Chapter 7 — The Game Begins
681 Words
Dominic didn’t believe her.
He didn’t need to say it. The look in his eyes told Juliette—Marina—everything. He knew. Or at least, he was close enough to be dangerous.
He didn’t come all this way to browse books. He came to catch her in a lie.
And she had just handed him one.
“No,” she had said. “I’m not Juliette Ward.”
She wasn’t sure what scared her more: how easily the lie came out… or how much she wanted him to believe it.
“Marina Doyle,” Dominic said slowly, his gaze sharp as glass. “Where were you eight years ago?”
“In a hospital,” she said, her voice cool but firm. “I was found on the side of a road. No ID. No memory. Doctors said it was a car crash. I barely survived.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How convenient.”
“I’m not asking you to believe me.”
“You're right. You're not.” He straightened, adjusting his sleeves. “You don’t remember your name. Your past. Your face just happens to match a dead woman’s. But you write fiction for a living.”
She folded her arms, keeping her distance.
“So now I’m a suspect because I write love stories?”
“You’re a suspect because you’re lying.”
She flinched—but only slightly.
Dominic stepped away from the counter, slow and deliberate.
“I’ll be around for a few days,” he said casually. “Might even attend that book signing. I’m curious how a woman with no past manages to create such... vivid stories.”
“You won’t find anything,” she said, quieter now.
He smiled faintly. “We’ll see.”
Then he left, the door chiming behind him.
Marina stood motionless for a long moment after he was gone. Her fingers trembled as she reached for her phone.
She dialed a number she hadn’t used in years.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then—
“I told you never to call this number again.”
“It's Jul—Marina,” she whispered. “He found me. Dominic Voss is in Clear Hollow.”
There was silence on the other end. Then a heavy sigh.
“How much does he know?”
“I think… everything.”
“Then you need to disappear. Again.”
“I can’t. I’ve built a life here. People know me. I have—friends.”
“He will rip it all apart.”
Marina closed her eyes. “He kissed me. The night I left. And I never got over it.”
“That’s your mistake, not mine.”
The line went dead.
She stared at the phone in her hand.
Was it a mistake? Loving him? Or was it the only true thing she’d ever done?
Meanwhile…
Dominic sat in his rental SUV across the street, watching the bookstore through tinted windows. She hadn’t run. Not yet. He expected her to bolt. Most people did when he caught them lying.
But not Juliette.
She had always been poised under pressure. Even when pretending to love him. Even when she signed the contract with a graceful smile that masked the steel underneath.
Still, something didn’t add up.
The scars.
The blank past.
The panic in her eyes—real panic—when he said her name.
Either she was the world’s greatest actress, or she truly didn’t remember.
But he remembered everything.
The fake vows. The silence in their cold, shared penthouse. The way she always watched him when she thought he wasn’t looking.
The way she kissed him at the airport… like it mattered.
And now she wanted to pretend they’d never happened?
Not a chance.
He pulled out his phone and sent Levi a message.
Dig deeper into Marina Doyle. If she’s not Juliette, I want to know who the hell she is.
Because one way or another, Dominic Voss would find the truth.
And once he did?
There would be no walking away this time.
End of Chapter 7.
- Writer
