Chapter One
Dominic pulled into the driveway and stopped when a guard held up a hand. He rolled down his window and waited.
“May I see the ticket and an ID, sir?”
“Here you go.” Dominic handed over the fake license one of his employees had made, and the paper he’d received from a friend who had been invited but couldn’t come to the party. The man was damn good, but then all he’d had to do was change his name.
“Michael Thorton?”
“Yes.”
“Very good, sir. Drive around, and a person will take your car for you.”
“Thank you.”
Dominic drove around and was met by another guard that opened his car door. The man handed him a piece of paper with a number on it.
“Thanks,” Dominic said.
Dominic looked around at all the guards standing with guns as he started up the stairs. The family was well protected, that was for sure.
Another guard stopped him outside the front door. “Sir, I’ll have to pat you down.”
Dominic nodded and raised his arms. The man was very thorough but quick. “Thank you.” He opened the door. “Enjoy the party.”
“I’m sure I will.” He walked in to see the woman he had thought about often, actually his whole life. Coming face to face with her for the first time was surreal.
“Welcome,” she said and introduced herself and two men on either side of her. “I’m sorry, but you look so familiar. Have we met?”
“It was a long time ago.”
She looked confused but couldn’t ask any questions because she needed to greet a few more people that came in after him. “Enjoy yourself,” she said.
Dominic looked around the vast living room, grabbed a drink from a passing waiter, and met and spoke to a few men. He didn’t know anyone there but enjoyed meeting some of them. There had to be two hundred people. He scanned the area, looking for the person he’d come to see, and found her again. His heart felt heavy in his chest, and it thudded against his breastbone with an emotion he didn’t understand and didn’t particularly care for.
He wanted to hate her so much, and in a way, he did, but he just couldn’t see the diabolical woman who had given birth to him. She was supposed to look like the mercenary bitch his father had told him about for years, not an angel.
His gaze caught a few other women who looked surprisingly similar, and he wanted to know more about them. He’d been told that he had three sisters. Whenever he asked his father about them, he’d say it didn’t matter and that women were worthless and used for sex and cleaning. Dominic was surprised he didn’t feel that way about women after all thebullshit his father spewed every time he saw him. It helped that he had seen good examples of marriages and women with his friends’ parents that what his father said didn’t ring true.
He caught one of the women alone. She didn’t look like the other women he had seen with the other three. He held out a hand. “Hello, I’m Dominic.”
“I’m Elizabeth.” She shook his hand.
“How do you know the family?” he asked.
“I’m with one of the men in the Maclean family. The daughters of the homeowner are married to his brothers.”
“Oh. Do you know the woman who is giving the party well?”
“I think so.”
“She’s very beautiful,” he said.
Beth smiled. “Yes, she is. Inside and out.”
“Where’s her husband?”
“I’m not sure,” she said.