Dominic covered Evelyn with his body until Marcus shouted that the terrace was clear.

Glass dust covered the shoulders of his tuxedo. One shard had cut his cheek, leaving a thin red line beneath his eye.

“Are you hit?” he asked.

“No.”

“Stay down.”

“The shooter is gone.”

“That does not make standing intelligent.”

Evelyn pushed against his chest. “Neither does crushing your only witness.”

He shifted, but his hand remained behind her head to keep it off the broken glass.

Marcus returned from the terrace. “Single shot from the tree line. The outer camera looped twenty seconds of old footage.”

Dominic helped Evelyn up. “Lock the estate.”

“It was already locked.”

“Then lock the people.”

Within an hour, Evelyn was in an armored SUV heading toward Manhattan. She had not agreed to go. Dominic had not pretended the decision was hers.

She sat opposite him while rain moved across the dark windows.

“Kidnapping an employee is still kidnapping,” she said.

“You can file a complaint when nobody is shooting at you.”

“Your concern is touching.”

“My concern is practical. You know what Celeste wants hidden.”

“I know less than you think.”

“You knew enough to stop my wedding.”

“You're welcome.”

His gaze lowered to her hand. She had cut her palm on the ballroom floor.

He opened a medical kit built into the console.

“Give me your hand.”

“I was a medic.”

“Then you know blood should stay inside the body.”

She let him clean the cut. His hands were careful, almost clinical. That unsettled her more than cruelty would have.

“Did you love Anna?” she asked.

The antiseptic pad paused.

“Yes.”

“Then why didn't you question Daniel's confession?”

“I did.”

“Not enough.”

He wrapped the bandage once around her palm. “My father died six weeks before Anna. Three captains challenged me. Federal agents seized two ships. Every answer I received about the crash matched.”

“Because the same people wrote all the answers.”

“I know that now.”

“Convenient.”

He tied the bandage. “Nothing about knowing it now is convenient.”

Dominic's penthouse occupied the top two floors of a limestone building overlooking Central Park. It was elegant, silent, and guarded like a foreign embassy.

Evelyn entered through a private elevator and counted four visible cameras, two concealed doors, and one guard pretending to read market news.

“Guest room is upstairs,” Dominic said.

“I'll sleep near an exit.”

“There is no unguarded exit.”

“That was not reassuring.”

Marcus arrived with a tablet. “Celeste's accounts are empty. Her passport is still at the estate, but a private aircraft left Teterboro under a shell company thirty minutes ago.”

“Destination?”

“Flight plan says Montreal. The aircraft turned east over Connecticut.”

Dominic read the screen. “Decoy.”

Marcus nodded. “Also, Victor Russo has called six times.”

“He can call seven.”

Evelyn noticed the hesitation between them. “Your uncle knows?”

“Everyone knows,” Dominic said. “By morning, the canceled wedding will be worth more online than the truth.”

Marcus placed a cream envelope on the table. “This arrived by courier twenty minutes before the ceremony. Legal marked it routine.”

The envelope bore the seal of a Manhattan trust company.

Dominic opened it.

Inside was a copy of the Anna Russo Preservation Trust, activated if Dominic remarried. The trust controlled twenty-one percent of Russo Maritime voting shares.

The beneficiary line had been redacted.

Evelyn read the date. “Anna signed this four days before she died.”

“The original is held by a probate judge,” Marcus said. “Someone petitioned to unseal it this afternoon.”

“Celeste,” Evelyn said.

Dominic looked at her. “Why would she trigger a document that could take my shares?”

“Maybe she expected to control the beneficiary.”

The penthouse intercom sounded.

“Judge Ellen Kramer is downstairs,” security announced. “She says the matter cannot wait.”

The judge entered carrying a sealed red folder and accompanied by two court officers. She was seventy, silver-haired, and unimpressed by wealth.

“Mr. Russo, your interrupted marriage activated a challenge filed against the trust,” she said. “Because the ceremony did not conclude, the shares remain suspended. However, a credible threat against the beneficiary requires immediate notice.”

“Who is it?” Dominic asked.

Judge Kramer looked past him at Evelyn.

“Ms. Cross, may I see identification?”

Evelyn produced her military ID card.

The judge compared the date of birth and service number to the document.

“Anna Russo named Evelyn Marie Cross as sole protective beneficiary.”

Nobody spoke.

Evelyn stared at the folder. “I met Anna once.”

Dominic turned sharply. “You told me you came here because of Daniel.”

“I did.”

“When did you meet my wife?”

“At Daniel's arraignment. She came to the courthouse and tried to speak to me. Security dragged her away before she could explain.”

Judge Kramer continued. “The trust grants Ms. Cross voting control only while she is under Mr. Russo's documented protection or legally joined to his household.”

Marcus gave a humorless laugh. “Anna built a trap.”

“For whom?” Evelyn asked.

Dominic understood first. “Anyone who tried to replace her.”

The judge closed the folder. “Until the threat is resolved, Ms. Cross cannot safely leave your protection. If she does, the shares revert to the family board.”

Victor controlled the board.

Dominic walked to the windows. Below them, Manhattan glittered as if nobody had nearly died that evening.

When he turned back, his decision was already made.

“Tomorrow we announce that Evelyn and I are engaged.”

Evelyn laughed once. “No.”

“It keeps the trust away from Victor.”

“Find another legal arrangement.”

“There isn't one that the public will believe after today.”

Judge Kramer cleared her throat. “There may be a narrower option. A sworn domestic partnership would satisfy the household clause, but it would not survive a hostile board challenge. An engagement supported by a cohabitation agreement might.”

“Might?” Evelyn asked.

“Anna drafted this document to withstand ordinary greed. She did not anticipate a poisoned wedding.”

Dominic poured water into a glass and offered it to Evelyn. She refused.

“What happens if Victor wins the challenge?” she asked.

“He gains the voting shares and can remove Mr. Russo as chief executive,” the judge said. “He can also dissolve the trust's investigative reserve.”

“Investigative reserve?”

Judge Kramer turned one page. “Twelve million dollars set aside for legal defense, forensic accounting, and witness protection connected to Anna's final inquiry.”

Daniel had not merely been named in Anna's clues. She had built a fund capable of freeing him.

Evelyn looked at Dominic. “Your uncle cannot touch that money.”

“On that, we agree.”

Marcus set another document beside the contract. “There is a practical problem. After the canceled wedding, every camera in New York will follow Mr. Russo. If Ms. Cross is seen leaving, Victor knows the engagement is false.”

“So I become bait,” Evelyn said.

Dominic's jaw tightened. “You become visible. There is a difference.”

“Not to the person aiming a rifle.”

“Then we find the rifle before it finds you.”

“I stopped one wedding. I am not volunteering for the next.”

Dominic approached until only the red folder separated them.

“This is not a proposal.”

Evelyn held his gaze. “Then my answer is not negotiable.”

He slid a blank contract across the table.

“Everything is negotiable.”

Evelyn took the pen but did not sign.

“Daniel is moved to protective custody tonight. Not one of your private facilities. A federal unit.”

“Agreed.”

“I choose my lawyer.”

“Agreed.”

“And if you lie to me once, I walk.”

Dominic leaned over the contract. “If you walk, Victor gets Anna's shares.”

“Then don't lie.”

For the first time that night, the feared head of the Russo family had no immediate answer.