CHAPTER 22 #2
The insult hangs in the air, Lucien’s eyes darken instantly. Something inside him snaps.
“You don’t get to talk about her like that,” Lucien says, his voice low and shaking with anger.
Dominic scoffs.
“Oh I don’t?”
“No,” Lucien snaps, stepping forward now. “You don’t.” His voice rises, years of buried rage finally breaking through. “You think you were some kind of hero?” Lucien continues. “You think you saved her?” His eyes burn into Dominic. “You were with my wife!”
The words hit like a gunshot.
Lucien’s chest rises and falls heavily. “You want to call me a coward?” he says, his voice rough. “At least I love yours.” Dominic’s expression twists with fury. Lucien steps closer. “And you—” His voice drops into something darker. “You just fucked mines.”
Dominic lets out a sharp, bitter laugh. “Fucked?” he repeats, shaking his head slowly. He looks at Lucien like the word itself is an insult. “I’m not like you, Lucien,” he says, his voice dripping with contempt. “I’m not some selfish piece of shit who destroys everything around him.”
Lucien’s jaw tightens, but Dominic keeps going.
“The only mistake I made,” Dominic continues, “was being kind to someone who was hurting.” His voice rises with anger. “She kissed me,” he says firmly. “Not the other way around.”
The wind cuts through the road as his words settle between us. “And you know what I told her?” Dominic adds. His eyes flick briefly toward me, then back to Lucien. “I told her I loved my wife.”
The words hit me like a sudden jolt.
“She stopped talking to me after that,” Dominic continues. “Didn’t call, didn’t text, didn’t even look at me when we passed each other at the hospital.”
Lucien doesn’t respond. His silence feels heavier now.
Dominic scoffs.“But you already knew that, didn’t you?” His voice turns colder. “Evelyn told you everything.”
Lucien’s expression flickers for the first time.
“You knew the truth,” Dominic says, his voice sharpening with every word. “You just didn’t want to hear it.”
He steps closer.
“You’d rather blame someone else than look at the mess you made yourself.” Dominic’s voice drops, thick with anger. “You’d rather stay angry at me than admit that you’re the one who abandoned her when she needed you most.”
The words barely settle in the air before something in Lucien breaks. He moves past me so fast I barely have time to react.
One second he’s standing behind me—
The next he’s lunging forward. His fist crashes into Dominic’s face.
The sound is brutal. A dull crack that echoes across the empty road.
Dominic’s head snaps to the side from the force of it, his body staggering back a step before he catches himself against the front of his car.
For a moment the world feels frozen. Lucien’s chest is rising and falling hard, his fist still clenched, years of rage burning in his eyes.
Dominic slowly turns his head back. A thin line of blood runs from the corner of his mouth.
But he doesn’t swing back, he just looks at Lucien. Disgustedly, like the man in front of him is exactly what he expected. Lucien takes another step forward, ready to swing again—
“Stop!”
I move between them.
Before Lucien can throw another punch, my hand cracks across his face, the sound is sharp in the quiet night.
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?”
Lucien’s jaw flexes.
“You killed her, didn’t you?” The accusation lands hard in the quiet road. “You’re exactly the kind of man who would do something like that.”
For a second Dominic just stares at him.
Then, he laughs.
Not amused, not friendly but a sharp, incredulous laugh like the words are too ridiculous to even take seriously.
“You’re out of your fucking mind.” His eyes flick toward me for half a second before landing back on Lucien. “I did not touch Sophie.” His voice is cold and firm now. “And I sure as hell didn’t kill her.”
Lucien scoffs.
“Oh really?”
“Yes,” Dominic snaps. “I didn’t lay a hand on her.” His jaw clenches. “You want to throw accusations around because it fits whatever story you’ve built in your head? Fine.” He gestures toward the woods where I had run. “But don’t stand here acting like you know what happened.”
His voice lowers, deadly serious. “Because you don’t.”
The wind rustles through the trees around us.
And for the first time since this started, I realize something terrifying.
No one actually knows the truth.