Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 111 - Chapitre 120

DominicThe restaurant Adrian chose is expensive. The kind of place with white tablecloths and waiters who move silently between tables. The kind I used to take clients to when I had money.Now I’m sitting across from the man who bought my company, wearing jeans and a shirt I’ve worn three days in a row because I don’t have anything else.Adrian is already seated when I arrive. He looks like he always does. Perfectly tailored suit. Hair combed back. Watch that probably costs more than most people make in a year.He stands when he sees me. Extends his hand.I shake it. The gesture feels strange. Last time we saw each other, he was taking the last forty percent of my company. Now we’re shaking hands like business associates.“Dominic. Thank you for coming.”“You paid for my flight and for my hotel room. The least I can do is show up.”We sit. A waiter appears immediately. Takes our drink orders and disappears.“You look tired,” Adrian says.“I am tired. It’s been a long few weeks.”“I i

SeraphinaDominic looks around quickly. The street is quiet but not empty. A few parked cars line the curb and street lights cast pools of yellow light over the pavement. The moon is bright above us.He takes my hand and pulls me between two parked cars where the shadows are deeper. He presses me back against the hood of a dark sedan.The metal is cold even through my jacket. I gasp at the temperature but he’s already kissing me again and I forget about the cold.“Someone could see,” I say even as I’m wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer.“Let them see.” He reaches down and grabs the hem of my skirt. Bunches it up around my waist to expose my legs to the cold night air. “Let them see that you’re mine.”His fingers find the edge of my underwear and he hooks them inside the fabric. He pulls them down roughly and I have to lift my hips so he can get them all the way off. He stuffs them in his pocket.I’m bare from the waist down now. Exposed to the night and to

DominicI wake up with Seraphina curled into my side and her breath warm against my chest. Morning light filters through the hotel curtains and I realize this is the last morning we wake up uncertain about our future.Today changes everything.I reach for my phone on the nightstand and check the time. Eight thirty. Adrian will be awake by now.Seraphina stirs beside me and opens her eyes. “Is it time?” she asks quietly.“It’s time.”She sits up and the sheet falls away from her bare shoulders. “Are you nervous?”“Terrified. But in a good way.” I pull up Adrian’s contact on my phone. “This is the right choice.”“I know it is.”I hit call and put the phone to my ear. It rings twice before Adrian answers.“Dominic. I was wondering if I’d hear from you this morning.”“I’ve talked to Seraphina. We’ve made our decision.” I take a breath. “We’re accepting your offer.”Silence on the other end for a moment. Then: “Good. I’ll make the calls today. Volkov will be handled by tonight.

Seraphina (Seven Years Later) The afternoon sun is warm on my back as I kneel in the garden pulling weeds from around the tomato plants. The soil is rich and dark under my fingers and I can already see tiny green tomatoes forming on the vines. For seven years I’ve been tending this garden. Seven years of planting and harvesting and watching things grow in the yard of the small house that belonged to Dominic’s grandmother. It’s peaceful here. Quiet. Safe. Everything I needed after the world fell apart. “Mum! Mum, look what Uncle Kael made for us!” I turn to see my son running across the yard with a bright red balloon shaped like an airplane bobbing above his head. Behind him, my daughter follows with a blue balloon shaped like a bicycle. Dominic Junior is seven now. He has his father’s eyes and his father’s smile and every time I look at him I see the man I loved. Kiara is five. She has my dark hair but Dominic’s features. She never met her father but she carries him in her fa

Seraphina“Seraphina, stop. Just stop.”Kael’s voice cuts through the buzzing noise in my head. He stands in the middle of my kitchen, hands clenched into fists at his sides, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.“Dominic is dead. You know he is dead. You were there. We identified him. We buried him.”I shake my head. My hands are still trembling from what I saw on that screen. The image is burned into my retinas. That jawline. Those eyes. The way he folded his hands when he listened.“I saw a body that was burnt beyond recognition, Kael.” My voice comes out low and steady despite the chaos inside me. “Charred flesh and bone. That could have been anyone. They told me it was him. I believed it because I didn’t have anything else to hold onto. But that man on the television? That was him. I know my husband. I know every line of his face. That was Dominic.”Kael runs a hand through his hair. Starts pacing the small kitchen floor. The silence stretches between us for a long moment before