Page 56 of Down Knot Out
“When did you receive this?” he demands.
“A few days ago.” My hands twist in the blanket. “It came in the mail. They know where I am. They’ve probably known all along where to find me.”
“Is this what’s been bothering you the past couple of weeks?” His brow furrows. “Why didn’t you tell us? Tell me?”
The questions aren’t accusatory, but they still cut deep.
“I needed to sort through my feelings first.” I hug the pillow tighter, though it offers little comfort. “I spent ten years believing I wasn’t a Sinclair, Dom. Ten years of picking up all the pieces of who I thought I was and building a new life around that knowledge. Finding out my mother falsified my registration, that I’ve been lied to by everyone…”
I take a shaky breath. “It’s like every time I think I’ve figured things out, like I can move forward, the ground gets ripped out from under me and puts me back at rock bottom.”
Understanding softens his features, and he sets the phone aside to reach for my hand.
“I don’t know how to feel about any of this,” I continue, “I was already struggling after what happened with Louie. And now I don’t know what this means for who I am. Who I’ve been all this time.”
His thumb traces slow circles on my wrist, a grounding touch that gives me courage.
“When my mom ambushed me at the doctor’s office, she told me—” My breath catches, and I swallow hard “She told me my real father rejected the pregnancy. That he wanted nothing to do withme from the beginning. That she listed Augustus as my father, but he’d never been Alpha enough to impregnate her.”
I give him a helpless look. “What does that even mean? His older brother is impotent, so does it run in the family, and he just didn’t realize it? But, for whatever reason, she had an affair within the Sinclair pack, and that man didn’t want me.”
Dominic’s scent flares again, protective and fierce. “Chloe, you can’t believe anything Vivian says. She’ll manipulate you to get whatever she can. You know that.”
“I do.” Tears blur my vision. “Logically, I do. But emotionally? She hit every one of my insecurities, and then there’s this letter, asking me to come discuss my ‘inheritance’ and ‘rightful place’ in the pack. After I spent my entire adult life thinking I had neither.”
He shifts closer, his arm sliding around my shoulders to pull me to his side. “Why would they reach out now? After all this time?”
“They must have found out about my updated registration.” I rest my head on his shoulder, drawing comfort from his steady presence. “This is their preemptive attack.”
“And this is how they do it?” His lips brush my temple. “Fucking assholes.”
“Yeah. Fucking assholes.” A tear slips down my cheek, followed by another. “I’m so tired, Dom. Tired of being used. By Vivian, by the Sinclairs, by Louie. By Simon, whoever he really is. I’m tired of being a pawn in games I never agreed to play.”
Dominic cups my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away my tears with gentle strokes. “You’re not a pawn, Chloe. You’re the queen. The most powerful piece on the board. And it’s time everyone recognized that.”
The analogy draws a watery laugh from me. “I don’t feel very powerful right now.”
“You are. Look how much you’ve endured, and you keep moving forward despite all of them.” A purr rumbles from his chest and into me. “And you’re not alone anymore. Whatever you decide to do, I’m here. We’re all here.”
His hand slides up and down my spine in slow, soothing strokes, each pass easing the tension from my muscles. The steady rhythm of his heart beneath reminds me that this is what’s real, that despite everything the world has thrown between us, we’ve found our way back to each other.
“What do you want to do?” he asks finally, the question a gentle rumble beneath my ear. “About the lawyers, I mean.”
I take a moment to savor the last moment ofpeace before I have to face reality again. “I’m scared,” I admit, the words muffled by his skin. “But I think I need to meet with them and find out what they want.”
Dominic’s arms tighten around me, his chin resting on top of my head. “If that’s what you want to do, then we’ll do it.”
I pull back enough to search his expression for any hint of doubt or hesitation and find only steadfast resolve. “Simon keeps claiming my dad sent him. At the very least, meeting with the lawyers may get them to call off that psycho.”
“Maybe,” Dominic agrees, though he doesn’t sound convinced. “Or it could give us information about who he is and why he’s targeting you.”
The memory of Simon’s fingers around my wrist sends a shiver through me, and Dominic’s arms tighten with the promise of protection.
“So you think I should go?” I need his affirmation even though the decision is ultimately mine.
“I think you need answers, and this might be the only way to get them. But it’s your decision.” His palm cups my cheek, turning my face up to his. “If you decide you want nothing to do with the Sinclairs, we’ll do everything we can to force them to stay away.”
His thumb traces the curve of my cheekbone, the touch so gentle my heart hurts. How did I survive ten years without this? Without him?
