by Rina Kent
“What’s the matter?” Dominic asks, seeming to notice my agitation.
“I need to renew the shot.” Words tumble from my mouth in quick succession. “I got passed the thirtieth week. I can’t believe I forgot about it!”
He nods. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I ask, baffled. “I could be carrying your freaking baby right now and okay is all you offer?”
He leans in, a slight crease between his brows. “So?”
“So?!” I raise my voice, heat smothering my cheeks. Why the hell is he being so nonchalant about this? “I can’t have a baby with you!”
His face closes. Silence drops between us like a bomb. Only the chatter in the restaurant remains. Dominic slowly leans back, his voice stone cold. “Giving birth to the spawn of a sociopath would be a tragedy.”
A pang hits my chest. I was so harsh. Bordel. I’m overreacting. There’s probably no baby in the first place. I soften my tone, despite the panic still lurking inside me. “It’s not that I don’t want to have your kids. It’s that kids are like a huge responsibility.”
Seeming consoled by my statement, he appears thoughtful as he rubs his bottom lip. “You’re the most assertive person I know, Cam. I’m sure once you put your mind on something, you will be able to achieve it. If there’s a baby, I would never leave you alone. I’m not afraid of responsibility. If I have a child, I wouldn’t forfeit my right to be a father. I would never be the parents who abandoned me.”
My toes curl, and my heartbeat skyrockets. I never pictured Dominic as the parenting type, but after what he told me the other night, I see him under a different light.
He wouldn’t repeat what his parents have done to him. It wounded him to the point he turned his back on all of humanity.
But he never turned his back to me.
I’m certain he won’t if there’s a baby.
A flash crosses my mind. Dominic’s strong arms surrounding me from behind while we meet our baby for the first time. He’s smiling, happy to be a father, and the baby smiles back –
“You could always abort if you don’t want it.”
My foolish dream shatters. I gasp, placing a protective hand on my belly as if feeling my non-existent child. “I would never kill my flesh and blood.”
He smiles a little. “Even if it ruins your future?”
“It won’t. Many mothers study and raise their children. It will be hard, but I can do it.”
“I’m sure.”
“Just be careful when your future snobbish wife asks why you’re sending cheques to France.”
His eyes glint with mischievousness. “Is that so?”
My chest tightens. Just imagining another woman sleeping in his bed, being tied and punished and fucked senseless by him makes my blood boil.
She’ll be eating the breakfast he prepares and going on daily banters with him.
I hate his future wife. She’s such a bitch.
I seal the stab of jealousy and continue in a teasing tone. “Uh huh. I mean, I would have my French lawyer husband by then, but I would tell him about my unplanned pregnancy. Youth mistake and all that jazz. He’s so generous, he would raise my child as his own.”
“Or…” Dominic trails off, pauses like the tease he is, and then says, “There won’t be any snobbish wife and certainly no fucking French lawyer husband because you will be my wife and our child will be raised by both of us.”
If I were drinking anything, I would’ve choked by now. The waiter returns with my pasta and Dominic’s steak. Both of us fall silent, but Dominic is watching me with that challenging gaze. Like he’s daring me to counter him.
I recall what he told me this morning.
Don’t go back to France. Stay with me.
I ignored it because I thought it was a ruse of the-after-sex dopamine. But I was serious when I said I was falling in love with him so perhaps he meant what he said, too?
After all, he’s talking freaking marriage over a hypothetical baby right now.
Giddiness overtakes me. That balloon grows in my heart until I’m almost bursting with happiness.
Once the waiter is out of earshot, I place both elbows on the table and lean closer until my face is only inches away from Dominic’s. I’m not naive to think I would intimidate him, but I need to be as close as possible to read the changing in his eyes. At this distance, he’s downright edible. His intoxicating aftershave turns my head and shoots need to my core. Those lips are beckoning me for sin.
I rip my eyes from his mouth and focus on his eyes. “You meant it earlier?”
“When have I ever lied?”
“Oh, let me count.” I pretend to be thoughtful. “Access denied. It’s too many to count.”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
I pause. He hasn’t. He was always honest. “Maybe you did. How would I know?”
He lifts a shoulder, then smirks. “With my child growing in your womb and everything, you have to trust me on some level, don’t you think?”
“Dom! Are you serious or having some mind game?”
He closes the small distance and brushes his lips against mine. “Dead serious, Cam.”
I stagger backwards and fall limp against my seat.
He is serious.
There’s no mischievousness or calculations. He wants me to stay. My heart kind of grows wings and sears towards the burning sun.
I already thought I was in too deep for this man, but hell, I think I really am in love with him. Like, I can already see our baby girl – because, I’m totally having a girl – running and jumping around and Dom groaning and picking her up. I’ll be waiting for them with lots of kisses and…
The image shatters.
“I can’t stay,” I say with so much defensiveness that Dominic’s jaw clenches. So I quickly blurt, “I have to study. I can’t and won’t abandon my dreams and just be your baby mama while you’re out there being a hot shot doctor slash researcher slash every freaking title possible. Ten years from now, you may become the health minister. Hell. You can even strive to become the prime minister.”
