He didn’t care. He was already falling. And soon enough, they became inseparable.
I told myself to let it go. That if she made him happy, fine. But there was something about Seraphina—something that unsettled me. The way she laughed, the way her eyes softened when she cared, the way she moved as though she belonged to no one yet could belong to everyone. And I wasn’t blind to the pull she had on me.
I flirted sometimes, casually, half to tease Adrian, half to test her reaction. A smile here, a compliment there. I thought it was harmless. But Adrian noticed. He always noticed.
One night, he grabbed me by the collar, shoving me back. His eyes burned with rage I had never seen before. “Don’t you dare look at her like that again. Don’t you dare, Dominic.”
“It’s just a joke,” I said, though deep down I knew it wasn’t.
“It’s not funny.” His fist tightened. “She’s mine. Not yours. Don’t forget that.”
That night, we fought—words sharper than any punches. And though we called it a misunderstanding later, I knew something between us had cracked. The bond we once had was no longer the same. And perhaps that was why, slowly, we drifted apart.