CHAPTER 2 — HART FLOWERS
Hart Flowers was already burning when they arrived.
Not literally.
But close enough.
The shop windows were cracked.
Flower vases overturned.
Petals scattered like blood across the sidewalk.
And inside—
Grace Hart lay on the floor behind the counter.
Still breathing.
Barely.
Lily screamed the moment she saw her.
“Mama!”
She ran.
Dominic caught her instinctively before she could cross the broken glass.
“Wait,” he ordered sharply.
Two of his men moved inside first.
Then Dominic followed.
The air smelled like crushed lilies and iron.
Grace Hart lifted her head slightly when she heard footsteps.
Her eyes focused slowly.
Tired.
Bruised.
But alert.
Then she saw Lily.
“Baby…” she whispered.
Lily struggled out of Dominic’s grip.
This time he let her go.
Mother and child collided in a shaking embrace.
Dominic watched.
And something in his chest tightened again.
Not weakness.
Recognition.
Because he had once seen that kind of fear before.
In Rose’s eyes.
Long before the fire.
Grace looked up at him.
And froze.
Not because of fear.
Because of recognition.
“You…” she whispered.
Dominic stepped closer.
“You know me?”
Her lips trembled.
“I know your face,” she said. “From the hospital files.”
That stopped him.
“What hospital files?”
Grace swallowed painfully.
“They said I was dead.”
Silence.
Even the air stopped moving again.
Lily pulled back slightly.
“Mom?”
Grace shook her head quickly.
“No, baby… I— I don’t understand—”
Dominic crouched slowly.
For the first time that night, he looked uncertain.
“What did you just say?”
Grace pointed weakly toward her locked office door.
“They said I was a John Doe baby. Rosevale Hospital. 1989.”
The world tilted.
Dominic felt something inside him fracture.
Rose died in 1964.
Grace was talking about 1989.
That was impossible.
Unless—
Unless the fire hadn’t just destroyed one life.
Unless it had erased another.
Dominic stood so fast the room seemed to recoil.
“Who told you that?” he demanded.
Grace flinched.
“The state records. The adoption file. I was told my mother died in childbirth.”
Lily looked between them.
Confused.
Afraid.
Dominic turned to his men.
“Bring me everything on Rose Vale.”
One of them hesitated.
“Boss… those files were sealed after the fire.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Then unseal them.”
A pause.
Then—
A shot echoed outside.
All heads turned.
One of Dominic’s guards ran in.
“We’ve got incoming—Harbor Crew!”
Grace stiffened instantly.
“No… they’re back.”
Dominic didn’t move.
Instead, he looked at Lily.
Then Grace.
Then slowly reached into his coat.
And for the first time in twenty years—
pulled out a gun he hadn’t used in public since the war between families began.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
Grace grabbed Lily.
“No,” she said firmly. “You stay behind us.”
Dominic looked at her sharply.
But something about her voice made him hesitate again.
May you like
And that hesitation—
would change everything.
