Chapter 8: Rules Broken
1059 Words
Sofia had been kissed before. Gentle kisses, hurried kisses, meaningless ones at college parties. But none of them prepared her for what it felt like to be kissed by Dominic Stone.
It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t even hungry. It was controlled, restrained—yet beneath the surface, there was heat so intense she could barely breathe. Like he was holding himself back. Like if he let go completely, the room itself would catch fire.
And then he stopped.
Just like that.
As if he suddenly remembered who he was—and who she was supposed to be.
Dominic stepped back, running a hand through his hair, visibly shaken. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
Sofia blinked, heart still racing. “But it did.”
Silence hung heavy between them. The crackling tension hadn’t disappeared. If anything, it was worse now. More intimate. More dangerous.
He turned away, jaw clenched. “This marriage is a contract. A business arrangement. The moment we let it become something else, we lose control.”
Sofia folded her arms across her chest, her voice low. “Maybe control isn’t everything.”
He faced her again, his eyes dark. “To a man like me, it’s the only thing.”
There it was again—that flash of something buried. Pain. Regret. Fear. He never spoke about it directly, but she saw it in moments like this. And for reasons she didn’t understand, she wanted to pull those pieces out of him. Hold them. Understand them.
“I didn’t kiss you because of the contract,” she said softly. “I kissed you because I wanted to.”
He stiffened.
“And you kissed me back.”
He didn’t deny it.
But instead of answering, he walked away—retreating to his office, shutting the door behind him with finality.
Sofia stood there in the middle of the living room, her lips still tingling, her chest tight.
It would’ve been easier if he didn’t care. If he truly treated her like a contract. But he didn’t. He was fighting something. Not just his feelings—but himself.
And she was caught right in the middle.
---
The next morning, Dominic was gone before sunrise again. No message. No kiss. Just that silence he used as armor.
Sofia spent the day distracted, restless. She tried to work on her application again, but the words felt hollow. She kept thinking about the man on the bench. The threat. The note. “Release the files.”
What files? What did Dominic know that someone was willing to threaten her for?
By noon, she couldn’t take it anymore. She went to the library, not to read, but to search. She knew Dominic kept private documents in a locked cabinet inside the hidden wall panel—he had shown her once, in passing, back when he was still trying to pretend she didn’t exist.
To her surprise, it wasn’t locked today.
She hesitated. This was crossing a line. But something inside her pushed her forward.
She pulled open the drawer.
Most of it was standard corporate paperwork—boring contracts, merger documents, profit charts. But one folder caught her eye. It was unlabeled. Inside were printed emails, confidential memos, and financial records with the word "SealTech" stamped in red on the corner.
She sat down and began reading.
As she skimmed through the pages, her stomach twisted. It was a cover-up. A massive corporate cover-up from years ago involving one of Dominic’s earlier companies. Toxic chemical disposal, falsified safety reports, bribes to inspectors. It had all been buried—and signed off by Dominic himself when he was barely twenty-five.
No wonder someone wanted those files released.
They were more than a scandal. They were criminal.
Her hands trembled as she placed the papers back into the folder and closed the drawer.
Now she knew.
And she wished she didn’t.
---
That night, Dominic returned late. His suit jacket was gone, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up. He looked tired. Haunted.
Sofia met him in the hallway, arms folded.
“You should’ve told me,” she said quietly.
He froze. “Told you what?”
“About SealTech.”
His face drained of color.
“Where did you hear that name?”
She didn’t back down. “I saw the files.”
He exhaled sharply, eyes darkening with something unreadable. “That’s not your concern.”
“It is now. Someone threatened me to get to you. I deserve to know what I’m being used as leverage for.”
He looked away, jaw tightening. “It was a long time ago.”
“That doesn’t make it any less dangerous.”
“I was young. Stupid. Trying to prove I could handle a company on my own. I didn’t do it myself, but I signed off on reports I didn’t read. That’s on me.”
Sofia’s voice dropped. “And you buried it.”
“I protected what I built.”
She shook her head. “You protected yourself.”
Silence stretched between them.
Then he said, “If those files get out, I won’t just lose my company. I’ll go to prison.”
Her breath caught. “Is that why you married me?”
He looked at her, stunned. “What?”
“Was I supposed to be your scapegoat?”
His expression crumpled. “No. God, no. I never planned for you to be involved in this. The marriage was to block a boardroom takeover. I didn’t think they’d come after you.”
“Then let me help you,” she said. “Let me be more than a pawn in your game.”
He took a step toward her. “You’re not a pawn.”
“I was. But I don’t want to be anymore.”
He stared at her, the weight of everything unsaid pressing down on them.
“I don’t know how to protect you from this,” he said finally. “If you stay, you’re a target. If you go, they’ll think you’re hiding something. Either way…”
“I stay,” she said firmly.
“Sofia—”
“I stay,” she repeated. “Because I believe in you. Even if you don’t believe in yourself.”
Something shifted in his eyes.
And this time, when he kissed her, there was no restraint.
- Writer
