Chapter 164
Ellie POV
Dominic and I step back into the late afternoon light, and for some reason the air feels thinner out here. Like the prison swallowed oxygen and forgot to give it back.
I walk ahead of him toward the car, heels snapping against the pavement in sharp little warnings. I don’t look at him. If I look at him, I might either yell or… not yell. Neither feels safe.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I say the second the glass doors shut behind us. “I told you to stay. I said I’d handle it.”
There’s a soft click as he unlocks the car, tossing the keys like he’s bored. “She doesn’t need anything right now except reassurance. We’re supposed to be a perfect couple, remember? She needed that.”
“I was going to tell her on my terms.” I spin around to face him. “And it’s not even the… truth.”
He watches me like I’m a case study. “Are you mad I said it,” he asks evenly, “or are you mad we lied?”
“Both,” I snap.
He only raises a brow.
“What was the plan then when you walked in? Lie? The truth?”
I stiffen, gaze moving to the concrete.
“Oh,” he snips. “You had no plan.”
“So!?” I snap. “She’s my mom! I just…wanted to see how I felt first!”
“Okay?” He shrugs. “Then we did the right thing. She doesn’t need the complicated version,” he says. “She needs something solid to hold onto. Hope isn’t a crime, Ellie.”
I fold my arms tight across my chest. “Next time, let me decide what my mother can handle. And if I say stay, and you say you will, then stay.”
There’s a flicker in his eyes, like a test.
“Fine,” he says after a beat. “But I don’t move without reason.” His voice lowers slightly. “I was happy about our wedding. Happy enough to say it out loud, Ellie.”
That hits harder than I expect.
He steps forward, opening my door before I can argue again. I hesitate for a second, then slide into the car like I’m surrendering to something. The door shuts with more force than necessary.
The drive back is quiet. He keeps both hands on the wheel, eyes forward.
I stare out the window as the prison shrinks in the side mirror.
He wasn’t wrong. My mom deserved hope. She deserved to believe I’m happy. That I’m safe. That I chose this.
That’s good, right? She’ll sleep better tonight because of it.
So why does it feel like I just gave up another small part of myself?
Vivian POV
I’m halfway through choosing a new celebration dress when my father slams the front door hard enough to rattle the
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chandelier.
For a second, I smile.
He only makes that kind of entrance when he’s victorious or furious. And considering how beautifully everything has been unfolding lately, I was fully expecting victorious.
Ellie was in the hospital. Practically evaporating.
My stepmother conveniently gone.
Father free to negotiate upward without sentimental clutter.
It was all very poetic.
Then something shatters in the living room.
Not triumphant.
Glass.
I sigh. Honestly. Can no one hold themselves together for five minutes?
I glide into the hallway just as a crystal decanter explodes against the wall. My father is pacing like a man who’s just been informed the crown has been reassigned. Papers scatter. A framed photograph splinters on the marble.
“She managed what?” he roars into his phone. “With whose backing?”
I lean against the doorway, arms folded, perfectly composed. Perhaps she finally passed. That would simplify things.
Then I hear it.
“She’s engaged? To Dominic?”
Everything inside me goes still.
Engaged.
To Dominic.
My jaw tightens subtly.
Ellie, you son of a cunt bag. She said she didn’t want him. She said she would rather die. So, like, keep to your word.
I press my temples.
Ugh.
Now she’s suddenly his bride?
Father throws his phone onto the couch and runs a hand through his hair, muttering about investigations and the Alpha family circling. Circling him.
My ears perk.
Ellie didn’t just survive. She secured protection. Dominic.
My nails press into my palm. That little fraud. All that righteous stubbornness and the second it matters, she runs straight into Dominic’s arms.
I take a breath and soften my face before stepping forward. “Daddy?” I say sweetly.
He looks up, still blazing. “Vivian…. I—”
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“Is it true?” I ask gently, tilting my head. “About Ellie?”
“The girl played us,” he snaps. “S-she tied herself to Dominic before I could-” He stops himself, which tells me more than anything else.
Before he could what?
Interesting.
I press my lips together like I’m wounded on his behalf. Inside, I’m recalculating.
If the Alpha family is investigating him, and we all know he’s guilty-he’s a man, and never clean up well-then I need to be spotless. Untouchable. Supportive daughter. Harmless socialite. Possibly heartbroken sister.
Distance.
When he storms upstairs, leaving glass and humiliation everywhere, I kneel gracefully and begin picking up the shards. They glitter in my hands. Expensive. Fragile. Replaceable.
Just like reputations.
A thin sting blooms in my palm as one cuts. I don’t drop it. Instead, I squeeze.
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