Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 176

Chapter 176

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Not so bad now. Good enough

I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Felix still screaming in the distance, his voice swallowed by the hum of the engine. I did not look back. I did not want to see him standing there, held back by strangers, his face contorted with a rage that should have been directed at the woman who had fed him lies.

The drive to Dominic’s address took about twenty minutes, but it felt longer. I kept glancing at my phone, at the map application that was guiding me through streets I had never driven before, through neighborhoods that grew increasingly exclusive the closer I got. I had done my research after he sent me the address, mapped out the route, studied the area so I would not get lost, but knowing the way and actually driving it were two different things.

When I finally found it, I had to slow down to make sure I was not mistaken. The house was a mansion, painted white, standing at the end of a quiet street like something out of a magazine spread. It was beautiful, more beautiful than any of the other places I had seen him in, and my first thought as I approached was that it looked like afhotel. But there was no sign, no name, no indication of what it was. Only a house number that matched the one he had given me.

I parked my car and sat there for a moment, staring at the building through the windshield. My heart was pounding, a steady drumbeat that I could feel in my throat, in my fingertips, in the hollow of my chest. I took a breath. Then another. And then I got out of the car and walked toward the door.

When I stood in front of it, I raised my hand to ring the doorbell, but I stopped. I remembered what Dominic had told me. My fingerprints were already programmed. I lifted my left thumb and pressed it against the reader. Nothing happened. I tried my right thumb, and the lock clicked open with a soft, satisfying sound that made me half chuckle despite myself.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Wow.”

The word escaped me before I could stop it, my eyes sweeping across the space in front of me. The living room was vast, open, flooded with natural light from windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. The furniture was elegant without being ostentatious, clean lines and rich fabrics arranged in a way that felt both luxurious and inviting.

The ceilings were high, the floors polished, the walls adorned with artworks that I could tell even from a distance were expensive originals. A grand staircase curved upward to the second floor, and from where I stood I could see the dining room, a long table set with what looked like freshly arranged flowers.

I looked around, expecting someone to appear, a housekeeper or a butler or Dominic himself, but the house was silent. There was no one around. My eyes traveled up the stairs, wondering if he was up there, but then my attention was caught by the artworks on the wall.

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