"Of course, Boss. I'll have someone deliver them to Miss Ferraro's residence right away."
Dominic stopped walking. The lighter went still. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Send them to the old Rossetti estate."
In his mind, after leaving the compound, Seraphina couldn't possibly have anywhere else to stay except the Rossetti family home. That crumbling monument to a name that no longer carried weight in any room that mattered.
One week later, late at night.
After finally wrapping up a territorial negotiation that had dragged on for days, Dominic returned to the Valente compound.
He walked into the living room, past the two soldiers posted at the foyer who straightened as he passed, only to see a slender, graceful figure curled up on the sofa in a silk nightgown, like a little shrimp.
"Seraphina, how many times have I told you, when I'm done working, I'll come back. There's no need for you to keep—"
His voice trailed off as he got closer and realized it wasn't Seraphina.
It was Daniela.
His mocking tone immediately vanished. The warmth drained from his face like water through a crack in stone.
Being stared at with such cold indifference, Daniela shivered. She looked pitiful and wronged, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her hand moved to her stomach again, settling there with the timing of someone who had rehearsed the gesture a thousand times.
"Dominic... Seraphina hasn't returned for days."
"I've sent her so many apology texts, but she hasn't responded to a single one."
"Maybe... maybe I should move out?"
Watching her on the verge of tears again, Dominic frowned and pulled her into his arms.
He placed a light, perfunctory kiss on her forehead. "Don't think too much. Take care of your health."
"Whether Seraphina likes it or not, from now on, this will be your home and our child's."
Half an hour after making that promise, Dominic stood alone on the open-air balcony of the compound's top floor, wrapped in a silk robe, quietly smoking a cigarette. Below him, the city sprawled out in cold light, and somewhere beyond the property line, a car idled with its headlights off. One of his own, keeping watch. There was always someone keeping watch.
He hadn't smoked in a long time.
But tonight, for some reason... he couldn't resist.