Chapter 5: Late Nights
Allie does not sleep that night. She lies in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the twins breathe in the next room, and she tries to make sense of her day.
Dom knows. He has known since before she started working for him. He hired her anyway. Pursued her anyway. Waited five years for a woman who stole his watch and disappeared into the morning.
She should be angry. He investigated her, learned her secrets, manipulated her into this job. He is her boss, he is dangerous, he is everything she should run from.
But she keeps seeing his face. The desperation in his eyes when he begged to know the twins. The way his hands shook when he talked about his mother. The hope in his voice when he said he wanted to be better.
And she keeps remembering. That night, five years ago, when he touched her like she was precious. When he looked at her like she was the only person in the world. When she ran because it was too much, too intense, too real.
She takes out the watch. Winds it. Listens to it tick.
She makes a decision.
At 6 AM, she texts Dom: I will come to work. We need to talk. About boundaries. About the twins. About what happens next.
His response comes immediately: Thank you. I will be whatever you need me to be. Just do not leave.
Allie dresses carefully. She wakes the twins, feeds them, walks them to school. Leo is watchful, suspicious, but she kisses his forehead and promises to be careful.
She is not careful. She is diving into deep water, and she does not know if she will swim or drown.
The office is quiet when she arrives. Dom is waiting in her office, not his, sitting in the chair across from her desk like a supplicant. He looks like he has not slept either.
"Allie." He stands when she enters. "You came."
"I said I would."
"I was not sure." He takes a breath. "I need to apologize. Properly. For investigating you. For not telling you who I was. For... for everything."
Allie sits down. She gestures for him to sit too. "You were desperate. You explained that. I understand desperation."
"But it was wrong. I invaded your privacy. I used my power to get close to you. That is not... that is not how I want to be. How I want us to be."
"How do you want us to be?"
Dom looks at her, honest and open in a way that scares them both. "Equal. Honest. Together. I know we cannot be together, not really, not yet. You are my employee, I am your boss, there are rules and complications and dangers. But I want... I want to build something real with you. Starting from truth."
Allie considers this. She thinks of the lies she has told too, the secret she keeps, the watch in her purse.
"Okay," she says. "Truth. Starting now. Ask me anything."
Dom's eyes widened. "Anything?"
"Anything. And I will answer. Honestly. But then I get to ask you something too. That is the deal."
"Deal." Dom leans forward. "Why did you take my watch?"
Allie laughs, surprised by the question. "I do not know. Panic, maybe. I woke up and you were asleep and you looked so peaceful and I was... I was terrified. Of what I felt. Of what you made me feel. So I grabbed my clothes and ran, and the watch was in my pocket. I think I wanted something to remember you by. Something to prove it was real."
Dom nods slowly. "I looked for you. For months. I checked every hotel, every credit card charge, every security camera. You vanished completely."
"I paid cash. Gave a fake name. I was good at hiding."
"Why? Why hide so completely?"
Allie looks down at her hands. "Because I was pregnant. Because I was alone and scared and I thought... I thought if I found you, if you knew, you would try to take them from me. Or you would not want them. Or you would be terrible, dangerous, wrong for us. So I ran. I built a life. I told myself I was protecting them."
"And now?"
"Now I know I was protecting myself. My fear. My pride." Allie meets his eyes. "They are amazing, Dom. Leo is so smart, so careful, so protective of his sister. Luna is wild and fearless and she makes me laugh every day. They are the best thing I have ever done. And I kept them from you. I am sorry for that."
Dom's face crumples. He puts his head in his hands, shoulders shaking, and Allie realizes he is crying. This strong man, this powerful man, crying in her office because he missed five years of his children's lives.
"I am sorry too," he whispers. "Sorry I was not there. Sorry you had to do it alone. Sorry I could not find you, protect you, love you the way you deserved."
Allie goes to him. She kneels in front of his chair, takes his hands, pulls them from his face. "We cannot change the past. But we can choose the future. That is why I am here. To choose. With you."
