Chapter 7 - Eyes in the Dark
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At 2:00 AM, my bedroom door creaked open.
I sat up instantly in the dark, my hand gripping the heavy metal lamp on my nightstand.
“It’s me,” a low, rumbling voice spoke from the shadows.
Dominic Vale stepped into the pale moonlight filtering through the curtains. He was holding a sheet of paper.
“The lab results came back twenty minutes ago,” Dominic said, his voice terrifyingly calm. The kind of calm that precedes a massacre. “The liquid contains a toxic mixture of synthetic scopolamine and concentrated hallucinogens. Long-term administration causes severe paranoia, brain damage, and eventual cardiac arrest.”
I let out a shaky breath, letting go of the lamp. “He was destroying your son's mind.”
“He was making him appear unhinged,” Dominic corrected, stepping closer to my bed. “In the Vale family syndicate, an heir deemed medically incompetent or insane loses all legal rights to the trust and leadership succession. If Noah is institutionalized, control of my family's empire falls to my board of directors upon my death.”
“Who is on your board?” I asked softly.
“Dr. Julian Vance,” Dominic replied, his eyes burning with a dark, ruthless fire. “And my late wife’s uncle, Vincent.”
The pieces of the terrifying puzzle finally locked together.
Dominic looked down at me, his gaze softening by a fraction of a degree—a rare, almost impossible shift for a man made of stone and iron.
“You saved my son tonight, Clara Reed,” Dominic said, his deep voice vibrating through the quiet room. “You risked your life to defy a man who could have had you killed with a phone call.”
“I did it because Noah is an innocent boy,” I said quietly.
May you like
Dominic reached out, his thumb gently brushing across my cheekbone, leaving a trail of fire on my skin.
“You are no longer the nanny, Clara,” he murmured. “From this moment on, you are under my personal protection. But the war in this house has just begun.”
