Chapter 5 - The Shadow of DeLuca
In her twenty-eighth week, the outside world breached the walls of Lake Geneva.
It came not with a gunshot, but with a quiet phone call at 3:00 AM.
Maddie woke up to the sound of Dominic stepping out onto the master suite balcony, wearing his trousers and holding a secure satellite phone to his ear.
The night air blowing through the cracked glass door was freezing.
“How many?” Dominic was saying, his voice cold enough to freeze water. “...Where did he get the weapons? ...No. Keep Julian inside the Loop tower. I’m driving down in an hour.”
Maddie sat up in bed, pulling the duvet over her shoulders. “Dominic?”
Dominic killed the call instantly, stepping back inside and closing the balcony door. His face was drawn, his jaw set in a hard, lethal line that she hadn't seen since the day he found her in Boston.
“What happened?” she asked, her heart beginning to pound.
Dominic walked over to the bed, pulling a dark turtleneck sweater over his head. “A remnant of the DeLuca crew tried to hit one of my storage facilities near the port of Milwaukee tonight. They were looking for shipping manifests.”
“Serafina’s father?”
“Carmine DeLuca died in a federal medical facility three weeks ago,” Dominic said flatly, strapping his shoulder holster over his chest with practiced ease. “His nephew, Mateo, took over what was left of their Philadelphia crew. He’s reckless, young, and trying to make a name for himself.”
He reached out, cupping her face in his broad hand, pressing a firm kiss against her lips.
“I have to go to Chicago for two days.”
Maddie felt an unexpected, sharp pang of worry twist in her stomach. “Is it dangerous?”
Dominic smiled bitterly. “Everything I do is dangerous, sweetheart. But I have forty men staying here with you. Leo has orders to lock down the inner bunker if any vehicle approaches the outer perimeter without my personal clearance code.”
He reached down, laying his palm over her stomach for a long, silent moment.
“Be good for Dr. Evans,” he whispered. “I’ll be back before Sunday.”
He left the room without another word, his boots echoing down the wooden hallway.
May you like
Twenty minutes later, Maddie watched from her window as three black armored SUVs sped down the driveway and vanished into the fog along the lake road.
For the first time since he had brought her to Lake Geneva, the house felt empty. And for the first time, Maddie realized with a terrifying jolt that she was worried about him.
