ARIA POV
It was supposed to be a routine checkup. Just an ultrasound, Just a few quiet moments with a heartbeat on a screen.
She didn't expect Dominic to offer to come.
She hadn't even asked.
But when she'd mentioned the appointment at breakfast half-asleep, spooning cereal into her mouth while he scrolled through emails he'd said:
"I'll take you."
No explanation. No hesitation.
Just that.
⸻
Now, they sat in the waiting room Dominic in a tailored charcoal jacket, somehow looking both like a mafia kingpin and a father-to-be.
She tried not to stare.
He'd turned off his phone. Left his men outside. Even adjusted the uncomfortable plastic chair beside hers without complaining.
It was strange.
He felt too big for this space, too controlled, too sharp but also... present.
That was new.
"You don't have to do this," she said, watching the TV in the corner.
"I know." He said
"Then why"
"Because I wanted to."
Simple. Final.
Her pulse skipped.
⸻
The doctor was gentle, the room quiet. The monitor hummed, and then Whomp-whomp. Whomp-whomp.
The baby's heartbeat echoed through the room like thunder in her chest.
Dominic stood beside her, silent, unreadable. But when she looked up, she saw it. His jaw wasn't clenched,His eyes weren't distant.
He was... there.
Really there.
Watching the screen. Watching her.
Like maybe something in him was unraveling too.
⸻
Afterward, she moved slowly down the hall, hand on her belly, feeling equal parts peaceful and exhausted.
Dominic walked beside her, silent but closer than usual, a shadow with a heartbeat. And then,
She saw him.
It was just a glimpse. A flash of sharp cheekbones. A jaw she couldn't forget. That coat long, black, too familiar.
Her lungs stopped working.
He was near the exit. Turning away. Walking out the sliding doors.
Her body moved before her brain did.
"Ezra?" she choked out, taking two fast steps forward.
Dominic grabbed her wrist, hard but steady. "What did you say?"
She blinked. Looked again.
Gone.
The door swung shut. The coat vanished into the crowd.
She turned to Dominic, breath shaky. "I... I thought I saw him."
"Him?"
Her voice was barely a whisper. "Ezra."
The name hung between them like a blade.
Dominic didn't speak. His hand dropped from her wrist, slow and careful.
"I'm probably wrong," she said quickly. "It was just for a second. It could've been anyone."
But her voice didn't sound convincing. Not even to her.
Dominic's eyes had changed. Darker now. Calculating.
"We're leaving."
⸻
Back at the car, she sat in silence, curled against the leather seat, still clutching the ultrasound photo like a lifeline.
Dominic didn't speak for a while. But when he did, it was low and steady.
"I'll increase security." Dominic said with Finality.
"Dom", she said hesitantly
"If he's near you again, I'll know."
She turned to him. "What does that mean?"
His eyes met hers unflinching, merciless.
"It means next time, I won't just watch."
YOU ARE READING
His to Love, Not to Claim
Romance[Completed] Aria Carter is 20, broke, and newly pregnant by a man who ghosted her the second she told him. Homeless and humiliated, she's trying to rebuild her life one piece at a time until fate throws her into the path of Dominic Voss, a 32-year-o...
