Chapter 189
Ellie’s POV
Neither of us spoke for a long time. We just stood there, staring at each other with an equal amount of hurt and betrayal. Finally,
I found my voice, and I was the first to break the silence.
“You tricked me,” I whispered, holding up the contract.
Dominic stormed into the room, shutting the door behind him. “You stabbed me.”
“It was an accident.”
His brows lifted. “An accident?” He gestured to his bandages. “This was an accident? Bringing a knife to our wedding was an accident?”
I nodded quickly.
Dominic stared at me for a long time, his eyes searching my face. He was still looking at me like I had betrayed him. Like I was
an assassin sent to kill him. I couldn’t blame him for that, but with the contract in my hands right now, the evidence of his betrayal on full display, I also couldn’t entirely blame myself for what I had done.
Maybe my nervous system had done what my heart refused to do. Maybe, in those moments when he had wielded that knife, some part of me had known that I needed to get away.
“Why?” he finally asked.
The word was short and quiet, and for some reason, it took me by surprise. He said it like he was simply trying to understand, nothing more. And for a brief flicker of time, he almost looked like the man I’d foolishly fallen for in the past months.
But I was not a fool now. I had learned my lesson, and I had learned it the hard way. So I clamped down on the feelings that bubbled up in my chest, even if they burned at the inside of my ribs, and kept my gaze steady.
“I can’t say.”
Dominic stared at me. A short sound came out of him that could have been an attempt at a laugh, but it was hard to tell.” Unfortunately, my dear, you don’t have a choice in the matter right now,” he said.
“I don’t have much of a choice in anything, do I?”
He sighed. “Ellie…”
“Fine.” I set the contract down and pressed my fingertips into the top of his desk, pondering how much to tell him. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t tell him about my past life. He wouldn’t believe me; he’d just think I had completely lost it or that I was lying. Either way, it would be a waste of breath, and wouldn’t help me in the long run.
Finally, I settled on a half-truth.
“I had a traumatic experience in my past. One that I don’t want to get into. It made me fearful of knives, especially when they’re wielded by men.”
“What?” Dominic immediately blurted out. “Ellie, we’ve known each other forever and you’ve never mentioned anything like this. What kind of experience are you talking about?”
“That’s my business,” I said.
“Well, when you inserted a knife between my ribs, it became my business,” Dominic retorted.
I pressed my lips together, refusing to answer. Dominic watched me for a long moment, his eyes shifting between confusion and disbelief.
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He huffed after a few beats, shoulders sagging with the release.
“My Beta says I should imprison you,” he said in a low voice. “In fact, everyone is saying that right now. Maybe I should”
I lifted my chin, waiting.
“But… I won’t.” He dragged a hand through his hair, mussing it up further. “Dammit, Ellie, what have you done to me?”
“What have you done to me?” I let out a wry laugh, a sound that had no humor in it. I picked up the contract again and waved it in the air. “You tricked me with a loophole! You convinced me to sign a contract that says that I can’t initiate a divorce, and that if I leave, I’ll get sick.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. “You didn’t read the contract in full?”
A pang shot through my chest. “So you admit it.”
He didn’t answer. Just stared at the floor. That was all the answer I needed,
I cursed under my breath and threw the contract on the desk again. “I trusted you, Dominic. I thought we could…” My words trailed off, and I shook my head. “I thought you would be different.”
“It’s a contract, Ellie.” He looked at me. “I had to protect myself. If you’d read it like you were supposed to, then-”
“Don’t you dare try to shift the blame on me. You intentionally slipped this clause in here because you didn’t trust me. You thought I’d walk away, so you used a loophole to make sure I couldn’t. Now, I want to leave more than I ever did before.”
“Yeah, well, I guess neither of us trusts the other right now.”
His words struck me like a silver-tipped arrow in the heart. Because, deep down, I knew they were right.
That was why this would never have worked, I supposed. There was a world of betrayal between us in ways that Dominic couldn’t even comprehend. I never should have agreed to this. But now we were trapped together. Or rather, I was trapped with him until he graciously decided to set me free.
If he ever decided to set me free.
In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to tell him about my past. I wanted to throw what he and Vivian had done to me right in his face so he could understand exactly why I was afraid of him. Why I’d stabbed him.
And for a second, I almost did.
But I stopped myself. Because I knew it would never work, and besides all that mattered now was finding a way to leave so history wouldn’t repeat itself.
So I remained silent.
A few moments of quiet passed. Finally, Dominic inhaled deeply, as if steadying himself.
“It’s still our wedding day,” he said quietly. “And despite everything, Ellie, I still… care about you.
I highly doubted that, but I let him continue.
“I want to enjoy this day with you.” He extended his hand toward me. “Come to bed with me. To our wedding suite.”
I flinched, taking a step back. “You think I would want to sleep with you after this?”
“We don’t have to have sex. I just… I want to be with you. And understand why you did this.” He gestured to his bandages again.
I looked at him, not sure what to say. As much as I hated to admit it, a tiny part of me was almost tempted by the offer. Almost. But a much, much bigger part of me was utterly repulsed by the idea of ever sharing a room with this man.
“No,” I said firmly. “I want to go to my room tonight.”
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Dominic looked at me like I’d stabbed him again, but I maintained my expression, refusing to let that look in his eyes change my mind. After a few seconds of this, he finally seemed to realize that I wasn’t going to back down, and he sighed, stepping out
of the way.
“Alright,” he said.
“Alright,” I echoed. I left the contract sitting there and walked around the desk. My shoulder nearly brushed Dominic’s as I walked by him, and for a moment, his hand reached out as if to touch me.
I moved out of his reach before he could. His hand fell back to his side.
Then, I opened the door, walked past the staring guards, past the gawking wedding guests, and walked up the stairs without looking back even once. I didn’t cry, didn’t hesitate, didn’t show a single sign of weakness.
It wasn’t until I was firmly locked inside my room that the tears began to fall, silent and painful.
D
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