Page 89 of Until You Break

“I’m fine,” he grits out, even as his steps falter. “Keep moving.”

But I can’t. My legs freeze, and my chest tightens as the truth I’ve been avoiding slams into me. The setup. The guards. The escape. It was too perfect, too orchestrated. I turn to Dominic, my voice trembling. “You planned this, didn’t you?”

He stiffens, his face hardening. “Aria, we don’t have time for—”

“No.” My voice is trembling. I stare at him, my chest heaving. “I can’t do this anymore, Dominic.”

He freezes, confusion flickering across his face. “What are you talking about?”

“I know,” I say, my voice breaking. “I know what you did. You set this up—our kidnapping, all of it. You wanted this. You wanted me to need you.”

His expression hardens, but he doesn’t deny it. “I did it for us,” he says quietly. “You’re mine, Aria. You’ve always been mine and you fucking know it.”

The possessiveness in his voice sends a shiver down my spine—not fear, not entirely. I always wanted him to say that; to make it clear to everyone that I belong to him. But a niggling voice in the back of my mind tells me this is sick and wrong.

“I loved that about you,” I whisper, tears burning my eyes. “I loved how much you wanted me, how far you’d go for me. But I can’t—” My voice cracks. “You’re just like me, Dominic. Worse. And it scares me.”

Before he can respond, I move. The knife in my hand flashes, and Dominic gasps as I drive it into his side. His hand shoots out, gripping my neck, but he’s already falling and pulling my necklace along with him.

“Aria,” he chokes, his knees hitting the ground.

I back away, the knife slipping from my hand, my chest heaving as I watch him collapse. I watch as blood pools beneath him, and something inside me snaps.

I can’t do this.

I can’t be this.

The blood, the violence, the darkness—it’s suffocating, and Dominic… he’s too much like me. Too willing to destroy everything for what he wants. I can’t breathe, can’t think, and when I look at his face, pale and still, all I see is a threat.

My breathing quickens, panic flooding my veins. The sight of him, broken and bleeding, should horrify me—but instead, it feels like I’m watching a mirror shatter.

“Aria… don’t,” he rasps, his voice weak.

The forest blurs around me as I stumble back, his blood on my hands. My mind fractures, the world tilting as every sound becomes a threat. Shadows twist into monsters, the trees closing in, and I spin around, running blindly into the night.

Branches claw at my skin as I tear through the trees, Dominic’s hoodie still clutched around me. His scent lingers—oil and metal and blood—and I can’t shake it. I run until my legs give out, collapsing against a tree. My fingers dig into the fabric of his hoodie, my breaths ragged as I curl into myself.

The blood on my hands feels like it’ll never wash away. I loved him. God, Istilllove him.

I press my forehead to my knees, clutching the hoodie tighter around me, desperate for the comfort it brings. But the scent—the scent of him—it doesn’t soothe me. It suffocates me, dragging me back into that cell, to the blood and the screams. To the look in Dominic’s eyes as he fought for me, as he bled for me.

As I stabbed him.

My mind twists, the memory blurring and rewriting itself. I close my eyes, trying to hold onto the truth, but the truth slips through my fingers like sand.

Dominic, standing in that cell, covered in blood but smiling like the devil himself.

Dominic, putting the knife in my hand and telling me to fight.

Dominic, my savior.

No, he’s not your savior. He’s your nightmare.

But the thought won’t stick. It’s like my mind can’t decide—was he the one who broke me, or the one who held me together? The tears come again, hot and relentless, as the world warps around me. I hear his voice in my head, low and steady, telling me to run. Telling me to survive.

Telling me he’d handle it.

“Dominic,” I whisper, my voice cracking. The hoodie feels heavier now, suffocating and grounding me all at once. My hands tremble as I clutch the fabric tighter, feeling the worn threads dig into my palms.

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