A Fatal Attraction

Chapter 3: Suspicion

Eric’s Doubt

The precinct was quieter than usual, the hum of late-night shifts settling into a dull rhythm. Eric leaned back in his chair, staring at his untouched coffee.

Lena hadn’t checked in.

She always checked in.

Even when she brushed off protocol, even when she took risks that made his blood pressure spike, she never left him completely in the dark. Tonight was different.

His fingers drummed against his desk. He replayed their earlier conversation in his head—the hesitation in her voice, the way she refused to tell him the whole story.

And then there was the way she had been acting lately.

Distant. Restless. Unfocused.

At first, he thought it was just burnout. The job wore them all down eventually. But this was something else. Something wrong.

He glanced at his radio again. Nothing.

Something clenched in his gut. He knew her. Knew how she moved, how she worked. Whatever she was doing tonight, she hadn’t wanted him involved.

And that meant he needed to be.

Eric pulled up her most recent case files, scanning for anything that might tell him what she was chasing. His eyes landed on a name.

Dominic Vale.

His stomach twisted.

He had heard the name whispered through the precinct—always attached to cases that never closed, witnesses that never talked. A ghost running the city’s underbelly.

Why the hell was Lena looking into him?

His pulse ticked up as he clicked through reports, tracing the last known locations Vale had been linked to. One name stood out.

Vesper.

Eric grabbed his keys. If Lena wouldn’t tell him what was going on, he’d find out for himself.

⸻

The Game Continues

Lena should have left.

She knew that.

But she stayed.

Dominic leaned against the bar, watching her like she was the most fascinating thing in the room. The club buzzed around them—music, voices, the occasional clink of ice against glass—but in the space between them, everything else faded.

“You’re still here,” he murmured, swirling the amber liquid in his glass.

She forced herself to meet his gaze. “I have questions.”

He smirked. “And I have answers.”

“But you won’t give them to me.”

A slow, deliberate sip. “Not unless you’re ready to hear them.”

She hated the way her skin heated at his words, the way they felt like a challenge and an invitation all at once.

She straightened. “What was in that shipment?”

Dominic exhaled as if the question bored him. “Nothing that concerns you.”

She set her jaw. “You think I’m just going to drop it?”

“I think,” he said, voice dropping just enough to send a shiver down her spine, “that you want to drop it.”

Her throat tightened.

Because a part of her did.

A part of her wanted to stop fighting, to just let go and let him pull her into whatever twisted game he was playing.

His fingers brushed against the rim of his glass. Casual. Controlled. “You’re searching for something, Officer Carter.”

She swallowed. “I’m searching for the truth.”

A quiet chuckle. “No. You’re searching for something else.”

The air between them felt electric, thick with something unspoken.

Lena’s heart pounded. “You don’t know me.”

Dominic set his drink down. “Don’t I?”

She hated how much she wanted to hear what he’d say next.

But before he could answer—

Her phone buzzed.

She pulled it out, pulse spiking when she saw the name.

Eric.

Her stomach twisted.

Dominic smirked. “You should answer that.”

Lena hesitated, the weight of her choices pressing down on her.

And for the first time in her life, she wasn’t sure whose side she was really on.

Chapter 4: The Clock is Ticking

Lena let the phone ring.

She knew she should answer it—should reassure Eric that she was fine, should at least pretend she wasn’t tangled in something she had no business being a part of.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she set the phone face down on the bar, ignoring the vibrating hum against the wood.

Dominic watched her with quiet amusement, the corners of his mouth tilting just enough to let her know he noticed.

“That was rude,” he mused, sipping his drink.

Lena exhaled slowly. “I’m busy.”

His smirk deepened. “Oh, I can see that.” He leaned in slightly, voice dropping into something that felt dangerously intimate. “It’s thrilling, isn’t it?”

She swallowed, forcing herself to stay still. “What?”

“The pull.” He dragged the rim of his glass along the bar, slow and deliberate. “You’ve felt it since the warehouse.”

Lena clenched her jaw. “You’re not as clever as you think.”

“Oh, but I am.” Dominic tilted his head, studying her. “You know what I like most about you, Officer Carter?”

She crossed her arms. “I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

His grin was almost pleased at her resistance. “It’s not your badge. It’s not your loyalty to the law.” He set his drink down, fingertips barely grazing the glass. “It’s the fact that you hesitate.”

A cold weight settled in her chest.

“You want to do the right thing.” His voice was velvet, smooth and knowing. “But you also want to know what happens if you don’t.”

Lena’s pulse pounded in her ears.

He was stalling. Toying with her. Keeping her here just long enough that when she did move, it would already be too late.

She was running out of time.

And Dominic knew.

“Careful,” she murmured, straightening. “You’re wasting my patience.”

Dominic exhaled as if she had just said something amusingly naive. “No, Officer Carter. You’re wasting time.” He checked the watch on his wrist. “And I’d say you’ve got about… thirty seconds before your little friend comes looking for you.”

Lena’s stomach twisted.

Eric.

Shit.

Dominic saw the flicker of panic in her eyes. He leaned in, voice low. “You should go.”

But he didn’t move.

Neither did she.

They both knew she should leave. Knew that if she had any self-preservation left, she’d walk out of here and never look back.

But she stayed.

Dominic’s smirk returned, satisfied. “There it is again.”

Lena forced herself to ignore him, straightening. She couldn’t afford to let him get into her head any more than he already had.

She turned toward the door—

And then she saw him.

Eric.

Her breath caught as he pushed through the crowd, scanning the room with sharp, searching eyes. He hadn’t seen her yet, but he was close—too close.

Dominic leaned in one last time. “I’d hate for him to see you like this.”

His voice was a whisper against her skin, but the threat was clear.

Lena hesitated—just for a second, just long enough to process the weight of the moment.

And Dominic was gone.

Like smoke. Like he had never been there at all.

Her stomach twisted.

She turned back just in time for Eric to spot her. Relief flickered across his face, but it was brief—overtaken quickly by something sharper, something more suspicious.

“Lena,” he said, coming up to her. “I’ve been calling you.”

She forced a casual shrug. “Didn’t hear it.”

Eric’s eyes flicked over her, taking in every detail—the way she was standing, the fact that she had no drink, no signs of anything that suggested she had been here long.

But he was a detective, and she knew he didn’t buy it.

“Did you find anything?” he asked.

Lena swallowed, forcing herself to meet his gaze.

“No,” she lied. “Came up empty.”

The words felt like a noose tightening around her throat.

Eric didn’t answer right away. He studied her—too long, too hard—before finally nodding. “Let’s go, then.”

Lena forced herself to turn, to walk out of the club like she wasn’t leaving behind something she couldn’t name.

But as she stepped into the night, she knew the truth.

She had come to Vesper to catch Dominic Vale.

Instead, she had let him slip through her fingers.

And worse—she had let him win.