No One’s Pov

Suddenly, Vivien felt the heavy muscle of his arm twitch. Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. In a total panic, she slammed her eyes shut, relaxing her facial muscles as much as possible and pretending to be fast asleep.

Dominic slowly opened his eyes. The morning light caught the sharp angles of his face as he looked down at the girl tucked securely against his side. His entire body smelled like her sweet, intoxicating scent, and a deep sense of possessive satisfaction settled in his chest. But as his eyes traced her features, he noticed her long eyelashes trembling slightly.

A knowing smirk rose onto his lips. Knowing exactly what she was doing, he chose to let her pretend. He smoothly slid his arm out from under her, got out of the bed, and walked straight into the bathroom to take a shower.

The moment she heard the bathroom door click shut, Vivien let out a massive sigh of relief. She opened her eyes and tried to move, but her entire lower body was aching with a throbbing soreness.

"Damn... how bad did we do it?" she whispered to herself, her face burning a bright red as fleeting, intense memories from the night before flashed in her mind.

Hearing the sound of the running shower water, she shook her head to clear the fog. Panic took over again. I need to leave! Right now!

She dragged her sore body to the edge of the mattress and swung her legs over. But the very moment her feet touched the cold floor and she tried to stand, her weak legs gave up on her completely. Her knees buckled, and she started falling forward.

But before she could even hit the hard floor, the bathroom door flew open, and a pair of arms caught her securely mid-air.

Dominic held her effortlessly against his solid frame. He hadn’t even started his shower; he had just turned it on. Drops of water from his damp hair were still dripping down his neck, and his massive upper body was completely bare, glistening in the morning light. He was only wearing a low-slung white towel wrapped around his hips.

Seeing him in such a raw handsome state, Vivien’s face flushed so hot she felt like she was melting. Her breath hitched in her throat as she helplessly caught his gaze. Dominic was staring straight down at her, his frosty eyes locked onto her panicked face.

Suddenly, his intense gaze shifted downward. Vivien automatically followed his line of sight, and her breath completely hitched in her throat.

His eyes had fallen directly onto her bare chest, which was completely covered in dark purple marks. Her eyes widened as a realization hit her- in her frantic rush to escape, she had totally forgotten that she wasn’t wearing a single thing underneath the blanket!

"Ah!" she gasped, her face exploding into a fiery red as she scrambled to pull the sheets up, desperately trying to hide her skin from his unblinking eyes.

Dominic didn’t look away. Instead, a wicked smirk spread across his lips. "I have already seen everything," he said, his voice deep and dripping with amusement. "There is absolutely no need to hide now."

This shameless, arrogant person! she screamed internally, wanting nothing more than the floor to open up and swallow her whole.

But before she could even yell at him, Dominic easily lifted her sore body off the edge and laid her gently back onto the center of the bed. With smooth movements, he pulled the blanket tightly around her, wrapping her up securely like a helpless little burrito.

"Rest up first," he commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument as he tucked the edges in. "We will talk about this later."

With that, he turned his back to her, preparing to walk back toward the bathroom to actually finish his shower.

But before Dominic could take a step, Vivien’s wide eyes fell directly onto his bare shoulders and back. She froze, her jaw practically dropping. His pale skin was completely covered in long red nail marks. She had literally painted his entire back with scratch marks from the night before.

Her face burned so hot she thought her ears might start smoking from the sheer embarrassment. All this time, she had been internally crying and thinking he was the wild, predatory one but looking at the damage on his back, it seemed like she was actually the wildest one last night!

Dominic, completely unbothered by the marks, soon grabbed a clean shirt, slipped it on, and left the room to give her some space. Vivien lay trapped in her blanket burrito, staring at the ceiling as her heart slowly calmed down. She tried to stay awake and plan her next move, but her body was entirely exhausted from the night’s events. Within minutes, the warmth of the bed took over, and she fell right back into a deep dreamless sleep.

____________________

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Amelia screamed her lungs out the very second she opened her eyes. The horrific realization of where she was hit her instantly. She was lying on a cold, unfamiliar couch, and when she looked down, her heart dropped. Her beautiful dress was completely torn and destroyed- The custom-made gown she had spent weeks preparing for the gala was ruined beyond repair.

A sharpheadache hit her right behind the eyes, making her head pound like a drum.

Furious and trembling with rage, she scrambled off the couch, looking around the penthouse for the culprit. Stomping across the polished floor, she slammed open the nearest bedroom door and stormed inside.

There he was. Enzo was sleeping peacefully on the massive bed, completely unbothered by the world.

"Get the hell up!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, marching right up to the side of the bed.

"How dare you touch me?! Do you know who my father is?!"

Enzo slowly opened one annoyed eye, staring up at her screaming face with pure exhaustion.

He didn’t even flinch. Slowly sitting up against the headboard, he ran a hand through his messy hair and raised an eyebrow.

