“He can think whatever the hell he wants. I won’t let him touch you.” Determination hardened his jaw. “I found a way to get you out once. I’ll do it again.”
Their hushed conversation halted when a knock sounded on the door. Dalton, one of Dominik’s higher-level Enforcers, appeared in the doorway with a sleek silver tablet in his hand.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but… well, uh, the men are a bit confused.”
Dominik’s brow puckered. “About what?”
Dalton held up the tablet. “The order you posted. Nobody is sure what it means.”
“Be more specific,” Dom snapped. “I post a lot of orders.”
“The meeting tonight.” Dalton fidgeted in discomfort. “Was this supposed to go out to the general boards? Should I gather the men?”
“For fuck’s sake, I have no idea what you’re babbling about.” Dominik stuck out his hand, gesturing to the tablet. “Give it here.”
Hudson watched as her brother scanned the contents on the screen, his frown deepening.
“This is obviously some kind of tech error,” he muttered. “I didn’t schedule a meeting for tonight, and I’d certainly never arrange for it to happen outside the gates.”
Hudson’s heart flipped as a thought occurred to her.
Her gaze snapped up at Dom, and he tensed slightly, as if sensing she had an answer to the mystery. They’d always been able to read each other with nothing more than a look, and so she wasn’t surprised when he turned to Dalton and barked, “Give us a moment. I’ll be right out and we’ll go clear this up.”
But he didn’t hand over the tablet, just tucked it under his arm nonchalantly, as if he’d forgotten it wasn’t his own.
The moment the door closed behind Dalton, Hudson snatched the device from Dom’s hand and eagerly read the message. It was brief and to the point. Meeting. Four a.m. Two clicks west of the rear gate.
A smile sprang to her lips. “Oh Christ. He actually did it.”
“Who?” Dominik said uneasily.
“My friend… one of the people who took me in… he’s a hacker.” She swallowed. “We found some tablets when we were out gathering supplies and I told him about the program. He must have found a way to get it to work.”
“These are your friends?” Dominik tapped the screen as he skimmed the message again. “Why would they send this? They came to rescue you?”
“Ye—” She halted when she realized that might not actually be true.
Yes, they could have come here to rescue her.
Or they’d come to kill Dominik.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “When I was with them, I found out…” She took a breath. “You ordered Knox to sweep an outlaw camp in the west about two years ago. He didn’t give them a chance to surrender. He killed them all, and one of them was my… my friend’s wife.” She stumbled on the word friend because Connor was so much more than that.
Connor was everything to her.
“He blames you for her death,” she admitted. “There’s a chance he’ll kill you if you show your face.”
“Then he’ll kill me,” Dominik said simply.
She gasped. “Dom —”
“This could be our only chance to get you out of here again,” he cut in. “If I have to give up my life so you can rejoin your people, then so be it.”
Her people. It was surreal, difficult to absorb, but so damn true it made her throat hurt. She didn’t belong in this compound anymore, and she didn’t belong in the city.
She belonged in the free land. With or without Connor.
Dominik lifted his chin in that stubborn pose she’d seen her entire life. The same one she donned when she was about to dig her heels in. “I’ll tell the men that the message was a communication error and make sure they know there’s no meeting on the schedule.” He paused in thought. “We’ve got four hours. Plenty of time for me to figure out how to get you out of the compound.”
She attempted another protest. “Dom —”
“Don’t you fucking argue with me!”
She recoiled.
And when he took a menacing step toward her, she was genuinely afraid.
“Oh fuck.” He staggered to a stop and sucked in a breath, his fists slowly loosening. “Fuck.” A stricken look seized his features. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I wasn’t going to… hurt you… I promise…”
He transformed in front of her eyes, reverting back to the little boy she’d grown up with. He looked so confused and upset that her fear faded and her heart throbbed, spurring her to throw her arms around him again.
“It’s okay. I know you’d never hurt me.” When she felt him shaking against her, she hugged him tighter. “I love you, Dom.”
“I love you too.”
They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Dom finally dropped a kiss on her cheek and stepped out of the embrace. Clearly shaken up. “I need to make arrangements.” His stride was weary as he headed for the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
22