Page 15 of Dominance

Even if it is a bit much.

Okay, it’s way too much, most of the time.

I miss my simple apartment, my freedom.

So, I drive myself today, even though I’m not used to doing it around here yet.

At least I’m not alone all the time here. Just lonely.

Because none of the people around me here knows what I am dealing with. I have no one to confide in. No one to trust.

In place of that confidence, I’ve taken to spending my off days at the office when no one is there. The blessed solitude of the empty building that Dom took over in Brooklyn near the river on a Saturday shouldn’t be comforting, but it offers me something distinct that I don’t have anywhere else in my life.

A moment without any of the maids at the compound or the guards that taxi me around the city.

It also offers me purpose.

Pastimes.

Even if they are solely devoted to researching the old Diamante files in the archives and digging up dirt on my father and trying to dig up any information I can on Adriano’s older brother, my father’s predecessor. Not too surprising that no one will tell me much about him.

What is odd, is that there doesn’t seem to be much info on him, Adriano, or their younger brothers who I have only spotted once in my weeks here. It’s like they’re ghosts.

Unlocking the basement door, I click on the lights, letting the fluorescent bulbs warm up and brighten while I make coffee in the lounge, listening to a mix on my headphones.

Following my routine, I gather my notes, stashed in a closet at the bottom of the basement stairs, and let myself into the big, sterile cement room filled with rows of file folders and lock boxes. It still shocks me that they even have a place like this, with records that could incriminate them on so many fronts. Except that since I’ve been here, I have yet to find anything that hasn’t been carefully curated to look absolutely, flawlessly legal.

Setting out my caseload for the day, I pause my music, listening for any sounds before pressing the call button and the other reason for heading to this room.

It’s the only room in the building, or in the compound, I am sure is not bugged.

So I can call my sister.

Hear her voice.

When she answers, that is. The time difference doesn’t always suit us having a conversation, and her schedule doesn’t always permit it either. But I always leave a message for her, and I call the secret remote voicemail box I set up for her to leave me messages on.

Hearing her voice makes this all worth it.

Even my impending marriage to Adriano.

Intrusive thoughts much?

As the line rings out, clicking over to voicemail, I hang up, deciding to try again after a while.

Still, thoughts of last night keep wiggling into my head, making my pulse quicken and my face blush.

I’ve never been particularly shy when it comes to guys I like.

But I’ve also never grabbed a guy and shoved him up against a wall and grabbed his…

Whoa, there, Glow.

Slow down.

Except that I can’t. My idiotic heart and my treacherous body keep driving me toward him, making me want him.

And I so badly want to let myself, want to trust him.

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