Chapter 5

The heavy steel door of the bedroom vibrated as footsteps thundered down the hallway.

“Dominic!” Marcus shouted from the other side. “They breached the front gate! It’s Thorne. He brought twenty men.”

Dominic didn’t flinch. He looked at me, pointing to the massive walk-in closet. “Get inside. Lock the interior deadbolt. Do not come out until I tell you.”

I gathered the sleeping Maisie into my arms, terrified she would wake up and cry. I ran into the closet, slamming the reinforced wooden door and sliding the heavy metal lock into place.

Inside the dark closet, I sat on the floor, surrounded by Dominic’s suits, rocking my daughter. The muffled sounds of gunfire erupted from downstairs.

Every crack echoed in my chest. I prayed. I prayed for Maisie. I prayed for the man who was currently risking his life to protect a maid and a child that weren’t even his.

Ten agonizing minutes passed. The gunfire stopped.

Then, heavy footsteps entered the bedroom.

“Claire?”

It was Dominic’s voice.

I unbolted the door and pushed it open. Dominic was standing there, his white dress shirt stained with dirt and a streak of blood on his cheek, but he was breathing steadily.

“Are you hurt?” I gasped, stepping out.

“It’s not my blood,” he said quickly. “Thorne’s men retreated. We held the line.”

“And Thorne?”

Dominic’s expression hardened. “He didn’t come to fight. He came to deliver a message.”

He held up a heavy, wax-sealed envelope.

“He left this on the front steps before they pulled back.”

Dominic broke the seal and pulled out a legal document. He scanned it, his jaw tightening so hard I thought his teeth might crack.

“What does it say?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“It’s a court summons,” Dominic said. “Signed by a corrupt family court judge on Thorne’s payroll. It demands the immediate surrender of Maisie Thorne to her biological father, pending a custody hearing.”

“They can’t do that!” I cried, clutching Maisie tighter.

“In this city, Thorne can do whatever he wants,” Dominic said bitterly. “He has the judge, he has the police. If we don’t hand her over by noon tomorrow, he will come back with a SWAT team, and they will take her legally.”

“I’ll run,” I sobbed. “I don’t care about the guards at the station. I’ll steal a car. I’ll drive until I run out of gas.”

“Claire, listen to me,” Dominic said, stepping forward and gripping my arms. “You can’t outrun his network. If they catch you on the road, they will kill you and take her.”

“Then what do I do?” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. “Please, Dominic, tell me what to do!”

Dominic looked deeply into my eyes. The chaos of the night seemed to fade away, leaving only the fierce, unyielding determination of a man who ruled an empire.

“There is one legal loophole,” Dominic said quietly. “One way to make sure that judge cannot touch her, and Thorne cannot take her.”

“What is it?”

“Thorne’s claim relies on you being a single, low-income adoptive mother without the means to provide elite security,” Dominic explained. “But if you were married to a man with equal or greater power, a man with a team of lawyers and a secured estate… the judge would be forced to throw out the emergency order.”

I stared at him, my heart pounding in my ears. “Married?”

Dominic slowly reached into his pocket. He pulled out the stunning, two-carat diamond ring he had taken back from Vanessa hours earlier.

“Marry me, Claire,” Dominic said softly. “Marry me tonight. Let me adopt her. Let me give her my name. Thorne will never be able to touch her again.”

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