Shattered Longings Novel



Chapter 83 Need Someone to Warm the Bed

Bella's heart pounded as she gazed intently at Dominic. She had never looked at him with such boldness or seriousness.

So, she was family to him, and he would protect her.

Noticing her gaze, Dominic frowned slightly and said with a flippant tone, "What are you staring at? You don't actually want to be my girlfriend, do you? If you were, you'd have to fulfill your duties."

Bella nervously averted her gaze. "Anyway, thanks for today. How about I take you out for dinner?"

Dominic replied with annoyance, "I don't need your dinner or your meager salary. If you really want to thank me, what I need is someone to warm my bed."Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Bella was speechless. Deciding to take his comment as a joke, she silently lowered her head and pretended to fiddle with her fingers.

She was the reason his family had been torn apart when he was young, yet he still treated her this way. Despite his usually harsh attitude, she couldn't bring herself to resent him.

Back at Miller Manor, Bella was drying her hair after a shower when her phone buzzed with a message from Dominic, asking her to come over.

Her heart skipped a beat. Being alone with him late at night, especially after what had happened, made her overthink things.

Fearing that her feelings for him might resurface, she replied, "Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'm going to bed."

Bella stared at her phone after sending the message. Her heart was still racing.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and Dominic walked in. She quickly set her phone aside. " Um... I was just about to go to sleep. Is everything okay?"

He tossed a file onto her bed and said, "Read this."

Without another word, he turned and left.

A thought occurred to her. "Why were you at the hospital today?"

She hadn't gotten around to asking earlier because she'd been so upset. But now, she pondered it, the stranger the situation seemed.

Dominic paused, glanced back at her, and replied, "Guess."

The door shut behind him, and his footsteps echoed softly down the hallway.

Judging by his attitude, Bella guessed he had probably gone to find Ian. She picked up the documents he had brought and examined them. As she read, it felt as though someone had squeezed her heart, making it hard to breathe.

So Simon hadn't just been scheming against her. He had also staged the robbery in the alley! The spot where the attacker was supposed to stab him had been carefully planned, and there had never been any genuine threat. She had been so naive.

And that wasn't all. The mentally disabled patient she'd encountered in the small town hospital, who had broken into her home in the middle of the night, had also been paid by Simon.

The man wasn't really disabled; he had been faking it. And the medical dispute? That was Simon's doing too. He had deliberately instigated it to force her to go to Holha and join him. She didn't know how Dominic had learned all this, but the documents were detailed and included photos of the people Simon had bribed. She had no choice but to trust Dominic, as there was no reason for him to lie.

Reflecting on it, she realized Simon had a motive for his actions. Had she joined him back then, she would have been entirely at his mercy. The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

There was one more detail. When she worked at the hospital in Holha, she had seen Simon pick up a report from the lab.

He had claimed he was visiting a friend and helped them get the report, but she now realized it was probably because his daughter had been treated there.

There had been so many clues, but she hadn't noticed any of them.