Dom was awake before his alarm rang, the subtle light of dawn creeping through the thin curtains.
The apartment was still and cold, the quiet pressing around him like a held breath.
A faint, musty odor lingered in the air, mixed with the scent of damp plaster and stale air.
Outside, the dim glow of a streetlamp cast long shadows across the faded wallpaper, which was peeling at the edges.
The mark on his chest was warm, a steady, patient pulse that had become as familiar as his own heartbeat.
He lay there for a moment, staring at the cracked ceiling stained with water damage from a leak months ago, letting the weight of the day settle over him like a heavy blanket.
Today, he was going to collect his payment from a crime lord, an encounter that could turn either way.
No big deal.
Emma waited anxiously outside Dante’s tower, her gaze fixed on the entrance.
Her auburn hair was pulled back in a clip missing a tooth, and she had exchanged her tight combat jacket for a worn cardigan that somehow made her appear even smaller.
Curled in the hollow of her neck, Lume was dim and still, as if the fairy sensed the danger nearby and wanted nothing to do with it.
“Hey,” Dom said.
Emma looked up.
Her pale green eyes were red-rimmed.
“Hey.”
“You ready?”
“I don’t know why I have to be here for this.”
“Dante asked for you specifically. Probably wants to debrief the mission.”
“I already gave him a written report.”
“Then he probably wants to talk about your performance.” Dom pulled open the door.
“Just follow my lead.”
Emma nodded, falling into step behind him.
Marcus met them in the dimly lit lobby and quietly escorted them upstairs without a word.
The elevator journey felt interminable, the silence heavy between them.
Emma’s hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned pale, her nails digging into her palms.
Dom refused to meet her gaze, already mentally preparing for the difficult conversation to come.
Dante sat relaxed in his ornate leather chair, exuding an air of authority as if ruling a court.
The reinforced containment box that had held the object was nowhere to be seen already decommissioned, processed, and shipped to its final destination.
The desk was remarkably sparse, save for a single sleek tablet displaying a glowing screen and a neatly organized folder of sensitive documents.
“Dom.” Dante smiled.
“Right on time.”
“I try.”
“Sit. Both of you.”
Dom sat.
Emma hesitated, then lowered herself into the chair beside him, her back straight, her hands folded in her lap.
Lume’s glow was nearly extinguished.
Dante opened the folder and slid it across the desk.
“Your payment. Two hundred thousand, Plus a hazard bonus for the Queen situation. Consider it a token of my appreciation.”
Dom glanced at the figure on the page.
Two hundred thousand.
Much more than he’d expected.
“That’s generous.”
“You survived something that killed three other teams. I think it’s well earned.” Dante leaned back.
“Which brings me to my proposition.”
“You want me on a leash.”
“I prefer the term retainer. How did you know?”
“I guessed.”
Dante smiled.
“I want you working for me. Exclusively. The pay is generous, the work is dangerous, and you’ve proven you can handle it. No more hustling for freelance scraps. You work for me, and you’ll never have to worry about money again.”
Dom hesitated before responding.
The offer was precisely what he had anticipated, a luxurious prison.
Dante wasn’t presenting a job; he was presenting him with a leash.
“What about Emma?” Dom asked.
Dante’s eyes flicked to Emma, who had gone very still.
“If I’m going to keep doing jobs for you, I’d want her as my permanent support.”
“She already works for me.”
“She works for whoever you assign her to. I’m asking for exclusivity. The same way you’re asking for mine.”
Dante’s smile flickered.
Something shifted behind his eyes, interest, calculation.
“You want the girl. I never pegged as that sort of person.”
“I want a support hunter I can trust. She’s proven herself.”
“She’s an asset. The type of which are quite expensive.”
“I know what she’s worth.” Dom leaned forward.
“I’m not asking for a gift. I’m asking for a transfer. Freeze her debt at a fixed number. I pay it off. She works for me, I work for you. Everyone wins.”
Emma’s breath hitched beside him.
Dom avoided her gaze, his eyes fixed intently on Dante, who watched him with the sharp, calculated patience of a man who had spent his entire life assessing worth.
“Her debt is substantial,” Dante said.
“One hundred and fifty thousand, after my generous forgiveness of the interest, and taking back your pay on the last job.”
“Then one-fifty it is.”
“You’d take on that much debt for a support hunter?”
“I’d take it on for the person who kept me alive.” Dom’s voice was flat.
“She’s worth it.”
