CHAPTER FOUR: The Web Tightens

I wake up to seventeen missed calls from Adrian and a single text from Dominic that makes my blood run cold.

Adrian is probably calling to tell me he wants me but Dominic”s text shocks me more than Adrian's seventeen missed calls. 

The text goes like this 

“I'm promoting you and we'll be working closely, at

tarting today 🔥💕”

The message came through at 6:47 AM and it's now 6:52, and I'm staring at my phone like it might explode.

He's not even asking, he still thinks he's playing his game, wishful thinking.  

My phone buzzes again. Adrian, calling for the eighteenth time.

I answer.

"Tell me you didn't sleep with him." His voice is sharp, accusing me of something I didn't do. 

"Good morning to you too."

"Abigail, did you—"

"No, we had dinner that's all and I even thought you actually followed me like you said"

"Dinner that lasted until eleven PM. Dinner that ended with you getting into his car."

Silence on the other end. Then: "I had someone watching, for your protection."

I gasp loud enough for him to hear

“I'm tired of this protection, Dominic bought my house claiming he's doing it to protect me, now you have me followed because you're doing it for my protection, what is it between you two”

"You're getting too close to him and someone needs to keep you safe from yourself so you don't go back to him"

I hang up and throw my phone across my bed where it bounces off the pillows and lands on the floor with a crack that I hope means the screen is shattered.

"Mommy?"

I spin, Ethan is standing in my doorway, clutching his stuffed dinosaur, eyes wide with concern and it reminds me of Dominic's daughter 

"Hey, baby." I paste on a smile, cross the room to scoop him up. "Did I wake you?"

"You sound mad."

"Just work stuff and nothing for you to worry about." I carry him to the kitchen, set him on the counter. "Pancakes or waffles?"

"Pancakes. With chocolate chips."

"Chocolate chips it is."

I move through the morning routine on autopilot, 

mixing batter, flipping pancakes, braiding Ethan's hair because he's growing it out and won't let me cut it. At least the hair removes the Dominic lookalike thing. 

Everything Dominic's text message is threatening to destroy.

After Ethan leaves for school, I pick up my phone but the screen is cracked—a spiderweb of fractures

There are more messages now.

Adrian: We need to talk right now.

Dominic: Car will pick you up at 8, don't be late.

Unknown Number: This is Victoria Blackwood. Can we have lunch today? 12:30 at Le Bernardin. Non-negotiable if you want to keep your job

I stare at the last message. Victoria. His wife.

She knows.

The car Dominic sends is absurd,another black Mercedes with a driver in a suit who opens the door for me like I'm royalty instead of the woman her boss is clearly obsessed with.

"Ms. Monroe," he says. Nothing more.

The drive to Meridian Corp takes twelve minutes.

When we arrive, there's an envelope waiting at reception with my name on it.

Inside: a new key card, executive level access and a handwritten note on heavy cardstock: 47th floor. Your office is ready. - D

Elena practically tackles me at the elevator. "Oh my God, is it true? Did you get promoted?"

"How do you already know?” I ask

"HR sent out an email this morning, congratulations Abigail, you're the new Senior Director of Strategic Development. Abby, that's insane! You've only been here six months!"

"Yeah insane, I don't even know why. Probably beginner's luck "I lied to her. Only me must know my secret

My "office" is actually an office, real walls and a door that closes, windows overlooking the city. There's a laptop already set up and some fresh flowers in a vase.

And standing in the corner, looking out at Manhattan like he owns it—which, technically, he does—is Dominic.

"Good morning." He turns, and the smile on his face is almost boyish.mLike he's giving me a gift instead of a trap.

"What is this?"

"It's yours now, do you like it?"

"Dominic—"

"I know what you're going to say. That it's too much, too fast, that people will talk." He crosses to me, close enough that I can smell his cologne. "Let them talk but I don't care,you're brilliant, Abigail. You've been wasted in project management and here, you can actually make a difference."

"Or you can keep me close enough to watch."

Something flickers in his eyes. "Maybe both."

I should walk out.

Instead, I hear myself ask: "What exactly will I be doing?"

"Auditing, we've had some irregularities in our Meridian contracts over the past three years. Financial discrepancies that need to be investigated." He hands me a tablet. "I need someone I trust to review them."

My stomach drops.

The contracts he's talking about—I know exactly which ones, they're the same ones Adrian and I plan to use as evidence and proof that James Blackwood built the empire on illegal foundations. Bribes and deals with organized crime.

