My throat tightens as he trails, pain evidently clouding his eyes and voice.
“I understand if you want to go, Bella. We’ll find your father…and you can finally live life on your own terms. You can walk away from this marriage and—”
My breath hitches as I drown out his words. He’s giving me freedom to call off the alliance.
“You know I did things I never dared to do years ago. I talked back to my father… gave Elena a piece of my mind, and when I see Melanie, wherever she is, I sure will give her hell, too.”
“Down there in the cell I-I willed my brain to work more than it’s ever done in years.” I release a chuckle, but tears follow. “All I could think of was you as I tried different means to get out. I rage-baited Father, and it worked. He opened the cell, yanked my hair, and shoved me to the ground. I managed to pick up a plank and hit him just like he hit me.”
His fingers graze the side of my head, and I wince at the memory. It was the most confident thing I’d ever done in my life. Even when I knew there was a slim chance of defeating Father, I went ahead with my plan.
“He fell, but that didn’t keep him down. Somehow, he maneuvered and pointed a gun at my head.”
Dominic inhales sharply. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
My lips quiver. “Then he…he gave Elena the gun and asked her to shoot me.”
“Fuck!” he mutters, pulling me in for a hug. I shut my eyes, recalling the feeling of his warmth against my chest.
“She hesitated but couldn’t do it and instead shot him in the arm. That was the fastest I ever ran in my life, Dominic. I pulled Elena’s hand and ran until we met your men.”
They took Elena to a doctor, while another man brought me to the mansion, where I met Matteo, who guided me to Dominic.
Father was a narcissist and I played him. Somehow thinking about Dominic and all the shit he was in gave me the strength to execute that plan.
“But everything I did, I did to get to you. I did for you,” I say, pulling back and making sure to meet his eyes. Not once did I think about myself. “And in my book, that’s love.”
His muscles grow taut as I steady a hand on his good shoulder. Silence eats up the space between us, and something nasty coils in my stomach. What if he doesn’t feel the same?
It looks like thoughts are spinning in his head until he says, “I’ve killed men for much less than what I thought you did. I’ve never hesitated… second-guessed the truth when it came to dealing with traitors, but I did for you. And in my book, Bella, that’s love.”
I smile faintly, my heart leaping with unfamiliar excitement.
“That AI video was fake,” he breathes.
I shake my head. “I know… Father told me.”
He says nothing, but I continue.
“We both offended each other, Dominic. I accused you wrongly, too. I’m sorry. I should have known it was AI, but I let myself get carried away by emotions, and I somehow…”
“Shh.” He smiles, placing a finger against my lips, then slowly trails it to catch the slow trembling of my lips. The way he’s staring at me, hot and intense, makes my knees quake. As if he knows, he jumps down. A strong arm wraps around my waist, lifting me and setting me down on the counter as he parts my thighs to stand between me.
He releases a breath, his jaw twitching as if he’s trying to restrain something. I reach out, settling both hands on his chest as I lightly graze his skin with my thumbs.
“I love you, Bella.” He leans in just enough for me to feel his breath brush my lips. And I can’t believe I finally hear, through his lips, those three words I’ve been starving to hear my whole life. “I love you in a way that terrifies me. In a way I don’t want to undo,” he admits.
It feels like the world stops, and it’s just him and me…existing in space. Heat floods my chest and I raise my hand to his cheek, my heart melting as he leans into it. “I love you, too, Dominic.”
The words barely leave my mouth when he leans in and catches my lips in his. Our mouths tangle in passionate promises, slow and hungry, as he releases something between a sigh and agrowl. I feel the tenderness in the kiss. I know this is him trying after so long to let someone in…to love someone.
I arch my back, heat spreading through my body when I feel his thumb brushing against my inner thigh. Everything about this moment feels different. I can feel all the nerves in my body jumping alive, and with each touch he graces against my skin, there’s an aching desire to have him buried inside me.
“Dominic,” I whimper, my palms slipping to his shoulder when I feel the gauze on my skin. I freeze, but he doesn’t pause; instead, he grabs my hand, redirecting it to grab his boner inside his pants.
“This is where your attention should be,” he groans in my ear. I fist his member and stroke once when a heavy knock sounds on the door. He ignores it and slips a hand under my blouse, fisting my breast in my bra.
The knock sounds again, and he pulls back with a frustrated grunt, walking briskly out of the bathroom. It takes a while, but he returns already clothed.
