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Catherine Fischer, I’ve loved you since the day we met…Felt like a good one, but if she was ill and heaving, she might not appreciate the grandness of my romantic gesture.
Christ, the elevator was slow. There should have been a law against this. Was I even moving? I needed it to fucking move.
I didn’t know what to expect as the elevator pinged and the doors slid open. It seemed most of these fancy places either went for wood and expensive carpet and tiles or metal and glass, but it all faded as my eyes landed on the last thing I expected to see when I was coming to confess my love to the woman of my dreams.
My heart tumbled, free-falling and landing with a broken thud as Dom’s gaze crashed into mine.
Fucking Dom, pretty, perfect, handsome Dom, was leaning against her open door in black jeans, muscles pushing on his maroon shirt, waiting for me. Arms and legs crossed, all smiles and dimples, hanging out like one of those fucking celebrities so up themselves there’s no point talking to them.
All I needed was to get through the door and see that she was okay. I didn’t need this. I just wanted to hold her, and then I could calm down and start calling her out on her shit.
“You took your time,” Dom said bluntly, his face giving nothing away.
How the fuck was I meant to have it out with her when he was here already? Of course he was. Why wouldn’t he be? Even after everything she had said and done to me, if she really was still with him, he would be the first person she called, the one she relied on, the one she leant on when she was weak. I tried to hold back the surge of empty disappointment. It meant it wasn’t me. Because I had no idea she was ill. I knew nothing about her life apart from those brief glimpses at parties and meetings and the explosive lovemaking.
Fuck me, did that hurt. Had she even thought of calling me? Did it matter that she looked at me with love and tenderness as she made me come around her fingers if she didn’t need me when she was most vulnerable?
I held my head high and strode towards him. Dom could tell me anything about her, but I wouldn’t believe him until I saw her myself.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snarled.
I felt like I’d been caught. Even though I was sure she didn’t love him the way she loved me, I couldn’t stop the sliver of doubt that made me wonder what the real story was.
He stood back, clearing the doorway as I stepped forward. He smirked, like he knew something I didn’t, and it pissed me off.
“She’s still asleep.” Dom nodded over his shoulder. “Most of the fever has burned off, but her brother says it’ll still be a day or two before she’s back on her feet.”
My brain needed a second to catch up. Why was he acting like it was normal for me to be here?
“She’s really ill?”
Dom lifted his eyebrows as he sighed. “What? You thought she was faking it to avoid you or something?” I looked at him, surprised. I guess it was obvious. “Oh, dear. Poor Max.” He grinned. “Her life doesn’t revolve around you. You know that, right?”
This was throwing me off. I thought he’d be mad, not sarcastic. He wasn’t even telling me to leave. Had Cat already told him about us? Part of me hoped she’d broken it off sometime between the choking and the launch party and had spent the past two weeks awaiting my arrival.
“Are you just letting me in?”
Dom shook his head. “I’m not happy about it. But she wants to see you.” He shrugged, unfolding his arms and pushing at the door. “I need to get to the office, and it’s better if someone is with her. Besides.” He looked back through the door. “Maybe it will give you two a chance to finally sort things out.”
“You’re serious?” I scanned his eyes for any sign of a joke.
I didn’t think it would be this easy. Did he really not see me as a threat?
“If you keep on questioning me, I’ll lock the door behind me. It’s up to you. Are you going in or not?”
I wouldn’t argue, no matter how weird this was.
Dom gripped my shoulder as I tried to pass him, bringing me to a halt, his cold blue eyes boring into me. “A warning, Max.” I flinched, stopped in my tracks. He continued. “If you so much as put a foot wrong, there’s an entire army of people out there who could end you, and they know how to hide bodies. Am I clear?”
His voice was steady and low, and I didn’t doubt a word he said.
He released me as I nodded, clapping me on the back before sauntering towards the elevators.
I watched him leave, confused as ever but willing to let it go. Weirder stuff had happened, and she was inside, waiting. That was all that mattered.
I had to tread carefully. This was unexplored territory. This wasn’t a ball or her office. I was walking into her domain. The tight, cosy living room was scattered with a mishmash of lamps, vases, and strange figurines I knew she’d picked up on a stroll through Camden market. I hadn’t seen her home since we lived together before, but as I stepped inside, I noticed she still kept pictures of her family everywhere — photos of Christmases, holidays, birthdays, her with all five of her family members at different ages throughout her life. I’d forgotten how much she treasured her family, but seeing the pictures reminded me of how difficult she found the first year away in Oxford and how deeply it must have hurt to find those same photos defiled.
It was one of the hundreds of reasons I was so confused when she vanished. Because she went to London every other weekend to visit her family, and she’d encouraged me to sign the contract so she could see us both every weekend instead of splitting her time between me and them.
