ROSE 98

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Chapter 98

Dominic’s POV

i stared at the locked door of my office for a long time

Not because i thought she’d been in here agsin

But because part of me wished she had

Maybe if she found what I was hiding, she’d finally hate me the way I deserved

Maybe that would be easier

I sat down, grabbed my phone, and disted the number I hadn’t used in months

It rang once

Twice

“Dominic

Dr. Hart’s voice was the same–smooth, sharp, never intrusive The kind of voice that sounded like it knew your secret before you said a word

“Do you have time?” I asked, my voice flat.

A pause. Then “For you? Always.”

I stared at the wall. The silence filled the room like fog.

“You told me once,” I said quietly, “that control is usually rooted in fear.”

“Yes”

“I don’t think I’m afraid anymore,” I murmured.

“Then why call me?”

Because Aria’s dying. Because she looked at me with eyes so sad it cracked something in my chest. Because I gave her a necklace with a fucking tracker inside and still sleep beside her like I’m worth anything at all.

“She said the gifts were useless. That I was just throwing money at a problem I refused to understand.”

“What was the problem, Dominic?”

“She’s dying,” I snapped, my voice rougher than I meant. “She has cancer. And all I’ve done is make her feel trapped.”

I leaned forward, elbows on my desk, hands curled into fists.

“I don’t know how to protect something I can’t fix.”

The silence on the other end wasn’t judgmental. It was deliberate.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Dr. Hart said finally.

“What question?”

“Do you love her?”

I closed my eyes.

The word felt like a blade.

“She makes me lose control,” I said. “She makes me feel like I can’t breathe when she’s hurting. Like I’d do anything–burn down the city, shoot my own blood, kill God if I had to–just to see her smile again.”

“That sounds like love.”

“It sounds like madness.”

“Sometimes, Dominic,” she said softly, “those two are the same.”

I didn’t speak.

She waited.

“Why do you think you haven’t told her everything?”

I looked at the desk drawer. The Fletcher file was them Encad

“Because the truth would make her leave,” I sa

“If she leaves?”

“I fall apart.”

She didn’t say anything.

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Chapter 98

I let the words linger, ugly and exposed.

“I’ve spent years building walls so high nobody could climb them. And now, for the first time, someone’s standing at the edge–and I’m the one throwing bricks at her feet.”

“Maybe it’s not about keeping her in, Dominic. Maybe it’s about proving to yourself that you’re worth staying for?

I scoffed quietly. “She deserves better.”

“She deserves honesty,” Dr. Hart corrected. “Not grand gestures. Not diamond cages. The truth”

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Then tell her,” she said simply.

“What if she hates me?”

Another pause.

“Then you’ll know.”

I stared at the window. The city lights shimmered in the distance like fireflies trapped behind glass.

“I think that’s what scares me most,” I whispered.

There was a gentleness in her voice now. A softness I hadn’t earned. “You’re not the first man to lose control in the name of love. But if you want to keep her, Dominic, you’ll have to give her something real. Not control. Not fear. Not power”

“What then?”

“Choice.”

The word landed like a blow.

“I’ll think about it,” I muttered, throat tight.

“Don’t think too long,” she said gently. “Time’s not a luxury either of you have.”

I ended the call.

Sat there.

Then slowly opened the drawer and pulled out the file.

Not the Fletcher one.

The real one.

Titled: Aria Sinclair – Confidential

I flipped it open.

A report on her medical condition. The hospital records. The scans I’d bribed someone to get before she even knew the full

scope.

At the bottom was a list.

A specialist in Switzerland.

A clinical trial in Tokyo.

Another in Berlin.

I’d been calling, offering money, strings, favors–anything.

And still…

Still it wasn’t enough.

I leaned back in the chair and pressed my fingers against my eyes.

If love meant letting her go… could I do it?

The truth?

I wasn’t sure.

But maybe, just maybe… I could start by letting her see the cracks.

Before the whole damn house came down around me.

That night, I didn’t drink.

Didn’t smoke.

Didn’t call Nico. Didn’t check the cameras. Didn’t hover outside Aria’s door like I usually did, pretending I was just walking past

I went to bed.

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And that night something unexpected happened to me

I dreamed

Not about blood

Not about me finally ripping Mikael head off

But about her

I saw Aria standing at the edge of something–something black and endless. A cliff. A rooftop I couldn’t tell He dress was the same one from the cemetery. Black Quiet. Too than for the cold

She didn’t look back

Just stared at the vold

I tried to call out, but my voice didn’t work. My legs refused to move

Then I saw him

Mikael

He came from the shadows, smiling like the devil himself. And behind him?

Chains

He didn’t grab her.

Didn’t have to.

She stepped toward him.

One step.

Then two.

And I screamed–but no sound came.

The wind picked up. Her hair whipped around her face, eyes hollow. She was crying.

I woke up in a cold sweat, breath ragged.

The sheets tangled around my legs like vines. My hands were clenched so tightly, my nails had broken skin.

It was just a dream.

But it didn’t feel like one.

Because in that dream–I didn’t die. I watched her walk away.

And I did nothing.

I sat up, wiping my face with my palm. The room was too quiet. Too sterile.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand.

I snatched it, half expecting Mikael, or worse, Nico.

But it was Julian.

Julian: “Everything’s locked down. The vault’s been checked. Nothing moved. You good?”

I stared at the screen, then typed back:

Me: “I’m not sure.”

I dropped the phone.

Ran my hands through my hair.

And stood.

The mansion was asleep. The guards rotated like clockwork, but they barely blinked when I walked by. They knew better than to ask where I was going.

I didn’t know myself.

Until I stopped outside her room.

Her door was cracked open just enough to tempt me.

I stood there for a long time. Listening. Waiting.

Then pushed it open.

She was curled on the bed, one arm tucked under her cheek. Her breathing was soft. Even. She hadn’t stirred.

I exhaled.

And then quietly, I walked over and sat down on the chair by her window. The same chair I’d moved in here weeks ago just

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Chapter 98

to watch her sleep when she was too sick to sit up

I hated how peaceful she looked now

Because it made everything worse.

Because i was the reason she wasn’t safe

I sat there in the dark, just watching her

Until I couldn’t

“Aria,” I whispered, my voice raw. “I had a dream you left”

She didn’t wake.

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, staring at the rug.

“I know I scare you. I know I make everything harder.”

A lump formed in my throat, thick and unfamiliar

“But I don’t know how to be anything else”

Her fingers twitched slightly in her sleep, and I paused, watching her face

Still resting.

Still innocent.

“I’ve spent my whole life knowing people leave. Or die. Or betray me. And I swore I’d never need anyone again. But you came in like a fucking storm and-”

My voice cracked. I bit down hard.

“You made me forget how to survive without you.”

I stood, stepping closer, slow and quiet.

Sat on the edge of her bed.

Her hair fell across her cheek. I tucked it back gently.

“If love means letting you go… I can’t promise I’ll survive that,” I murmured.

She stirred–just a little.

But didn’t wake.

1 leaned down, pressing my lips softly to her forehead.

“I’m trying,” I whispered.

I meant it.

Even if trying wasn’t enough.

Because there was something hollow inside me now. Something carved open by the thought of her not waking up. By the sound of her cry at the grave. By the way she said nothing hurt more than being treated like a possession.