Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 276

Chapter 276

I woke up gasping

I sat bolt upright in the bed, my chest heaving, sweat pouring down my face despite the air conditioning humming at full blast. My hands were shaking. I looked at them, at the faint tremor I could not seem to stop, and I forced myself to breathe, slow and deep, until the nightmare loosened its grip on my throat.

I got out of bed, walked to the balcony, and lit a cigarette

That was the most disturbing memory of my life. I had buried it so deep I had almost convinced myself it belonged to someone else. But the events of the day had dragged it back to the surface, and now it sat in my chest like a stone.

Back then, I had been a fool. A jealous, spiteful fool. Dominic’s father had adopted me out of pity, a stray pulled from the gutters of an orphanage, and I had hated Dominic for it. He had everything I did not: a father who loved him, a name that opened doors, a future that stretched out golden and untroubled. I was so jealous of his perfectlife that no matter what he did, I found fault in it.

Every kindness he showed me, I read as condescension. Every gesture of friendship, I twisted into a reminder of what I was. I thought he looked down on me because I had grown up in an orphanage, and I convinced myself that his family was not my family, that his blood was not my blood.

So I trusted my gang instead. I believed they were my true brothers, the only family a boy like me could ever deserve. And Bryan, the one I trusted most, sold me for a handful of coins and a seat at the leader’s table.

At the hospital, Granny cried her heart out and cursed me with a venom I had never heard from her lips. All the warmth that had once lived in her eyes died that night, and what remained looked at me like I was the devil’s own son. She was not wrong. I had done this. I had brought the danger to his door and stood behind him while he swallowed the bullet meant for my heart.

But the guilt was worse than her curses, because I had never once considered Dominic my brother.

So I made myself stronger instead. I became invincible. I became the best at what I did, because only then could I truly protect Dominic and clear every obstacle from his path. I built an empire of my own, a network of informants and enforcers and men who would die on my word, and I told myself the day would come when Bryan and I would settle our account.

I found out where he had gone a few years ago. He had rebuilt himself, grown fat and powerful, and now they called him Big Bryan. I considered going after him then, but Dominic talked me out of it, and I let it go. As long as Bryan stayed out of my way, as long as he never set foot in this city again, I would pretend he did not exist. That was the plan.

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