Chapter Twenty: The Truth That Was Never Meant for Me

Dominic’s words followed me long after he left.

Selene wasn’t the beginning. She was the aftermath.

I lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling, my mind replaying everything I thought I understood and finding cracks everywhere. The past I didn’t know existed had teeth now, and it was circling.

Morning came without mercy.

Ryan was already in the kitchen when I woke, leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee he hadn’t touched. He looked tired in a way sleep couldn’t fix.

“You didn’t sleep,” he said.

“Neither did you.”

He huffed a quiet laugh. “Fair.”

I hesitated, then asked the question that had been clawing at me all night. “What did Dominic mean yesterday?”

Ryan’s jaw tightened. “He meant you were never as far from us as you thought.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“No,” he agreed. “It’s a warning.”

Alex arrived an hour later, suit crisp, expression unreadable. He looked between Ryan and me, then shut the door behind him.

“We don’t have much time,” he said. “Selene’s people are already making noise.”

My chest tightened. “She’s in custody.”

“She has influence,” Alex replied calmly. “And a long memory.”

I folded my arms. “So start talking. All of you.”

Silence stretched.

Then Alex nodded toward Ryan. “You should tell her.”

Ryan looked at me, something heavy and conflicted in his eyes. “This isn’t just Dominic’s story,” he said. “It’s ours.”

They told me everything.

Not all at once the truth didn’t come that way. It unfolded in fragments, layered and painful.

They met years ago, long before I was old enough to understand the world the way I did now. Dominic was already dangerous then not violent, but powerful in the way men become when they know how systems work and how easily people break.

Alex was law, order, responsibility.

Ryan was chaos barely leashed.

And Selene?

She was obsession disguised as devotion.

“She attached herself to Dominic,” Ryan said. “And when he didn’t return it… she burned everything around him.”

Including them.

“She framed Alex,” Dominic said quietly when he joined us, leaning against the doorway like he’d been standing there longer than I’d known. “Nearly ended his career.”

Alex didn’t deny it.

“She nearly got Ryan killed,” Dominic continued. “And when I tried to stop her… she promised I’d lose everyone I cared about.”

My throat tightened. “And now that’s me.”

Dominic met my gaze. “Yes.”

Anger surged through me, sharp and unfiltered. “You let me walk into this blind.”

“I tried to keep you out of it,” he said. “You weren’t supposed to matter.”

The words hurt more than I expected.

Ryan stepped in. “That came out wrong.”

“No,” I said quietly. “It came out honest.”

I stood, pacing the room, my thoughts racing. “So what now? We wait for her to strike again?”

Alex shook his head. “No. We take control.”

“How?”

“By removing what she wants most,” Dominic said.

I turned to him. “You?”

“No,” he replied. “You.”

The plan was dangerous. I knew that immediately.

We wouldn’t hide anymore. We wouldn’t run. We would bait Selene into making a mistake she couldn’t recover from.

“You’re asking me to be bait,” I said flatly.

“We’re asking you to be brave,” Ryan corrected.

I laughed bitterly. “That’s a nice way of saying expendable.”

Dominic crossed the room in two strides. “You are the opposite of expendable. That’s why this terrifies me.”

I searched his face. “Then why agree to it?”

“Because she’ll never stop until she believes she’s won,” he said. “And the only thing she wants more than revenge… is possession.”

Silence settled again.

Finally, I nodded. “Tell me what to do.”

The meeting place was a gallery opening downtown public, crowded, impossible to shut down quietly. Selene loved spectacle. She wouldn’t resist.

Alex ensured security was present without being obvious. Ryan stayed close enough to intervene. Dominic… Dominic stayed out of sight.

I hated that part.

The dress I wore felt like armor and exposure all at once. Every step into the gallery felt like stepping closer to a blade.

Then I felt it.

Her presence.

“You look radiant,” Selene’s voice purred behind me.

I turned slowly.

She smiled like we were old friends. “He still has terrible taste in women.”

I swallowed my fear. “You hurt my sister.”

“She was leverage,” Selene replied lightly. “You’re the prize.”

I leaned closer, lowering my voice. “You’re losing.”

Her smile sharpened. “Am I?”

She glanced around the room, then back at me. “You think they’ll choose you in the end?”

My heart hammered. “I know they already have.”

Her eyes flickered just for a second.

Victory.

The confrontation exploded minutes later.

Words became weapons. Secrets spilled too fast to contain. Selene accused. Dominic emerged. Alex intervened. Ryan restrained.

The gallery erupted into chaos.

And in the middle of it all, Selene leaned close to me and whispered something that froze my blood.

“You’re already carrying the consequences of loving him.”

My breath caught. “What are you talking about?”

She smiled.

Then collapsed as officers closed in.

Hours later, alone in my apartment, my hands trembling, I stared at the pregnancy test in front of me.

Positive.

The world tilted.

This wasn’t just about forbidden desire anymore.

This was about legacy.

Bloodlines.

And a future no one had planned for.