Chapter 9 - THE AFTERMATHThe sirens began to wail in the distance—real police sirens, mixed with the private security backup Dominic’s inner circle had finally managed to deploy. The room was chaotic, filled with the debris of a war zone, but inside our bubble, time had frozen.
I looked at the ivory envelope containing the divorce papers. They were still resting on the corner of the desk, untouched by the gunfire, pristine amidst the destruction.
I walked over, picked them up, and slowly, deliberately, tore them in half. Then in quarters. Then into a hundred tiny pieces, letting them flutter down like snow onto the blood-stained floor.
Dominic watched me, his breath hitching. "Sophia... what are you doing?"
"I came here tonight wanting to leave a man I thought was keeping me prisoner," I said softly, walking over to him and pressing my hands against his uninjured side to steady him. "Instead, I found out you spent six years carrying the weight of my past so I wouldn't have to feel the pain."
May you like
I reached for my handkerchief, pressing it gently against his bleeding shoulder to stem the flow. "We have a lot of ghosts to bury, Dominic. And we're going to do it together. But if you ever keep a secret like that from me again, I won't just ask for a divorce—I'll burn this entire empire to the ground myself."
A weak, genuine smile finally touched his lips. "Deal."
