Chapter 11 — The Storm Before the Calm
598 Words
The storm rolled in just after midnight, heavy with thunder and sheets of rain that blurred the skyline. Marina wrapped her cardigan tighter as she stood outside the bookstore, fumbling with her keys. She hadn’t expected to stay late—much less to walk into a thunderstorm—but she couldn’t leave the discovery of the lake house alone.
And she certainly didn’t expect him.
Dominic’s car pulled up to the curb, headlights cutting through the downpour.
He stepped out with an umbrella, rushing toward her. “You should’ve called. I would’ve picked you up.”
“I didn’t know you were still keeping tabs on me,” she said softly, though her heart fluttered at the sight of him—hair damp from the rain, coat clinging to his shoulders, eyes burning like a storm of their own.
“I’m not,” he said. “Not like before. I just… I knew you’d be here late. You always are when something’s bothering you.”
She blinked. That wasn’t something you learned from surveillance.
That was something you learned from knowing a person.
He held the umbrella above both their heads as they walked toward her door.
“Thank you,” she said once they were inside. “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to.”
A silence passed between them as the rain pounded the windows.
“I found a letter,” Marina said, voice quiet. “From Victor Voss. He told me to check the lake house.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. “The lake house is abandoned. No one’s been there since…”
“Since I ‘died,’” she finished.
He nodded.
“I’m going tomorrow,” she said. “I have to.”
“I’ll take you.”
She looked up. “You don’t have to—”
“I want to,” he said again, stepping closer. “Look, Marina—or Juliette, if that’s who you really are—I know I’ve been a hurricane in your life. But I’m not here to accuse you anymore.”
She swallowed hard. “Then why are you here?”
“Because every time I look at you, I feel like I’m standing on the edge of something I’ve already fallen into.”
His voice was low. Honest. Not cold and clipped like before.
“I keep telling myself you’re not her. That it’s just in my head,” he continued. “But whether you are or not… I’m falling all over again.”
Marina’s breath caught.
“Dominic…”
“I don’t want to pressure you. I just—”
But she didn’t let him finish.
She stepped forward and kissed him.
Not like the goodbye kiss she’d asked for in another life.
This one was different.
It was slow. Real. Unplanned. Honest.
Her hands found his collar. His fingers slid up into her hair.
The world melted away. The bookstore. The rain. The lies. The past.
For just a moment… they were just two people who needed each other.
When they finally pulled apart, they stood forehead to forehead.
“You don’t remember me,” he whispered, “but part of me hopes you never do. Because maybe… this time, we could fall without pretending.”
She let out a shaky laugh, tears gathering in her lashes. “Maybe this time, it could be real.”
The next morning, they left for the lake house.
But neither of them knew:
Someone else was already watching.
Waiting.
And everything they thought they knew was about to change.
End of Chapter 11.
- Writer
