Chapter 3 - Eighty-Six Thousand Dollars
By noon, Dominic’s office looked like a war room.
Files covered the table.
Grace stood beside the window while Marcus, Dominic’s security chief, explained what they had found.
“Atlantic Harbor Loans isn’t a normal lender.”
Grace looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“They target employees attached to Mercer businesses.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
Marcus continued.
“Housekeepers. Drivers. warehouse workers. Restaurant staff.”
Grace turned toward Dominic.
“Why?”
Marcus answered.
“Leverage.”
Dominic looked at the documents.
“If one of my employees owes the Ashfords money, the Ashfords can pressure them for information.”
Grace’s face went pale.
“You mean spying.”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at Marcus.
“How many?”
“So far? Forty-three.”
Dominic became frighteningly still.
Grace understood then why people feared him.
Not because he shouted.
Because he didn’t.
“Close every account,” Dominic said.
Marcus hesitated.
“That could cost several million.”
Dominic looked up.
“Did I ask?”
“No.”
“Pay every balance.”
Grace stepped forward.
“Wait.”
Dominic turned.
“You can’t just pay everyone’s debts.”
“I can.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“Then enlighten me.”
Grace looked at the documents.
“If you pay them, the Ashfords still win.”
Dominic studied her.
“How?”
“They took advantage of desperate people. If you quietly pay everything, nobody knows.”
Marcus glanced at Dominic.
Grace continued.
“They’ll do it somewhere else.”
Dominic’s expression shifted.
“What would you do?”
Grace hesitated.
“You’re asking me?”
“Yes.”
“I clean your apartment.”
“You also correctly identified the flaw in my plan in twelve seconds.”
Marcus hid a smile.
Grace looked through the papers.
“These loans must violate something.”
Marcus nodded.
“Several regulations, probably.”
“Then expose them.”
Dominic said, “Publicly?”
“Yes.”
Grace met his eyes.
“If people are afraid of powerful men, maybe sometimes powerful men should be afraid of sunlight.”
Dominic stared at her.
Then looked at Marcus.
“Call the attorney general.”
Marcus blinked.
“You know the attorney general hates you.”
“That makes him useful.”
Grace almost smiled.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You keep doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Almost laughing at me.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Marcus wisely left the room.
Grace looked down.
Dominic approached her.
“How is your mother?”
“Hospital admitted her.”
“And?”
“Dr. Rosen found a surgeon.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
Dominic nodded.
Grace swallowed.
“I still don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
Dominic walked toward his desk.
“My mother cleaned offices.”
Grace stopped.
Dominic rarely discussed anything personal.
“She raised three children alone.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Nobody does.”
He opened a drawer.
“She used to come home smelling like bleach.”
Grace remained silent.
Dominic continued.
“When I was thirteen, the owner of one building accused her of stealing a watch.”
Grace’s expression changed.
“She didn’t.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“She lost the job.”
Dominic looked at her.
“We lost the apartment two months later.”
Grace slowly sat down.
“So when you found me…”
“In the closet?”
“Yes.”
“I remembered her.”
Dominic’s phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
Caleb.
Grace frowned.
“Why is my brother calling you?”
Dominic answered.
“Mercer.”
A frantic voice came through.
“Mr. Mercer, they took me.”
Grace stood immediately.
“Caleb?”
Dominic put the phone on speaker.
Caleb was breathing hard.
“I’m sorry, Grace.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
A different voice entered the call.
Calm.
Male.
“Dominic.”
Dominic’s face became stone.
“Richard.”
Grace looked at him.
Richard Ashford.
Evelyn’s father.
Richard chuckled.
“You humiliated my daughter.”
“You kidnapped a civilian.”
“He owes my company money.”
“He owes you nothing.”
“That’s not what the contract says.”
Dominic leaned toward the phone.
“If Caleb Bennett is harmed—”
Richard interrupted.
“You’ll do what? Start a war?”
Grace looked between them.
Richard continued.
“Our families were supposed to combine their influence. Instead, you threw my daughter out because some housekeeper cried in your closet.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Name your price.”
Grace immediately looked at him.
Richard laughed.
“Oh, this isn’t about money.”
“What do you want?”
“The wedding.”
Grace’s eyes widened.
Richard continued.
“Six days from now. Same church. Same guests. Same agreement.”
Dominic said, “No.”
Grace grabbed his arm.
He looked at her.
She mouthed, Caleb.
Richard said, “Then the boy disappears.”
Grace whispered, “Dominic.”
Dominic looked at her.
For the first time since she met him, she saw hesitation.
She shook her head.
“Don’t agree.”
Richard laughed.
“Interesting.”
Grace spoke louder.
“You’re listening?”
“I am now.”
Grace leaned toward the phone.
“If you hurt my brother, the police will—”
“The police?”
Richard laughed again.
“Miss Bennett, you clearly don’t understand who you’re speaking to.”
Grace answered:
“No. I understand perfectly.”
Dominic watched her.
“You’re a wealthy man threatening a hospital patient’s family because your daughter got rejected.”
Richard stopped laughing.
Grace continued.
“That doesn’t make you powerful.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed with interest.
“It makes you pathetic.”
The line went silent.
Then Richard said coldly:
“Dominic, control your maid.”
Dominic answered instantly.
“She isn’t mine to control.”
Grace looked at him.
Richard’s voice hardened.
“Midnight. Pier Seventeen. Come alone.”
The call ended.
Grace turned toward Dominic.
“You’re not going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“Grace.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And this is my problem.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“This became my problem before you ever knew it existed.”
Dominic stared at her.
Grace continued.
“If you go alone, they control the situation.”
“And if you come?”
“They underestimate me.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“That seems to happen often.”
Grace folded her arms.
May you like
“Then use it.”
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