Dom looks at her, wrecked and hopeful and so full of love it takes her breath away. "What do you want, Allie? Truly?"
"I want my children to know their father. I want to stop lying, stop hiding, stop being afraid. I want..." she stops, swallows. "I want to see if what we had that night was real. If it can be real again."
"It was real," Dom says. "It is real. I have never stopped wanting you. Never stopped looking for you. Never stopped loving you, even when I thought you were a ghost."
Allie's heart hammers. "You do not love me. You love the idea of me. The memory."
"Then let me prove it." Dom stands, pulls her up with him, holds her face in his hands. "Let me show you who I am now. Who I can be. Give me time, Allie. Give me a chance."
Allie should step back. Should remember boundaries, professionalism, the danger of getting involved with her boss, with a criminal, with a man who could destroy her.
Instead, she steps closer. "Okay," she whispers. "But we do this slowly. Carefully. The twins come first, always. And I keep my job, my independence. I am not yours, Dom. I am my own. If we do this, we do it as equals."
"Equals," Dom agrees. "Partners. Whatever you need."
He kisses her forehead. Just that. A promise. A beginning.
And for the first time in five years, Allie allows herself to hope.
The week that follows is strange and wonderful and terrifying.
Dom respects her boundaries. He does not touch her again, not like that. He is professional at work, attentive without being overwhelming. He asks about the twins constantly, remembers details, offers help without demanding anything in return.
On Wednesday, he invites her to dinner. Not a date, he says. A conversation. About the children. About how to tell them. About what comes next.
Allie agrees. She leaves the twins with Mrs. Chen, takes the subway to a restaurant in Brooklyn, and finds Dom waiting at a corner table, nervous as a teenager.
"I ordered wine," he says. "But I do not know if you drink."
"Sometimes. When I am not worried about being sharp."
"Are you worried tonight?"
"Always," Allie admits. "But less than before."
They talk. Really talk. About Leo's nightmares and Luna's pirate obsession. About Dom's childhood, his mother's death, his father's cruelty. About the Bratva, the legitimate business, the dream of building something better.
"I want out," Dom says quietly, swirling wine he has not touched. "Not out of their lives. Out of the violence. The crime. I want Volkov Industries to be just that. Industries. No more blood, no more shadows."
"Can you do that?"
"I am trying. The board fights me. My father fights me. Even my own people, they do not understand why I would give up power for... for what? Legitimacy? Law?"
"For peace," Allie says. "For the chance to sleep at night knowing you are not hurting people. For the chance to look your children in the eye and tell them you are good."
Dom looks at her like she has given him a gift. "Yes. For peace. For them. For you."
Allie reaches across the table, takes his hand. "I want to help you. I have ideas, about the business, about how to transition, how to protect the legitimate side from the... from the other. Let me help."
"You would do that? Even knowing what I am? What I have done?"
"I know what you are trying to become. That matters more."
Dom turns her hand over, traces her palm. "Allie. I need to tell you something. Something that might change how you feel."
"Tell me."
"I have killed people." The words are flat, terrible. "Not many. Not for years. But in my father's name, in the family's name, I have done terrible things. I am not innocent. I am not good. I am trying to be better, but I cannot erase what I was."
Allie does not pull away. She looks at his hand in hers, the strength of it, the scars, the weight of what he carries.
"I know," she says. "I guessed. The security, the way you move, the way Viktor fears you. I know what you are, Dom. And I know what you are trying to be. That is enough for me. For now."
"For now," Dom repeats. "You keep saying that."
"Because we are not there yet. Not at forever. We are at the beginning. And beginnings are fragile."
Dom nods. He accepts this. He is learning patience, she can see. Learning that love is not possession but presence, not demand but offering.
They finish dinner. Dom walks her to the subway, kisses her cheek, watches her go.
Allie rides home with her heart full and her mind racing. She is falling for him. Despite everything, despite the danger, despite the complications, she is falling.
And she is not sure she wants to stop.