“What?”
Dominic nods toward Lucien.
“The woman,” he says slowly. “The one you saw kissing me years ago.. Evelyn.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. For a second the road disappears. My mind snaps back to that day. The hospital. I remember the way the sun hit the pavement outside the back entrance. I had brought Dominiclunch, a stupid little surprise. I was smiling when I walked around the corner.
And then—
Her hands on him, her body pressed against his, her lips on his. I remember how quickly I turned away, how the food slipped from my hands. How I walked back to my car with my heart splitting open in my chest. I never asked questions, I never confronted him because I was too scared of the answer. The memory crashes into the present so violently that I almost lose my balance.
My eyes move slowly back to Lucien. The pieces begin connecting in my mind. Too many pieces. The plane, the hotel, the office. All of it. My stomach drops.
“Oh my God…” The words fall out of my mouth before I can stop them. “You planned all of this.” Lucien’s face tightens.
“It’s not what you think—”
“You planned it,” I repeat, my voice shaking now.
Every moment between us flashes through my mind, the way he looked at me, the way he always seemed to appear exactly where I was. The way he was so persistent at the beginning, asking questions, I thought he was just being kind or curious.
The plane seating. I should have known someone like him does not belong in coach. I saw it. I caught it. I just refused to admit it to myself. The night we walked to the bar, his hands tucked in his pockets, there was something in the way he moved, something uncertain. Like he was deciding whether or not to ruin me.
“You did all of this to get back at Dominic.”My chest tightens painfully. “And you used me to do it.”
The tears come faster now, hot and uncontrollable. I look at him, really look at him. The man who just hours ago told me he loved me.
My voice breaks when I finally speak.
“Was any of it real, Lucien?” The wind moves softly through the trees around us, carrying the distant sound of the ocean below the cliffs. But all I hear is the sound of my own heart breaking. “Was this all real?”
The question still hangs in the air between us.
Was any of it real?
Lucien opens his mouth, his eyes fixed on mine, something raw and desperate in them.
“Sera, I can explain—”
But Dominic explodes before he can finish.
“What the fuck did you just call my wife?!” Dominic roars, stepping forward. “You fucking piece of shit.”
His voice echoes across the empty road.
Lucien doesn’t step back. He stands his ground, but his eyes never leave mine.
“Sera,” he says again, softer now, almost pleading. “I can explain.”
Dominic cuts him off with a sharp laugh that sounds more like a snarl.
“Explain what?” he spits. “Explain how you’ve been stalking my wife?” His eyes burn into Lucien now. “Explain how this whole thing is just your pathetic little revenge?”
Lucien’s jaw clenches.
But Dominic isn’t finished.
“You want to talk about explanations?” Dominic continues, his voice shaking with rage. “She was dying, Lucien!”