Chapter 122 

He pushed me down into the chair, rough but careful, caging me with his body for a second before leaning close. His voice was pure steel against my ear. 

“Sit. And don’t even think about getting up and doing anything stupid.” 

Dominic’s hand lingered for a fraction of a second one last warning then he turned away, stepping back toward Mikael with murder written in every hard line of his body. 

Mikael sat there like he owned the goddamn world, a smug smirk curling across his lips. 

“I would like to see you try, Dominic,” Mikael said, voice syrupy with mockery. 

He threw his head back and laughed, loud and booming, the sound echoing through the crumbling opera house. 

I gripped the arms of the chair until my knuckles ached, heart harmmering against my ribs. The room felt like a ticking bomb, and I didn’t know if Dominic could hold himself back much longer. 

Mikael leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and smiled a smile that made my skin crawl. 

“So fucking entertaining,” he said, clapping his hands slowly. “Look at this. Look at my fucking hard–on.” He gestured crudely at his lap without shame, sneering. 

Dominic didn’t move, didn’t blink but the fury pouring off him was a physical thing now, filling the air with heat. 

Mikael wasn’t finished. He pointed at me, his smile widening. 

“Oh, Dominic, come on don’t tell me you’re not enjoying that sexy little pussy. Watching her grind on that pole like she was begging for it.” He gave a mock shiver, dragging his tongue across his teeth. “Imagine how good it would feel to fuck it. To wreck it.” 

Dominic’s hand tightened around the whiskey glass still sitting on the edge of the makeshift table. His knuckles blanched white: His whole body was vibrating with the need to snap. 

I opened my mouth to say something–to shut Mikael up before Dominic lost it completely–but Dominic beat me to it. 

He slammed the glass down so hard the table cracked under the impact, whiskey splattering across the floor. 

“If you touch her,” Dominic growled, his voice low, savage, deadly, “I’ll kill you.” 

No threats. No warnings. Just a promise. 

Mikael just smiled wider, as if he’d been waiting for this exact reaction. 

He leaned back lazily in his chair, spreading his arms along the back like a king on a ruined throne. 

“So protective,” he mused. “So predictable.” 

He flicked his eyes to me again, and there was something darker there now. Something heavier. 

“You think you own her, Dominic?” Mikael said, voice softer now, almost curious. “You think she’s just some broken girl you picked up off the street to patch your hollow fucking soul?” 

Dominic didn’t answer. His silence was louder than a gunshot. 

Mikael’s smile sharpened. 

“You’re keeping secrets from her.” 

The words sliced through the room like a blade. 

I froze. 

Dominic’s hands curled into fists at his sides, but he didn’t deny it. 

Mikael’s eyes gleamed with triumph. He leaned forward slightly, voice dropping low and poisonous. 

“She doesn’t even know, does she?” he whispered. “About who she really is. About what her bloodline means. About why you really kept her.” 

The world tilted slightly under me. 

Dominic’s silence said everything Mikael didn’t need to spell out. 

I gripped the chair tighter, forcing myself to stay still, to stay quiet, even though my heart screamed for answers. 

Mikael laughed again, soft and cold. 

Successfully unlocked! 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he said to me, smirkingYourprecious Dominica.d it all for you. All that control. All those chains. Love looks real pretty when you put a noose around it.” 

Dominic’s jaw flexed once, twice, but he didn’t rise to the bait. 

Not yet. 

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Mikael sat back, exhaling through his nose like a man enjoying the smell of smoke and ruin. 

“Let’s stop pretending,” Mikael said lazily. “You’re running out of men, Dom. Out of allies. Out of time. And we both know it.” Dominic stared at him, silent, carved from fury and restraint. 

“So here’s my offer,” Mikael continued, smiling like the wolf he truly was. “One time deal” 

He lifted a finger, pointing it directly at me. 

“Hand her over.” 

The room dropped into pure, frozen stillness. 

“Give me Aria.” 

Mikael’s voice was smooth, matter–of–fact, like he was discussing a business acquisition. 

“You walk away with your empire untouched. No more bombs. No more dead friends. No more blood in your goddamn marble hallways. You get to be king, Dominic. Untouched. Unchallenged.” 

He shrugged, sipping his drink. 

“And I get a new toy.” 

Dominic didn’t move. 

Neither did I. 

The only sound was the rain hammering against the shattered glass above us. 

One heartbeat. 

Two. 

Three. 

The devil had made his bargain. 

And Dominic was going to have to answer. 

But he didn’t. 

He stood there, silent as stone, his body radiating so much rage it was like standing next to a bomb with a cut fuse. His fists flexed at his sides, veins bulging against his skin. His eyes–God, those eyes–were locked on Mikael with a look that could have scorched the earth itself. 

