CHAPTER ONE
JUDY CORISI’S FATHER, DOMINIC
Fresh from a meeting with the head of the Chinese division of his tech company, Dominic Corisi sat behind a large mahogany desk in his Upper Manhattan office. His phone beeped with a message from Jeremy Kater, one of his business partners: Meet me in WorkChat.
He replied via text without hesitation. No.
His phone rang a second later. “What do you have against WorkChat?” Jeremy asked in an amused tone.
“Besides the fact that you installed my competition’s technology in my closet without my permission?”
“You’re the one who says business is best done face-to-face. Plus, you know I modified it to meet our security needs.”
“My issue with it isn’t security related. Virtual reality is not face-to-face. And I don’t care how you glorify holograms; I refuse to step into a closet to conduct business.” Technology didn’t intimidate Dominic. He’d built his fortune on it. No, the odd practices of the next generation did. Shortly after the install, he’d learned that one of his US-based team leaders had started using a filter that added a bunny face to Dominic when they spoke in WorkChat. Dominic brought that young man to his New York office to fire him in person, and he had yet to regret it. The man had shown up with a representative from human resources, like a child using a parent for protection. So Dominic had explained to both of them that real life doesn’t have a filter. It was harsh, ugly, and often unforgiving.
I did that kid a favor. Weak never wins.
Coming back to the moment, Dominic inquired about Jeremy’s wife. “How is Jeisa?”
“She’s good. I thought she’d have more time now that Marie and Reesie are both in school, but she’s even busier. Yoga. Soccer. Karate. Marie can already kick my ass.”
“Not a difficult feat, I’m sure,” Dominic joked, but there was no bite in his humor.
“So grumpy. Is it because you miss us?”
“That must be it,” Dominic said in a dry tone. There was a time when he wouldn’t have associated with someone like Jeremy. Despite the younger man’s success, he remained eager to please and eternally optimistic. Dominic’s childhood had left him too hardened to be able to stomach that type for long, but Jeremy was as loyal as he was brilliant. He’d earned his place at the table.
Loyalty made almost any sin pardonable.
Except fucking bunny ears.
Dominic’s wife, Abby, had convinced him to rehire the young man and put him under Jake Walton’s tutelage. Dominic didn’t regret that either.
No one became one of the richest men in the world by playing nice, but for the past ten years, ever since Abigail Dartley had walked into his life and turned it upside down, Dominic had tried to be the man she deserved. Before her, he’d only known love to be fragile and angry—vindictive. That wasn’t the way Abby loved. She’d raised her sister, Lil, after the death of their parents. She was strong, stable, infinitely patient. For her, love was a commitment . . . and a privilege. And he was a better man because of her.
Without her, vengeance had been his family.
She’d given him not only a daughter but also a second chance to be the brother to Nicole he always should have been. Without Abby, he would never have forgiven his mother.
His life was full of family—some by blood, many by choice.
A man like that was grateful enough to rehire someone he swore would never work for him again and not feel less for doing it. I did make sure the kid left my office near tears and with a full understanding of what would happen if I heard he so much as whispered about why I’d fired him.
Love had softened Dominic’s heart, but he was still Dominic.
“Did you call for a reason?” Dominic prodded.
“Yes. This isn’t an easy conversation for me—”
“Just say it. Did you crash a server? Violate a government treaty?” Whatever it was, there was a solution. Jeremy worried too much. Almost everything was fixable.
“It’s about Judy.”
Dominic tensed at the mention of his ten-year-old daughter. “What about her?” Nothing mattered to Dominic more than his wife and child. Not his business. Not his life. They were his Achilles’ heel.
Jeremy continued, “I promised Judy I wouldn’t say anything, but I have children, and if they were doing something like this . . . I’d want to know.”
“Doing what?” Dominic growled the words between his clenched teeth.
“Don’t get all worked up. It’s not really bad. Well, it could be bad, but nothing has happened yet. And really, who knows, it might end up being a good thing in the end.”
“Just tell me,” Dominic roared.
“I feel guilty breaking Judy’s confidence, but . . .”
“Oh my fucking God—”
“She asked me for help with a school assignment.”
Jeremy’s announcement circled in Dominic’s head. He processed it through a filter of panic and fury. “If this is some kind of joke, I will kill you.”
“She’s working on a family tree for you as a surprise.”
“What?”
“A family tree. You know—family, that thing you don’t like to talk about? She wanted to add more branches to it and asked Alethea to help her discover more about your family.”
Breathe. Don’t punch the wall. Don’t crush the phone. Breathe. “And that was difficult for you to tell me because?”
“Because Judy asked Alethea to help her first. Whatever Alethea found, she left no digital trace of it and told Judy she couldn’t help her with it anymore.”
“Sounds like a wise choice.” Dominic walked to the large window of his office and stared out over the skyscrapers. He took another deep breath. Only a man with as many enemies as Dominic had would understand where his thoughts had taken him in the prior dark moments. No one is in danger. Relax. He knew his daughter had been assigned a family tree project the previous school year. She’d asked for his help with it, but there was a limit of what he wanted to remember . . . even for her. The past held too much pain.
Judy hadn’t gotten a good grade on that assignment, and apparently that had bothered her enough to continue to work on it. She’s driven—like me.
Dominic continued, “Now that you’ve started my day with a mild heart attack—”
“Sorry about that, but I’m concerned. Alethea doesn’t stop. You know that. Once she starts digging, it’s an addiction to her. She found something. I’d bet my life she did. Did she say anything to you?”
“No.”
“See, that’s what has me worried. I’ve retraced her online steps. Her search took her all the way to Italy. Then nothing. I don’t like it. Alethea found something she couldn’t tell you—couldn’t tell Judy either. But what?”
“You’re overthinking this. Alethea is a new mother. Her focus naturally switched to that over playing private eye.”
“You’re not curious about what she found? You might have family in Italy.”
“I have all the family I need.” The only peace Dominic found was by focusing on the present and those he loved today. The past only filled him with questions he couldn’t answer. Extended family? Which side did he want to learn more about? His violent, abusive father’s family? No. His mother’s? Although she was back in his life and he’d forgiven her, she’d left her children when they’d most needed her, and they’d suffered for more than a decade . . . not knowing if she was dead or alive.