Chapter 2 CURIOSITY IS A KILLER

*Dominic Moretti didn't believe in accidents. But she felt like one.*

He drove in silence, the city lights flashing across his windshield like strobe lights on a stage he never asked to be part of. His gloved hands gripped the steering wheel, though the blood had already dried beneath his cuffs.

The job had been clean. Quick. Predictable.

Until her.

A janitor, of all things. The kind of person meant to be invisible. But she hadn't been. She'd walked in with those wide brown eyes and a heart beating loud enough for him to hear across the room.

She hadn't screamed.

That was what stuck with him most.

She'd *looked* at him. *Really* looked.

And for a moment, the silence between them hadn't been about fear.

It had been something else. Something that pulled.

He turned down a side street and parked. Killed the engine.

Then sat there, unmoving.

He should've ended it. He'd ended people for less. But there was something about the way she shook without begging. The way she met his gaze but never challenged it. She wasn't stupid. But she wasn't defiant either.

She was... different.

*Eva*.

He hadn't meant to remember her name, but there it was, stitched into his memory like it had been on her chest.

He ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath.

This was sloppy. Emotional. Two things he'd built his life avoiding. His father would've put a bullet in her head without blinking. His uncle would've made a show of it.

Dominic let her walk.

Because of instinct?

Because of attraction?

Or because he wanted to see what she'd do next?

He leaned back in the driver's seat, staring at the roof of the car.

If she talked, he'd hear about it within the hour. He had people in every precinct, every radio wave.

But deep down, he already knew-she wouldn't talk.

That wasn't fear in her eyes.

It was curiosity.

And curiosity, he knew, could be more dangerous than fear

He lit a cigarette, something he rarely did. The glow of the cherry lit up his sharp features as he exhaled slowly into the stillness.

She hadn't screamed.

And now, she was in his head.

Dominic had learned early in this business that feelings were liabilities. Curiosity? Deadly. Fascination? Worse. The first time you let someone live for any reason other than strategy, you lost the game.

He didn't lose.

But there was something in her-something that made him hesitate.

She reminded him of a life he hadn't lived. Of softness in a world full of steel. Of warmth in a business where warmth got you killed.

And still, he let her go.

Why?

Because her eyes didn't judge him.

Because when she looked at the body, she didn't cry.

Because somewhere in her, he saw darkness she hadn't explored yet.

And God help him-he wanted to be the one to drag her into it.

He flicked the cigarette out the window and reached for his phone. One press. A voice answered almost immediately.

"Yeah, boss?"

"Find out everything you can about an Eva Torres. Works night shift at Peregrine Tower. Cleaning crew."

A pause.

"You want her dead?"

He stared out the windshield.

"No," Dominic said slowly. "Not yet."

Back at her apartment, she'd be pacing. He could picture it. Hands shaking, mind racing, wondering what he was going to do. Wondering if she was already marked.

She was.

But not how she thought.

Dominic leaned back, a slow smirk creeping onto his face.

She had no idea what she'd walked into.

And she had no idea how much he already wanted her .