Chapter 250
Vivian’s POV
I was done waiting.
I had decided this morning. I had been patient. I had been strategic. I had played the long game and smiled through every single slight and setback, and what did I have to show for it?
Ellie was still here. Still wearing the title that was supposed to be mine. Still sleeping down the hall from my
husband.
Well… Dominic was not my husband. Not yet. But he should have been. He was supposed to be. And yet he was still insisting on staying married to a woman who had been trying her hardest to wreak havoc on his
life.
Blinded by love, he could see that Ellie was a problem, but he kept stopping just short of doing anything about it. He would give her a warning, or check her room, or sit across from her at dinner with that jaw set like granite, and then somehow still not pull the trigger on what really needed to be done.
Divorce.
It was like he was waiting for some perfect, undeniable moment of clarity that I was increasingly convinced was never going to come on its own.
So I was going to hand it to him.
I found him in the study around midmorning. He was at his desk with a stack of papers in front of him, but I could tell from the faraway look in his eyes that he wasn’t really paying attention. When I poked my head into the room, he almost looked hopeful, like he’d expected Ellie to be the one walking through the door.
“Do you have a minute?” I asked from the doorway.
“What is it, Vivian?”
I stepped inside and shut the door behind me, although I remained standing.
“I saw Ellie last night,” I said. “Late. She snuck out of the house.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around his pen. I took a deep breath.
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“I couldn’t sleep,” I went on, “and I saw her from my window. She went through the side gate. I followed her a little way. Just to make sure she was safe.”
Dominic said nothing.
“She met Lucas at the overlook,” I said. “His car was already there when she arrived. She got in and they were there for a long time.”
I met his gaze and watched his face turn pale.
The overlook. Anyone in the surrounding packs knew what it meant. It sat at the top of the ridge in the neutral territory, surrounded on three sides by trees, looking out over the valley. People went up there to drink, to talk, and hang out with friends.
+30 Bonus
But mostly, people just went up there because it was dark and private.
Dominic knew that as well as anyone.
His jaw tightened. He pushed back from the desk and stood, and I took a small step back out of habit even though the anger wasn’t directed at me. He walked over to the window and stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the grounds.
“How long?” he asked.
“At least an hour,” I said. “Maybe more. I didn’t stay out there all night.”
Another long silence. I waited. This was the part where I needed him to arrive at the right conclusion on his own, so I kept my mouth shut.
When he turned around, though, his expression wasn’t quite what I expected. He looked furious, yes. But underneath that, he looked more like a man who had made a decision than a man who had been broken.
“She needs a handmaid,” he said.
I blinked. “Sorry?”
“Someone in the house. Dedicated to her.” He moved back toward the desk. “Someone to accompany her when she leaves, keep track of her schedule, and report back to me if necessary. A confidante and a good influence.”
That was not what I had expected him to say. I had expected divorce papers, or at least a conversation about it. I had expected him to finally reach his limit. And instead, he was talking about a… babysitter?
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