“I never wanted you to quit your studies. Whoever suggests that is an absolute bastard with an inferiority complex.” He cuts his steak but doesn’t bring the piece of meat to his mouth. “Like your French lawyer.”
“Hey! I would meet the French lawyer in college. He’d cheer me on.”
“Until he realises you’re way smarter than him and develops an inferiority complex. He will start cheating on you with a dumb bimbo to feed off his male ego. You will eventually find out and your pride won’t allow you to stay with him. You will leave the sorry bastard in a heartbeat.” He’s being calm like all this scenario is a reality. It’s his way to erase the French lawyer idea from my mind, I’m sure.
“So I’m saving you time and stress. I would never ask you to choose between your dream and me.” He meets my gaze. “You can have both.”
My lips part. “How?”
“Study here. We have brilliant law schools in England.”
I mull Dominic’s words. The aromatic scent of pasta beckons me and I dive in. It’s divine. I didn’t realise I was this hungry. There’s a funny taste. Not sure if it’s the sauce or something else. Perhaps it’s this restaurant’s special spice.
On second thought, I’ve been detecting a similar taste in some of the takeouts I order when Dominic isn’t home.
While I take a mouthful of my pasta, I shake my head. “I love England, but I’m not interested in British law. I want to be an asset to my country.”
“A nerd and a patriot. How admirable.” His tone is detached. I’m sure he doesn’t find any of this admirable.
I pause eating. My head becomes lightheaded as if I drank alcohol. Weird. I focus on Dominic. “I can’t leave my parents. I might be a rebel, but that’s supposed to be just for the summer.” I sigh. “I miss them and I miss my reading spot at the top of the hill. You should come to see it. The view is magnifique.”
Dominic tak
es his sweet time chewing the piece of meat, seeming the most relaxed person on earth, but his shoulders stiffen. “Glad to be a good fling, Camille.”
I hate it when he calls me that. It’s like he’s building a wall between us.
I reach out and clutch his warm hand. “You’re not a fling. It started that way, but you shot right up.”
His gaze snaps my way. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re such a bastard who refuses to follow a ‘fling’ rules.”
His lips tug. “Rules were never my thing.”
“Figured.” I stroke the back of his hand with my thumb. “I meant it earlier. I am in love with you. I want to see where this goes. We will be in different countries but maybe –”
He removes his hand from under mine. “I won’t do the long distance thing. We’re too physical for that.”
My throat closes at the thought of not being able to touch him whenever I want. It’s torture.
“Give me time to think about it?” I ask. There needs to be a middle ground to all of this.
Definitely.
Hopefully.
Dominic pauses, to irritate me or to think, I have no idea. “I’m not the patient type.”
“Try for me.” I take his hand in mine again, lift it and kiss the palm. “Please.”
“If I wait, will the answer be favourable to me?”
“You can’t always have what you want, Dom.”
“Sure I can. I will only wait if the answer is yes.”
“Stop being so difficult and just try to be patient.”
“Depends. The answer will be yes, right?”
“Dom!”
“Instead of waiting…” he trails off, his voice darkening with both playfulness and seriousness. “I will marry you, chain you to my bed, fuck you, and put as many babies in you as possible. You will be bound to me for eternity and there will be no talk about any hypothetical fucking husbands.”
My jaw almost drops to the floor. I want that.
Why the hell do I want it so much? I’m barely stopping myself from snuggling in his lap and begging him for that picture he painted in my head.
When I remain speechless, Dominic sighs long and deep. “I guess I can try to be patient.”
“Merci!” I squeal, lean over and kiss him long and rough. I couldn’t care less about onlookers. The fact that Dominic is waiting for my answer causes happiness to bubble through me.
When I break away, he’s watching with a playful, but affectionate gleam. I dive back into my pasta with renewed gluttony.
“If someone sees you, they might think you’re eating for two.”
I roll my eyes. “Dom!”
“What? I’m currently praying you’re pregnant so I won’t have to be patient for long.”
“You’re the praying type now?”
“Hey, if it keeps you here, I will go to every church, mosque and temple and get down on my knees.”
“Wow. That’s some a commitment for the devil.”
“Devil? What devil?” He looks around with feigned innocence. “You said I’m the angel with the brightest halo, remember?”
My head tips back with a laugh. I love the easy banter between us. I don’t think I can get over it.
My mind is already filled with images of doing this every day. Dominic won’t be the easiest person to live with. He’s challenging. His mind is wired differently. He will always try to sneak his way around. But I love that and more about him.
Papa said my love for sharp edges can lead to my doom, but I’m ready to take the risk with Dominic. I never liked normal, and this man is as far away from normal as possible.
I’m about to counter with something smart when darkness shrouds my vision. I blink, but the black won’t go. My ears break in a long buzz. My body shakes and Dominic turns blurry.
“Cam!”
Strong arms surround me, but I’m falling. I can’t feel my legs or arms, but I’m falling.
Down.
Down.
Down...
“Dom… I don’t feel so… g-good…” Even my words are slurred as if I have speech-impairment.
