Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Vanished
At seven fifty-nine the next evening, Dominic walked into a small Italian restaurant on West 14th Street.
Sadi was already sitting in the corner.
He smiled.
“I knew you’d come.”
“I came to tell you to leave me alone.”
Dominic sat across from her.
“That could’ve been a text.”
“You don’t have my number.”
“I do now.”
Sadi stared at him.
Dominic smiled.
“That look is becoming my favorite.”
“You had someone investigate me.”
“I investigate everyone.”
“What did you find?”
The smile faded.
“Nothing.”
Sadi leaned back.
“That disappoint you?”
“It bothers me.”
“Why?”
“People exist on paper.”
“I exist.”
“You started existing four years ago.”
Sadi’s expression remained calm.
Dominic continued.
“Before that, no driver’s license. No credit history. No lease. No school record. No social media. No hospital record. Nothing.”
“Maybe I’m private.”
“Maybe you’re dead.”
She stared at him.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“Who are you?”
“A waitress.”
“I watched a waitress dismantle Nox.”
“He’s big. Big men rely on fear.”
“You knew his training.”
“I pay attention.”
“You knew his injured knee.”
“I watched him walk.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“You knew Leo was reaching for a gun before he drew it.”
Her eyes cooled.
“I heard the holster.”
“You calculated the distance.”
Sadi said nothing.
Dominic smiled faintly.
“There. That silence again.”
A waiter approached.
Dominic ordered wine.
Sadi ordered water.
When they were alone, she said, “You don’t want to know who I am.”
“I decide what I want.”
“That attitude is why half the city hates you.”
“And the other half works for me.”
“You think that’s power?”
“It’s close.”
“No. It’s rented loyalty.”
That struck him.
Dominic sat back.
“Explain.”
“You pay people because you don’t trust them. They obey because they’re afraid of you. The second someone offers them more money or more protection, they leave.”
“You know a lot about my organization for a waitress.”
“I know people.”
Dominic studied her.
“Marry me.”
Sadi almost choked on her water.
“What?”
“You won.”
“That was a joke.”
“It stopped being a joke when Nox hit the floor.”
“You cannot marry a stranger because she won a fight.”
“I’ve heard worse reasons.”
“No.”
“Dinner first.”
“This is dinner.”
“Then we’re making progress.”
Sadi rubbed her forehead.
“You’re exhausting.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
His phone buzzed.
Dominic checked it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t a nothing face.”
Dominic stood.
“Stay here.”
Sadi caught his wrist.
“Who texted you?”
He looked at her hand.
She released him.
“Sorry.”
Dominic turned the phone toward her.
The message contained a photograph.
Sadi walking home the previous night.
Underneath it:
WE KNOW WHO SHE IS.
Sadi went pale.
Dominic saw it.
“Who sent this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who are they?”
Sadi grabbed her purse.
“I’m leaving.”
Dominic blocked her path.
“No.”
“Move.”
“Not until you tell me what’s happening.”
“You wanted mystery. Congratulations.”
“Sadi.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“If the people who sent that picture know I’m alive, staying beside you will get you killed.”
Dominic stared at her.
Then he laughed softly.
Sadi looked furious.
“You think that’s funny?”
“No.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
“Because you’re the first person in ten years who has warned me that being near them could be dangerous.”
His expression hardened.
“Usually it’s the other way around.”
A window shattered.
Dominic moved instantly.
He pulled Sadi down as glass sprayed across the empty table beside them.
Men outside shouted.
Dominic’s bodyguards rushed inside.
“Boss!”
Dominic rose halfway.
“Back exit.”
“No,” Sadi said.
He looked at her.
She was studying the shattered window.
“Shot came from across the street.”
“You can tell that?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Later.”
Another crack echoed outside.
Sadi grabbed Dominic’s jacket.
“Kitchen. Now.”
They ran.
In the alley behind the restaurant, Dominic’s armored sedan screeched toward them.
Sadi stopped.
“No.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“Don’t get in.”
“My car is armored.”
“That’s why they expect you to use it.”
He looked at her.
“Who?”
Sadi pointed toward a delivery van parked thirty yards away.
“The man pretending not to watch us.”
Dominic saw him.
The man suddenly reached beneath his jacket.
Sadi moved first.
She kicked a metal trash-can lid across the pavement.
It crashed into his legs.
Dominic’s guard tackled him.
Seconds later, the man was restrained against the wall.
Dominic approached.
“Who sent you?”
Silence.
Sadi saw the tattoo on his wrist.
Her face drained of color.
Dominic noticed.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You know that symbol.”
Sadi backed away.
Dominic followed.
“What is it?”
She closed her eyes.
“The Black Crown.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
Even he knew the name.
The Black Crown wasn’t a street gang.
It was a network.
Money laundering. Weapons trafficking. Political bribery. Private security contracts.
An organization that didn’t own neighborhoods.
It owned people.
Dominic looked at Sadi.
“What do they want with you?”
She opened her eyes.
“Four years ago, I helped destroy one of their operations.”
“You were law enforcement?”
“No.”
“Military?”
“No.”
“What were you?”
Sadi looked toward the restrained man.
Then at Dominic.
“I was the person they hired to train their killers.”
Dominic stared at her.
Sadi’s voice dropped.
May you like
“Until I learned who they were killing.”
---
