Chapter 2
Her lips parted.
Dominic regretted the question immediately.
Not because he didn’t want the answer.
Because he wanted it too much.
“You shouldn’t ask me that.”
“I know.”
“He’s your nephew.”
“I know.”
“I’m engaged.”
“I know that too.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“He doesn’t touch me.”
Dominic said nothing.
“He barely looks at me anymore. Not really. He looks at my clothes. My plate. My body. Everything that’s wrong.”
“There is nothing wrong with your body.”
She gave a broken laugh.
“You don’t have to say that.”
“I never say things I don’t mean.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No, you don’t.”
Sophia suddenly pulled his jacket tighter.
“For two years I’ve been trying to become small enough for him. Quiet enough. Thin enough. Easy enough. I stopped arguing. Stopped going out. Stopped ordering dessert because I knew he would look at me. I started wondering whether every person in the room was secretly thinking what he was thinking.”
Her voice cracked.
“And I don’t even know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, I disappeared.”
Dominic felt fury rising in him.
He kept it buried.
“You were never invisible.”
Sophia looked at him.
“Not to me.”
The room changed.
Nothing physically moved.
But the air between them became dangerous.
Sophia whispered, “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Say things I’ve wanted you to say.”
Dominic’s control nearly broke.
He reached up but stopped before touching her cheek.
His hand remained between them.
A choice.
Sophia leaned into it herself.
Only then did his palm settle against her face.
She closed her eyes.
Dominic lowered his forehead to hers.
“This cannot happen tonight.”
Her eyes opened.
Pain flashed through them.
He continued before she could misunderstand.
“Not because I don’t want you.”
Her breath caught.
“Tomorrow morning, sober and clearheaded, you decide what you want your life to be. Not what Anthony wants. Not what your father wants. Not what I want.”
“And if I come back?”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Then don’t come back confused.”
Sophia stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I won’t be your revenge.”
“I wouldn’t—”
“I won’t be something you use to punish him. And I won’t hide you in a house like something shameful.”
His thumb brushed away one tear.
“If you choose me, Sophia, you choose me knowing exactly what it costs.”
“The families.”
“Yes.”
“The alliance.”
“Yes.”
“Anthony.”
“He’ll survive disappointment.”