The words slice through the night.
Lucien flinches.
“She didn’t want your pity. She didn’t want doctors,” Dominic shouts. “She wanted someone to be there for her. Anyone.” His voice cracks with something deeper than anger. “She was fucking dying.”
The wind moves through the trees as the words settle. “And where were you?” Dominic continues, stepping closer. “You weren’t there. You drowned yourself in bottles instead.” His finger jabs toward Lucien. “You fucking coward.”
The insult hangs in the air, Lucien’s eyes darken instantly. Something inside him snaps.
“You don’t get to talk about her like that,” Lucien says, his voice low and shaking with anger.
Dominic scoffs.
“Oh I don’t?”
“No,” Lucien snaps, stepping forward now. “You don’t.” His voice rises, years of buried rage finally breaking through. “You think you were some kind of hero?” Lucien continues. “You think you saved her?” His eyes burn into Dominic. “You were with my wife!”
The words hit like a gunshot.
Lucien’s chest rises and falls heavily. “You want to call me a coward?” he says, his voice rough. “At least I love yours.” Dominic’s expression twists with fury. Lucien steps closer. “And you—” His voice drops into something darker. “You just fucked mines.”
Dominic lets out a sharp, bitter laugh. “Fucked?” he repeats, shaking his head slowly. He looks at Lucien like the word itself is an insult. “I’m not like you, Lucien,” he says, his voice dripping with contempt. “I’m not some selfish piece of shit who destroys everything around him.”
Lucien’s jaw tightens, but Dominic keeps going.
“The only mistake I made,” Dominic continues, “was being kind to someone who was hurting.” His voice rises with anger. “She kissed me,” he says firmly. “Not the other way around.”
The wind cuts through the road as his words settle between us. “And you know what I told her?” Dominic adds. His eyes flick briefly toward me, then back to Lucien. “I told her I loved my wife.”
The words hit me like a sudden jolt.
“She stopped talking to me after that,” Dominic continues. “Didn’t call, didn’t text, didn’t even look at me when we passed each other at the hospital.”
Lucien doesn’t respond. His silence feels heavier now.
Dominic scoffs.“But you already knew that, didn’t you?” His voice turns colder. “Evelyn told you everything.”
Lucien’s expression flickers for the first time.
“You knew the truth,” Dominic says, his voice sharpening with every word. “You just didn’t want to hear it.”
He steps closer.
“You’d rather blame someone else than look at the mess you made yourself.” Dominic’s voice drops, thick with anger. “You’d rather stay angry at me than admit that you’re the one who abandoned her when she needed you most.”
The words barely settle in the air before something in Lucien breaks. He moves past me so fast I barely have time to react.
One second he’s standing behind me—
The next he’s lunging forward. His fist crashes into Dominic’s face. The sound is brutal. A dull crack that echoes across the empty road. Dominic’s head snaps to the side from the force of it, his body staggering back a step before he catches himself against the front of his car. For a moment the world feels frozen. Lucien’s chest is rising and falling hard, his fist still clenched, years of rage burning in his eyes. Dominic slowly turns his head back. A thin line of blood runs from the corner of his mouth.
But he doesn’t swing back, he just looks at Lucien. Disgustedly, like the man in front of him is exactly what he expected. Lucien takes another step forward, ready to swing again—
“Stop!”
I move between them.
Before Lucien can throw another punch, my hand cracks across his face, the sound is sharp in the quiet night.