Chapter 3: Night
1181 Words
Cynthia's POV
I didn’t know how long I stayed on the cold floor after Dominic walked out. My tears dried on my cheeks, only to fall again the moment I blinked.
My whole body felt hollow, like someone had scooped out my insides and left me crumbling under the weight of misery.
When I finally forced myself to breathe, the first thing I did was grab my phone.
His name was still on the screen.
Dominic.
I called him.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Voicemail.
Voicemail.
Voicemail.
My throat tightened painfully. “Please, Dominic… answer.”
Nothing.
The walls of my room felt like they were shrinking. I couldn’t stay there... not with the whispers of my family echoing in every corner. I grabbed my coat with trembling hands and slipped out the back door before anyone could stop me.
I walked fast into the night, heart pounding. I knew exactly where he would be.
Not the rooftop.
Not tonight.
This kind of pain...this kind of confusion...always led him to the Lennox Hotel, the quiet, dimly lit luxury place overlooking the harbor. It was our secret refuge. The place we went to escape everything else.
My legs shook as I reached the hotel lobby. The chandelier cast warm light across the marble floor. The receptionist nodded silently when she saw me...she knew us, knew our routine.
“Room 812,” she whispered softly. “He checked in ten minutes ago.”
My heart throbbed painfully.
I took the elevator up, every second stretching too long. When the doors opened, I walked down the hallway, each step heavier than the last.
My hand trembled as I knocked.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then the door opened.
Dominic stood there, eyes red, hair messy, breathing uneven. One look at him and every piece of me shattered again.
“Dominic,” I whispered.
His jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I had to come.”
He stepped aside slowly, letting me in. I walked past him into the dimly lit room. The curtains were open, city lights reflecting off the glass.
The air felt thick. Heavy. Full of words we hadn’t said yet.
I turned to him. “Please talk to me.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, frustration etched into his features. “Cynthia… I don’t know what to think.”
“Then let me explain.”
“Explain what?” he snapped suddenly.
“Explain how a positive pregnancy test ended up in your bathroom? How your whole family was accusing you? How...” His voice broke. “How I walked in on chaos and didn’t know where you stood in it?”
Tears blurred my vision. “I’m telling you the truth. Natasha put it there.”
“Why would she do that?” he asked, shaking his head. “Why would someone lie about something that serious?”
“Because she hates me,” I whispered. “Because she wants you.”
He swallowed hard, pain flickering across his face.
I stepped closer, choking on my tears. “Dominic, look at me. Please.”
His eyes lifted slowly to mine, and the moment our gazes met, something inside him cracked. The emotion in his eyes...fear, longing, love...hit me so deeply that my breath hitched.
“I love you,” I whispered. “I would never betray you. Not like this. Not ever.”
His shoulders fell. His face softened. And then...finally...he exhaled.
He moved toward me.
“Cynthia…” His voice was barely a breath. “I want to believe you. I do. God, I do.”
“Then believe me,” I pleaded. “Believe the girl who’s stood beside you for years.”
His hand lifted slowly and touched my cheek. The warmth of his palm broke me completely. A sob escaped my throat as I leaned into his touch.
“I’m scared,” I whispered. “I’m so scared of losing you.”
His fingers curled behind my neck, pulling me closer. “I’m scared too.”
Our foreheads touched. Our breaths mingled. The world outside fell away.
Then his lips brushed mine...soft at first, hesitant, like he was asking if he was allowed to want me still.
I answered him with a trembling kiss that held every emotion I hadn’t said out loud. My hands gripped his shirt, pulling him closer, needing him like air.
He kissed me harder, arms sliding around my waist, lifting me against him like he couldn’t stand another inch of space between us.
It wasn’t planned.
It wasn’t calm.
It wasn’t logical.
It was desperate.
Broken.
Raw.
Two people clinging to each other because everything else was falling apart.
He whispered my name against my lips. I whispered his against his skin. And then everything blurred into warmth and emotion and need as we found comfort in each other the only way we knew how.
It was intimate.
Messy.
Human.
And full of love.
We collapsed onto the bed afterward, tangled in sheets and breaths. My head rested on his chest as his fingers traced circles on my back.
For a moment...just a moment...I felt safe again.
“Dominic?” I whispered softly.
“Hm?”
“You believe me… right?”
His hand paused.
The silence that followed was the longest I’d ever felt.
Then he inhaled...slowly, deeply...and my heart sank before he even spoke.
“I want to,” he whispered. “But I’m terrified.”
“Of what?”
“Of everything,” he said quietly. “My family. Their expectations. Their judgment. The merger. The pressure. The idea that maybe...maybe there is truth to what they’re saying.”
I sat up, heart hammering. “Dominic, no. Please don’t do this.”
He stared at the ceiling, jaw tight. “Cynthia… What if that test is real? What if you are pregnant? What if it’s not mine?”
My breath caught in my throat. “How can you even say that?”
He shut his eyes. “Because the consequences would destroy my life.”
Those words stabbed deep.
My voice shook. “So… everything we just shared… it meant nothing?”
His eyes opened slowly, pain filling them. “It meant everything. But it doesn’t change reality.”
My chest felt like it was splitting open. “Dominic...”
He sat up, turning away from me. “I can’t risk my family’s reputation like this.”
A tear fell down my cheek. “Please… don’t leave me.”
His voice cracked. “I don’t want to. But I have to.”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, you don’t.”
He stood, pulling on his shirt with trembling hands. “I’m sorry.”
A sob tore from me. “Dominic...please...”
He couldn’t even look at me now. “We’re over.”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
My breath broke. My vision blurred. My body shook.
And he walked to the door.
The sound of it closing behind him was the moment my world ended.
- Writer
