Chapter 13 - THE MAN WHO WOKE UP ASKING FOR HER
Dominic woke thirty-six hours later.
His first word was:
“Elena.”
Marco, sitting beside the hospital window, smiled.
“Good morning to you too.”
Dominic tried to sit.
Pain stopped him.
“Elena?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Talking to federal investigators.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Parents?”
“Alive.”
“Margaret?”
“Custody.”
“Elias?”
“Cooperating.”
“Vanessa?”
Marco raised an eyebrow.
“Also alive.”
Dominic exhaled.
“Good.”
Marco smiled faintly.
“You're becoming sentimental.”
“Get out.”
“Definitely better.”
Two hours later, Elena entered.
She wore jeans.
Sweater.
No maid uniform.
Dominic noticed immediately.
“You look different.”
“So do you.”
“I've been stabbed by architecture.”
She laughed.
That sound did something to him.
Elena sat beside the bed.
“How do you feel?”
“Embarrassed.”
“Why?”
“I collapsed.”
“You lost a lot of blood.”
“Still.”
She shook her head.
“Men.”
“Teachers.”
Silence settled.
Not awkward.
Warm.
Dominic looked at her.
“Your father told investigators everything.”
“I know.”
“Your mother too.”
“I know.”
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“You don't have to keep saying you're fine.”
She looked away.
“I don't know what I am.”
“That seems reasonable.”
She stared at her hands.
“My entire life changed in two days.”
“Mine too.”
She smiled slightly.
“Your life was already strange.”
“Fair.”
Then Dominic became serious.
“I meant what I said before the lodge.”
Her heart kicked.
“About?”
“You not working for me.”
She nodded.
“The debts are being challenged legally.”
“Marco told me.”
“Your father may still owe a small amount from actual gambling.”
“How small?”
“Twenty-eight thousand.”
Elena winced.
Dominic continued.
“Frank has money hidden.”
“What?”
“A lot.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course he does.”
“He was laundering operational funds into safe accounts.”
“So I quit teaching because my father was secretly sitting on money.”
“Apparently.”
She laughed.
Then cried.
The shift was so sudden Dominic said nothing.
Elena covered her face.
“I loved teaching.”
His expression softened.
“Go back.”
“I can't just—”
“Why not?”
“I left midyear.”
“Schools hire.”
“I moved across the country.”
“Chicago isn't gone.”
She looked at him.
“You want me to leave Aspen?”
That question caught him.
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Elena noticed.
Dominic corrected:
“I want you to choose.”
She stared.
Progress again.
“What if I choose Aspen?”
His voice lowered.
“Then I'd be happy.”
“What if I choose Chicago?”
“I'd hate it.”
She smiled.
“But?”
“But I'd help you move.”
Her eyes softened.
“That is unexpectedly mature.”
“I've had a difficult week.”
Elena laughed again.
Then Dominic reached toward her.
Stopped before touching her.
“May I?”
She looked at his hand.
Then placed hers inside.
“Yes.”
His fingers closed around hers.
No fireworks.
No dramatic music.
Just warmth.
The same hands that had gone numb outside his terrace now rested safely in his.
“I don't want gratitude mistaken for something else,” Dominic said.
“What?”
“You nearly died. I found you. Then everything happened.”
Elena understood.
Trauma creates attachment.
Rescue creates complicated feelings.
Dominic continued.
“If you ever choose me, I want it because you know me after this.”
Her throat tightened.
“And if I don't?”
His expression hurt.
But he answered:
“Then I still want you safe.”
Elena looked at him for a long time.
Then leaned forward.
She kissed his cheek.
Exactly once.
Dominic froze.
“That wasn't gratitude.”
He looked at her.
“No?”
“No.”
She stood.
“But don't get arrogant.”
“Impossible.”
She smiled and left.
Dominic watched the door after she disappeared.
Marco entered from the hallway.
“You look ridiculous.”
Dominic threw a pillow.
Marco caught it.
“Worth it.”
The investigations continued for months.
Harold Crane was charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, obstruction, and decades of financial crimes.
Margaret Kane faced charges for attempted murder, kidnapping, explosives offenses, and fraud.
Elias accepted responsibility for Alexander Vale's murder and entered a cooperation agreement.
Vanessa testified against her father.
She also publicly admitted what she had done to Elena.
Her apology did not erase it.
But she stopped hiding behind excuses.
Frank entered a gambling recovery program.
Laura began rebuilding her relationship with Elena slowly.
Very slowly.
Elena did not forgive people because they cried.
She listened.
Set boundaries.
Watched behavior.
Then decided.
By March, she had returned to teaching.
Not Chicago.
Aspen.
A private high school needed an English teacher halfway through the term.
Her first day, Dominic waited outside after school.
In a black SUV.
Ridiculous.
Elena walked toward him.
“You know parents are staring.”
“I own a normal car.”
“You arrived with three security vehicles.”
“Two.”
“Dominic.”
He smiled.
“Dinner?”
“Is this a date?”
“Yes.”
She opened the passenger door.
“Then next time, one car.”
“Negotiable.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
They dated like normal people.
Or as normally as possible when one person controlled a criminal empire.
Coffee.
Restaurants.
Walks.
Books.
Arguments.
Dominic had never read Jane Austen.
Elena treated this as a moral failure.
He corrected it.
Slowly.
Then one evening in April, Dominic said:
“I need to tell you something.”
Elena looked up from her book.
“That sentence has historically been terrible.”
“This one may be worse.”
She closed the book.
“What?”
Dominic placed a file on the table.
“My father left something to Frank.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“Land.”
“Where?”
“Aspen.”
She opened the file.
Forty acres.
Forest.
A small cabin.
And an old schoolhouse.
Elena stared.
“Why?”
Dominic had no idea.
Then she found a letter.
Alexander Vale to Frank Brooks.
FRANK,
IF WE SURVIVE THIS, GIVE THE SCHOOLHOUSE TO ELENA.
SHE SHOULD GROW UP SOMEWHERE STORIES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN GUNS.
Elena stopped breathing.
Alexander had known her.
As a child.
Frank had brought her to the property.
That was why she remembered the mine roads.
Dominic whispered:
“My father wanted you to have this.”
Tears filled her eyes.
Then she turned the page.
A second note.
Dominic recognized the handwriting.
His father's final sentence:
AND IF MY SON EVER FINDS HIS WAY TO HER, TELL HIM NOT TO BE AN IDIOT.
Elena stared.
Dominic covered his face.
“My father was apparently clairvoyant.”
She laughed through tears.
Then kissed him.
Not the cheek.
Not gratitude.
This time, Dominic kissed her back.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like something precious.
When they separated, Elena whispered:
“That also wasn't gratitude.”
Dominic smiled.
“Good.”
But neither noticed the car parked across the road.
Inside, a photographer lowered his camera.
By morning, every major gossip site carried the same headline:
MAFIA BILLIONAIRE DOMINIC VALE SECRETLY DATING THE MAID HIS FIANCÉE LEFT TO FREEZE.
And one person in Chicago saw the story.
A woman Elena had not spoken to in eight years.
Her older sister.
Rachel Brooks.
Rachel stared at the photograph.
Then immediately called Elena.
When Elena answered, Rachel said:
“You need to get away from Dominic Vale.”
Elena frowned.
“Why?”
May you like
Rachel's voice trembled.
“Because I know what his family did to you when you were a baby.”
