Page 83 of The Devil's Deal

I wonder where he is right now. He’s avoided me since the incident yesterday. I haven’t seen him since then. I ate alone, watched TV, sat out by the pool fully clothed, and read a book I took from his library.

It was a political thriller.

Kind of fitting, except no heroine was kidnapped in that story. But she also didn’t get the most amazing orgasms from her kidnapper. Not sure who the lucky bitch between us is.

Last night, I only slept two hours when a dream—or maybe I should call it a nightmare—woke me up. In it, Brian held me in his arms, whispering adoration as I smiled with my back to him.

But then I woke up sweating, realizing my lust has now permeated my own sense of reality.

That man doesn’t exist. He never will. He’s a villain in my story, not a hero to crave.

If I were ever to marry anyone, it’d have to be someone as strong as him. Someone who’s not afraid of my father. But he’d actually have to like me first. Kind of hard to fall in love with someone when you’re so busy hating the person, and when they despise you in return.

What would I know about love anyway? I never even had a boyfriend when I was young. My father scared every last one away.

My hand inadvertently slips to my neck, where half of that friendship necklace I gave Dom used to sit. The day Brian took me, I forgot to put it on. It’s still at home. I hope it’s still there.

Dom, I miss you so much.

It hurts to think about him. Even saying his name is painful. Our friendship was once so real, I thought it would last forever. But then he disappeared, leaving me with a gaping hole. To this day, I wonder, are they alive? Or are they dead?

I think my father had something to do with their disappearance, the same way I know he was involved in my mother’s too. He somehow has a hand in everything he claims to know nothing about. When I asked him about Dom, he swore to not know anything, claiming he heard Dom’s dad owed lots of money to the bank for the bakery and probably fled.

I didn’t buy it. Dom would’ve found a way to contact me, even years down the line. Often I wonder if he still thinks about me like I do him.

As soon as we met back in third grade, we gravitated toward one another like stars born from the same galaxy. It didn’t matter that we came from very different tracks or that our families would never get along. All of that never stopped our friendship from only getting stronger.

From the day he sat next to me in the lunchroom—a lonely girl with no real friends and a boy who wore his heart in his eyes—we were inseparable. He was my Dom, and I loved him…as a friend at first.

But the night he disappeared was the night I planned to tell him that my feelings for him were blooming into more. We were only thirteen, but I guess as I matured, my feelings for him did too.

The unknown still eats at me. Even with fifteen years between us, I think about him all the time and the man he is today. I bet he’s a good one. Someone who loves fiercely and protects his family. I’m sure he has kids and treats them as sweetly as he did his brother Matteo.

I miss that little boy so much. We had a special bond, he and I. They were all like my extended family.

It’s better to think about Dom happy somewhere instead of dead. I’ve done all I can to find him, searching online for any breadcrumbs, but I’ve come up empty-handed. If they’re alive, it’s as though they’ve vanished.

I’m sure if Dom knew what Brian has done to me, he’d find a way to kill him. Dom was never athletic when I knew him. He was a skinny, short boy, but with his determination, he could’ve taken anyone on. I truly believe that.

And those eyes…he had the greenest ones you’d ever see. They were breathtaking.

When he looked at me, I felt like the most important person in the world. I wonder if he still looks the same.

He was always kind too. Not just to me, but to everyone he met. Dom was like his parents in that way. They were the sweetest couple.

I stare at the white ceiling, fighting the memories of my past. The good ones with Dom, the bittersweet ones with Mom, it’s all there within my mind, tormenting me.

It’s hard to think about those days when I’m trapped with a man who might kill me. With him, it’s difficult to know. I think he’s deceitful enough to make me think he won’t hurt me, but at the same time, I don’t think he’d hesitate to pull the trigger if he needed to. Wanting to fuck me isn’t really a reason to keep me alive. He can do that and then dispose of me.

Closing my eyes, I will myself to sleep, but just when I’m about to get comfortable, the loud screeching of tires has me jolting to a sitting position, knees tucked to my chest.

What the hell?

Jumping out of bed, I head for the window. A woman’s high-pitched laughter filters through as I part the curtains. Brian has her up against the hood of his car, her long black hair spilling to one side, and the micro-mini hot-pink dress leaves very little to the imagination.

My heart instantly squeezes, and a cold shudder runs down my spine. My stomach turns at the sight of him with someone else.

He isn’t yours.

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