Chapter 28 DOMINIC
DOMINIC
It was past five in the goddamn morning when I finally got rid of Alec and made my way to Athena’s room.
Sleep wasn’t even a fucking option at this point.
My body was running on fumes, my patience buried six feet under, and my mind spinning with too many moving pieces.
But there was one thing—one person—who could quiet the chaos.
Athena King. The only thing I’ve ever let get under my skin and stay there, and tonight, all I wanted was to bury myself inside her sweet little cunt and forget for just a few hours who the fuck I am, what I’ve done, or what I still have to do.
She was my temporary fix. The only thing that silenced the demons for a while.
Having her wasn’t just a mistake. It was my fucking downfall. I knew the rules—my rules—and I still broke every one of them for her. Not once or twice. Every single time I looked at her, I jumped headfirst over the goddamn line I drew myself.
I used to think I’d seen it all, felt it all. Sex was a tool, nothing more, a release. A way to unload after a long day. Women wanted to fuck the infamous Dominic Stone, and I was happy to let them—as long as their legs were open and their mouths stayed shut.
But Athena changed that. Sex with her wasn’t just physical; it took something from me. It rewired me from the inside out. When I was inside her, I wasn’t in control—she was.
She was everything I never knew I needed, and now I couldn’t fucking stop.
I wanted to see her come undone again, to see that blessed-out look on her face as I made her fall apart under me.
Over and over again. I wanted her lips swollen from my kisses, her thighs shaking from everything I’d give her.
That’s why I pulled the guards from her wing tonight. Selfish? Absolutely.
But I didn’t want a single bastard within earshot when she screamed my name.
I wasn’t in the mood to share even the echo of her pleasure.
As I reached her hallway, I loosened my tie and yanked it off, letting it fall somewhere behind me.
My shirt was half-open already, fingers twitching at the thought of tearing every scrap of fabric from her body, of making her beg beneath me.
Fucking Alec. Wasting my time with problems that could’ve waited. I was going to punch him square in the face the next time I saw him.
When I reached her door and turned the handle, something flickered in me. It was unlocked. She left it open for me. A slow, dark grin crept across my face.
I pushed the door open, but stopped cold.
The room was empty. Sheets untouched, and her warmth was gone. At first, I stood there like an idiot—like I’d walked into the wrong room then my stomach twisted, rage rising like bile in my throat.
No. No fucking way.
I stormed into the bathroom and kicked the door open.
Empty. The closet—empty. My pulse roared in my ears, my jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack.
Panic filled my chest, flooding my limbs with fire.
I snatched my phone and hit Alec’s number.
He answered on the first ring, his voice half-laughing, music pounding in the background.
“What?”
“She’s not in her room.” My voice was low, calm. The kind of calm that meant something violent was coming. “Get your ass here now and wake the others.”
Silence. Then Alec’s voice dropped. “I’m on my way.”
The line went dead. I turned and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind me. My brain wasn’t functioning properly, thoughts crashing into each other like speeding cars.
What if someone took her? What if one of my men—
The thought made me see red. If anyone touched her, if even one of those pricks so much as breathed wrong in her direction, I’d cut off their fucking hands and feed them their own teeth until they bled out.
I stormed into my room. I was going to arm every man and turn this city upside down until I found her.
But then—something caught my eye. A small white slip of paper on my desk, right in the center. I crossed the room in two steps, snatching it up.
Thin. Crisp. Clean. Like it had been placed there intentionally. I unfolded it, and the second I read the words, something inside me snapped.
“How does it feel to have something stolen from you, Mr. Stone?
Just like you stole more from me more than you’ll ever know.
It’s sour, isn’t it?
Get used to being defeated.”
My eyes burned holes through the page. I read it again and again and again until my vision blurred and my hands shook.
Someone took her. Someone stole Athena from me.
The calm was shattered. My fist closed around the paper, crumpling it. My other hand grabbed my phone and launched it across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces, the way my control did the second I read those words.
This wasn’t rage. It wasn’t even fury.
This was something deeper. Something darker. Someone just blew up everything I’ve worked for—everything. My plans. My leverage. My control.
They just made the biggest fucking mistake of their life, because I don’t forgive, I don’t fucking forget, and I never fucking lose.