If I audit them honestly, I expose the corruption and lose our leverage.

If I bury them, I become complicit.

It's a test, it has to be and this could only mean that he has figured out the reason I'm back but I'm not the girl from 5 years ago. 

As a good liar now I'll stick to my guns. 

"Why me?" I manage to ask.

"Because you're a thorough detail-oriented pretty lady and" He pauses. "Because I trust you."

The word "trust" from his mouth is almost funny.

"When do you need this done?"

"We have time and we'll be traveling next week to London anyway. Major client acquisition. I'll need you there."

"Dominic, I can't just—"

"It's not a request, Abigail,  It's part of your new role."

He's backing me into a corner, and we both know it.

"Fine." The word comes out sharper than I intended. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes." He reaches into his jacket, pulls out another envelope. "Your new compensation package and I  think you'll find it more than fair."

I open it and the number makes my vision blur.

Three hundred thousand dollars as my annual salary.

Triple what I was making and enough to move out of my cramped apartment, get Ethan into a better school, enough to stop worrying about every dollar.

Enough to make walking away almost impossible.

"This is too much."

"It's what you're worth."

"Or it's what you think I cost."

His jaw tightens. "Why does everything have to be a transaction with you? You've really changed Abigail”

He says and parts my hair from my chin but I remove his hands softly.

Before he can respond, his phone buzzes. He glances at it, and his expression shifts. 

"I have a meeting so just settle in and we'll discuss London later."

He's almost to the door when I call after him.

"Dominic."

He turns.

"Why are you doing this?"

For a moment, he just looks at me.

"Because five years ago, I let you go, I meant it when I said I'm not making that mistake again."

The rest of the morning is a blur of HR paperwork, IT setup, people I don't know congratulating me on a promotion I didn't ask for.

At 12:15, I take the elevator down and walk the six blocks to Le Bernardin.

Victoria Blackwood is already seated at a corner 

table, looking like she stepped out of a fashion magazine with her blonde hair in a designer dress, diamonds that probably cost more than my new annual salary.

She doesn't smile when she sees me instead, she ust gestures to the empty chair.

"Ms. Monroe, thank you for coming."

"Did I have a choice?"

"No." She signals the waiter. "We'll have the tasting menu. And champagne."

Once we're alone, she leans forward slightly.

"How long have you known my husband"

"Six months, sorry what am I saying, five years ago. He threw me away to marry you"

"And he threw you away to marry me."

"Yes."

"How did that make you feel?"

"hurt" I meet her eyes. "But you know that already, don't you? That's not why I'm here."

Victoria sits back, studying me. "You're right. I had you investigated. Abigail Hale, you disappeared right before our wedding and it's quite the coincidence that you'd resurface now."

My heart hammers, but I keep my face neutral.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what you're planning, if you're trying to break up my marriage, or steal my husband? "

The honesty in her voice catches me off guard.

"Would you care if I did?"

She laughs—sharp, bitter. “Me and Dominic might not be very close but I can't let that happen, it's a big scandal and the stock prices will plummet

I blink. "What? All you care about is stock prices and reputation. You deserve each other"

"You might not understand because you're not a mother. When my father dies, everything he owns goes to Dominic and everything he has is my daughter's future, I can'tet anything fuck it up, not you or anyone else”

The waiter arrives with champagne, and Victoria raises her glass.

"To mutually beneficial arrangements."

I find myself lifting my glass.

"What exactly do you need from me?"

“I need you to stay the fuck away from my husband, I can't let anything happen to him and allow my daughter grow up without her father's full attention”

She says and storms out. 

I get back to my office and Marcus Chen, Dominic's COO, his best friend stands in the doorway.

"Ms. Monroe. Do you have a minute?"

"Of course." I reply 

He closes the door behind him, and the look on his face makes my stomach drop.

"I'm going to be direct, what are you doing with Dominic?"

"I don't know what—"

"Please don't insult my intelligence, I've known Dom for fifteen years and I know what obsession looks like on him. I know what happened five years ago, and I also know you're the woman he destroyed to marry Victoria."

"So I'll ask again: what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for work sir” I reply..

“I don't care but just know this, he is obsessed. In the space of a week he has already bought a building he doesn't need and given you a promotion with compensation higher than usual” he continues 

"Dominic is on fire and from where I'm standing, you're playing with fire. And the thing about fire, it doesn't care who started it. It burns everything."

Indeed there's nothing ordinary about my promotion and we'll have to be together next week to meet clients, as if the day could not get any worse