Page 172 of The Scandal You Started
Her orgasm didn’t crest with intensity. It was still sharp enough over the ache in her chest, but it was short. It didn’t linger as Dominic came inside her but rather collapsed with his body on top of hers. An empty end to something that had been about far more than pleasure.
Just like them.
This was their ending.
And they mourned it. Cradling each other as they cried, while he stayed buried inside her.
Chapter 49
Rayna
Something startled Rayna awake the next morning. A noise that broke through the barrier between reality and her mind, causing her eyes to fly open.
Sunlight faintly seeped through the curtains at her back, the AC was off, the blanket tangled around her knees, and Dominic’s T-shirt had ridden up past her shorts. But the space next to her was empty.
Dominic was no longer in bed with her.
Maybe it was her subconscious mind reacting to the situation they were in, or because she’d gotten so used to waking up next to him, but her gut tangled at the wrongness of an empty bed, and her pulse quickened.
She threw herself upright, but her sudden movement flittered something on Dominic’s pillow.
A folded piece of paper.
Rayna stretched forward to flick the lamp on. Then she grabbed the paper and opened it up.
To my dearest love,
Forgive me, for I lied to you.
I am not returning on the morrow. I am returning today, right now. Likely while you are reading this. River collected me from the farmhouse, and Victor will help me return. But please, my love, do not resent them for it. They only did what I asked them to.
I could not admit it, but you were right. I cannot belong in your time like this. History will not permit it. But more than anything, it is hurting you, and I cannot allow that. I do not wish to hurt you, so I am leaving. While you sleep, because saying goodbye would mean accepting everything between us has come to an end, and I cannot bring myself to do that.
But I leave with you all my love, and in return, I will take with me everything you taught me, all your kisses, the sound of your laughter, and the part of your heart you trusted me with.
I love you, Rayna, and memory or no memory, I will always, always love you.
Do not ever forget me.
Forever yours,
Dominic
Ice-cold dread began crystallising through Rayna’s fingers as her heart slowed and the room, the words on the page, spun before her eyes.
No…no…no.
He’d gone. He’d left.
Without telling her.
This wasn’t what was…this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
A distressed sound broke out of her as she crumpled the paper in her hands.
How could he do this to her? He wasn’t meant to up and leave while she slept! He wasn’t meant to disappear. Not like this, not yet. They were meant to have one more day together, so why now? She…she wasn’t ready. She hadn’t said goodbye.
She didn’t want him to leave.
