Chapter 1 - THE FIVE-MINUTE PROMISE
“Claire.”
Dominic Valenti said my name as if he had been carrying it somewhere inside him for years.
I stood frozen at the end of the corridor. My daughter was wrapped around his neck, her little fingers tangled in the collar of his expensive suit.
“Put her down,” I managed.
He looked at me. “I won't hurt her.”
“You don't know her.”
Something shifted in his expression. “I know more than you think.”
I hurried forward and reached for Sophie. She tightened her arms around him.
“No, Mommy. I'm hugging.”
My stomach twisted. “Sweetheart, you need to come with me.”
Dominic didn't pull her closer. He didn't hold her hostage. He simply stayed on one knee and let her decide.
“Five minutes,” Sophie reminded him.
A faint, almost disbelieving smile crossed his face. “Five minutes.”
I glanced at the guards. Every one of them was watching us.
“Mr. Valenti, I'm sorry. I brought her because my babysitter canceled. She was supposed to stay in the staff room.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I need this job.”
His eyes moved over my face. “You think I'd fire you for having a child?”
“I think powerful men don't like surprises.”
He absorbed that without answering.
Sophie lifted her head. “Mommy, he has sad eyes.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
I wanted the floor to open beneath me.
“Sweetheart, that's enough.”
“I'm helping him,” she said seriously. “You said hugs help.”
I had said that after she scraped her knee. I had never imagined she would use it on the most dangerous man in Chicago.
Dominic looked at me. “You told her that?”
“I tell her many things.”
“Did you tell her about me?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
His eyes narrowed, but before he could ask another question, Sophie touched his cheek.
“Are you lonely?”
A guard looked away.
Dominic's expression changed so completely that I almost didn't recognize him. The hard lines around his mouth softened. His eyes shone, though he blinked before anyone could be certain.
“Sometimes,” he answered.
Sophie nodded as if that made perfect sense. “Me too. But Mommy sings.”
He glanced at me.
“Then perhaps you can sing for both of us,” he said.
“I don't sing for strangers.”
“I'm not sure we're strangers.”
The words struck harder than they should have.
I finally lifted Sophie into my arms. She protested, but I held her close.
“Your five minutes are over.”
Dominic rose slowly. He was taller than I remembered. Or perhaps I had spent three years trying not to remember him at all.
“Claire, we need to talk.”
“There is nothing to discuss.”
His gaze dropped to Sophie. A small silver crescent birthmark sat just below her left ear. I had noticed it the day she was born. Dominic had the same mark in exactly the same place.
He stared at it.
Then he looked at me.
“How old is she?”
My mouth went dry.
“Three.”
“What month was she born?”
“That's personal.”
“Claire.”
I turned away.
Behind me, his voice was no longer the voice of a man giving an order.
It was the voice of someone afraid of the answer.
May you like
“Is she mine?”
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