Chapter 2 - The Question No One Asked
Emma swung her little legs beneath the bench, staring at Dominic with solemn brown eyes.
“Are you the boss of Mama?”
Dominic looked down at her.
The question should have been simple.
Yes.
He was Sophia Bennett’s employer. He signed the checks. He owned the house. He had the power to decide whether she stayed or left.
But looking at Emma’s small hands—one of them still marked pink from the iron—he understood what she was really asking.
Are you the person who can take my mother away?
“I work with your mama,” he said carefully.
Emma tilted her head.
“That means you’re boss.”
“Sometimes.”
“Are you gonna fire her?”
The word landed harder than it had any right to.
Dominic had fired people before. Men who had betrayed him, employees who had stolen from him, guards who had failed to do their jobs. In his world, people understood consequences.
But Sophia was sick in a small room at the back of his estate, terrified not of her fever—but of losing a job that apparently stood between her daughter and homelessness.
“No,” Dominic said.
Emma searched his face.
“Promise?”
He had made promises in rooms where men would have sold their souls to hear them.
He rarely made promises he could not keep.
“I promise,” he said.
Emma’s shoulders dropped.
Then she climbed closer to him on the bench and whispered, “Mama says promises are important.”
“They are.”
“She says people with lots of money forget that.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Your mama sounds smart.”
“She is.” Emma nodded with certainty. “She knows how to clean wine out of carpets.”
The doctor’s door opened.
Dr. Aaron Keller stepped into the hallway, removing his glasses. His expression was calm, but Dominic knew him well enough to recognize concern.
“Influenza,” Keller said. “A bad case. Her fever is high, she’s dehydrated, and she’s been pushing herself past the point of exhaustion.”
“Is she in danger?”
“Not if she rests, drinks fluids, and takes the medication I prescribed.” Keller glanced toward the closed door. “But she should not be working. Not for at least a week.”
Dominic nodded.
“Then she won’t.”
Keller looked at him for a second.
“You’re certain?”
Dominic’s gaze hardened.
“Did I sound uncertain?”
“No,” the doctor replied evenly. “You sounded like a man who has just discovered something he should have seen a long time ago.”
Then he walked away.
Dominic remained in the hallway, still holding Emma’s hand.
He opened Sophia’s door quietly.
She was awake.
Her skin was pale against the white pillowcase. A glass of water sat on the nightstand beside a prescription bottle. The room was barely large enough for the bed, a narrow dresser, and a child’s mattress on the floor.
A child’s mattress.
Not a proper bed.
Not even a real frame.
Dominic looked at it for one second too long.
Sophia noticed.
“It’s temporary,” she said quickly. “Emma likes it. She calls it her little nest.”
Emma climbed onto the bed beside her mother.
“It’s cozy,” she announced.
Sophia smoothed Emma’s hair, but her eyes stayed on Dominic.
“I’m sorry about the laundry room,” she said.
“The shirt?”
“The shirt. The iron. Everything.” Her cheeks flushed with shame. “I should never have left her alone.”
“You were sick.”
“I should have called someone.”
“Who?”
Sophia hesitated.
He already knew the answer.
She had no one.
Not in that house.
Not in that city.
Perhaps nowhere.
“I didn’t want to bother anyone,” she whispered.
Something cold moved through Dominic’s chest.
For two years, Sophia had lived inside his estate. She had cleaned his rooms, changed flowers in hallways, polished surfaces no one touched, and quietly made sure the parts of his world that looked perfect stayed perfect.
And she had believed asking for help would make her disposable.
“Mrs. Romano,” Dominic said.
Sophia blinked.
His house manager, Mrs. Romano, had worked for him since before Sophia arrived. She ran the estate with military precision and enough intimidating silence to make even Dominic’s men behave.
“What about her?” Sophia asked.
“She should have known you were sick.”
Sophia immediately shook her head.
“No. Please don’t blame her. I told her I had a headache. I said I was fine.”
“You were burning with fever.”
“I needed the hours.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Why?”
Sophia’s fingers curled around the blanket.
“It’s not your concern.”
His voice lowered.
“Your daughter was ironing a shirt because she thought I would throw you out. It became my concern.”
Sophia looked away.
For the first time, the fear in her face changed.
It became something more guarded.
More painful.
“My rent went up,” she said finally. “My landlord sold the building. The new owner wants everyone out by December.”
“That’s next month.”
“Yes.”
“And you haven’t found another place?”
“I have been looking.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere I can afford.”
Dominic looked around the tiny room.
“You live here.”
“Only until I find something better.”
“You pay rent somewhere else while living in my staff wing?”
Sophia swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the staff rooms are not for families.”
Dominic said nothing.
She rushed to explain.
“I asked Mrs. Romano if Emma could stay during the night just temporarily. She said she would have to ask you. I didn’t want to make trouble. So I said my sister was watching Emma.”
“And your sister?”
“She lives in Ohio.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Sophia had been breaking house rules because she had nowhere else to go.
And no one had noticed.
Or worse—people had noticed and chosen not to care.
Before he could speak, Mrs. Romano appeared in the doorway.
She looked from Sophia to Emma, then to Dominic.
“Mr. Vale,” she said. “I did not know the child was staying overnight.”
Sophia sat up too quickly.
“It was my decision, Mrs. Romano. Please don’t—”
“Lie again,” Dominic said quietly, “and I will be very disappointed.”
Sophia froze.
Mrs. Romano lowered her eyes.
“I knew,” she admitted.
Sophia turned toward her.
“Mrs. Romano—”
“I knew,” she repeated. “I thought it was only for a few nights.”
“And you said nothing to me?”
Mrs. Romano looked at him steadily.
“You do not usually ask about the staff wing, Mr. Vale.”
The truth in that sentence was sharper than an insult.
Dominic had no response.
Mrs. Romano continued, “Sophia is a good employee. She works harder than anyone in this house. I assumed she would solve the problem before it became serious.”
“And if she couldn’t?”
Mrs. Romano looked at Emma.
The little girl had curled against Sophia’s side, already half asleep.
“Then I should have done more,” she said.
Dominic stood.
“Starting today, Sophia is on paid medical leave.”
Sophia’s eyes widened.
“Mr. Vale, I can’t accept—”
“You can.”
“I haven’t earned—”
“You have earned more than you think.”
He turned to Mrs. Romano.
“Move them to the guest suite near the east garden. The one with the yellow curtains.”
Mrs. Romano blinked.
“That suite is for family guests.”
“Then it will have a family in it.”
Sophia’s mouth opened, but no words came out.
Dominic looked at her one final time.
“You and Emma are not sleeping in this room tonight.”
Then he walked out.
He made it halfway down the corridor before one of his security men, Luca Moretti, approached.
“Boss.”
“What?”
Luca’s face was tight.
“We have a problem.”
Dominic stopped.
Luca handed him a tablet.
On the screen was security footage from forty minutes earlier.
A man had entered the grounds through the north service gate.
He wore a dark coat and a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
But Dominic recognized the walk.
Recognized the posture.
Recognized the arrogance.
The man had not come to steal.
He had come looking.
And he had gone directly toward the staff wing.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Who is that?” Luca asked.
Dominic’s voice turned quiet.
May you like
“Someone who should be dead.”
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