Chapter 31: Chapter 31
Dominic dragged a long puff from the cigarette he held, letting the smoke blur the dusk like a veil over his face.
The balcony glass door was open behind him, letting in a faint breeze, but it did nothing to cool the wildfire that had settled into his bones.
His time with Grigor was counting.
Celeste’s marriage to Landon was getting closer.
Everything was closing in on him, tightening like a rope around his neck. He hated the air tonight. He hated the way it clung to him with ghosts and guilt and things unsaid.
He wanted to ruin everything.
He wanted to walk into that fucking brunch, say it all out loud, and set fire to the illusion. Burn it down with every expectation they ever piled on him. Just so he could finally choose her.
But even if he could, he wouldn’t. He won’t be able to stand the look in Celeste’s eyes if he does. She wouldn’t understand why he was choosing cruelty over honesty.
He couldn’t stand the way her eyes would splinter if he did.
So instead, he paraded around the house after that stupid, performative brunch, dragging his feet through familiar halls he grew up in, wearing his indifference like a shield.
He ignored the staff, ignored Landon’s stupid messages about Celeste, and even ignored his own reflection when he passed the hallway mirror.
A voice stopped him in his tracks. Rapsy and warm.
"You’re walking like your father again."
He turned slowly.
Nana sat by the fireplace. A silk blanket was draped over her knees, with her hands clasped like she was holding something delicate between them.
Her bones were thinner now. Her cheekbones are sharper. But her eyes? They were still as commanding as ever.
"Nana."
"Dom." She patted the space beside her. "Sit with me."
He didn’t move.
"I won’t bite," she added. "Not today."
Dominic exhaled, stubbed out the cigarette on a porcelain tray, and walked over. His long frame folded onto the couch beside her like a reluctant wolf curling beside its dying master.
He didn’t say anything.
For a while, neither did she.
The fire crackled.
"Did you love her?" she asked finally. Her voice was so soft it could’ve been mistaken for memory.
Dominic looked straight ahead. "Who?"
Nana smiled like she’d been expecting that answer. He had always been expected to push questions away tactically.n
"You know who."
He stayed silent.
Nana turned to him slowly. "You always were like this. Holding everything in, and you’re always thinking silence would protect you."
"It has," he replied coolly.
"Has it?" she asked, not unkindly. "Because to me, it just looks like loneliness wearing a suit."
He didn’t answer.
She leaned back, drawing the blanket up to her chest. "Dominic. I’m dying."
He blinked, his jaw tightening. He didn’t look at her. He stared into the fire. "You don’t have to say it like that."
"But it’s true. You think I haven’t counted the days? You think I don’t see the way the nurses fuss more now? Or the way my doctor avoids my eyes when she says ’let’s wait and see’?"
"I see it," Dominic said, his voice low. "That doesn’t mean I want to hear it."
She smiled faintly. "Then maybe you’ll listen to this instead. I want to see you happy before I go."
Her heart trembled. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw him smile. She misses her little boy.
She pushed the marriage between Celeste and Landon forward so he’d make a move but from the look of things, he still hasn’t said or done anything.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew what Landon did to Celeste. Words got to her, but she had to act like she knew nothing. For him. Yet this.
"I thought if you watched her stand beside Landon long enough, you’d finally reach for her. But maybe I was wrong."
A sharp breath escaped him. He rose, paced toward the fireplace, and stared down into the flames.
"You think happiness is something I’m looking for?"
"I think it’s something you’ve already found. You’re just too afraid to keep it."
He turned, leaning an arm on the mantle. "If this is about Celeste—"
"Of course it’s about Celeste," Nana snapped, fire flickering in her voice. "You think I don’t see the way you look at her? Like she’s the first air you’ve had in years?"
"She’s marrying Landon."
"She’s not in love with Landon."
"That’s not the point."
She tilted her head. "Then what is?"
Dominic swallowed the truth like acid. "She’s light," he said finally. "And I’m not. I don’t want to take a beautiful girl, and then taint her with myself."
"That’s your excuse?"
"No. That’s the reality." He looked away. "I’ve done things, Nana. You know I have. Things that don’t get washed off just because a woman looks at you like she believes in more."
"She should look at you like that." She said softly. "You’re human. And even if you’re a monster, you deserve equal amount of love from the world,"
"She shouldn’t."
"Then why do you look at her like you’re starving?" she questioned. "You should have entirely stared away from her if you thought you were this unworthy,"
He didn’t reply.
Nana let out a long breath and leaned her head back. "Do you have a woman?"
He stared at her sharply. "What?" the question left his lips like she just asked him a taboo question.
"A woman," she repeated, as if that word alone had the power to either save or damn him. "Someone. Anyone since you don’t want Celeste,"
He gave a short, bitter laugh. "No."
"But there is a woman." She took the conversation back to Celeste.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. "Yes."
"You’re in love with her."
"I didn’t say that."
"You didn’t have to." Nana closed her eyes for a moment. The act of loving for someone else’s sake drained her. When she opened them again, they were glassy. "Does she know?"
He hesitated. Then.... "No."
"Why not?"
"I’m not allowed to want her." He murmured like a curse. "I’m not like a normal man who loves a girl, and then it’s alright to have her. You know that,"
"That sounds like a prison you built for yourself."
"Maybe." He sat again, slower this time. "But I don’t trust what I want, Nana. I never have."
She reached over, her hand frail but still steady. She placed it over his. "Then trust me."
Dominic looked down at her fingers. Time had carved them like stone. "She deserves someone who doesn’t destroy everything they touch," he said quietly.
"She deserves someone who knows what he’s holding," Nana whispered.
Dominic clenched his fist beneath hers.
"I want to see you whole, Dom," she added. "Before I go. Just once. Even if it’s messy. Even if it’s hard. You’ve carried so much for so long. You carried your father’s legacy and kept it going, your family’s name, Landon’s future. When do you get to be more than their shadow?"
He couldn’t answer that.
She didn’t push.
Instead, she smiled and whispered, "Will you stay here tonight?"
He nodded.
And just before the silence fell again, she added, "Next time you look at her like that, tell her why. Before someone else does."
Dominic smiled faintly.
Nana smiled. "Oh my little boy." She drew her hand back, and made a space on the couch for him beside her. "Come here,"
Dominic sniffed. He pushed forward, and laid beside Nana. Her fingers dug into his hair, and she dropped a soft kiss on it.
Dominic let out a relaxed sigh, and shut his eyes.