Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Aria’s POV
“So tell me, Dominic… should we chat over drinks like pussies or play poker like real men?” Mikael asked while twirling his drink, the glass glinting amber under the spotlight like blood caught in crystal.
Dominic cocked his head, one brow arched.
“Do you think pussy is weak?”
The air in the ruined opera house shifted. The laughter and low conversations from Mikael’s men died instantly, the sharpness of Dominic’s voice slicing through the smoke and tension like a blade.
Mikael blinked, the smirk fading off his lips. His eyebrows dipped into a frown as he looked at Dominic confused. “What?” Dominic leaned forward, elbows on the table, voice calm, lethal, deliberate.
“Pussy ain’t weak Mikael. Pussy is where you came from, and where you fuck. So saying, ‘chat over drinks like pussies, I think you mean we are strong. Mighty men. Born in blood and bred to conquer.”
The room fell quiet.
I was taken aback by Dominic’s statement by the raw, twisted logic in it, the savage precision of his words. But Mikael? He just laughed. A slow unbelievable chuckle that echoed off the opera walls like a sound that had no right to live in this place.
“You haven’t changed,” Mikael said finally, tipping his glass. “Still philosophical with a cock in one hand and a gun in the other.”
Dominic gave a slow smile, the kind that promised violence disguised as charm. “And you’re still pretending to be smarter than you are.”
Mikael smile dropped turning into a sneer as he stared at Dominic through squinted eyes, his upper lips twitching. This man must be bipolar with how quick his emotions have been changing.
I stood behind Dominic, not a step away from his chair, because that was how he wanted it. Not because he needed protecting, but because bringing me was a message: touch her, and I will burn this city down.
But still my skin crawled. My stomach twisted. I hated being here. Every inch of me screamed that it was a bad idea. I hoped the earth would.open up and swallow me away.
Dominic didn’t trust Mikael. Not truly. And I sure as hell didn’t either. But appearances mattered in this world. Aria Montel standing tall beside the King of Beldova was another way of baring fangs.
Mikael raised his glass again, swirling the whiskey idly. “Let’s drink. Then talk. You came all this way, Dominic. Might as well pretend we’re civilized men.”
“Are we pretending?” Dominic asked, taking a glass poured by one of Mikael’s men but not touching it yet. “Or are we both too tired of blood to admit we’re just waiting for the other to twitch first?”
“I’d rather drink than dance around threats,” Mikael said. “But if you want a toast, I’ll give you one.”
He raised his glass high.
“To peace.”
Dominic didn’t move, he didn’t blink either as he kept staring at Miakel.
Then he forced a smile.
“Peace…is a facade. A fitting one would be to temporary lies,” he corrected. Then clinked the edge of Mikael’s glass without drinking.
I watched Mikael’s jaw clench.
He downed the drink anyway, not breaking eye contact.
“I didn’t bomb your estate to start a war,” Mikael said casually.
“You didn’t bomb Aiden’s house either, right?” Dominic replied smoothly. “That was a gift?”
“Aiden was a liability.” Mikael poured another drink, slower now. “Old, tired, and still whispering your secrets to rivals like they were bedtime stories.”
Successfully unlocked!!
“He was loyal,” Dominic said. His voice had got. An
because of you.”
“That’s the cost of your throne, Dominic.” Mikael shrugged. “Sometimes the people who hold up your empire are the ones you need to bury.”
The two men stared at each other in silence.
1/3
Chapter 121
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Dominic said after a long pause. “You’re not clever enough to play philosopher and murderer in the same breath.”
“I don’t play.” Mikael’s smile was all teeth. “I win.”
Beside him, two of his guards shifted. One reached for a cigar cutter. The other opened a briefcase full of files and photographs spreadsheets of weapons, names, operations.
Mikael flicked one open lazily. “I could hand you your empire in two weeks. I’ve already taken your ports. I’ve got men watching Julian’s every move. And Nico?” He grinned. “I’m guessing by now, you know where his loyalties lean.”
Dominic didn’t answer.
But his eyes?
They burned.
“Why call me here?” he asked, low. “You’ve already taken what you want. Why the theatrics?”
“Because I want something else.”
Dominic arched a brow. “Then speak before I get bored.”
