The next morning brought no peace.
Aria sat at her desk outside Dominic's office, typing a summary report with fingers that shook slightly from lack of sleep. Her mind was still spinning from the night before—the wine, the questions, the confrontation, the shadowy message.
And above all, the one question she couldn't shake:
What happened to Dominic's brother?
Because whatever it was, it had triggered someone powerful enough to send warnings… and dangerous enough to watch them from the shadows.
Her phone buzzed.
DOMINIC: "Come in. Bring your notes."
She smoothed her blouse, steeled her nerves, and entered the lion's den.
Dominic sat at his desk in his signature black suit, sleeves rolled just enough to reveal a tattoo on his forearm—one she hadn't seen before. It was faint, old…
A name.
Daniel.
Her breath caught, but she didn't speak.
He didn't look up. "You didn't sleep."
"No."
"I didn't expect you to."
She hesitated, then set the tablet down. "Before we start today, I want to ask something."
He looked up, gaze unreadable.
She took a breath. "Who's Daniel?"
For a long moment, silence thickened between them like fog.
Dominic's expression hardened. "That's not part of your job description."
Aria didn't flinch. "Neither was last night."
Something flickered in his eyes—pain, buried under stone. Then he stood and walked to the window.
"I had a brother," he said, voice low. "His name was Daniel. He died five years ago."
"How?"
Dominic's jaw clenched. "Car accident."
But something in his voice… a crack, a stutter—told her that wasn't the full truth.
She stepped closer. "But that's not what you believe."
He turned to her slowly.
"No. I believe he was murdered."
Aria froze.
He walked back to his desk and pulled open a locked drawer, then placed a thin, sealed file on the table.
"Three months before the crash, Daniel found something he wasn't supposed to. Something about our father's company. About Blackwood's early money—dirty money."
Aria opened the file slowly. Photos. Documents. Newspaper clippings. A birth certificate.
"What is this?"
"Proof," Dominic said. "Or as close to it as I could get. My father buried it. The media never touched it. But someone wanted Daniel gone. He died three days after sending me those documents."
She looked at him, stunned. "Why are you showing me this?"
He stepped closer, eyes intense. "Because I need someone I can trust. And I'm beginning to think that person might be you."
Aria swallowed hard. "You don't even know who I am."
He smiled faintly. "No. But I know who you're not. You're not scared of me. You're not chasing my money. You ask the questions everyone else is too afraid to."
She stared at him.
And for the first time, she realized something:
Dominic Blackwood wasn't just dangerous because of his power—he was dangerous because of his pain.
She was getting too close.
And she didn't want to stop.
That evening, Aria returned to her apartment with the file tucked in her bag.
As she stepped inside, the air felt… wrong.
Still.
Too still.
Her instincts screamed. She turned—
And came face-to-face with a masked figure holding a phone.
"Cute girl," the figure rasped. "He trusts you. That's a mistake."
Before she could scream, the figure threw something to the floor—
Smoke.