Fatally Yours

Chapter 22

•INDIANA•

"Yeah, so that means when we redesign this whole area..." I half-listened to Mason while glancing around the long dining table.

But to my disappointment, Dominik was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared about an hour ago to socialize with Mason's female personal assistant, who was also at the party, in hopes of getting the information he needed from her.

I haven't seen him since, and now that we've all gathered in the dining hall for dinner, I still couldn't spot him anywhere. Even his reserved seat at the nearby table remained unoccupied.

So far, I've been doing a great job keeping Mason distracted by pretending to be interested in his home renovation plans, but I'm starting to get bored. The champagne and wine I've consumed over the past hour are beginning to make my nerves feel tingly.

"Enough about me, honestly. I'm sorry for my rudeness; I haven't asked anything about you," Mason suddenly said, snapping my attention back to him.

He propped his elbow on the table, leaned his head against his closed fist, and smiled at me.

"Tell me, what do you actually do for a living?"

Ah, here we go...

"I'm an intern...at Mr. Vitale's company."

"Oh, that's wonderful! Which one?"

I stared blankly at him. Shit...I know this; I read it in the file, so why can't I recall anything right now? I shouldn't have drunk so much champagne earlier.

"Umm...the..." Mason kept smiling at me, waiting for me to continue.

Damn it, Indie! Think! You know this! Dominik Vitale owns multiple companies across the state, all operated by the Valahia Syndicate. But which one?!

"You don't remem—"

"Villo Inc.," I quickly blurted out, cutting Mason off mid-sentence.

His eyes widened in surprise, and he slowly nodded, looking impressed.

"An intern, huh?"

"Mmhmm."

"So how did you manage to come to this dinner party as Dominik's plus one?"

His tone made my smile slip, and when I saw the look he was giving me, I scoffed before responding.

"It was a friendly gesture. I help him a lot in the office, and he initially wanted to come alone but then invited me to accompany him last minute."

He smirked, leaning back in his chair, his gaze drifting down to my exposed cleavage once again, as if he hadn't been doing that for the past few hours.

"You should come intern at my office someday. I'm sure I could offer more benefits than Vitale." He paused, casually laying his hand on my exposed thigh. "You know, as a friendly gesture."

Lord, give me the strength not to break this guy's fingers.

I forced a smile, gently tapped his hand, and removed it.

"I'll think about it," I replied, then stood up from my seat. His eyes followed me as I rose.

"I need to visit the restroom. Will you excuse me?"

He grinned and nodded for me to go. As soon as I turned around, I wiped the smile off my face and headed in the direction of the living room, where I last saw Dominik.

Something must've happened. Otherwise, there's no reason for his delay unless he got caught up with something.

I took a different hallway and began checking each room I passed, hoping to find him. But unfortunately, he wasn't in any of them. I almost stopped to ask one of the waiters for help when I suddenly heard voices coming from up ahead.

I entered the dark hallway and saw two figures standing together on the balcony, appearing deep in conversation. I inched closer from the shadows, my eyes never leaving them.

As I got nearer, I realized the taller figure was Dominik. I recognized the woman beside him as Mason's personal assistant, her blonde hair tightly pulled back into a bun.

What the hell are they doing out here alone?

It's too exposed.

I hid behind the wall, managing to catch small snippets of their conversation, but none of it made any sense. Then I realized they were speaking in a foreign language.

I peered around the wall again, and my heart skipped a nervous beat when I saw her pull out a gun, pointing it right at Dominik's face.

Fuck, this was going sideways. None of this was supposed to happen. I had no weapon or backup, so what do I do?

I looked again, noticing her finger tightening around the trigger. There was nothing around to use, but I had an idea, hoping it would work and get us both out of here safely.

Steeling myself to go through with the plan, I slipped from my hiding spot and crept up behind her. My eyes focused on the back of her neck, analyzing my movements carefully so that she wouldn't end up dead after I executed my move.

I felt Dominik's eyes on me as I approached her from behind, and without hesitation, I wrapped one hand on the side of her chin and the other on the side of her head.

Then I twisted.

A faint snap echoed as she slumped unconscious to the ground. I looked up to find Dominik glaring at me.

"What the hell did you just do?" he demanded, sounding furious.

"Saving you from her. What does it look like?"

He clenched his jaw and stepped closer, his mismatched green eyes darkening as they bore into mine. My heart dropped to my stomach.

"I had it handled," he growled, his voice low enough to make my pulse quicken. I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat.

Okay, so much for successfully managing any situation without pissing him off; I'd failed spectacularly.

"It's fine. She's not dead. She'll regain consciousness in a few hours."

The muscle in his jaw tightened, visible in the moonlight—a reminder of how I might have just screwed things up for us tonight.

"When I give orders, you follow them. The next time you step out of line and do something reckless, it'll be your neck I snap with my bare hands. Understood?"

I slowly nodded, looking him straight in the eye.

"Yes, sir."

He shot me a final glare before stepping over the unconscious woman and leaving. I turned to the balcony, clutching the railings with both hands, exhaling a heavy sigh.

Never in my life had I felt so intimidated and powerless before a man who could so easily end my life with a single snap of his fingers.

I'd dealt with many narcissistic, powerful assholes before, and put away countless dangerous criminals, but none of them had ever made me feel this way.

The fear he instilled in me was enough to crush any physical attraction I'd started to feel toward him. Part of me was relieved—I was supposed to fear him, not want him.

But another part of me felt weak at the change between us, knowing he was capable of exploiting my vulnerability in all the wrong, dangerous ways.