Lahat ng Kabanata ng Once His Nightmare, Now His Employee : Kabanata 111 - Kabanata 120

DORIAN’s POVAs Caspian drove the car towards the Keene’s residence, I pressed my head slightly against the window.Tears clogged my eyes before I shut them. Then, I released a long, deep sigh before the tears came crashing out of my eyes.I didn’t make a sound. So the tears just fell. Silent and steady against my cheeks while the city moved past the window.Eloise’s voice kept coming back.Martins arranged it.I knew what he was planning and I said nothing.When your mother got sick, Martins said no and I said nothing again.I had always known the truth in the way you know things you can’t prove. A feeling that sits in your stomach for years, that you learn to live around. But hearing it said out loud, from her mouth, in that small room with the high window—it was different. Knowing a thing and hearing its confession are two entirely different wounds.My father didn’t just die.He was removed.And my mother. My mother, who spent her last months in a hospital bed asking me not to wor

Victoria had always hated police stations. The smell of them. The fluorescent lighting. The way everyone inside moved with that specific bureaucratic slowness that made her want to put her foot through something. She walked through the front entrance with her sunglasses on and her bag over her arm and the officer at the desk straightened up the moment he saw her.Good. He should.“I need to see my mother,” she said. “Five minutes. I’m her next of kin and I have a right to a brief family visit before I speak with the assigned attorney.”She said it the way she said most things. Like the answer was already decided and she was simply informing him of it.He checked his screen. Made a call. Kept her waiting four minutes, which was three minutes longer than she would have liked.Then he showed her through.She took her seat and patiently waited for her mother to be brought in. Then Eloise was brought in. Victoria looked away and asked the officer, “Can you excuse us for a few minutes?”

“Dorian,” Caspian yelled and pulled him back. He wrapped his arm protectively over his head. “Victoria, you’ve done enough. I’ll tell you just this once.” His eyes burned with indignation. “Drop. That. Gun. And. Surrender.”“Oh my dearest Caspian Vale.” She laughed. “The man I had wanted all my life, but refused to want or love me.”“I’ll never love you.” He barked.Then Victoria smiled. “Do you know what this moment reminds me of?” She asked.“I don’t need to have conversations with you. You aren’t worth anyone’s time.” He said.But she ignored him and continued to speak, as she gripped the safe tighter. “That day I wanted to shoot you at the cliff but Dorian took the bullet instead.” Her eyes traveled to meet the emotionally down Dorian. “Now, who will save you?”She smirked, aiming the gun at Caspian’s chest. Her hand gripped the gun tighter as she pressed down at the shooter.Caspian’s eyes widened as his breathing grew heavier. “Don’t.” He warned, his voice still stern.“I’ll nev

CASPIAN’s POV“We should let Caspian go in first,” Alexandra said, her voice calmer than it had been twenty minutes ago when we had both been holding that poor nurse’s shirt.Nobody argued.I stood up slowly and walked toward the door. Each step felt heavier than the last. Like my body understood what my mind was still trying to catch up with.If there was anyone to blame for the state Dorian was in right now, it was me. Victoria’s obsession had been burning for years and Dorian had walked right into the middle of it, twice now, because of me. Because he loved me. And I had let him.I pushed the door open.He was lying on the bed with a bandage wrapped over his chest, an IV line in his left arm, the slow steady beep of the monitor beside him filling the quiet room. His eyes were closed. His face was pale in a way that made something in my chest pull tight.The doctor had said the bullet passed through his chest and missed his heart by a small margin.

CASPIAN’s POV"It is manipulative garbage. Ryan Gosling deserved better. We deserved better." Ronan said."You cried at the end.""I had something in my eye!" He exclaimed. "Both eyes? And for twenty minutes?" She caught him, laughing.Ronan pointed his fork with renewed vigor. "She also thinks cold brew is superior to espresso. Cold brew. Which is just coffee that gave up on its dreams.""Espresso is just coffee with a superiority complex and a noise problem," Amara said sweetly. “At least cold brew doesn't sound like an angry cat having a medical emergency.”"How are you two even friends?" Alexandra asked, delighted."We're not," they said in unison, then grinned at each other with the easy affection of people who had clearly spent too much time together lately.Dorian found himself watching them more than participating, cataloging the small miracles of ordinary life. Caspian's hand on his thigh under the table, warm and grounding. The way Ronan stole bites from Amara's plate despi