Chapter 4
The tension in the brightly lit dining room was strung so tight it felt like a piano wire ready to snap. Dominic Vale continued to stare down at Audrey, the cinematic lighting casting sharp, unforgiving shadows across the angular planes of his face. The small tattoo on his neck seemed to pulse with the slow, controlled beat of his heart.
"My daughter," Dominic repeated softly. His voice was a low, vibrating hum that barely disturbed the air, yet every guest heard it clearly.
Audrey’s knuckles were bone-white as she clutched the wine glass. She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. "Dominic, it wasn't like that. Lily was misbehaving. She was throwing a tantrum in the playroom. I was simply trying to close the door for a time-out. I didn't see the maid's hand until it was too late."
"You didn't see it," Dominic echoed, his tone perfectly flat, devoid of any inflection.
"I swear it, Dominic," Audrey pleaded, her voice rising an octave in desperate, frantic self-preservation. "She just thrust her hand into the doorframe. It was a complete accident. You can't possibly take the word of the help over your future wife!"
Dominic did not argue. He did not raise his voice. He slowly turned his back on Audrey, a dismissal so absolute and degrading it made the surrounding guests physically flinch. He faced Elena again.
"Where is Lily now?" Dominic asked the weeping housemaid.
Elena wiped her wet cheek with her good hand, her chest heaving as she tried to control her sobs. "She is in her bedroom, sir. She was very frightened by the noise. I asked the nanny to lock the door from the inside until the dinner was over."
A muscle twitched violently in Dominic’s sharply defined jawline. The idea that his daughter was cowering behind a locked door in his own home, terrified of the woman he had brought into their lives, was an insult that demanded immediate, catastrophic blood.
Dominic looked at his top lieutenant, a massive, fair-skinned man named Silas, sitting halfway down the table.
"Silas," Dominic said quietly.
Silas stood up instantly, his chair scraping loudly. "Yes, Boss."
"Go upstairs. Relieve the nanny. Stay at Lily's door. No one enters that room except me," Dominic ordered.
"Understood," Silas nodded, immediately turning and marching out of the grand dining room, his heavy footsteps echoing down the marble hallway.
Dominic turned back to the table. He looked at the fifty guests staring at him in terrified silence. "The dinner is over. Everyone will leave my home immediately."
It was a command, not a request.
Chairs scraped frantically against the floorboards as grown men, hardened criminals who controlled the city's ports and unions, practically scrambled to their feet to obey. No one spoke. No one offered a goodbye or a thank you. Within ninety seconds, the lavish, bright dining room was entirely empty, save for Dominic, Audrey, and the trembling housemaid.
"Dominic, please," Audrey begged, standing up from her chair, her satin gown rustling loudly in the quiet room. "You are causing a massive scene. My father’s associates were at this table! You cannot humiliate me like this!"
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Dominic finally looked back at her. The artistic tattoos on his hands flexed as he rested them casually on the back of his chair.
"I am not humiliating you, Audrey," Dominic said, his deep voice carrying a terrifying, dead calm. "I am simply clearing the room before I decide what to do with you."
