8. Dominik
CHAPTER 8
DOMINIK
“ T ell me a dark secret.”
I want to tell them about her but I can’t.
Turn it off.
Turn it off.
Turn.
It.
All.
Off.
Bury everything in the past where it belongs.
You have to let her go.
All those moments I walked away from her, I chose Aaron. When I left her behind in Boston, I chose my best friend. It was a decision that broke my heart but I made it and have continued to stand by it. I’m here in New York, living with my best friend, in my dream career. I need to force this obsession out of me.
I have to try.
Tonight I need to sever the ties that still bind me to Zoe. I need to burn that bridge—scorch it beyond recognition—so there's no way back. It's the only way to protect the life I've chosen, the life I've built.
It’s the only way to protect her and keep my promise.
The thought of it fills me with rage because I know the only person that could protect her is me.
My hands clench into fists, my breath quickens, and the red-hot fury continues to blaze inside my veins. Zoe’s memory is a fire I need to extinguish, but it refuses to go quietly. It's a fire that ignites every time I think of her, every time I dream of her, every second of every day. Disintegrating my resolve and making me question everything.
I can’t let it.
Not anymore.
I have to try.
Tonight will be the beginning of the end of us. Because there has never been an us. As far as she knows, I was never at the masquerade ball.
We never had that night.
Everything has always been in my head, and it needs to stop.
I need to stop.
Goodbye little butterfly.
For now.