"Who touched who again?" he asked, his voice dripping with absolute sarcasm. He leaned forward, his eyes turning dangerous. "You should be glad I didn’t kick you out of my moving car in the middle of nowhere for your precious dad to find you on the side of the road like a drug addict"

Amelia completely froze, the harshness of his words making her shut her mouth. She stood there silently, her drunk and drugged brain trying to process what exactly had happened the night before. The fog in her mind slowly began to clear, and a horrifying memory flashed in her mind.

Dominic.

Dominic had caught her. He had looked at her with those freezing terrifying eyes and forced her to drink the very same drugged wine she had prepared for Vivien. And then... she had begged Enzo. She had crawled over him. She had literally begged him to pretend to be Dominic.

As the humiliating memories flooded back, her face became incredibly distorted and ugly with shame and rage.

Watching the expressions rapidly change on her face, Enzo let out a harsh scoff. "What? Not gonna say anything now? Memory coming back?" He pointed a lazy finger toward the bedroom door. "Leave my mansion before your daddy comes looking for you here. I don’t ever want to be spotted with a girl like you."

"As if I want to be spotted with you either!" Amelia snapped back, though her voice shook. The thought of her reputation being ruined terrified her, but another thought terrified her more. What will my Dominic think if he finds out?

She bit her lower lip in frustration, panic swirling in her chest. No... no, I absolutely cannot let Dominic find out about last night! If he knows I slept with Enzo, he will never look at me again!

Shaking her head to clear the panic, she glared back at the man on the bed. "But first, give me something to wear! You and your rough hands ruined my clothes!"

Enzo rolled his eyes, completely done with her drama. He gestured carelessly toward a neatly folded uniform resting on the armchair.

"There’s a clean maid’s uniform over there. Wear it or leave naked, I really don’t care."

With that, he pulled the blanket back over his shoulders, turned his back to her, and instantly fell back to sleep.

Amelia marched over to the armchair and picked up the fabric. When she realized it was a plain, black-and-white servant’s outfit, her eyes practically popped out of her head with explosive anger. She was a high-society heiress! How could she wear something so cheap and degrading?

But looking down at her shredded gown, she realized she had absolutely no choice. She had to sneak out of the estate without being seen.

Hissing under her breath, she forced herself to strip out of her ruined dress and pull on the maid’s clothes. Every single second she spent fastening the cheap buttons felt like a slap to her face. She felt humiliated to her very core, tears of pure rage burning in her eyes as she stomped out of the mansion, vowing to make Vivien pay for every single bit of this nightmare.

_________________

Meanwhile

Soon, Vivien woke up from her second sleep. She yawned softly, stretching her arms, but the very next second, the memories of the morning rushed back into her mind.

Oh, shit.

All traces of sleep vanished instantly. She frantically looked around the massive bedroom, but Dominic was nowhere to be found. The room was completely quiet. Finally relaxing her tense shoulders, she let out a long breath.

She took her time to carefully get out of the bed, gripping the headboard as her sore muscles protested. As she turned around, her eyes fell onto the nightstand. There was a glass of fresh water and a couple of pills left right beside it. A small sticky note next to them simply read: For the pain.

She didn’t hesitate for a second. She picked up the pills and swallowed them down with the water, hoping they would kick in fast. Her mind was still slightly hazy from the lingering effects of the wine, making everything feel like a dream.

Looking around, she spotted a set of brand-new, comfortable clothes neatly folded on a nearby armchair. Grabbing them, she limped her way into the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting the warm water wash over her exhausted body. The heat felt amazing against her aching muscles, but as she looked down to soap herself, she froze.

Her breath hitched. Her body was completely covered in dark bite marks and bruises from her collarbone all the way down.

"Did he want to eat me up whole or what?!" she whispered aloud, her face flushing a deep.

I mean, he basically devoured you, didn’t he? her inner thoughts unhelpfully chimed in, bringing back blurry flashes of his heavy weight and his possessive growls.

"Tsk... shut up," she muttered to herself, quickly shaking her head to banish the embarrassing thoughts.

Soon after, she left the bathroom feeling much better. The warm water and the medicine had done wonders; her mind was finally less hazy, and her eyes were completely cleared now. The blurry fog from last night was finally lifting, allowing her to think logically.

As she dried her hair with a towel, a sudden realization hit her. She stopped moving. While she was drunk on the terrace last night... there had been someone else there before Dominic arrived. She remembered a distinct fragrance, a shadowy figure leaning down, and her own slurred voice speaking a name.

Who was it?

Her eyes wandered as she tried to piece the memory together, finally taking a proper, detailed look at the master bedroom around her. But as she scanned the elegant furniture, some specific items suddenly caught her attention.

She stopped breathing. Her entire body froze solid.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.TO BE CONTINUED