to his ear. A second later, Dom grips it and drops all pretense walking toward me in a blur just as I light the bottle and toss it down in the puddle of gasoline. Dom lunges, but the flash of flames separate us, giving me just enough time to dash to my Jeep. Dominic reaches the hood, slamming his fists on it just as I peel out. My heart hammers wildly against my chest as I race down the roads, screaming as I beat my hands against the wheel.
And under the cover of night, I disappear.
I arrive home near dawn, feeling safe enough to avoid any visitors so I can make my exit. Limbs heavy, back stinging, I’m exhausted from hours of driving aimlessly, my body sore from countless minutes spent staring into the dark road ahead, directionless. I have no idea what it’s going to take to move on from here, but I’m leaving. Not tomorrow, or the day after, now.
I have the money.
I’ve lost my fucking sanity for it, but it’s over. This ends today. The toxicity of the relationships I’ve formed is making me venomous. I’m so far from the girl who pulled up to this house a year ago.
Securing the house, I set the alarm, knowing that anyone who wants inside can and will get to me. Walls and doors mean nothing to these men, and at this point, I’m sure none of them will stop me from leaving. Because maybe now they see me as a poison too. We’ve hurt and betrayed each other. There’s no coming back from that. And Tobias’s absence, his silence, only confirms that once again, I’ve played the fool. I might not know what love is, but I now know what it isn’t.
I push all thoughts of Tobias away as I pull the packed suitcase from beside my bed and begin loading another. I should have been packed before I hit the garage, but I was too angry to come up with a better plan. Instead, I counted on arriving home at the late hour, expecting that anyone looking for me would give up when they saw I didn’t return home. It’s when I hear the disarm of the front door that I know that my plan backfired.
I’m not alone.
Fear cripples me as I stand in the center of my bedroom, waiting. Never did I fear these men before, and never did I ever think they would hurt me.
Nor did I think they would push back over a couple of tires.
Okay, a lot of tires. Every tire in the parking lot.
Tires that will cost them a small fortune to replace. In the grand scheme of things, it was a psycho ex-girlfriend move. And that spectacle made me look like the guilty one when I’m anything but. But who marks a woman without their consent?
Lunatics in a power struggle. I’m forever branded because of them, because of their selfishness.
I blink and see Dominic standing in the threshold of my bedroom. A gun tucked in his waistband with the tip of a silencer attached to the end of it.
A silencer.
Swallowing, I eye it and take a step back, and he holds his hands up.
“Cee,” he shakes his head as if my reaction is ridiculous. “Come on.”
I’d shown my ass tonight, made myself look unstable. Unreliable. Emotional. A liability.
“I’ll pay for them. All of them. I-I was angry.” I take another step back, and he chuckles incredulously before pulling the gun out of his jeans. I hear the thump of it land on the stairs as he makes his way into the bedroom. “No gun, okay?”
“W-what are you doing here?”
He eyes my suitcases and then brings his silver gaze back to me. I can’t control the shake that overtakes me, nor the panic that starts to rapidly consume me.
“I’ll pay for them, Dom. I swear. I won’t say anything. I’m leaving, see?” I nod toward my suitcases.
“Come on, Cecelia,” he scoffs. “Really?”
“I was angry. But I d-didn’t t-tell anyone.”
“Why are you shaking?”
“I can’t believe anything you say,” I eye my cell phone where it sits on my nightstand, and he shakes his head dubiously.
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I don’t know you.”
“Yes, you fucking do. You know me,” his tone is guttural, full of disappointment, and it throws me.
“Now you care about me? A few hours ago, you looked at me like I meant nothing to you.”
He blows out an exasperated breath. “Well, I’m a bit fucking ripped up at the moment. And