Lucien freezes.
His head turns slightly from the force of the slap.
“You fucking used me,” I say, my voice breaking.
The words tear out of my chest before I can stop them.
“You used me,” I repeat, shaking now.
My hands tremble as I look at him. All the memories from these past few days crash into my mind. The way he looked at me like I was the only person in the room.
“You knew exactly who I was,” I whisper. Tears stream down my face. “You watched me fall in love with you… knowing the whole time that I was just part of your fucking revenge.”
My chest hurts painfully. “You let me believe it was real.” My voice cracks as I look straight into his eyes. “You looked at me every day knowing the truth… and you still let me fall for you.” The words leave my mouth and something inside me finally breaks.
I can’t stand there anymore, I turn and run.
The gravel crunches under my shoes as I rush toward the dark line of trees beside the road. Tears blur my vision, the cold air burning in my lungs as I push deeper into the woods.
Behind me I hear Lucien’s voice.
“Sera, please—”
But the sentence never finishes.
A heavy thud echoes across the road.
I hear Dominic’s fist connect with something. Lucien stumbles back a step as Dominic’s punch lands hard across his jaw.
“That’s for coming near my wife,” Dominic snarls, his voice full of fury.
Lucien wipes the blood from his lip, his eyes burning with anger.
Dominic steps closer, towering over him now.
“I don’t ever want to see you near my wife again, Lucien,” he says through clenched teeth. His voice drops into something colder. “Or I’ll fucking kill you.”
For a second the two men stand there, breathing hard under the harsh glare of the headlights. Then Dominic turns, he runs toward the woods after me. Lucien wipes the blood from his lip with the back of his hand. His eyes follow Dominic as he starts toward the woods after me. Then Lucien lets out a sharp, bitter laugh.
“Oh we know, Dominic,” he calls out.
Dominic stops.
Slowly.
He turns back around.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” His voice carries across the road, tight with anger and confusion.
I stop in my tracks too, my feet frozen on the gravel. Lucien takes a step forward, his voice cutting through the night.
“We know you had a hand in what happened to her.”
The words hang there like a loaded gun.
Dominic’s face tightens.
“What?”
