Chapter 48 48

Chapter 48 48
Vivian's POV

My hand squeezed the phone so hard my knuckles turned white. "Veronica. Where are you?"

"That's not important right now. The main thing is you getting out of it before it destroys you.” There was that haughty tone in her voice, the one where she thought she knew more than literally everyone about anything.

"I'm not leaving—"

"Don't be stupid, Vivian. Dominic is going down. Feds don’t go after some like him unless they have them totally cold. And when he goes down, he’s taking you with him. You'll be collateral damage."

"He's going to beat this. He has the best lawyers, the best—”

She chuckled, the sound hard and derisive. "You really believe that? And you really believe he will walk away from RICO charges? From federal prosecution? God, you are even more innocent than I thought.”

“I don’t know what I believe,” I confessed, the words tumbling out before I could catch them.

“Then believe me — you are not cut out for prison, Viv. You're too soft, too breakable. You'll shatter within a month. And I’ve seen it happen to people stronger than you.” She paused. Do you really want your life to end like this? And in a cell Over some shit that you ain't even do?

She was probably right. I'd never survive actual prison. The violence, the isolation, the utter loss of freedom. But it didn't matter. The knowledge that I would rather face it with Dominic than be free without him was terrifying in its implications.

“Why do you even care what happens to me?” The question came out bitter. "You abandoned me. Left me to fill in for you with no warning, no getting ready.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then, more softly: “Because you’re my sister. After all that’s happened between us... after everything you put me through, how can I not hate you?” The words spill out belligerently. “How can I still feel like this?”

"Despite abandoning me? Making me have to clean up after your mess?” My voice was rising now. “You left me to marry a stranger. To exist the life I never asked for. To pose as you while you ran off to freedom.”

“I offered you a chance,” Veronica said, her voice turning stern. “A life you would never have access to, otherwise. Wealth, status, power. I gave you everything."

"An opportunity? You gave me a nightmare. An everyday meditation on terror and deceit.”

"Did I? Really?" Her tone turned challenging. “Because to me you’re living in a mansion that’s worth more than our childhood neighborhood. They wore diamonds that could have fed a family for years. Wife of one of the mighty men in Chicago. To you it wouldn't be a nightmare.”

"And I'm about to get indicted for something I ain't do! Investigated by federal agents! Potentially facing decades in prison!" A noise of rage and despair broke from me, and I was screaming now, not caring if anyone heard.

"Then run, Vivian. Tonight. Right now." Veronica’s voice became more and more urgent, desperate even. “I have people who can make you disappear entirely. New identity, new papers, a new life in a country without extradition. Just say yes and I'll take care of the rest."

I glanced at the ruined mansion. At the papers strewn across every surface, the vacant spaces where computers used to sit, the general chaos left in the wake of a police search. I thought of Dominic in some holding cell downtown, presumptively enraged and scheming his next action. I considered how simple it would be to just walk away from this.

"No."

"What?" Veronica sounded genuinely shocked.

"I said no. I'm staying." The words sounded so final, like slamming a door that would never reopen.

Veronica's voice turned ice-cold. "Then you're a fool. An absolute fool. And when all this ends in ruins, and you’re sitting in an orange jumpsuit in the prison, don’t expect me to save your putrid hide. I gave you an out and you didn’t take it.”

The line went dead.

Hours went by with no Xavier or anyone else. Sofia brought me food and I couldn’t eat. I was too tired to sleep anyway. I paced through the ruined mansion, waiting to hear anything and replaying in my mind.

Finally, at around midnight, I noticed car headlights headed up the driveway. I ran over to the window, and my heart soared as I saw Dominic’s car. He was out. They'd released him.
I flew down the stairs, disregarding that I looked exactly as I had all day, that nothing else mattered but him. I met him at the door and he was absolutely destroyed. Bone tired, enraged, dangerous in a way that took my breath away.

"Are you okay?" Dumb question, I know.

"Do I look okay?" He squawked as he shoved past me, heading right for his office.

Xavier followed, pulling the door mostly but not shut. “Bail has been set in the amount of ten million dollars. We posted it immediately."

"What are the conditions?" Dominic helped himself with scotch from the bar, his hands shaking with seething barely restrained anger.

"Surrender your passport. Weekly in-person check-ins with a probation officer. Can’t leave the state without permission. We were looking at house arrest with electronic monitoring, but we got it down."

"A fucking cage. They've put me in a cage." He then drank the scotch in one go and refilled the glass without hesitating.

I stood just inside the door debating whether I should go in or leave him alone. He noticed me standing and something about his gaze changed.

"Come here."

I entered the office and he hauled me to him. Not a gentle, tender love, one that was desperate and possessive. As if he needed to be sure I was real and there with him.

“They went all through the house while you were gone,” I murmured.

"I know. Xavier told me." His arms tightened around me. "Did they question you directly?"

"They tried. Xavier cut them off before I could speak.”

His arms tightened, almost to the point of pain. “This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Much worse. I will be indicted by the grand jury. There will be a trial. That could take years to sort out."

"I know."

"You should leave. While you still can. While you're not too implicated." He announced it but didn’t uncircumflex his arms, drop me. "Take Celeste's money and disappear."

I broke away, enough to see his face. “Is that really what you want?”

There was pain, torment, ambivalence in his eyes. "What I want doesn't matter. “What’s safe for you is what counts.”

"Then it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere. I told you with more confidence than I had. "I'm staying right here."

Relief or fear, maybe both, something passed over his face before he mashed his mouth on mine.

It was a savage, consuming kiss, all the fear and anger and desire piped through this link between us. He set me on top of his desk—the one place that always here, our battleground and temple. He was rough with my body, hands tugging on clothes without any grace or patience. Just raw need.

"I might pull you into it with me," he muttered against my mouth. "Destroy your entire life."

"I don't care."

"You should care. You need to get away from me.

"But I don't. And I won't."

His hands were clumsy on me, rough; pulling me in even as he seemed to be fighting it. "Say you'll leave. Promise me you'll save yourself."

"No."

"Say it."

"No."

He thrust into me so forcefully, punishingly. But I met him stroke for stroke, my nails clawing down his back so deep he bled. We were both pissed off the situation, at ourselves, at each other for giving a shit when we weren’t supposed to demonstrate weakness that could kill us.

We panted, we lay tangled together on his desk and he dropped his forehead to mine after we finished. He was looking toward the sky with his eyes closed as if he were in pain.

“I will hurt you someday. It's inevitable. I hurt anything I love.”

"You already have," I whispered. "Many times. In many ways. But I'm still here."

He opened his eyes and what I saw broke my chest. "That's what terrifies me most. That you’re going to stick around until I’ve wrecked you.”