Chapter 2 - “DON’T TOUCH HIM”
Dominic’s hand remained against my cheek.
“Who did this?”
His voice was quiet.
That frightened the room more than shouting would have.
I looked past him toward Preston.
Gavin still held the clippers.
Dominic followed my eyes.
Gavin immediately placed them on the table.
“It was a joke,” Preston said.
Dominic turned slowly.
Preston swallowed.
Then Dominic took one step forward.
I caught his wrist.
“Dom.”
He stopped.
“Don’t.”
His jaw tightened.
“Elena.”
“I said don’t.”
The four men behind him remained motionless.
Every person in Aether Penthouse seemed to be waiting for the answer to one question.
Would Dominic Vale listen when someone told him no?
He looked at the red marks around my wrist.
Then at me.
Finally, he stepped backward.
“Okay.”
That single word meant more than anything he could have done to Preston.
I released him.
“Samuel.”
Samuel Pike moved immediately.
“Yes?”
“Secure the video recordings.”
Dennis stepped forward.
“Elena, I really think—”
I turned.
He stopped talking.
“Every camera covering this room. Every hallway. Every service entrance.”
Samuel nodded.
“Yes, Mrs. Vale.”
Dennis stared at me.
“Mrs…”
“Hayes while I’m working.”
I looked toward the clock.
10:01.
“Vale now.”
His face drained of color.
Preston pushed back his chair.
“You people are seriously doing this over hair?”
I touched the shaved side of my scalp.
“You restrained me.”
“No one restrained you.”
Mia stepped out from behind the bar.
“Yes, they did.”
Dennis snapped his head toward her.
“Mia.”
“Why are you warning her?” I asked.
He froze.
Mia’s hands were shaking.
But she continued.
“Preston grabbed Elena’s ponytail. Gavin used the clippers. Carter and Nolan held her arms.”
One of the men stood.
“That is complete bullshit.”
Samuel spoke from the side of the room.
“The cameras will show what happened.”
Silence.
I pulled out my phone.
Dennis moved closer.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
His eyes widened.
“For a private-club incident?”
I looked directly at him.
“No.”
I entered 911.
“For an assault.”
Preston laughed once.
The sound came out wrong.
“You have any idea who my father is?”
I almost smiled.
Men like Preston loved that sentence.
“Yes.”
“Then you know he can buy this club before breakfast.”
Dominic removed one glove.
Then the other.
“No.”
Preston looked at him.
Dominic folded the gloves neatly.
“Aether Penthouse operates inside Vale Meridian Tower.”
Dennis closed his eyes.
“My company owns the building.”
Preston’s face changed.
Dominic stepped closer, stopping several feet away.
“But that doesn’t matter.”
He nodded toward me.
“She called the police.”
“So you will wait.”
No threats.
No fists.
No private room.
Just a spoiled man being forced to remain inside the same legal system he had spent his life assuming was designed for people poorer than him.
Twenty-three minutes later, NYPD officers arrived.
Preston immediately demanded an attorney.
His friends became remarkably sober.
Statements were taken separately.
Mia repeated what she had seen.
A bartender named Luis spoke too.
A couple sitting near the private dining section admitted they had witnessed the clippers.
Samuel turned over the preserved security footage.
Dennis tried to describe the incident as “a confrontation that escalated.”
I corrected him.
“There was no confrontation.”
The detective looked at me.
“What happened?”
“I told them not to touch me.”
“Then?”
“They held me down.”
The detective nodded.
“That’s what the footage will determine.”
Dominic remained behind me throughout the statement.
Not speaking.
Not interfering.
When we finally left after midnight, his driver opened the rear door.
I sat inside.
Dominic joined me.
For several blocks, neither of us spoke.
New York passed outside the windows.
Neon signs.
Yellow taxis.
People laughing outside bars.
Normal life continuing while half my head felt like it belonged to someone else.
Dominic stared at his hands.
“Say something,” I whispered.
His voice was rough.
“If I say what I’m thinking, you’ll be angry.”
“Probably.”
“I want them destroyed.”
“Legally?”
He looked at me.
“That depends on how generous you’re feeling.”
Despite everything, a tiny laugh escaped me.
Then I started crying.
The transition was so sudden I couldn’t stop it.
Dominic moved toward me.
He paused before touching me.
That mattered too.
I nodded.
He wrapped his coat around my shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“You didn’t do it.”
“I should have been there.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“You were there exactly when you said you would be.”
I wiped my face.
“They did it. Not you.”
His eyes became wet.
Dominic rarely cried.
That scared me more than his anger.
“They held you.”
“Yes.”
“And I walked in afterward.”
“Yes.”
“I hate that.”
“I know.”
When we reached home, I stood beneath the bathroom lights and finally looked carefully at myself.
One side of my head still had shoulder-length dark hair.
The other had been cut in jagged tracks nearly to the scalp.
Small red scratches crossed my skin.
Dominic stood behind me.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “we’ll get the best stylist in the city.”
“No.”
He frowned.
“I’m shaving the rest.”
His expression shifted.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
“You could wait.”
“I don’t want to.”
I looked at myself again.
“They decided how I looked tonight.”
I touched the remaining hair.
“Tomorrow, I decide.”
Dominic nodded.
“All right.”
Before bed, my phone began vibrating continuously.
Messages.
Unknown numbers.
News alerts.
Someone from Preston’s table had uploaded part of the recording.
Not the assault.
Only Dominic entering afterward.
A caption had already appeared beneath it.
WAITRESS HUMILIATED AT AETHER PENTHOUSE TURNS OUT TO BE DOMINIC VALE’S SECRET WIFE.
May you like
I stared at the screen.
And understood that by morning, anonymity would be gone forever.
