Page 80 of Bound in Ruin

He sat right beside me, holding my hand, playing the stoic protector, while holding the absolute truth in his palm. He watched me bleed emotionally and chose to keep quiet just to serve his own agenda.

I scoff, wiping my face aggressively with the back of my hand, a hollow, painful ache settling deep in my ribs.

And the courtroom today... God, I had been such an absolute fool. When Judge Sterling delivered the ruling, when Dante lost his mind and Dominic held my face in his warm hands, I had actually believed him. I had looked into his eyes and thought, finally someone is fighting for me.

It was all strategy. It was all just him clearing the board so he could claim his ultimate prize.

"I care about you now," he had insisted, dropping to his knees as if that single confession could rewrite the foundation of poison he built us on.

I close my eyes, squeezing them shut against the memory of his raw, desperate voice. Part of me—the weak, desperate part of me that has craved genuine love for my entire life—wants so badly to believe him.

But how can I? How can I trust a man who played chess with my absolute worst trauma?

He told me he wasn't like Luciano. He told me he wasn't like my father.

But as I sit alone in the dim light of this massive, empty room, stroking Yapper's soft ears while my heart bleeds out in my chest, I can't tell where their shadows end and his begins.

I fumble for my phone on the nightstand, my fingers trembling so violently I almost drop it onto the floor.

For as long as I can remember, I have been the pillar. I was the older sister who smoothed out the wrinkles, who swallowed her own terror to shield the rest of them, who smiled through the bruises so they wouldn't have to carry the weight of our family's sickness. I hid my pain until it bled into my soul because protecting them was the only thing that gave my life purpose.

But right now, the weight is too heavy. I am drowning, and if I don't reach out, I will go under completely. They are the only people in this terrifying, corrupt world I can trust explicitly. The only blood that hasn't and will never betray me.

My shaky thumb taps on Eleonora’s name first.

It barely rings twice before the line connects.

"Rosalia?" Eleonora's voice comes through the speaker, light and warm. "Hey, how did the⁠—"

"Hello?" I manage to choke out.

The silence on her end is instantaneous. "Rosalia? What's wrong? You sound... God, are you crying? What's happening?"

"I... I need to add everyone," I whisper, my throat tight as a sob threatens to claw its way out. "Hold on. Let me add the rest of the girls."

"Okay, okay, take a breath. I'm right here."

My hands shake as I quickly merge the calls, bringing Sienna, Daniela, and Camilla into the line one by one.

Within seconds, the quiet of the room is replaced by a chorus of confused, overlapping voices.

"Rosalia? Why is everyone on the line?" Sienna asks, her tone immediately sharp with suspicion.

"Did everything go okay with the trial?" Daniela chimed in, rustling papers in the background. "Wait, did something happen with Dominic?"

"Guys, what's going on?" Camilla’s soft voice cuts through, laced with instant anxiety. "Rosalia, talk to us. You're scaring me. Did Dante do anything? That bastard.”

"Everyone, stop," Eleonora interrupts, her voice carrying a quiet, commanding authority that cuts right through the noise. "Quiet down. It seems Rosalia has something to say."

The line drops into a tense silence.

I pull Yapper closer into my lap, pressing the phone tight against my ear as tears fall freely down my cheeks. I close my eyes, take a ragged, trembling breath, and finally let the fortress I built fall apart.

"We won the trial today," I start, my voice cracking down the middle. "But... but Dominic..."

And just like that, the floodgates collapse.

I tell them everything.