Chapter Sixteen: When Secrets Start Breathing

The first thing I learned after crossing the line was this

forbidden desire doesn’t fade.

It evolves.

It sharpens its teeth.

It grows lungs.

It starts breathing down your neck when you least expect it.

By the time morning light crept into my apartment, pale and unforgiving, I already knew that what happened earlier wasn’t an ending.

It was a warning.

I stood by the window, arms wrapped around myself, watching the city wake up as if nothing had changed. Cars moved. People laughed. Life continued.

Mine didn’t.

Dominic’s past wasn’t just a shadow anymore it had weight. Shape. Consequences.

Alex’s concern had shifted into something darker, heavier.

And Ryan… Ryan was no longer pretending this was a game.

My phone buzzed.

Ryan.

You didn’t answer last night. That’s not like you.

I stared at the screen, my heart thudding. I hadn’t answered anyone after leaving my sister’s apartment. I had needed silence. Space. Time.

But time was no longer something I owned.

I typed back slowly.

I needed to think.

Three dots appeared immediately.

Then we need to talk.

I swallowed.

About what?

About why Dominic nearly broke a man’s wrist last night.

My breath caught.

I reread the message twice.

Then a third time.

Nearly broke a man’s wrist.

My fingers trembled as I typed.

What man?

The dots disappeared.

Then reappeared.

Come downstairs. Now.

Ryan was waiting by his car, jaw tight, posture tense. The teasing edge that usually clung to him like a second skin was gone.

That scared me more than his anger ever could.

He opened the passenger door without a word.

I slid in.

We drove in silence.

Finally, I whispered, “You’re not going to tell me?”

Ryan exhaled sharply. “You’re not going to like it.”

My stomach twisted. “Tell me anyway.”

He glanced at me, eyes dark. “Dominic wasn’t lying when he said he has enemies.”

My heart slammed into my ribs.

“Last night,” Ryan continued, “someone followed him. He noticed. They confronted each other behind the club.”

“Club?” I echoed weakly.

“You didn’t know?” He scoffed. “Of course you didn’t. Dominic doesn’t share unless he wants to.”

“What happened?” I asked.

Ryan’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “The guy made the mistake of mentioning you.”

The world tilted.

“He knew about me?”

“He knew enough,” Ryan said quietly. “And Dominic snapped.”

I closed my eyes.

I could see it Dominic’s cold restraint shattering, his control snapping like glass. He wasn’t reckless. He was precise. Dangerous.

And I was now part of that danger.

Alex called an hour later.

We were at Ryan’s apartment, tension thick enough to suffocate.

“I need to see you,” Alex said, voice low. “Both of you.”

Ryan muttered a curse. “This keeps getting better.”

We met Alex at his office.

The moment I stepped inside, I felt it the shift. This wasn’t concern anymore.

This was fear.

Alex shut the door and turned to me. “Mary… you’re not safe.”

The words landed hard.

“What do you mean?” I whispered.

“I mean,” he said carefully, “Dominic’s past is closer than he thought. And now that you’re involved”

“Involved?” Ryan snapped. “She didn’t ask for this.”

Alex shot him a sharp look. “Neither did Dominic.”

My head spun. “You both keep talking like I’m some… liability.”

Alex stepped closer, voice softening. “You’re not a liability. You’re the trigger.”

Silence.

Ryan stared at him. “What the hell does that mean?”

Alex didn’t look away from me. “It means whoever is watching Dominic will use you to get to him.”

Cold spread through my veins.

“And you?” I asked quietly. “Where do you fit into this?”

Alex’s jaw clenched. “That’s the problem.”

Dominic didn’t answer my calls.

Not once.

Not when I texted.

Not when I left a voicemail.

The silence from him felt heavier than any argument.

That night, I lay awake replaying every moment his warnings, his intensity, the way he looked at me like I was already claimed.

A knock came at 2:17 a.m.

I froze.

Another knock.

Slow. Deliberate.

I didn’t need to ask who it was.

I opened the door.

Dominic stood there, eyes dark, jacket dusted with rain, knuckles bruised.

My heart broke and raced at the same time.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I whispered.

“I know,” he said. “But I needed to see you.”

“Why didn’t you answer me?”

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Because if I heard your voice earlier, I would’ve done something worse.”

I swallowed. “Ryan told me what happened.”

Dominic’s expression hardened. “Then you know why this can’t continue.”

My chest tightened. “Is that what you came to say?”

“No,” he said quietly. “I came to say goodbye.”

The word sliced through me.

“Goodbye?” I echoed.

“For now,” he corrected. “Until I deal with this.”

“And if you don’t?” I whispered.

Dominic cupped my face, his touch reverent. “Then you need to forget I ever existed.”