Dante laughed, a short, surprised sound.
“You’re serious.”
“I don’t joke about money.”
A tense silence hung in the air.
Dante anxiously tapped his fingers against the desk, his gaze flicking between Dom and Emma.
Emma trembled visibly, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, her face ghostly pale.
“You know she’ll never be free of me,” Dante said, turning his attention to Emma.
“Even if your debt transfers to him, you’ll still owe me. You’ll still be mine.”
Emma’s voice was barely a whisper.
“I’m not yours. I never was.”
Dante’s smile was cold.
“What a romantic thing to say. Do you think he bought you out of love?” He leaned forward.
“He bought you because you’re useful. Just like I kept you because you’re useful. The only difference is the name on the contract.”
Emma flinched.
Her hands tightened in her lap, and for a second, she looked like she might break.
Then she lifted her chin.
“Maybe,” she said quietly.
“But I’ll be his, and not yours.”
The room went very still.
Dante stared at her for a long moment.
Then he laughed, soft, genuine, and entirely without warmth.
“You’ve got spirit after all. Pity it took another man’s leash to find it.”
Dom cut in before Emma could respond.
“Are we done negotiating, or did you bring us here to practice your stand-up?”
He turned back to Dom.
“Fine. One-fifty, fixed. No more interest. You pay weekly. Miss one payment, the deal’s off and she comes back to me. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“And one more condition.” Dante leaned forward.
“You owe me a favor. To be named later. Something I’ll need a man of your talents for. You agree, and we have a deal.”
Dom didn’t hesitate.
“The favor has limits. Nothing that gets my family or Emma hurt. You want my skills, you get my skills. But you don’t get to use me to hurt the people I care about.”
“Reasonable.”
“Then we have a deal.”
They shook hands.
“I don’t expect to see you again,” Dom said.
“Oh, you will.” Dante’s smile was sharp.
“Everyone comes back eventually.”
Emma was shaking when they reached the street.
She was standing there, her entire body trembling, she pressed her hands against her stomach as if trying to hold herself together.
Lume stirred softly against her neck, a gentle chime of concern echoing in the quiet.
“Hey,” Dom said.
She looked at him.
Her eyes were wet, but she was holding it in.
“Did you really—” She stopped.
Swallowed.
“Did you really just buy my contract?”
“Yeah, it’s still a lot but.” He paused.
“You’re not his anymore.”
“I’m yours.”
“That’s not—”
I understand what you meant, her voice quivered with a flicker of vulnerability.
“I get it, but I’ve been his for so long that I’m not sure how to feel about belonging to someone else now. Honestly, I wonder if I’ll even be good enough.”
Dom softly reached out, his fingers delicately brushing her hair.
She gasped in surprise at first, but then gradually relaxed into his touch, a breathless mixture of anticipation and surrender.
“You don’t belong to me,” he said.
“You work for me. We do jobs together, we watch each other’s backs. That’s all.”
Emma let out a breathless sound—half a laugh, half a sob.
“That’s the closest thing to freedom I’ve ever felt.”
“Then let’s make it count,” he replied with conviction.
She swiftly wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
“Thank you. I know I didn’t say it earlier, but—”
“Stop, you don’t need to,” he interrupted gently.
“But I do, I really do ” she whispered.
“Then just say it once and be done with it,” he urged.
Emma met his gaze, her pale green eyes still shimmering with emotion.
“Thank you so so much.”
“You’re welcome ,” he said with a nod, dropping his hand.
“Now, let’s get out of here before Dante changes his mind.”
His phone buzzed as they walked away from the tower.
[Jess]: See you in an hour!
So excited!
Dom stared at the message, a sinking feeling creeping in as he realized he’d completely forgotten the collab meeting.
Next to him, Emma was still wiping her eyes, her mind elsewhere.
Suddenly, the system chimed loudly, its voice brimming with eager enthusiasm, shattering the tense silence.
[The system is very excited as well!!]
“Of course you are,” Dom muttered.
“What?” Emma asked.
“Nothing. I have a meeting in an hour. A streamer wants to collab.”
“Another streamer?”
“Yeah. They’ve been in contact while we were away.”
Emma’s brow furrowed.
“Shouldn’t you rest a bit more first before getting involved with new jobs?”
Dom didn’t answer right away.
He thought about everything that had happened in the last past days, and the system’s sudden enthusiasm.
“I probably should,” he said.
“But I’m going anyway.”