Dominic's POV

I've fucking pissed off. There's a rage burning inside me that I can't fuse.

I stare at the picture, which now is dented and scratched up because of the glass. The picture was already old and fragile, she didn't do it any favours.

That little b—Couldn't she find any other thing in that room to touch?

It's been a long week of negotiations and business deals. My mind is crushed from all the contracts I've been reading throughout the last few days.

I shouldn't have reacted that way but why the fuck does she keep doing things that piss me off!

That picture is the only one I have left... the only one where all of us are together... the last time we were together as a family...

My mind slowly thinks about how I reacted... I look at my hand and it's covered in blood. And it's not my blood.

Fuck.

I rush back to Inaya's room and quickly unlock the door.

She's lying on the ground unconscious. I carry her bridal style and place her on the bed.

I touch her cheek softly, "Hey... amore mìo, can you hear me?" She doesn't flinch, not one movement.

My chest is beating so loud that I could barely think.

I slightly tap her cheeks. "Inaya... Inaya?" Her name from my mouth sounds foreign.

I run out to get the first aid kit. I open the box to find tweezers. I shouldn't have slammed her hand onto the broken pieces of glass.

My stomach lurches at the thought of the pain she must've been through from this. I slowly pull out each and every piece of glass out of her skin. I clean the wounds on her skin using alcohol wipes and use a gauze dressing to cover the cuts. Using a gauze strip, I wrap it around the dressing to hold it in place.

I use the alcohol wipes to clean the door of its blood stains.

I walk back to her bedside, holding her hand in mine for a few minutes. She looks so peaceful in her sleep...

I'll never do anyone any good. It's not in my blood. I don't know anything but aggression because that's all I've known.

I drop her hand and walk out of the room.

She might deserve better but my ego would never let anyone else have her.

I lock the door behind me; I won't let her escape because I can't let her go.

• • •

Inaya's POV

I wake up to the sunlight peaking through the curtains. I cover my eyes with my hand, squinting at the fact that it's so bright.

Suddenly, last night's events rush through my memories and my head aches. I slowly look down at my hands, half expecting an infection and half expecting it to not be there for some reason.

To my surprise, I've been taken care of it.

I examine the bandaged hand, "Who..."

My head whips towards the door and the stains of blood on it have been wiped clean.

I slide off the bed and walk towards the door to shake the door knob.

"It's locked... which means..." I look at my hand.

It had to be Dominic.

A tear slides down my cheek, my mind is so confused.

Unexpectedly, I hear a click outside of my door and I see the knob twist slightly. Someone unlocked it. By the looks of it, it's Dominic.

I can't face him. I'm too ashamed and too afraid. I probably ruined one of his most precious things.

But that was no way to... no way to handle the situation.

Ha, I laugh at myself, why would I expect anything better from him?

I decided to freshen up and wait to confirm that Dominic's gone before going downstairs.

"Guess who's here?!" I hear Cat's voice 15 minutes into me eating breakfast.

"Ya Allah! You scared the living daylights out of me!" I hold my hand to my chest to calm myself down.

"I'm so excited to—" a gasp escapes Cat's mouth. She grabs my hand gently. "What happened? What did Dominic do?!"

How did she guess it was him so quickly?

"You really need to stop blaming the guy who hasn't killed me yet." I laugh slightly

"How did you...?" She frowns, her face has a genuine concerning look.

I reassure her. "My dumb self accidentally broke a mug on the counter last night as my elbow slipped off the counter. You can guess the rest."

"My poor princess!"

"Dominic bandaged me up."

Or that's what I'm guessing.

"Oh la la! Mr. Belcastro did that? Are you crushing on him?" Cat winks and goes back to her playful self once she realizes I look fine.

"Caterina!" I pout.

"I guess this party will bring out your wild side."

I sigh. "I don't want to go."

"No! Please! I've always been so alone and sad at these events. I always have to go because of my parents. Please don't leave me." She pouts this time.

"Caterina... I..."

"Pretty please..." she gives me her best puppy dog expression.

"Ugh! Fine! You win! But you have to watch Pride and Prejudice with me the next day." I smile.

"Is that supposed to be a punishment? We love that movie." She giggles.

"I never punish." I laugh.

"Oh, Ms. Submissive? Kinky." She smirks.

"Cat!" I yell, blushing uncontrollably.

"Anyways..." She changes the subject. "Angela and I have bought your outfit."

"Already? So quickly?" I raise a brow.

"Quickly? The event's tomorrow." She states.

"Oh..."

It's tomorrow; tomorrow night.

"Do you want me to bring Haraz?" She grins. "Add extra drama in front of Dominic."

"No! Don't you dare!" I gasp.

"I knew you were crushing on him! I thought Nick would be more your type but Dominic does have an effect on women. I'd recommend keeping your feelings to yourself until he decides to show any affection." Cat gives some advice. I can tell it's genuine.

"I wasn't going to confess—Cat, it's not that serious." I try to explain.

"Mhm... whatever you say, Princess."

"Why does everyone call me that?" I frown.

"Everyone?" Cat questions.

"Yes, literally everyone except Dominic." I say.

"What does he call you?" She asks.

"Amore mìo—"

"Oh. My. God." She interrupts me. "He calls you what?"

"What I just said. He's been calling me that since we've met."

"Hmm... Interesting... Maybe he does like you... But he's also a big dickhead so..." she shrugs her shoulders.

What is she trying to say?

Before I could ask, Angela walks in.

"Ladies! Our outfits have arrived!" She grins as she brings in five bags; each bag has a designer brand on it.

"Angela might be older, but she's got the mind of a young adult when it comes to parties and fashion." Cat laughs.

Let the dress rehearsals begin.

- - -

A/N: I'm so sorry for not posting on time! I'm about to go on a mini rant/mental breakdown.

I've been at the hospital for the last three days bc the worst thing ever happened to someone in my family. I won't go in to details but it was horrible. To be honest, 2019 hasn't been a good year for me. I tried to be positive but every month, something worst kept happening. This constant cycle of bad luck started in January. And it kept going: Every. Single. Month (I'm not exaggerating one bit). One bad news on top of another. And every single one of them have not been resolved to this day. Plus, what happened recently, it was the last string. It was horrendous.

Sometimes, I ask if God is doing this on purpose. Maybe I committed some big sin and I'm being punished constantly for it. Or maybe He stopped listening to my prayers. I literally still pray that this bad luck doesn't continue onto the New Years bc I don't know what I'd do. I can't breathe bc of the constant bad news I keep getting.

Though I don't know at this point if prayers work, I ask you all to keep my family and I in your prayers. Maybe He will listen to you bc honestly speaking, at this point, after 12 whole months of suffering, as horrible as it sounds, I don't think He's listening to me.

I hope that a few months from now, I look back at this mini breakdown on here and say that I'm in a better place in life.

Next Update: Tuesday, December 17, 2019.