Page 71 of Between Love & Ruin

He laughs, but it’s forced.

“Are you threatening me?”

“I’m warning you.”

“And if I ever hear you speak about her the way you did again, I’ll rip your tongue out before you get another chance.” I smile, knowing fully well I would love to do that.

I am not so up for violence, but for her, I would do even the most unimaginable things.

His breathing catches before he scoffs in my face.

“You think I’m joking?”

“I think you’re used to saying things without consequences.”

I stand and walk toward the window overlooking the city.

“That ends today. You should be less worried about what I’ll do to your body, Mark. You should be more worried about what I’m about to do to the life you’ve built.”

I don’t wait to hear his shitty voice again, choosing to hang up that very moment.

I know he is going to lose his shit now. And he will lose everything the moment I take control in the company he is working in.

Nobody gets away with hurting my woman.

I will always make sure of that.

Sienna Hayes

Dominic did something. I just know it.

I grit my teeth as I press the block button on the contact number. I should have done it a long time ago, the moment we broke up, actually. But I was too caught up in my own feelings to think about the breakup.

But as I stare at Mark’s one last message, I realize what a headache it has been to be with him. The message that says, “Don’t show me your face ever again.”

I was never even planning to go and show him “my face,” but now that I know it will piss him off, I am tempted to do exactly that.

I rub a hand over my face. I am slowly becoming as annoying as Dominic, and I don’t think I like it.

I don’t even know why he thought it was a good idea to contact Mark and “threaten” him, as Mark put it. I don’t believe him for a second because Dominic doesn’t strike me as the violent type. But he did call him, and I don’t like it.

“It’s kind of hot, isn’t it?” Laura says from the other side of the phone, and I roll my eyes. She was the first person I called once Dominic left. She and Summer were getting worried when they got to know I broke up with Mark and I needed some validation to know what I did wasn’t wrong.

Deep down, I know what I did wasn’t wrong, but why do I still feel so guilty? Laura says it’s because the timeline of me meeting Dominic overlaps everything. But I didn’t plan on falling for him—it just happened.

Maybe it was always supposed to be this way. Maybe Dominic was always meant to be my anchor.

“It’s not, are you crazy?” I ask, taking my bag and giving myself a once over in the mirror. I need to go shopping soon because I brought only limited clothes for this “work trip,” and now I have to borrow some of Dominic’s oversized t-shirts. She teases, and I know she finds all of this amusing, but I am the least entertained.

I have no problem with Dominic stating that we are together. We may not have put a label on our relationship, but sooner or later it will happen. But I don’t know how to feel about him “marking his territory.” I am not a property.

“Well, I am not his property to be marked,” I tell her too. “I need to put some sense into his thick skull if he thinks that way.”

“Good luck doing that,” she chuckles. “Because from what I know Dominic Wolfe isn’t going to let you go from his clutches.”

* * *

“Where’s Mr. Wolfe?” I ask the office receptionist once I walk in his prestigious building.