Chapter 22
On the morning of the fourth day, she stood in the living room and calmly told him: “The week is up. I’m leaving.”
Dominic, who had been brewing coffee, paused.
“I did promise to let you go,” he turned around, his eyes dark. “But with one condition–you must make a choice: return to Christopher Sinclair, or stay with me.”
Ariana laughed coldly: “I choose to go…”
Before she could finish, Dominic suddenly pulled out a revolver and pressed it against his own temple!
“Two choices,” his voice was terrifyingly calm. “You will stay, or you want to leave.”
“This gun has four bullets–three blanks, one real,” he cocked the hammer. “For every word you say, I’ll pull the trigger once.”
The implication was clear: only if she said “I will stay” would he be safe.
If she expressed any intention to leave, he was gambling with death!
“Have you gone completely insane?” Ariana’s pupils contracted in shock. “Using your life to threaten me?”
“No,” he smiled faintly. “I’m just betting.”
“Betting whether… you care about me at all.”
She stared at him intently, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
“Dominic Reed,” she said through gritted teeth, “don’t force me to hate you.”
“Then hate me,” he replied, his gaze both obsessive and tender. “At least that’s better than forgetting me.”
After a long, tense silence, Ariana took a deep breath: “I…”
“BANG!”
The first shot–a blank.
Dominic didn’t even blink.
“…want.”
“BANG!”
The second shot–another blank.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, but he continued to smile: “Go on.”
12:50
Chapter 22
Ariana’s fingers trembled, but her voice remained unnervingly steady: “to…”
“BANG!”
The third shot–blank again.
“leave!”
The pastor asked: “Ariana Reeves, do you take Christopher Sinclair to be your lawfully wedded husband, for richer or poorer…”
“The doctors say the bullet missed his heart by just a centimeter. It’s a miracle he survived,” Christopher studied her face. “But he may… never wake up.”
Ariana remained silent for a long moment before finally smiling: “Let’s not talk about him.”
She rose on tiptoe to kiss Christopher’s cheek: “For the rest of our lives, Mr. Sinclair, I look forward to our journey together.”
Christopher returned her kiss tenderly: “As do I, Mrs. Sinclair.”
19.50
Chapter 22
Late that night, after the wedding festivities had ended, Ariana stood alone on the balcony.
Moonlight glinted off the diamond ring on her finger, casting brilliant reflections.
Her thoughts’drifted to the man who had once coldly shadowed her every move as her bodyguard.
She remembered the knife he had taken for her, the warmth of his back as he carried her home through the rain, the intensity in his eyes when he’d promised, “Ari, I will love you with my life“…
And then, his final image–lying in a pool of blood, smiling as he called her cruel.
The night breeze dried the moisture at the corners of her eyes.
She whispered softly: “Goodbye, Dominic Reed.”
“May we never meet again.”
Chapter 1
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