Chapter 6 - The Trap Sprung
“Well, well, well,” Grant sneered, stepping closer under the awning. His hair was messy, his eyes bloodshot, and he looked like a man pushed to the absolute brink of sanity. “Look who wandered right into the lion’s den.”
I stood up slowly, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I looked at Sienna, who was already gathering her bag, slipping past the bodyguards without a second glance. She had set me up. The text message, the meeting, the warning—it was all a trap engineered by Grant and executed by the woman who hated me almost as much as he did.
“Grant,” I said, keeping my voice remarkably steady, channeling every ounce of Dominic’s cold composure. “You’re trespassing on federal harassment injunctions. If you touch me—”
“Touch you?” Grant laughed, a hollow, manic sound. He stepped closer, the smell of expensive scotch rolling off him in waves. “Why would I touch you? You’re damaged goods, Claire. You always were. You lied about your pregnancy, you humiliated me in front of my board, and you let that arrogant bastard Moretti take everything from me.”
“You took it from yourself,” I shot back, refusing to shrink back. “You lied to everyone for years. You’re a fraud, Grant.”
Grant’s face twisted with rage. He raised his hand, his fingers curling into a fist. “You bitch—”
He never finished the sentence.
A sharp, metallic screech cut through the park as three matte-black SUVs slammed to a halt right on the pedestrian walkway, spraying gravel and rainwater across the pavement. The doors flew open simultaneously.
Dominic Moretti stepped out of the lead vehicle.
He didn't run. He walked with the terrifying, measured pace of an apex predator whose territory had just been violated. Behind him, four private security specialists spilled out, their movements crisp and lethal.
Grant’s bodyguards froze, looking at Dominic with immediate hesitation. They knew who Dominic Moretti was—and they knew they were wildly outmatched.
Dominic walked straight up to Grant, towering over him by a full three inches. The temperature in the park seemed to drop ten degrees.
“Grant,” Dominic said, his voice dangerously soft. “You have exactly three seconds to take your hands off your pocket before I break every bone in your body.”
Grant’s hand, which had been sliding toward his coat pocket, froze. He looked up at Dominic, swallowing hard, color draining from his face. “Moretti... this is a private matter. She came here voluntarily—”
“She came because your pathetic little ex-fiancée lured her here under false pretenses,” Dominic interrupted, his gaze shifting briefly to Sienna, who was now trying to scurry away toward Fifth Avenue. Dominic flicked his wrist. Two of his security guards instantly peeled off, intercepting Sienna and blocking her path within three strides.
“Let me go!” Sienna shrieked. “You can’t detain me!”
“In the state of New York, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and targeted harassment carries a very long prison sentence, Ms. Vale,” Dominic said without even looking at her. His dark eyes remained locked on Grant. “And my legal team happens to own a very large stake in the district attorney’s office.”
Grant trembled, backing away until his spine hit the stone pillar of the Boathouse. “You can’t do this. I’m a Kingsley!”
“You were a Kingsley,” Dominic corrected coldly. “Now you’re just a desperate, pathetic footnote.”
Dominic turned to me, his cold mask instantly dissolving into deep, overwhelming relief. He reached out, grabbing my shoulders, pulling me gently against his chest. I let out a breath, burying my face in the lapel of his jacket, letting his warmth anchor me.
“Are you okay?” Dominic murmured against my hair, his voice fierce with protective fury.
“I am now,” I whispered.
May you like
Dominic looked back at Grant one last time. “Call the police. Have them arrested. And make sure the press gets the full security footage of this little ambush.”
As the sirens began wailing in the distance, echoing through the misty trees of Central Park, I knew it was finally over. The ghosts of my past were being carted away in handcuffs, and my future was standing right beside me.
