Chapter 9: Take Your Child to Work Day
The week after Sergei's ultimatum is chaos. Wedding plans, security reviews, business transitions, and the constant, nagging awareness that Marko Kovac is watching, waiting for weakness.
Allie juggles it all. She coordinates with florists and security teams, reviews contracts and threat assessments, tucks the twins in at night and wakes up to Dom's arms around her, his breath warm on her neck.
They have not made love. They are waiting, they tell themselves, for the wedding, for the right time, for the world to settle. But the tension builds, the near-touching, the almost-kisses, the nights they fall asleep tangled together and wake up wanting.
Today is Take Your Child to Work Day. A corporate tradition, mostly for publicity, but Dom insists the twins participate. "They should see where I work," he says. "Where you work. They should feel part of this."
Allie agrees, though she is nervous. The building is secure, but it is also a target. Viktor is banished but not forgotten, his allies still watching, still waiting.
She dresses the twins carefully. Luna in a dress with pockets and a tiara, because she is a "princess pirate." Leo in slacks and a button-down, looking like a junior executive. They take the special car, the one with bulletproof windows, and arrive at the tower with wide eyes.
"Mommy's office is so high," Luna breathes, looking up at the building.
"Forty-seven floors," Leo says. "I counted."
Dom meets them in the lobby. He is wearing a suit, but he has a flower for Luna, a boutonniere he pins to her dress, and a real architect's pen for Leo, heavy and professional.
"Welcome," he says, kneeling to their level. "To Volkov Industries. Where we build the future."
Luna hugs him. Leo shakes his hand, solemn.
They tour the building. The conference rooms, the design labs, the rooftop garden where employees eat lunch. Dom explains everything, patient and proud. He wants them to love this place. To see it as theirs.
Allie watches, her heart full and aching. This is what she wanted. A father for them. A family. A life that is more than survival.
But she is also watching for threats. For strangers, for anything out of place.
They are in the executive lounge, eating cookies and drinking juice, when it happens.
Luna sees Dom across the room, talking to a director. She has finished her cookie. She is bored. She wants attention.
She runs.
"Luna!" Allie calls, but it is too late.
Luna crosses the room in her tiara and her pockets and her fierce determination. She reaches Dom, grabs his pant leg, and looks up at him with her whole heart in her eyes.
"Daddy!" she shouts, loud enough for the entire floor to hear. "Daddy, I finished my cookie! Can we go see the fish now? You promised there would be fish!"
The room goes silent.
Dom freezes. He looks down at Luna, at her expectant face, at the word she has thrown like a grenade into the middle of his corporate life.
Allie is running, mortified, ready to apologize, to explain, to somehow undo this.
But then Dom moves. He kneels, picks Luna up, holds her close. He looks at Allie with tears in his eyes, and he smiles.
"Yes, princess," he says, his voice thick. "We can see the fish. And Luna? Thank you."
"For what?"
"For calling me Daddy."
Luna looks confused. "But you are my daddy. Leo said so. And Leo is always right."
Leo appears at Allie's side, taking her hand. He looks at Dom holding Luna, at the tears on Dom's face, at the way the entire executive floor is watching this moment.
"He is right," Leo says quietly. "He is our daddy. And it is okay if people know."
Allie kneels, pulls Leo into her arms, and cries. She cries for the years they lost, for the moments they missed, for the fear that kept her running. And she cries for this, for the joy on Dom's face, for the way Luna is chattering about fish, for the simple, profound rightness of her children claiming their father.
Dom carries Luna to Allie. He puts his arm around her, around Leo, creating a circle of four. He looks at the watching executives, the directors, the employees who have phones out, recording this.
"Yes," he says, his voice carrying. "They are my children. Leo and Luna Volkov. And their mother, Allie, is my fiancée. We are a family. And this company, this empire, is theirs as much as mine."
He looks down at Allie. "I love you," he says, not quietly, not privately. "I love all of you. And I am done hiding it."
Allie looks up at him. At this man, this complicated, dangerous, beautiful man, who is declaring his love in the middle of his corporate headquarters, who is claiming her children as his own, who is offering her everything he has.
"I love you too," she whispers. "I think I have loved you since that night, when you looked at me like I was the only person in the world."
Dom kisses her. Right there, in the executive lounge, in front of everyone. It is not a polite kiss. It is a claiming, a promise, a vow.
When they pull apart, Luna is clapping. Leo is smiling, just slightly.
And the room is cheering.
It is not the ending. Allie knows that. There is still danger, still Viktor's allies, still Marko Kovac watching from the shadows. There is still so much to face, so much to fight for.
But for this moment, in this place, they are a family.
And that is enough.
The rest of the day passes in a blur. The video of Luna calling Dom "Daddy" spreads through the company, then the internet. The media, always hungry for stories about the reclusive billionaire, picks it up. "Billionaire Mafia Heir Secret Family Revealed" is the headline by evening.
Dom's security team is in overdrive. The twins are whisked home, surrounded by guards. Allie is taken to a safe house, not the apartment, until they can assess the threat level.
Dom arrives late, exhausted but exhilarated. He finds Allie in the kitchen of the safe house, making tea with shaking hands.
"The twins are asleep," she says. "Finally. Luna asked for you. Leo checked all the locks."
"I will see them in the morning." Dom stands behind her, close but not touching. "Allie, I am sorry. For the publicity. For the exposure. I should have been more careful."
"No." Allie turns to him. "No, I am glad. I am tired of hiding. Tired of pretending. The world knows now. They know you are their father. They know we are together. It is terrifying, but it is also... freeing."
"I could have protected you better. Kept you safe from this."
"We are safe," Allie says. "Together. That is what matters."
Dom pulls her into his arms. He holds her while she shakes, breathing her in, grounding her in his strength.
"Thirty days," he whispers. "Until the wedding. Until you are officially mine, and I am yours, and no one can question it."
"I am already yours," Allie says. "I have been yours since the beginning."
They hold each other in the quiet kitchen, the city dark beyond the windows, and they plan. The wedding, the future, the family they are building.
Tomorrow, the world returns. The danger, the politics, the constant fight to build something better.
But tonight, they have each other.
And that is enough.