Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 227

Chapter 227

“Please, Seraphine. Please do not release that video. I am begging you. Please.”

“You slapped me,” she said, her voice flat. “You slapped me in front of everyone. Do you remember that, Pat? Do you remember how you humiliated me?”

“I remember. I am sorry. I am so sorry.”

“Then show me you are sorry. Slap yourself. Ten times. Hard. And I will forgive you.”

I raised my hand. My palm hovered in front of my face, trembling, and I thought about how far I had fallen, how low I had sunk, how this woman had broken me down to nothing. I slapped myself. The sound cracked through the empty parking lot, sharp and loud, and my cheek stung where my palm had landed.

“That was not hard enough,” she said. “That one does not count. Start over.”

I slapped myself again. Harder. The impact jolted through my jaw, and I felt the heat bloom across my skin. I slapped myself a third time, a fourth, a fifth, each strike harder than the last, my cheeks burning, my eyes watering, my hand leaving red marks across my face. By the tenth slap, I could feel the swelling, the tenderness, the shame settling into my bones like a sickness.

“Are you happy now?” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “Will you delete the video?”

She laughed, that same cold, musical laugh that made me want to claw her eyes out. “You are still so naive, Pat. So foolish. Did you really think that would be enough? Did you really think a few slaps would make me forget everything you have done to me?”

“What else do you want from me?”

She turned and walked back to her car without looking back at me, her heels clicking against the asphalt, her red dress swaying with each step. She opened the door, slid inside, and started the engine without a single glance at the woman she had lett kneeling on the ground.

I stayed there long after her taillights disappeared around the corner. The gravel dug into my knees. The night air chilled my burning cheeks. And I cried. I cried until my throat was raw and my eyes were empty, until there were no tears lett, until I was just a hollow shell sitting in an empty parking lot with nothing but the taste of betrayal in my mouth.

Kingsley. The man I had given my virginity to. He had been her pawn the entire time. Every touch, every kiss, every moment of tenderness had been a performance for a hidden camera somewhere I had not known to look. He had recorded me. He had captured the sounds I made, the way my body responded to him, the trust I had placed in his hands. And he had handed it all to Seraphine like a good little dog following orders.

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