Chapter 90

Chapter 90:

The Devil's Choice

Dominique’s POV

Something didn’t sit right, I don't know why I felt like that but it didn't just feel right.

I stood by the window of the estate, the rain still smearing streaks across the glass like tears too proud to fall. The silence of the mansion was unsettling. Cold. Like a storm was brewing, not just outside, but inside me.

I hadn’t seen Aurora in over an hour, which made my heart worry. She’d vanished with nothing but the echo of her footsteps. A ghost in my house. A phantom in my chest.

A maid walked by, and I stopped her with a glance.

“Where did Aurora go?”

“She said she was visiting her mother’s grave.”

Her mother’s grave.

Of course.

A surge of something I didn’t recognize twisted in my stomach. Not anger. Not jealousy. Something deeper. Something closer to dread. I turned to head for the door when the flash of headlights caught my eye. Another car. Leaving the estate.

Damian’s.

Every instinct in me snapped to attention.

It wasn’t coincidence, it can't be .

Not with Aurora. Not with my brother.

I moved fast. Grabbed my coat, keys, and gun. I didn’t know why I needed the weapon, but I needed something. Something to anchor me to who I was, or who I used to be.

The drive was a blur. Trees whipped past. My mind was loud. Thoughts collided like fists in a cage fight.

Damian. Aurora. A grave.

I parked far from the cemetery gates. I didn’t want to be seen. The moment I stepped into the shadows of those trees, I heard her voice.

Low. Sad.

And then I heard him.

Damian.

He was saying things he had no right to say.

Promises that didn’t belong to him. Words that used to mean something when they came from my mouth. I stepped closer, hidden by the trees.

Then I saw them.

Her.

In his arms.

Their lips meeting.

Like it meant something.

Like it was allowed.

Like she’d already chosen.

Like she'd had chosen to with him.

Like I never existed

And that was when she turned.

Our eyes locked.

Time froze.

And something inside me died.

She didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. Her silence was enough.

I turned.

And walked away.

I couldn’t breathe.

Not because I was angry. But because I finally understood what it felt like to lose something you didn’t know you needed until it was gone. My chest hurt like she’d ripped it open with her bare hands.

And for the first time in my life, I didn’t know how to put myself back together.

I felt broken, feelings I never knew I could feel cane crashing down hard on me.

\---

Aurora’s POV

He saw me.

God, Dominique saw me.

I could feel it, his presence like a cold breeze on the back of my neck. When our eyes met, it was like everything in me fractured. His gaze was empty, unreadable, but beneath it I felt the heartbreak. The betrayal.

I hadn’t meant to hurt him.

But I had, in ways I never intended to.

I didn’t tell Damian.

He still stood there beside me, unaware that his brother had just witnessed our kiss. He was talking, saying things, sweet, beautiful things, but I barely heard them.

Because my heart was with someone else.

Dominique, I don't know.

It had chased after Dominique before my legs could move.

Damian cupped my hand in his, gently, like I was glass. "Aurora... Please, just let me in. I want to be there for you. I want you to choose me. Be with me."

My throat tightened.

I pulled my hand back, slowly.

"Damian," I said, gently. "You're... amazing. And you've been nothing but kind to me. But I can't give you something I don't fully understand yet, something I still find strange."

He looked like I’d just stabbed him.

"Is it because of him?" he asked quietly.

I didn't answer.

Because we both knew the answer.

My heart was in chaos. Torn in two. Damian was like the calm in the storm. But Dominique was the storm I never wanted to escape from. I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t understand it. But it was real.

And it was terrifying.

"I need time," I whispered.

He nodded, but I saw the pain in his eyes.

I turned and left him there, under the weeping trees. I couldn’t give him hope. I couldn’t give him a lie. And I couldn’t forget the look in Dominique’s eyes when he saw me kissing someone else.

I didn’t feel guilty about kissing Damian.

It wasn't wrong, but it wasn't right.

But I felt like something precious had slipped through my fingers.

\---

Damian’s POV

She left.

Without giving me a definite answer.

She didn’t choose me.

Not yet.

But she didn’t push me away either.

And that was enough to burn me.

I stood in the cemetery long after she left, the scent of her still lingering in the cold air. My fists clenched at my sides.

Why couldn’t she see me?

Why couldn't she understand that I am the right person for her?.

Can't she see that am the calm she needs?.

Not Dominique.

I wasn’t Dominique. I wasn’t haunted by blood and secrets. I could give her peace, love, and softness. Everything she had always deserved and needed.

Was it because he kissed her first? Was it because he’s the Devil she can’t stop chasing? Was it because of his mysteriousness?.

I wasn’t sure.

But I was sure of one thing.

This wasn’t just about love anymore.

It was war.

Dominique might have started it, unknowingly or knowingly.

But I was going to finish it.

By any means necessary.

And as I walked out of that graveyard, hands buried in my coat, I whispered into the wind:

"I’d rather die than let Aurora belong to Dominique."

She would be mine,

Never again would I give up my happiness for Dominique,

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TO BE CONTINUED.