She Left Her Cheating Fiancé, Then Met the Mafia Boss Who Wanted Her novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Everything

Dominic's POV

I stopped laughing in the elevator, and she noticed.

"What?" Ariella said.

"Later."

"Dominic."

"When we're upstairs. Sitting down."

She studied me the whole ride up.

In the suite I poured two glasses of water and put them on the table in the sitting room. I did not touch mine.

She took the chair across from me and folded her feet under her.

She was still in her bakery apron, with flour in her hair.

"You told me to tell you everything," I said. "The ugly parts. I've told you what I could stand to. I'm going to tell you the rest."

"All right."

"I killed my father's brother."

"You said a stairwell."

"With a gun. I was twenty-five. He was going to give the family to a man in another city for money." I kept my voice level. "I've killed other men since. I'm not sorry about most of them."

She did not flinch.

"I'm telling you because you wear my collar, and you should know whose it is."

"Go on."

"The night of your party," I said. "What I told you about the lobby was true. It wasn't all of it."

She waited.

"Six days earlier I knew what he planned. I could have gone to him and ended it. I could have called Regan and broken his hands." My throat was dry. "I didn't. I wanted Silvio to do it. I wanted him to put his hands on a girl on my property, in front of my men, so there'd be no vote, no argument. I wanted him caught."

The room was very quiet.

"You were bait," I said. "Not for long. For about a minute. I had the lobby watched, and I meant to stop him before he touched you."

"But he did touch me."

"His man did. He grabbed your arm, and I was a step too slow." My hands had closed on the arms of the chair. "I've never been a step too slow. I saw your face and I knew what I'd done."

She said nothing for a long time.

Her eyes were wet, but she didn't look away.

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend