“Stay With Me Just One Night,” - He Asked Me to Stay One Night While He Bled Out—By Morning, I Learned My Ruined Life Had Been Built for His War. I Didn’t Know It Would Change Everything

The clock on the mantelpiece chimed 5:00 a.m.

Outside, the storm was beginning to clear, leaving thin silver streaks across the Manhattan sky.

I sat on the edge of Dominic’s bed, my hand still resting near his chest. The pulse beneath his skin was stronger now, steady and stubborn, mirroring the fierce energy returning to his eyes.

"What happens at six a.m.?" I asked quietly.

"At six a.m., Val takes you home in a black car," Dominic said. "You take that bag of cash, you pay off Vance, and you pretend tonight never happened."

I looked at him, shaking my head. "You think I can just go back to my apartment and pretend my ex-husband didn't sell me into medical slavery?"

"No," Dominic said, his thumb tracing the soft skin of my wrist. "I think you’re too smart for that. But if you stay near me, Clara, you enter a war. The people who did this to you are the same people who put a bullet in my stomach tonight."

"Who shot you, Dominic? Really."

Dominic took a slow breath, pain tightening his brow. "Julian Castiglione. He wants my shipping docks in Brooklyn. He’s been buying up my board members, buying up Apex, buying up small men like Tom. Tonight was supposed to be his coup."

"And if he finds out you survived?"

"He’ll come to finish it. And he’ll come for anyone who helped keep me breathing."

I closed my eyes. I was just an ER nurse from Queens. I lived in a walk-up apartment, ate microwave dinners, and spent my days changing IVs and stitching up bar fights. I didn't belong in a world of mobsters, wire transfers, and hitmen.

But as I looked down at the manila folder containing the proof of my betrayal, something inside me—something quiet and gentle that had been crushed by two years of suffering—snapped into place.

I didn't want to be a victim anymore.

"How do we stop them?" I asked.

Dominic stared at me, a slow, dangerous smile creeping onto his face. It was the first time I had seen him smile, and it transformed his severe face into something devastatingly handsome.

"You're a dangerous woman, Clara Hayes."

"I'm an angry nurse, Mr. Russo. That's much worse."

"Indeed it is," Dominic agreed softly. He leaned up slightly, his face inches from mine. "Listen to me carefully. Paying Vance off with my money won't free you. He’ll just double his interest tomorrow because he knows you have access to cash."

"Then what do I do?"

"You let me handle Vance," Dominic said. "Tomorrow morning, you go to Mount Sinai for your usual shift. You act normal. You let Apex think you’re still their obedient little worker bee. Meanwhile, my men will locate Tom."

My blood ran cold at the mention of my ex-husband. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Whatever you want me to do," Dominic murmured, his voice dropping into a dark, seductive pitch that sent shivers straight down my spine. "He traded your life, Clara. His fate belongs to you."

Before I could answer, the bedroom door opened softly.

Val stepped into the room, holding a encrypted satellite phone. "Dominic. Castiglione just called a meeting of the five families for nine a.m. He’s telling everyone you’re dead."