24. Her Ruin
Chapter twenty-four
Her Ruin
I watch from the shadows as Aria speeds off, her bike tearing down the road, kicking up dust and leaving that lingering, desperate energy in her wake.
She came all this way demanding answers and practically begged to know why I’ve been showing up in her life, haunting her the way she’s always haunted me. I smirk, the thrill of seeing her unravel bleeding into every nerve in my body. She thinks she can get me out of her head, but she doesn’t understand yet—I’m not done. Not even close.
I step out of the dark as Luca and Matteo lean against the garage wall, their eyes following the trail of dust Aria left behind. Matteo spots me first, his grin widening as he takes another swig of his beer, clearly amused by the whole damn thing.
“You know, she was practically begging for it,” he says, chuckling as he nods toward the road she just tore down. “Asking all kinds of questions about where you are, what you’re doing. It’s almost cute, watching her think she’s in control.”
“Cute isn’t the word I’d use,” I mutter, shaking my head. Aria thinks she’s one step ahead, thinks she can just walk in here, demand answers, and be done with me.“But she’s hooked. That much is clear.”
Luca shakes his head, a faint grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I think she might actually hate you, Dom.”
“Yeah?” I say, shrugging, feeling that familiar spark of satisfaction coil in my chest. “Good. Hate’s a powerful thing. Gets under your skin, eats away at you until you can’t think straight.”
Matteo chuckles, setting his bottle down on the workbench. “I don’t know, man. She looked pretty close to losing her shit back there. Maybe you’re laying it on a little too thick?”
I shake my head, crossing my arms as I stare down the road she just sped off on. “Nah. Not thick enough. She’s fighting me every damn step of the way, holding on to that neat little life of hers like it’s some kind of lifeline. But I know her. I know what’s under all that.”
Luca raises an eyebrow, glancing at me with that cautious look he always gets when he thinks I’m going too far. “What’s your next move, then? You’ve got her on edge. She’s coming around, but if you’re not careful, she might just decide you’re not worth it.”
“Not worth it?” I scoff, a laugh slipping out. “She’s already obsessed, Luca. She wouldn’t be begging you guys for answers if she wasn’t losing her grip. She thinks she can forget me, that she can move on. But I’ll make her see the truth.”
Matteo leans back, his smirk widening. “So what’s the plan, genius? You’re gonna turn up the heat, make her really squirm?”
“Something like that,” I say, the beginnings of a plan forming in the back of my mind. I know exactly where to push, where to slip under her skin until I’m all she can think about, until there’s no Mason, no safe little life—just me.
Matteo grins, folding his arms across his chest. “Let me guess—you’re planning to remind her what it feels like to have her world turned upside down?”
I nod, a slow, calculating smile spreading across my face. “Exactly. She’s been hiding in this little bubble of normalcy and clinging to a guy who doesn’t know her, who couldn’t handle even a piece of what she’s got inside her. I’m going to strip all that away until the only thing she’s got left is me.”
Luca watches me carefully, his expression unreadable. “And what happens if she breaks, Dom? If she decides it’s too much, and she really does walk away?”
“She won’t,” I say. “She can’t. I know her better than she knows herself. She might fight it, might hate me for it, but deep down, she wants this. She just needs to remember that.”
Matteo lets out a low laugh, shaking his head. “Hell, I’d pay to see that. The way she looked at you in the beginning… she’s still got it bad, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.”
Luca sighs, rubbing a hand over his face, but he doesn’t argue. He knows me well enough to know I’m not going to back down, not when it comes to Aria. “Just don’t get sloppy. This kind of thing… it’s like fire. You play with it too long, and you might end up getting burned.”
I chuckle, shrugging off the warning. “I know what I’m doing. She’s already half mine, whether she wants to admit it or not. I’m just going to make sure she realizes it.”
Matteo raises his beer in a mock toast. “Well, here’s to your twisted love story, Dom. May it be as fucked up as you’ve planned.”
I clink my own beer against his, feeling the thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction of knowing I’ve got her exactly where I want her.