14. Dominic
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Dominic
She stays in the office for two hours.
I don’t bother her. Don’t knock on the door or try to explain or beg for forgiveness. I just sit on the couch, staring at nothing, and wait.
This is what I was afraid of. This is why I didn’t tell her.
But even as I think it, I know I was wrong. She deserved the truth. She deserved to make an informed choice about who she let into her life, her bed, her heart.
Instead, I chose for her.
I’m exactly the kind of man I swore I’d never become.
When Sophie finally emerges, her eyes are red and her face is pale, but her expression is steady. Determined.
My heart clenches with fear.
“I have questions,” she says. “And you’re going to answer them. All of them. No lies, no evasions, no protecting me from hard truths.”
“Anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me who you were from the beginning?”
“I was afraid.” The words taste like confession. “Afraid you’d think I was part of Caleb’s world. Afraid you’d see his face when you looked at mine. Afraid I’d lose any chance of getting close to you.”
“Getting close to me.” She crosses her arms. “Was that always the plan? Get close to Caleb’s wife to - what? Get revenge?”
“No.” I stand, need to move, need her to see my face when I say this. “Sophie, I had no plan. I didn’t even know you existed until you moved into this building. I was as surprised as anyone when my brother’s wife showed up in the apartment upstairs.”
“So it was just coincidence?”
“Yes.” I laugh hollowly. “The universe has a sick sense of humor.”
She considers this. I can see her turning it over, testing it for lies.
“What about that night?” she asks. “When Caleb tried to hit me. Were you following him? Tracking him?”
“I heard the commotion and came to investigate. That’s all.”
“And after? The groceries, the baby supplies, all of it - was that guilt?”
“No.” I step toward her, and she holds her ground. A small mercy. “That was… I don’t know what it was. I just knew you needed help. And I wanted to be the one to give it.”
“Why?”
“Because you looked at me like I was worth something.” The admission rips out of me, raw and honest. “Because your daughter stopped crying in my arms. Because every time I saw you, I felt something I haven’t felt in fifteen years.”
“What?”
“Like I wasn’t alone anymore.”
Her expression wavers. I see the ice crack, just a little.
“You still lied to me,” she says. “You still let me trust you without knowing the whole truth.”
“I know.”
“You let me fall for you without-” She stops, catches herself.
“Without what?”
Her chin lifts. “Without knowing you were capable of the same kind of deception Caleb used.”
The words hit like a physical blow.
“I’m not like him.” My voice comes out rough, desperate. “Sophie, please. I know I made mistakes. I know I should have told you. But I’m not Caleb. I would never hurt you. I would never-”
“How do I know that?” Tears are streaming down her face now. “How do I know you’re not just better at hiding it?”
“Because I love you.”
The words land between us like a bomb.
Sophie’s mouth opens. Closes. Opens again.
“You love me?”
“I love you.” Now that I’ve said it, I can’t stop.
“I love your stubbornness and your strength and the way you fight for your daughter. I love that you threatened to break Andrea’s hand.
I love that you kissed me first even though you had every reason not to.
I love everything about you, Sophie, and I know I don’t deserve you, but-”
She crosses the distance between us and kisses me.
It’s hard and desperate and tastes like tears, and I kiss her back with everything I have. My hands find her waist, pull her closer, and she lets me, melts against me like she’s been fighting gravity this whole time and finally gave up.
“I hate you,” she says against my mouth.
“I know.”
“I’m so angry.”
“I know.”
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I know.”
“But I-” She pulls back, looks at me with those green eyes that have haunted me since the first night. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to run again. I’m so tired of running.”
“Then stay.” I cup her face in my hands. “Stay and yell at me. Stay and make me earn back your trust. Stay and let me prove that I’m not him. Please, Sophie. Just stay.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. I can feel my heart beating in my throat, can feel everything I’ve built hanging in the balance.
“One chance,” she finally says. “You get one chance to make this right.”
“I’ll take it.”
“If you lie to me again - about anything - I’m gone. For good.”
“I won’t.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.” I press my forehead to hers. “No more secrets. No more lies. Just us.”
She closes her eyes. I watch her breathe, watch her decide, watch her choose to trust me one more time.
“Okay,” she whispers.
“Okay?”
“Okay, I’m staying.” She opens her eyes, and there’s still anger there, still hurt. But there’s something else, too. Something that looks like hope. “But you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”
“Fair.”
“And you’re cooking dinner.”
“Also fair.”
“And you’re telling me everything. From the beginning. All of it.”
I nod. “All of it.”
She steps back, puts distance between us, but her hand lingers in mine.
“I love you too,” she says quietly. “That’s the only reason I’m still here.”
Then she walks away, toward the bedroom, toward Anna, toward the life we’re trying to build.
And I stand in the middle of my living room and let myself breathe.
One chance.
I’m not going to waste it.