Snow drifted through Beacon Hill in thick white sheets as Dominic stepped out of the SUV.

For one suspended second, the entire world narrowed to the woman across the street.

Meline.

She stood beneath the glowing awning of a small corner pharmacy, one hand gripping a paper bag while the other rested instinctively beneath the curve of her stomach.

His child.

Even through the storm, Dominic could see how much thinner she had become. Her cheeks were pale from winter and exhaustion, her dark hair tucked into the collar of a wool coat too large for her frame.

But it was the man beside her that made something lethal uncurl inside Dominic’s chest.

Tall. Blond. Clean-cut.

His hand rested over Meline’s belly with casual familiarity.

And Meline didn’t pull away.

Carlo exited the SUV behind Dominic. “Boss…”

Dominic barely heard him.

The stranger leaned closer to Meline, smiling at something she said.

Then Meline laughed.

A soft laugh.

A laugh Dominic had spent three months starving for.

The sight nearly destroyed him.

Because she looked safe.

Safe with someone else.

The stranger opened an umbrella over her head protectively.

Dominic crossed the street.

Fast.

Deadly.

Meline looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps.

And froze.

The pharmacy bag slipped from her fingers.

Oranges rolled across the sidewalk.

For one horrifying second, she thought she was hallucinating.

Dominic Valente stood ten feet away beneath falling snow, black coat whipping in the wind, dark eyes locked entirely on her.

Her breath vanished.

The stranger beside her stiffened instantly. “Clara?”

Meline took one step backward.

Dominic’s gaze dropped to her stomach.

Everything in his face changed.

The icy control.

The brutality.

The terrifying dominance.

All of it cracked beneath one raw, overwhelming emotion.

Awe.

“You’re showing,” he whispered.

Meline’s hand flew protectively over her belly.

The movement shattered him.

Because she was afraid.

Afraid of him.

The stranger moved subtly in front of her. “You need to back away from her.”

Dominic slowly lifted his eyes.

The air itself seemed to harden.

“And you are?”

The man squared his shoulders. “Dr. Ethan Brooks.”

Dominic recognized the posture instantly.

Military.

Not mafia.

Not weak either.

Ethan kept one arm partially extended toward Meline. “She doesn’t want to see you.”

Meline finally found her voice.

“Dominic…”

Her whisper broke halfway through his name.

God.

That voice.

Three months without hearing it had hollowed him out.

Dominic took another step closer.

“You disappeared.”

Meline stared at him like he was a ghost dragged out of hell.

“I had to.”

“No.” His voice turned rough. “You ran.”

Pain flashed across her face.

“Because you were marrying her.”

The words hit like knives.

Dominic looked at her for a long moment.

Then quietly said:

“Look at my left hand.”

Meline’s eyes dropped automatically.

No ring.

“No wedding happened,” Dominic said.

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “This isn’t the place for this conversation.”

Dominic ignored him completely.

“Meline,” he said softly, “you burned the ultrasound.”

Her entire body went rigid.

Fear flooded her expression.

“How do you know that?”

Dominic stepped closer.

“I found the ashes in the sink.”

The storm seemed to disappear around them.

Meline remembered the blackened fragments clinging to the steel drain. The smell of smoke. The sound of her own sobbing.

Dominic’s eyes burned.

“You thought I didn’t want our baby.”

“Our baby.

The words hit her so hard she nearly stumbled.

Ethan steadied her instantly.

Dominic noticed.

Every protective instinct inside him turned vicious.

“Take your hand off her.”

Ethan didn’t move.

“No.”

Carlo muttered something under his breath behind Dominic.

Meline saw danger ignite beneath Dominic’s calm expression and immediately stepped between the two men.

“Stop.”

Both men looked at her.

Snow clung to her lashes as she struggled to breathe.

“You don’t get to show up here and act like nothing happened.”

Dominic’s face tightened.

“You said I’d be handled quietly.” Her voice cracked violently. “You called me a problem.”

Every word landed with brutal precision.

Dominic closed his eyes once.

When he opened them again, the truth inside them was almost unbearable.

“I lied.”

Meline stared.

“To protect you,” he said.

She laughed once.

Broken.

“Protect me?”

“Yes.”

His voice deepened.

“The Duca family had people inside my organization. If they knew what you meant to me, they would’ve taken you.”

Meline shook her head.

“You should’ve trusted me.”

“I know.”

The simplicity of the answer stunned her.

Dominic Valente never admitted fault.

Never.

But standing in the snow, looking at her swollen belly, he looked like a man carved open.

“I searched for you every day,” he said quietly. “Every hour.”