?Chapter 8: The space Between

                                        

                                              


ARIA POV
The Voss penthouse was too quiet after dark.
No guards pacing the halls. No low murmurs from Dominic's office. Just silence thick enough to make her skin buzz.
Aria wandered into the library, barefoot, a cardigan wrapped around her shoulders like armor. The baby kicked soft, rhythmic flutters and she placed a hand over her stomach, smiling without meaning to.
"I think you're going to like it here," she whispered. "Even if your mom's still figuring it out."
⸻
She didn't expect him to be there.
Dominic.
Leaning against the window with a glass of wine, sleeves rolled up, collar open, moonlight making his profile look carved from stone.
He didn't speak as she stepped inside.
Neither did she.
Just the two of them in a room full of unread books and unsaid words.
Finally, he broke the silence.
"Can't sleep?"
She shook her head. "Too many thoughts. And he's kicking a lot tonight."
Dominic turned, eyes flicking briefly to her stomach. "He."
"I think so," she smiled. "Feels like a 'he.' Pushy already."
His lips quirked barely. "Takes after his mother, then."
Aria laughed, quiet and surprised. "Is that your first joke?"
"Possibly my last." Dominic said
He moved closer, not sure why. Maybe it was the wine in his hand or the tension in his shoulders like he was carrying a war inside himself and losing slowly.
"Do you ever stop?" she asked. "Being... like this?"
"Like what?". He said 
"Closed off. Cold. Like you're allergic to comfort."
Dominic looked at her really looked. "Comfort gets people killed in my world."
"That's not this world, not with me." Aria said 
He stared a second too long. Then turned back toward the window.
"I don't separate the two."
Silence again. But it wasn't heavy this time. It was charged. Quietly electric.
She stepped beside him, looking out at the city lights. So many lives out there, and yet here they were two broken people pretending to be whole.
"Why did you hire me?" she asked suddenly. "Really."
He didn't answer right away.
"I saw you," he said finally. "Outside that day. You passed out in front of my building. And I...."
He stopped himself. Swallowed the next words.
"I don't know. Maybe I thought I could fix something that wasn't mine to fix."
Aria's throat tightened.
"I'm not broken," she whispered.
Dominic turned to her. "I know."
She looked up at him, her heart stuttering in her chest. "Then why do you look at me like I am?"
The air between them shifted. He took a step closer.
"I don't look at you like you're broken," he said. "I look at you like I'm scared I might shatter if I get too close."
She didn't know who moved first.
But suddenly, his hand was brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, fingers grazing her cheek like a question he wasn't brave enough to ask out loud.
And she didn't pull away.
She couldn't.
Her heart was racing, her skin electric.
But just when their lips were inches apart just when the air was thick enough to drown in. 
He stepped back.
The wall went up again. Fast. Brutal.
"Get some sleep," he said roughly, eyes unreadable now. "You need it."
And then he was gone.
Leaving her standing there.
Alone.
With her pulse still screaming the words they hadn't said.