
She knew immediately she'd made a mistake.
“Was I?”
Norah lowered her eyes.
Dominic noticed that too.
Every reaction told him something.
Arthur stepped toward her.
Dominic stepped forward at exactly the same time.
Security closed the distance.
Arthur stopped.
“Careful,” he said.
Dominic's voice was almost gentle.
“You first.”
Around them, diners pretended not to stare.
Norah wanted the floor to open.
Arthur pointed at her.
“We're going home.”
“No.”
The word escaped before she could stop it.
Arthur looked at her.
Norah stopped breathing.
“What?”
She had never said no to him like that.
Not in public.
Not when he used that voice.
She glanced at Dominic.
He didn't nod.
He didn't encourage her.
He simply stood there.
And somehow that mattered.
Norah swallowed.
“My shift isn't finished.”
Arthur laughed.
“You're worried about your shift?”
“Yes.”
“After everything I do for you?”
Norah's shoulders folded inward.
Dominic recognized the technique.
The reversal.
The accusation.
The way Arthur transformed her fear into ingratitude.
“I'll wait,” Arthur said.
“No,” Dominic replied.
Arthur turned.
“I wasn't talking to you.”
“You're not waiting in my restaurant.”
“Then I'll wait outside.”
“No.”
Arthur's smile disappeared.
“Is this how you run your place? Interfering in customers' relationships?”
“You're not a customer.”
That earned a few concealed smiles from nearby tables.
Arthur noticed.
His face reddened.
“Dominic,” Norah whispered.
It was the first time she'd used his first name.
He looked at her.
“Please don't.”
He understood.
She wasn't protecting Arthur.
She was terrified of what happened after somebody humiliated him.
Dominic had seen fear before.
Real fear had patterns.
It watched doors.
It apologized too quickly.
It monitored another person's expression.
It anticipated consequences nobody else could see.
Norah was doing all of it.
Dominic turned toward his head of security.
“Marco.”
A broad-shouldered man stepped forward.
“Sir.”
“Mr. Miller is leaving.”
Arthur stared at him.
“Try it.”
Marco didn't react.
Dominic did.
He looked tired rather than threatened.
“Detective, don't make tonight more embarrassing than it already is.”
Arthur took one aggressive step.
Dominic caught his wrist before he could get closer.
It happened so quickly Norah barely saw it.
Arthur froze.
Dominic's grip wasn't theatrical.
He didn't twist the arm.
He simply stopped it.
Their eyes met.
“You made one mistake tonight,” Dominic said quietly.
Arthur tried to pull free.
Dominic released him.
“What mistake?”
“You assumed nobody was watching.”
The words changed something in Arthur's face.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Dominic saw it.
Fear.
Not of Dominic.
Of witnesses.
Arthur looked around the restaurant.
Security cameras.
Customers.
Staff.
Phones.
Then his expression hardened again.
“You have no idea what you're getting involved in.”
Dominic's gaze shifted briefly toward Norah.
“I think I'm beginning to.”
Arthur pointed at him.
“This isn't over.”
“No,” Dominic said. “It isn't.”
Marco escorted Arthur toward the entrance.
Arthur resisted only enough to preserve his pride.
At the doors, he turned.
His eyes found Norah.
That look was worse than shouting.
It promised later.
Then he left.
The doors closed.
Norah stood motionless.
The restaurant gradually began breathing again.
Dominic turned toward her.
“Sit down.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“My manager—”
“Works for me.”
Norah blinked.
Of course.
Dominic owned The Opulent.
She had somehow never connected that fact to her own employment.
He gestured toward the booth.
Norah sat.
Dominic remained standing for a moment, speaking quietly to Marco.
“Save every camera angle from the last twenty minutes.”
Norah looked up.
“No.”
Dominic turned.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
Her eyes filled.
“Please stop saying that.”
Dominic fell silent.
Norah wiped at one eye angrily.
“You think because you saw him grab me, now everything is simple.”
“I don't think anything about this is simple.”
“He's a detective.”
“I noticed.”
“He knows people.”
“So do I.”
“You don't understand.”
Dominic sat opposite her.
“Then make me understand.”
Norah stared at the table.
For a long time, she said nothing.
Finally:
“Arthur investigates domestic violence cases.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“He what?”
“He knows exactly what happens when women report.”
A chill passed through Dominic.
Norah continued.
“He knows which hospitals document injuries. Which officers ask questions. Which shelters call police. Which evidence prosecutors need.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“And that's why you haven't reported him.”
Norah laughed bitterly.
“To who?”
Dominic had no immediate answer.
“He has friends in Internal Affairs,” she said. “Friends in the prosecutor's office. Friends everywhere.”
“Doesn't mean everyone is corrupt.”
“No. But I only need to choose the wrong person once.”
Dominic studied her.
“How long?”
Norah's eyes returned to the table.
“Almost a year.”
Something inside Dominic went very still.
“Does he live with you?”
She nodded.
“Do you have somewhere else to go?”
“No.”
“Family?”
“My mother is in Arizona. She has health problems.”
“Friends?”
“Arthur knows all of them.”
Dominic understood.
Isolation.
Methodical.
Deliberate.
“Your phone?”
“What about it?”
“Does he monitor it?”
“I don't know.”
“Assume yes.”
Norah looked frightened.
Dominic immediately softened his tone.
“I'm not trying to scare you.”
“Too late.”
Fair.
He leaned back.
“What do you want to happen tonight?”
The question surprised her.
“What?”
“Not what I want. Not what Arthur wants. What do you want?”
Nobody had asked her that in a long time.
Norah looked toward the restaurant doors.
“I don't want to go home.”
“Then don't.”
“And tomorrow?”
“We solve tomorrow tomorrow.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Dominic stood.
“I have a hotel.”
“I know.”
“You'll have a room under another name.”
“I can't afford—”
“You work for me.”
“That's not how employment works.”
“Tonight it is.”
Norah shook her head.
“I don't want to owe you.”
“You won't.”
“Men always say that.”
Dominic stopped.
The sentence landed harder than she intended.
Norah looked ashamed.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't apologize.”
She looked at him.
Dominic took his wallet from his jacket, removed a business card, and placed it on the table.
A number was handwritten on the back.
“My private number.”
Norah didn't touch it.
“If you decide you don't want my help, don't call.”
He nodded toward Marco.
“If you do, he'll take you somewhere safe.”
Norah stared at the card.
“No conditions?”
“No conditions.”
“Why?”
Dominic considered the question.
Then:
“Because someone should have helped before tonight.”
Norah's eyes filled again.
This time she didn't wipe them immediately.
Dominic walked away.
For nearly a minute, she remained alone.
Then she picked up the card.
At 11:38 p.m., Norah finished her shift.
Arthur was waiting across the street.
She saw his car before she stepped outside.
Engine running.
Lights off.
Her blood turned cold.
Marco appeared beside her.
“You want the hotel?”
Norah looked at Arthur's car.
Her phone vibrated.
A message.
Get in the car.
Another.
Now.
Norah closed her eyes.
Then she looked at Marco.
“Yes.”
Arthur's headlights suddenly switched on.
Marco's expression hardened.
Norah followed him toward a black SUV.
Across the street, Arthur's car pulled away from the curb.
May you like
And began following them.
Norah had finally chosen not to go home—but before the night ended, she would learn that Arthur had already prepared for the possibility that she might try to leave.
