Adriana's POV
The safe house wasn't what I expected.
From outside, it looked like any other rundown Queens building—cracked walls, broken windows, graffiti everywhere. But the moment Dominic opened the reinforced steel door, everything changed.
Cameras lined the hallway. Motion sensors blinked red in corners. The walls were concrete, thick enough to stop bullets. At the end of the hall, another door required both a keycard and fingerprint scan.
"Welcome to my home for the past year," Dominic said quietly.
The door clicked open. Inside was a large room that looked like a mix between an apartment and a command center. One wall held monitors showing different camera angles of the street outside. Another had a massive corkboard covered in photos, documents, and red string connecting everything together.
I recognized some of the faces. Judge Elena Vasquez. Several police commissioners. The district attorney. People I used to work with.
"You've been watching all of them," I said.
"For five years." Dominic moved to a small kitchen area and started making coffee. His hands shook slightly. "Tracking their movements, documenting their meetings, building the case piece by piece."
Marcus walked to the evidence wall, studying it. "This is insane. Half the justice system is on here."
"More than half." Dominic poured three cups. "Elena's network runs deeper than you can imagine. Judges, cops, prosecutors, defense attorneys. Even some FBI agents. Anyone who threatens to expose them ends up dead or discredited."
Like me, I thought. Discredited and destroyed.
I took the coffee he offered, our fingers brushing for a second. The contact sent electricity up my arm and I pulled away fast.
"Show me everything," I said. "If you want my help, I need to see all of it."
Dominic looked at me for a long moment. Then he nodded and pulled out a laptop.
For the next hour, he showed us his case. Bank records proving bribes. Photos of judges meeting with known criminals. Recordings of conversations about fixing trials. Witness statements from people too scared to go public.
It was massive. Overwhelming. And it proved everything I'd suspected five years ago.
"Hammond was one of Elena's protected clients," Dominic explained. "She made sure he'd never be convicted because he was funneling money to her through fake charities. When you started digging into his finances, you got too close to exposing the whole operation."
"So she came after you to stop me," I said.
"Yes." Dominic pulled up a file of photos on his screen. My stomach dropped.
They were pictures of me from five years ago. Leaving my apartment. At the courthouse. Sitting in a café. Running in Central Park. Dozens of them, taken over weeks.
"She had people following you for a month before the trial," Dominic said, his voice tight. "Every morning, I'd find new photos slipped under my office door. No note. No demands. Just pictures of you going about your day."
I stared at the images of my younger self. That woman looked so happy. So confident. She had no idea her whole world was about to burn.
"Then one morning, I found something different." Dominic clicked to another file.
A photo of me jogging, but this one had a red crosshair drawn over my chest. And a note: 24 hours. Destroy the case or we destroy her.
My hands went cold.
"I didn't know what to do," Dominic continued. "I couldn't go to the police—Elena had people everywhere. I couldn't tell you—you'd insist on fighting anyway and get yourself killed. So I made a choice."
"You chose to save me by destroying me," I whispered.
"I chose to keep you alive." He closed the laptop. "Even if it meant you'd hate me forever. Even if it meant losing everything we had. At least you'd be breathing."
Marcus cleared his throat. "That's actually kind of—"
"Don't." I cut him off. "Don't make this romantic. He lied to me for five years, Marcus. Five years."
"To keep you safe," Dominic said.
"You don't get to decide what's best for me!" I stood up, anger flooding through me. "You should've told me the truth. Should've let me make my own choice about my own life. Instead you played god and destroyed everything without even asking if that's what I wanted!"
"Would you have backed down?" Dominic stood too, stepping closer. "If I'd told you the truth, would you have dropped the case and walked away?"
I opened my mouth to say yes. But the lie wouldn't come.
Because he was right. Five years ago, I would've fought anyway. Would've insisted we could find another way. Would've gotten myself killed being stubborn and stupid and believing justice mattered more than survival.
"That's what I thought," Dominic said quietly when I didn't answer.
The room fell silent except for the hum of electronics.
Marcus's phone buzzed. Then mine. Then Dominic's laptop started beeping urgently.
"What is that?" I asked.
Dominic rushed to the monitors. His face went white. "Someone's bypassing the security system."
"What? How?"
"I don't know, but they're good. Really good." His fingers flew over the keyboard. "They're shutting down cameras one by one."
On the screens, camera feeds went black. First the street outside. Then the building entrance. Then the hallway.
"We need to leave," Marcus said. "Right now."
"There's a back exit," Dominic started toward a door—
The power cut out.
Total darkness.
I grabbed Marcus's arm in the blackness. My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Dominic?" I whispered.
"Don't move. Emergency lights should kick in any second."
They didn't.
Instead, I heard something worse. Footsteps. Multiple sets. Coming down the hallway outside.
"They found us," I breathed.
"Impossible," Dominic said from somewhere to my left. "This location is classified. Only three people know about it."
"Then one of those three people sold you out."
A voice came through the door. Female. Calm. Familiar.
"Dominic, darling. I know you're in there. And I know Ms. Vale is with you."
Judge Elena Vasquez.
"You've been very busy these past five years," Elena continued. "Building your little case against me. Very thorough. Very impressive. Unfortunately, you made one critical mistake."
"What mistake?" Dominic called out.
Elena laughed. It was a terrible sound.
"You trusted your mother."
The world stopped.
"What?" Dominic's voice cracked.
"Victoria called me the moment you brought Adriana here. She's always been one of mine, Dominic. How do you think I knew to threaten you five years ago? Who do you think provided all those lovely photos of Ms. Vale?"
I heard Dominic make a sound like he'd been punched.
"So here's what's going to happen," Elena said pleasantly. "You're going to open this door. You're going to hand over every piece of evidence you've collected. And then you're going to watch as I kill Adriana Vale. Just like I should have done five years ago."
"And if I don't?" Dominic asked.
"Then I kill all three of you right now. Your choice, darling. You have sixty seconds."
In the darkness, I felt Dominic's hand find mine.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"For everything. For what I did five years ago. For bringing you into this. For—"
The door exploded inward with a deafening bang.
And all hell broke loose.