The office was quiet except for the faint hum of the city outside. Dominic had drifted into a light sleep on the couch, his arm still loosely wrapped around Adair.
But Adair could not sleep. Not when the past clawed at her chest like a beast begging to be freed.
She slipped from his hold and crossed to the desk. The dim lamp flickered, catching the edge of an old photograph tucked into her wallet. She pulled it free, fingers trembling as her eyes locked on faces she had spent years trying to forget.
Her parents.
A man with sharp eyes, dressed in a tailored suit, and a woman with a smile that never reached her gaze. They looked powerful, dangerous even—but to Adair, they had only ever been ghosts.
She swallowed hard. Her father had been no ordinary man. He was Victor Moretti, a name once whispered in the same breath as Dominic's enemies. A king in the underworld before his empire collapsed in a bloodbath Adair had barely survived.
She remembered the night—the fire, the screams, the way Dominic's world had unknowingly brushed against hers even then.
Her mother had died shielding her. Her father had vanished, leaving behind debts, enemies, and one surviving heir—Adair.
And now, the past was circling back. The men who had attacked weren't just after Dominic. They were after her bloodline.
The floor creaked behind her. Dominic stood in the doorway, shadows wrapping around him like a cloak. His eyes were sharp, unreadable, locked on the photograph in her hands.
"You should have told me," he said, voice low and edged with danger.
Adair's throat tightened. "I thought if I buried it, it couldn't touch me anymore."
He stepped closer, taking the photo, his jaw hardening as recognition flared in his gaze. "Victor Moretti. Your father."
Her breath hitched. "You knew him?"
Dominic's lips curved into something between a snarl and a grim smile. "Knew him? Adair… your father once tried to kill me."
The weight of his words crashed down between them, heavy as stone.
And in that moment, Adair realized the truth: she wasn't just Dominic's weakness. She was his enemy's legacy.