Mikael leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs like he was about to deliver a bedtime story.
“You’re getting soft,” he said. “You used to kill a man for blinking the wrong way. But lately? You’re… civilized.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Mikael gestured to me, his grin sharpening.
“Because of her.”
My blood chilled.
Mikael stood slowly, drink still in hand, and sauntered toward me like a man inspecting artwork he already owned. “You’re more beautiful up close, Aria,” he murmured. “Even after the bruises. Maybe because of them.”
Dominic stood, fists clenched.
But Mikael raised a hand.
“Relax,” he said, facing me now. “I just want to see something.”
Then he turned to Dominic, voice dangerously low.
“If we’re doing this, let’s do it old school.”
Mikael’s voice slithered through the broken opera house like smoke, thick with poison.
He faced me fully now, smiling like the devil himself.
“Dance for us, slut.”
The room went silent, every man’s eyes swiveling toward me.
Dominic didn’t move for half a heartbeat. He just stared at Mikael something deadly stirring beneath his skin. His eyes darkened with anger
Then his chair screeched across the floor as he shoved it back, rising to his full height. The tension in him was volcanic. He looked like he was two seconds away from blowing a hole straight through Mikael’s skull.
“You…” Dominic started, voice shaking from the barely restrained fury.
But before he could lunge-
Before he could burn this entire house down…
I smiled.
A slow, wicked smile that didn’t belong to the girl Dominic thought he knew.
I stood up abruptly, the air snapping around me as I reached for the top button of my slim black dress.
Dominic’s head whipped toward me.
“Aria,” he barked, low, sharp, warning.
I popped the first button.
Then the second.
“Don’t,” he said, his voice like a growl scraping across stone.
I looked at him, directly into those burning black eyes, and said softly, “I miss this.”
Mikael laughed low in his throat, sinking back into his chair with satisfaction. His men leaned forward, the tension cracking like thunder across the ruined opera house.
Chapter 121
Dominic’s fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were bone white.
I let the dress slide down my shoulders slowly, revealing bare skin, soft curves. The air was cold against my body, but the heat from the stares burned hotter.
They had set up a pole, of course they had, Miakel meant business. It was a glinting silver thing dragged onto the cracked stage floor like a throne waiting for its queen.
I crossed to it slowly, hips swaying, bare legs catching the dim light.
I grabbed the pole, felt the cold metal bite into my palm, and leaned my body against it–arching my back, dragging myself up slowly, a sinful, sensuous stretch.
Dominic was seething. I could feel it radiating off him like a sun.
But he stayed frozen.
Watching.
Dying inside.
I hooked one leg around the pole, pushing my hips forward, sliding my palms up, body writhing against the cold steel.
Mikael’s breath was audible, ragged.
Dominic’s chest heaved, pure rage locked in every tense line of his frame.
I spread my legs wide around the pole, grinding my hips down slowly, letting my head fall back, baring my throat. My hands trailed down my body, slow and shameless.
I was dancing.
For them.
But my eyes were on Dominic.
Only Dominic.
I rolled my hips again, brushing my hands down my thighs, teasing, taunting, smiling like I was the one in control.
And for a moment-
I was.
I dragged my fingers over the damp heat between my thighs, a fleeting touch, a promise of more, before grinding harder against the pole.
Mikael whistled low. His men muttered crude things under their breath.
Dominic’s patience snapped.
It was like a storm breaking all at once.
He moved–faster than anyone could track.
He stormed the stage, grabbing me with one brutal arm, spinning me into his chest. His jacket was yanked off with one furious jerk and thrown around my shoulders, covering me instantly.
The fabric was still warm from his body.
Still soaked in his scent.
I gasped against him, but he didn’t give me room to breathe.
His mouth was at my ear, voice so low and savage it barely existed.
“That’s enough.”
He turned on Mikael, shielding me completely behind him.
“Next time you open your fucking mouth about her,” Dominic said, voice vibrating with murder, “I’ll put a bullet in it before the words even come out.”
Mikael only laughed again, lazy and cruel.
“You think I am afraid of you.”
Dominic didn’t answer. He grabbed me tighter, wrapping me in his arms, his jacket, his heat, dragging me back across the cracked stage like he was afraid if he let go, I’d shatter.
Subscribed
