Page 48 of A Cobbled Conspiracy

My throat constricted. My eyes burned, but I blinked hard against the tears. I wouldnotcry. "Maybe for you."

Through the doorway, I caught a glimpse of Jake hovering in the hallway, his face pale as he took in the full scope of what was being revealed. His fingers trembled as he gripped the doorframe, his green eyes wide with shock.

“So when you told me you were falling in love with me,” I said slowly, turning my attention back to Dominic, “when you said I meant something to you—was any of that real?”

“All of it,” Dominic said desperately, moving toward me. “Everything changed the moment I met you. The plan, my priorities, everything. You completely rewired who I am as a person.”

I barked a harsh laugh, my hand going to my stomach again, protective and unconscious. My chest tightened with fresh pain.

What kind of father had I given this child?

“It doesn't matter anymore! I chose you, chose this community, chose building something instead of tearing it down.” His voice carried a note of desperation now.

“You were right… you never actuallyliedto me, did you?” I said, the realization hitting me with fresh horror. “You just… never told me the whole truth. You let me believe your feelings developed naturally, that your interest in protecting the community came from getting to know us.”

“Leo—”

“You omitted the part where I was supposed to be a tool. Where my grandfather’s shop was marked not for revitalization, but strategic demolition. Where every conversation we had was supposed to serve your original plan.”

“You chose to destroy different people instead,” I continued. “Three hundred families, Dominic. You didn’t become a better person—you just found new targets.”

The weight of their scents—Dominic’s pine and spice now bitter with guilt, Blake’s sandalwood and amber heavy with discomfort—was making it hard to breathe. I needed space, needed to get away from the oppressive atmosphere of their presence.

Through our bond, I could feel his desperate need to fix this, to make me understand. But I could also feel that core certainty, that unwavering belief that his methods were justified as long as they served his goals.

“I can’t be with someone who thinks like that,” I said quietly.

The words hung in the air between us, sharp and final. The ultrasound photo in my pocket felt like it was burning against my ribs.

“You don’t mean that,” Dominic said, moving toward me with predatory grace. “You’re angry, but you don’t mean that.”

“I do mean it.” I backed toward the guest bedroom. “I mean every word of it.”

“Leo,stop.” His voice carried alpha command now, the kind of authority that made my knees weak and my resolve crumble.

The omega response was immediate and involuntary. My knees buckled, my body preparing to drop into submission before I could even think to resist. Behind me, I heard Penny’s sharp intake of breath as the command hit him too, and from the hallway came a muffled sound that suggested Jake had been affected as well.

My legs gave out beneath me, the world tilting as gravity claimed my body.

But Dominic’s reflexes were faster—his hands caught me before I could hit the floor, steadying me against his chest as my body trembled with the conflicting impulses of submission and barely restrained fury.

“Dominic, please!” Penny’s voice was shaking now, torn between his protective instincts for me and his body's own involuntary need to defer to the alpha command. “Let him go! You can’t force him to?—”

Penny's voice reached me from somewhere far away and I heard Blake say something to Dominic, but my focus remained locked on my alpha's steel-gray gaze. My beautiful, ruthless alpha.

“Please,” I whispered, my voice shaking as much as my body. “Release the command.”

His hands tightened on my arms for a moment, and I felt his reluctance through the bond—the alpha instinct to keep me close, to make me listen, to fix this through dominance. But then he exhaled slowly, and I could sense Penny’s relief as the oppressive weight of alpha authority lifted from the air.

“You’re released,” he said quietly, and immediately the compulsion lifted.

I straightened carefully, his hands still steadying me until I found my balance again. “You made your choice. You chose to be the kind of person who ruins lives without regret. Now I’m making a choice too.”

“What choice?”

“I’m choosing not to share a bed and my nest with you tonight.” The words came out more broken than I’d intended, my throat constricting as moisture blurred my vision. “Sleep on Blake’s couch. I need time to think.”

“Leo, we’re bonded. You can’t just?—”