Chapter 3 - The Devil's Bargain"Work for you?" Grace echoed, stepping back until the edge of the velvet armchair hit the back of her knees. "Doing what? Laundering money? Hiding bodies? Serving coffee to murderers?"
"Nothing illegal," Dominic replied calmly, walking back to his desk and pouring two fingers of amber liquid into a crystal glass. "At least, nothing the police or the federal government can pin on me. My empire is vast, Grace. Restaurants, real estate, shipping yards, security firms. But do you know what a man at the top of a criminal food chain loses after thirty years?"
"Trust," Grace said bitterly.
Dominic paused, his glass halfway to his mouth. A shadow crossed his hardened features, flickering like a dying candle in the dark room.
"Precisely," he murmured. "Everyone around me is a parasite. They lie to my face, steal from my ledgers, and smile while plotting to put a knife in my back. My own nephew, Julian, has been skimming millions from our shipping ports for six months, and my lieutenants are too cowardly or corrupt to tell me."
Dominic turned his sharp gaze back to her.
"You don't lie. You don't bow. You looked a man who commands an army straight in the eye over a three-dollar coffee mug and told him he was acting like garbage. I need someone with that kind of radical, unyielding honesty guarding my blind spots."
"You're out of your mind," Grace breathed. "I'm a waitress."
"You are an auditor of human character," Dominic corrected. "Here is my offer: I clear your mother’s entire medical debt—every single cent, past, present, and future trials included. I pay off your apartment lease for the next five years. And in exchange, you become my chief executive assistant. You sit in every high-level corporate meeting, review every contract, and tell me point-blank who is trying to screw me over."
Grace stared at him, her mind spinning wildly. It was a deal with the literal devil. Faust walking into the smoky tavern.
"And if I say no?"
May you like
Dominic walked to the window, pulling back the crimson velvet curtain to reveal the glittering skyline of Bellhaven below.
"Then Leo Marcone collects his twelve grand by tomorrow morning. Your mother loses her oxygen machine by tomorrow night. And you spend the rest of your life wondering what could have been." He turned back, his expression unreadable. "You have until sunrise to decide."
