I Survived His Enemies But Not His Love For Another Woman Chapter 02
Word gets out fast that Dominic and I are done. The rumors spread through every family in New York like gasoline on a lit match.
“Honestly, Dominic was never going to wife up damaged goods like her.”
“I heard he’s got Mia locked down tight. Twenty-four-seven protection. Personal detail. Did Sera ever get that kind of treatment? Not even close.”
“Of course not. Back then he only went to war for her because the Valentino family still had pull. Now that they’re barely hanging on, who’s going to claim a woman like that?”
Every single word finds its way back to me.
I remember when it first happened to me, some trust-fund kid from one of the old families cracked a joke about it at a poker game.
The next day, Dominic’s people dismantled his father’s entire shipping operation.
Then Dominic cornered the kid in a parking garage and broke two of his ribs with his bare hands.
He only said one thing.
“I traded a leg for that woman. You think you get to run your mouth about her?”
After that, nobody in this city said a goddamn word.
He built a wall around me. Kept every whisper, every pitying look, every cruel rumor on the other side where it couldn’t touch me.
Now the man who built that wall has torn it down with his own hands. And everything I was most afraid of, all those vicious, gutting whispers, they’re coming at me from every direction like knives.
The rumors are still picking up steam when Dominic brings Mia to the Commission sit-down.
This is the inner circle. The room where families settle blood debts and carve up territory. No outsiders. No women. Ever.
The only reason I have a seat at that table is because my father traded half his empire for it.
Mia just walks right in. Like it costs her nothing.
I sit there. I don’t say a word.
She’s tucked against Dominic’s side, glancing over at me every few seconds with this little smirk she can barely contain.
Then the projector screen at the front of the room flickers on.
It was showing some scenic loop before. Coastline. Mountains. Background noise for men drinking scotch.
Now it’s showing me.
Eighteen years old. Tied to a chair. Terrified. Screaming.
Someone added subtitles. Filthy, degrading captions scrolling across the bottom like it’s entertainment.
“No wonder Dominic dropped her. She really did get used up.”
“God, that’s disgusting.” Mia says it loud enough for the whole room to hear. Then she turns and smiles right at me.
Every ounce of rage and humiliation I’ve ever buried alive explodes at once.
“Rip her fucking mouth off!” I’m screaming at Tessa before I even know the words are out. My finger aimed straight at Mia’s face.
Tessa moves immediately. But before her hand can touch Mia, Dominic is already on his feet.
He kicks Tessa so hard she slams into the wall.
Then he crosses the room in one stride, stands right in front of me, raises his hand.
The slap cracks across my face like a gunshot.
My ears ring. My vision goes black at the edges. I nearly hit the floor.
Dominic is standing over me, pointing back at the screen where that video is still playing on loop.
Those eyes that used to look at me with so much tenderness, so much ache, now there’s nothing in them but cold disgust and blind fury.
“Sera, haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?!”
Embarrassed.
My cheek is on fire. My mouth tastes like blood.
But none of it hurts as much as what’s happening inside my chest.
That video is the worst moment of my life. It happened because of him. Because his enemies came for me to get to him. I suffered that so he could survive.
And his new woman just played it for a room full of made men like it was a party trick. And all he can say is that I’m an embarrassment?
Something inside me turns to ash. Gone.