Chapter 4 - The Debt
Avery stared at him, completely paralyzed by his words.
"You... brought me here to protect me?"
"I brought you here because you were the only innocent person left tied to my uncle's sins," Dominic said. He reached out, his thumb gently catching a stray tear on her cheek. His touch was warm, surprisingly tender for a man whose hands had ordered the destruction of empires. "And because from the moment I saw you at your father's funeral three years ago, I couldn't look away."
Avery’s breath hitched. "My father's funeral?"
"I was there," Dominic admitted softly. "In the back. In a black car. I saw a young woman standing in the freezing rain, holding her brother up while her own world collapsed. You didn't cry until everyone else left. You were so strong. So quiet. So beautiful."
The silence in the grand bedroom was suffocating, filled only with the faint sound of the wind whipping off Lake Michigan against the thick windowpanes.
Avery tried to process everything. For three years, she had viewed herself as an indentured servant, counting down fifty-three remaining days until she could buy back her freedom. She had worn her oversized gray maid's uniform, pinned her thick brown curls up, and kept her head low, convinced she was invisible to the terrifying billionaire who ruled Chicago from the shadows.
"I counted the days," Avery whispered, her voice trembling. "Fifty-three days left. I thought... I thought I was paying off Mason's mistake."
"You never owed a single cent, Avery," Dominic said firmly. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a heavy cream-colored document. He didn't tear it—he simply placed it in her lap.
It was the original debt contract, signed by the loan sharks Marcus had used. Across the front, stamped in red ink, were the words: PAID IN FULL.
"You were free the day you walked into this house," Dominic told her, staring directly into her eyes. "The salary I paid you was real. The debt was wiped out three years ago. I kept you on the payroll because I couldn't bear the thought of you leaving... and because I knew you would never accept charity."
Avery looked down at the red ink, then up at the formidable man sitting beside her bed. Anger, confusion, and a strange, deep warmth tangled together in her chest.
"You lied to me," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. "You let me work myself to the bone. You let me scrub your floors!"
"I offered you administrative positions three times through the house manager," Dominic reminded her gently. "You refused every single one. You insisted on being a housekeeper because you said you wanted to earn every dollar without special treatment."
Avery opened her mouth to argue, but the truth hit her like a splash of cold water. It was true. The house manager, Mrs. Gable, had offered her an office job in Dominic's logistics firm twice. Avery had turned it down, terrified that getting closer to Dominic Kane's core business would pull her deeper into the underworld.
"You scrubbed those floors because you're stubborn," Dominic said, a rare, faint smile curving his lips. "And last night, you saved my life and the lives of my men because you're brilliant. You aren't a maid, Avery. You never were."
Before Avery could respond, a sudden knock echoed at the bedroom door.
May you like
The door swung open, and Leo, Dominic's second-in-command, stepped into the room. His arm was in a sling, his face pale, but his expression was frantic.
"Boss," Leo said, his voice urgent. "We have a problem. The men who hit us last night... they weren't rival cartel guys. They were Marcus's old crew. And they just figured out who cleared the ledger."
