Chapter 285
Dominic’s POV
My feet had worn a path in the carpet of my study by now. I wasn’t sure how long I had been pacing, exactly, but it was long enough for the house to notice. No one dared to knock on my door or disturb my brooding; they knew better than that by now
I couldn’t stop thinking about everything Ellie had done. Sneaking off with Lucas into the woods, then turning around and trying to blame me for it; choosing him, over and over again, when I was right there and trying to help her.
And now, she was going to join his organization whether I liked it or not. With absolutely no consideration for my opinions.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to succeed as a healer. I did want that, more than she realized, apparently.
It was just…
Why did she have to do it with him?
Were my actions truly so awful that I had pushed her directly into Lucas’s arms?
Perhaps I hadn’t been a saint either. I knew that. But she’d been clinging to Lucas since our wedding day-no, since before that –with no sense of propriety.
Today felt like the last straw. In her haste to see him, she had injured herself. Badly. And she didn’t even seem to regret it.
My fists curled at my sides so hard that my nails bit into my palms.
Just then, a soft knock came at the door. Before I could tell whoever it was to go away, the door cracked open, and Vivian poked
her head into the room.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
I wanted to tell her to leave, but the expression on her face was full of concern. With a sigh, I gestured for her to enter. I walked over to my desk and sank into the chair with a loud huff as she entered and came to perch on the edge of the desk.
“So.” She clasped her hands lightly in her lap. “You and Ellie.”
I stared at the wood. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I think you do,” Vivian pointed out.
My jaw tightened. “There’s nothing to say, anyway,” I said. “She hates me, doesn’t respect me, and this whole marriage is just a sham to her. After everything we’ve been through together, she feels that way. And I’m beginning to think there’s nothing I
can do about it.”
Vivian tilted her head. “Do you think divorce is on the horizon?”
Divorce. The word sent a pang through me that felt like a bullet ricocheting off the inside of my ribs.
But truthfully, it had already crossed my mind. I had taken our marriage contract out already, at some point during my pacing. and placed it on the desk. It stared up at me now as if mocking me. Waiting for me to tear it up and throw it into the fireplace
Vivian caught me glancing at the contract and gestured to it “May 1?” she asked.
“Be my guest.”
She picked up the contract and studied it for a long moment. Then, looking up at me through her lashes, she asked, “Can I ask you something?”
I gestured for her to go ahead.
Vivian took a deep breath. “Have you and Ellie… consummated your marriage?”
+30 Banus
My stomach twisted painfully at that. The truth was-no. We hadn’t. I’d tried. And I think a part of her wanted it, too. But the distance between us couldn’t be closed enough for that to happen.
Last night, it almost had. In an alleyway behind a club, of all places, our tongues and lips tasting like alcohol and anger. It had been delicious, and I wanted to savor it, just in case it never happened again.
We had been close. So close. The mate bond had hummed with our shared desire, and I knew she felt it, too. Deep down, she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.
But only on a physical level, I realized. I was beginning to think that her heart belonged to Lucas all along.
My silence must have been all the answer Vivian needed, because she set the contract aside, pressing her fingers into the top of it for a moment before she placed her hand back in her lap.
“That could be a good thing, you know. With no consummation, you could annul the marriage easily. Save yourself the pain of an all-out divorce.”
P
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