Tears burned my eyes. “I don’t know how.”

He leaned his forehead against mine. “Neither do I.”

When Dominic left, the apartment felt hollow.

And I knew deep in my bones that this separation wouldn’t last.

Because secrets don’t stay buried.

They breathe.

They crawl back.

And when they do, they drag everyone down with them.

Dominic’s goodbye didn’t feel like an ending.

It felt like a lie we were both telling ourselves.

The door had barely clicked shut behind him before the silence began to scream. I stood there for a long moment, my hand still hovering where his chest had been, my fingers tingling as if he’d burned his presence into me.

Forget I ever existed.

As if that were possible.

I slid down against the door, knees giving out, breath coming in shallow pulls. My heart felt too big for my chest, heavy with things I wasn’t allowed to say, feelings I wasn’t allowed to have.

This was no longer about desire.

It was about danger.

And the worst part?

I was already in too deep.

I didn’t sleep.

Every sound outside my apartment made my pulse spike. Every passing car felt like a threat. Dominic’s words replayed over and over in my head, layered with Ryan’s warning and Alex’s fear.

By morning, exhaustion sat heavy on my shoulders, but there was no escaping reality.

Reality knocked.

Literally.

“Mary.”

Alex’s voice.

I opened the door to find him standing there, tie loosened, eyes sharp and scanning the hallway behind me before stepping inside.

“You shouldn’t be alone today,” he said quietly.

My throat tightened. “Dominic told me to forget him.”

Alex’s expression hardened. “That’s his way of protecting you.”

“By disappearing?” I asked bitterly.

“By putting distance between you and what’s coming.”

That sent a chill through me. “What is coming, Alex?”

He hesitated and that hesitation told me everything.

“Something that doesn’t forgive,” he finally said. “And doesn’t miss twice.”

Ryan arrived shortly after, tension rolling off him like static.

“This is getting out of hand,” he said the moment he stepped in. “Dominic leaving doesn’t fix anything. It just makes you vulnerable.”

I folded my arms. “So what’s your solution?”

Ryan looked at Alex. Alex looked back.

That silence scared me more than anything they’d said so far.

“What?” I demanded. “Say it.”

Alex exhaled. “You stay somewhere else. Somewhere controlled.”

My heart skipped. “No.”

Ryan stepped closer. “You don’t get to say no right now.”

I glared at him. “Don’t talk to me like I’m helpless.”

“I’m not,” he shot back. “I’m talking to you like someone I care about.”

The words hung heavy between us.

Alex cleared his throat. “You’ll stay at my place. It’s secure. Private. And no one connects you to me.”

I stared at him. “You think that makes this better?”

“I think it keeps you breathing.”

I packed a bag in silence.

Every item I folded felt like surrender. Like admitting that my life was no longer mine to control.

Ryan leaned against the doorframe while I packed. “You hate this.”

“Yes.”

“Good,” he said softly. “Means you’re still you.”

I paused. “Ryan… if something happens to Dominic”

He cut me off. “Nothing’s going to happen to him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No,” he admitted. “But I know this he didn’t walk away because he was afraid. He walked away because he cares.”

That hurt more than I expected.

Alex’s house felt different at night.

Too quiet. Too intimate.

He showed me to the guest room, careful not to touch me, not even by accident. The restraint in him was almost painful to witness.

“You’ll be safe here,” he said. “I promise.”

I nodded. “Alex… why are you really doing this?”

He met my gaze. “Because I failed once before.”

My breath caught. “Failed who?”

His jaw tightened. “Someone I loved.”

That was all he said.

And it was enough.

I was lying in bed when my phone buzzed.

Unknown Number.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

I answered, breath shallow. “Hello?”

Silence.

Then a voice distorted, low.

“You don’t belong to him.”

My blood turned to ice. “Who is this?”

A quiet chuckle. “Tell Dominic hiding won’t save him.”

The call ended.

I stared at the phone, hands shaking violently.

The danger had found me.

I didn’t scream.

I didn’t cry.

I got up and walked straight to Alex’s room.

He was awake instantly when I knocked.

“What is it?”

I handed him my phone with shaking hands. “They know.”

His face darkened as he read the call log.

Ryan appeared behind him seconds later. “What happened?”

“They contacted her,” Alex said grimly.

Ryan swore under his breath. “Then this just became a war.”

My phone buzzed again.

This time a message.

Tell Dominic he can’t protect what’s already marked.

I felt myself shaking as Alex pulled me into his arms firm, protective, grounding.

Ryan stood guard at the door, eyes blazing.

And somewhere out there, Dominic was fighting battles I didn’t fully understand because of me.

Because I had crossed a line.

And now…

The forbidden wasn’t just desire anymore.

It was survival.