But still, no words came. 

And the longer Dominic stayed silent, the more my chest squeezed tight with fear. 

Because maybe… maybe he was thinking about it. 

Maybe Mikael was right. Maybe to save everything else his empire, his people Dominic would trade me like a pawn. 

The thought made bile rise in my throat. 

I knew I wasn’t supposed to speak. Knew I should stay quiet, invisible, obedient like every rule Dominic drilled into me before we walked into this trap. 

But I couldn’t. 

I couldn’t sit there like an object waiting to be sold. 

My hands gripped the sides of the chair, and before I could talk myself out of it, I stood up. 

My voice came out stronger than I felt. 

“I’m not something you can bargain for,” I said, glaring straight at Mikael. “I’m not a chip to be traded. I’m not a prize you get to win.” 

The room went deadly silent. 

Mikael’s smirk faltered. His blue eyes darkened into something uglier. 

“And you,” I continued, stepping forward, the tremor in my knees hidden by sheer force of will, “will never touch me again.” 

Mikael’s lips curled back in a sneer. 

“You ungrateful little bitch,” he snapped. 

Before I could react, he surged out of his chair, his hand slicing through the air, aiming for my face. 

I flinched- 

But Dominic moved faster. 

He caught Mikael’s wrist mid–swing with a bone–jarring crack, wrenching it back so hard Mikael let out a low, furious grunt. 

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The room exploded into chaos–Mikael’s men stepping forward, Dominic’s hand clamping down harder, the tension stretched razor–thin. 

Dominic’s voice when it came was a thunderclap, a roar that made the broken glass in the rafters above shiver. 

“You’ve just signed your death sentence.” 

He shoved Mikael backward with a force that sent the bigger man stumbling a step. 

All around us, guns were drawn–cold steel flashing under the ruined chandeliers. Mikael’s men. Dominic’s hidden backup. 

I stood frozen, breathing hard, Dominic’s jacket still wrapped tight around me. 

Mikael shook his wrist out, glaring pure murder at Dominic. 

“You’ll regret this,” Mikael spat. 

Dominic didn’t blink. 

“I already regret not killing you sooner.” 

The words weren’t shouted. They didn’t need to be. 

They landed like a promise carved into stone. 

Mikael sneered, straightening his suit jacket like this was just another business meeting gone sour. 

“We’ll see who buries who, De Luca,” Mikael said, his voice low and full of threat. 

Dominic grabbed my wrist and yanked me back toward him without another word. His grip was iron, his body a wall between me and Mikael as he shoved me toward the exit. 

His touch wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t reassuring. 

It was furious. 

We stormed out of the opera house into the drizzling rain. The cold slapped my skin, but it was nothing compared to the heat burning off Dominic. 

I kept waiting for something to happen. waiting for gunshots, for an ambush from the shadows, for Mikael’s men to open fire and end this messy meeting the way all mafia negotiations ended. 

But nothing came. 

Just the empty street. 

The silence of a city that was still holding its breath. 

Dominic shoved me into the passenger seat of the black SUV and slammed the door hard enough to rattle my bones. He circled the hood like a prowling animal, climbed into the driver’s side, and gunned the engine so hard the tires screeched against the wet pavement. 

Still, he didn’t say a word. 

Not until we were miles away from the opera house, racing down the slick, empty highways leading back toward his safehouses. 

And then- 

“Are you insane?” he snapped, his voice a whipcrack in the small space. “Standing up. Talking back to him like that? Dancing like a fucking-” 

He stopped himself, jaw clenching so hard I could hear the grind of his teeth. 

I stiffened in my seat, arms crossing defensively over my chest. 

“I was protecting myself,” I said through gritted teeth. 

“You were making yourself a target.” 

“I already am a target, Dominic!” I shouted back, the hurt and rage rising up thick in my throat. “Or did you miss that part? You brought me there like a goddamn trophy!” 

He let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “You think you’re the one in control? You think you were showing strength back there? You were showing every weakness Mikael wanted to see!” 

My stomach twisted. 

“You embarrassed me,” Dominic hissed, each word sharper than a blade. “You embarrassed us.” 

The SUV jerked as he pulled violently off the main road onto a gravel path, tires kicking up mud and stones. He slammed the brakes near an abandoned old lookout point, killing the engine with one angry twist of his wrist. 

I shoved open the door before he could say anything else and stumbled out into the rain. 

The second my boots hit the ground, I spun around, breathing hard, my hair sticking to my face. 

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And without thinking- 

I slapped him. 

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