The waiter from earlier is watching me with a slight smirk. I recognise him. The taxi driver that gave me the creeps the first time I went to Dominic’s flat
I try to clutch Dominic’s bicep harder, tell him to run, but I don’t get a chance.
The world goes black.
23
Hades
By now, you might be wondering, who the hell is Hades? What happened to that beautiful French girl who’s making Dominic Johnson get out of his mind?
All that in good time.
Now, grab a seat and listen well, because this will be important.
There’s an old saying: every story needs a good old-fashioned villain. You might have thought Dominic Johnson is the villain for this story. After all, he’s mean, manipulative and a liar.
He was supposed to remain that way, but he screwed it up somewhere.
Specifically, since that girl now lying unconscious on the chair came into his life. I can’t have his mind off the game.
I’m starting a lucrative business that will give me and my investors a shit load of money. Like any businessman, I recruited the best to be founding members of my company, The Pit.
Johnson is one of the best. In fact, he’s a genius. Stress, anxiety, and doubts don’t faze him.
Just in the span of a few years, he went through three versions of a drug that I need in my business’s startup formula. I invested in his research that was initially a way to counter immunity deficiencies for abandoned children.
Something he can relate to. I agreed with his reasoning at first. As long as he thinks I’m a benefactor, it works for both of us.
Type Alpha, the first version of the drug – that Johnson likes to call a medicine – killed all the mice. Type Beta had severe side effects, and therefore, Johnson refused to test it on humans. Now, there’s Type Omega that Johnson needs to test on prospect subjects I selected for this project.
Fifty children. Their ages vary between 7 to 12 years old. Homeless. Abandoned. Unwanted. Thrown away. Street Urchins. People call it kidnapping, but I saved them from their miserable lives. I gave them a home. A warm meal and a bed. They will be the founding members of my assassination company.
Loyalty is everything in the underground world. I don’t want mere hit men, mercenaries, or ex-military. I want children raised and toughened how I like. Type Omega will strengthen their abilities and keep them loyal to me.
That’s why we’re here.
I have to ensure the fucking doctor keeps his part of the deal.
I stroll to where Johnson is checking his French woman’s pulse and shouting to call an ambulance.
Only there’s no one.
I made sure the restaurant is emptied before I came in.
Johnson lifts his head and freezes upon seeing me. He slowly straightens and shields the girl from my view as if that will save her.
If I want her dead, nothing will keep her alive.
He had so much potential to be like me, but he allowed himself a weakness.
Killing her won’t bring results. Using his feelings for her will.
I’ve been watching since I sensed his interest in her and knew she’d become handy.
And I always make lucrative investments.
Weakness is our doom. I left my family and changed my name so no one recognises me. The man from the past was a weakling.
Phoenixes rise from the ashes. Or, in my case, a devil.
Hades was born and Hades will stop at nothing for power. I’m building my own underground empire, which starts with The Pit.
The Pit relies on Johnson’s Type Omega.
I won’t only force him to test the drug on the subjects, but I’ll also make him continue his research in case he can come up with a stronger variation.
My strides are relaxed as I sit down on where Johnson’s chair. I stretch my legs in front of me, cross them
at the ankles and interlace my fingers.
“What have you done?” Although the veins in his neck are about to burst open, Johnson tries to keep his tone as detached as possible. He knows I would use any anger or emotions against him. Either he’s not trying hard enough to mask his feelings or his care for the girl is that strong.
He advances towards me, slow, intending to intimidate me. Nero appears from around the corner. He’s dressed as a waiter today and helped in spiking the girl’s food and keeping a watch on her all this time. He stands by my side. His stance is wide and his bulky arms are crossed behind his back.
He’s my right hand and a mercenary. A strong one. He will help me build a stronger army with the fifty children and Type Omega.
Johnson doesn’t stop until he’s a short distance away. He’s not intimidated by Nero. Johnson isn’t the type to be intimidated, but he’s stupid enough to show his weakness for a girl. He might’ve as well announced it in the Daily Mail.
“I said. What the fuck have you done to her?” he grits out, resting one tense hand on the table in front of me.
“Nothing major.” I pause to gauge his expression. “Yet.”
He manages to keep his face in control, but the hand lying by his side clenches into a fist. He soon unclenches it.
“What do you want, Hades?”
Always to the point. That’s what I like about Johnson. He’s the right type of genius to build my assassins’ army. Once they’re old enough to be killers for hire, they will be mines of gold.
“We’ll start testing Omega,” I say. “No more stalling.”
“I’m still studying the side effects –”
“Since when did you become an ethics’ police?”
He works his jaw and steals another look at the girl as if to make sure she’s fine. Weak fuck.
“I wouldn’t have agreed to your investment if I had ethics, but I will not put kids’ lives in danger.”
“You’re not putting them in danger. You’re saving them, Johnson. They would’ve died in the streets and became another statistic. Another government fuck up, but we’re doing them a favour. We’re giving them a chance to strengthen their weak bodies, aren’t we?”
Johnson is silent for a moment. “I need more time for this to be safe –”