Chapter 110

Dominic POV

She was waiting for him in the foyer when he stepped out of the meeting room, sitting primly in a carved wooden chair with her hands folded tight in her lap.

Aurora looked like she was trying to shrink into the ornate chair beneath her, like if she somehow was small enough, the weight of the world would stop from pressing down around her.

It wasn’t at all a look that belonged to her.

Not now.

Not ever.

“Aurora,” he spoke quietly.

Her head jerked up at the sound of his voice, her lips twitching into a faint smile that felt too practiced to be real. It reminded him of when they first met at the dinner when she had been engaged to his father.

A picture perfect image of the eldest daughter sent to the slaughter.

“Hey.”

“You’re ready to go?” he asked.

She nodded, pushing up from her chair. “Yeah.”

Her voice was soft and weary, telling him all he needed to know about how the conversation with Gianna went. This was not at all the determined girl who’d begged him for this visit hours ago, this was a woman broken by what he knew had been coming the moment she asked to accompany him earlier this morning.

It broke his heart to see.

He extended a hand to her, waiting for for her to take it. She did so without hesitation.

“Let’s go,” he said.

The car ride was quiet as they made their way back to his penthouse. It was late in the afternoon, the sun cresting overhead and casting the city in a warm glow. The reflection of it flashed across her face as she stared out the window, her cheek resting on her hand.

Dominic watches her out of the corner of his eyes. The set of her mouth, the faint crease between her brows. It all pointed in one direction: the conversation hadn’t gone well at all.

“What happened?” he asked finally.

Aurora stiffened. “I, uh… didn’t get a chance to talk to her.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Aurora exhaled immediately, twisting her hands in her lap. “I… I found Camilla first. She wasn’t happy to see me, to say the least.”

Dominic’s mouth tugged down into a frown. He’d forgotten to factor her step-sister making a sudden appearance into the equation. A misstep on his part and one that could’ve cost her. Thankfully, her father had been locked away in the war room with him, forced to discuss action plans now that both Aurora and Gianna had been returned.

“She said some things to me that were… well, typical Camilla. She tried to take my ring when she saw it. We got into a scuffle that Gianna eventually broke up.”

His jaw tightens. “She tried to take your ring?”

“It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Aurora.”

Her shoulders stiffened ever more. “She’s just upset because she thought she had a chance with you… Camilla, I mean. It’s complicated. She had this impression after she gave me the documents for Mexico that you would be up for grabs.”

Documents?

Well, that explained how they got their hands on fake passports and papers.

He’d have to look into Camilla’s connections and who the hell she knew well enough that could get her faux documentation and quickly. That was someone that needed to be monitored.

“It’s not complicated,” he replied flatly. “If she’s jealous, petty, and stupid enough to lay a hand on you, then she needs to go.”

Aurora flinched at the sharpness in his tone. “No, please don’t. It’ll start more trouble than it’s worth messing with Camilla. She’s my father’s favorite. There’s already enough on your plate dealing with him and my family right now. Don’t add to it.”

“And Gianna?” he asks after a beat.

Aurora’s hands twisted in her lap once again. “After she broke it up, she told me to go home.”

“She told you to go home,” he repeated flatly.

Well, he supposed that was better than hitting her again.

Her shoulders hunched as if she was bracing for a lecture.

He didn’t give her one.

Not yet, at least.

Dominic didn’t respond right away. Instead, his hands curled tight around the steering wheel, imagining it at Gianna’s neck. “You are never going back there to talk to her without me present for the conversation. Understood?”

She sighed, her gaze dropping to her lap. “Understood…”

Dominic studied her profile.

He was surprised that this time around, she didn’t argue or push back at his decision to essentially ban her from her childhood home. Simply accepting his terms with the same quiet resignation that had bled out of her since he met her many months ago felt… strangely unsettling.

He wanted her to argue. To push back and tell him to go to hell while she declared she’d do whatever she damn well pleased.

She refused to and that told him more than anything what was going on in her head. It made him want to burn the entire estate to the ground with everyone in it too.

He hated this. Hated that after everything Aurora sacrificed, putting herself through hell to keep Gianna safe, that same girl could now look at her and treat her like a stranger.

He wanted to fix it for her. In a perfect world, one word to Gianna would be enough to get her to come around and soften back up to Aurora again.

In reality, he wasn’t naïve enough to believe it would work. If anything, it would only make Gianna dig her heels in harder. She’d see him as the manipulative devil whispering in Aurora’s ear that she always had.

By the time they reached the penthouse, the tension in the car felt like a boulder resting on his shoulders.

The elevator ride up to his penthouse was silent. As soon as the doors opened though, Dominic scooped her up in his arms without a second thought.

“Dominic?”

“You’ve done enough for one day,” he told her, carrying her across the hall and into their shared space.

Her arms wound around his neck, her face pressing into his shoulder while she relaxed into him. He set her down gently on the couch, his thumb brushing her cheek as he crouched in front of her.

“Stay here. I’ll make us something.”

Fifteen minutes later, he returned with a tray of her favorite tea, a small plate of fruit and a few delicate pastries he’d picked up just yesterday for breakfast.

She smiled slightly at the spread, reaching for the tea first. “This looks amazing. Thank you.”

They spent the rest of the evening curled up together on the couch, his arm draped over her shoulders and her head resting against his chest. While watching a movie together that he was barely paying attention to long enough to retain the character’s names, he murmured soft words against her hair.

Her fingers idly traced patterns over his chest, a soft sigh leaving her as the climax of the movie progressed.

He wasn’t good at this: the comforting, soft words that would help her feel better. All he could offer her was his presence, his warmth, his silent promise that he’d shield her from anymore bullshit that threatened to come her way.

Once the movie was over and the credits rolled, he picked her up and carried her to bed. They laid together in the dark, his hand tangled in her hair and her body curled into his.

For the first time all night, her breathing slowly softened until it evened out into slow, gentle pulls out.

He watched her sleep for hours.

If anyone—Gianna, Camilla, or god forbid, Alek—tried to come between them now, there wouldn’t be a second chance.

They would soon meet their untimely demise and he’d smile while being the executioner on the other side of the blade.