Chapter 5 THE PAST THAT HAUNTS

Liana sat cross-legged on the cold marble floor of Dominic's penthouse bedroom, still wearing the oversized white shirt he'd given her last night. Morning sunlight spilled through the massive windows, bathing everything in soft gold - everything except her.

The penthouse looked like something out of a magazine. Polished. Curated. Lifeless.

She rolled the silver locket between her fingers. Click. Snap. Click. The tiny sound filled the silence like a ticking clock.

She should've been used to silence by now. But this silence? This felt like waiting for something to explode.

"Couldn't sleep?" Dominic's voice cut into the quiet. Deep. Low. A little rough with sleep.

She glanced up. He was leaning against the doorframe, shirtless, his grey sweatpants hanging low on his hips. The sharp lines of his body, the ink along his ribs - he looked like a sin carved out of marble.

"I didn't even try," she muttered. "Your apartment's too quiet. No creaking floors. No wind. Just... nothing."

He stepped inside. "I thought you liked quiet."

"I liked it before it felt like the walls were judging me."

He smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "The locket," he nodded toward her hand. "You've been holding that since last night."

She looked down at it. "Because it shouldn't be here."

"You left it behind at the cabin," he said.

She stilled. "You went back there?"

"Six months ago," he replied. "Needed to see it again. I don't know why. Maybe I thought you'd still be there. Maybe I hoped."

A lump rose in her throat. The cabin was where they'd first said 'I love you.' Where they'd planned futures that never came true.

"You shouldn't have gone back," she whispered. "That place is a ghost."

"So are we."

The silence that followed was heavier than before.

"You brought me here," she said slowly, standing. "And I still don't know why."

Dominic crossed his arms. His tattoos shifted over his skin with every movement. "Because I had questions you wouldn't answer."

Her brows furrowed. "You think I knew what my father was doing? That I was part of it?"

He didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

She laughed - bitter, broken. "So that's what this is? You think I was the pretty little pawn sent to distract you while my father robbed your company blind?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you thought it."

"I didn't know what to think, Liana!" His voice rose, frustration cracking through the calm. "You disappeared. The trial started. Your father... everything fell apart. And you just vanished."

"Because I had to," she snapped. "People spat on me in the street. My phone wouldn't stop ringing. I lost my scholarships, my apartment, everything. The media made me out to be his accomplice."

She wrapped her arms around herself. "I couldn't breathe, Dom. I had no one."

His jaw clenched. "You had me."

"No, I didn't," she whispered. "Not after everything."

He stepped closer, but she held up a hand.

"Don't," she said, voice trembling. "Don't make this messier than it already is."

Dominic hesitated - then reached out anyway. His fingers brushed her cheek, slow and careful. "I tried to hate you. I needed to."

She blinked, tears blurring her vision.

"But I couldn't," he murmured. "Even when I thought the worst of you... I couldn't let go."

It was like being pulled into a memory she didn't want to relive - but couldn't resist. She leaned into his touch, breathing in the scent of him. Coffee. Sandalwood. Regret.

"You still think I was part of it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not anymore."

And then she kissed him.

It wasn't soft. It wasn't sweet. It was desperate, like a scream trapped in the chest for years. His arms wrapped around her, one hand cradling the back of her head like she might disappear again.

Their bodies remembered everything their hearts tried to forget.

She broke the kiss first, breathless. "This doesn't fix us."

"I know," he said. "But it's a start."

Just then, his phone buzzed on the dresser.

He groaned. "Ignore it."

But she'd already turned away, wrapping the locket chain around her finger.

Something caught her eye - a faint seam along the edge.

"Dominic..." she said slowly. "There's something inside this."

He turned.

"I think... I think it opens more than just the locket," she added, fiddling with it.

Click.

A tiny compartment slid open.

Inside was a micro memory card.

Her heart stuttered. "What the hell is this?"

Dominic's expression darkened in an instant. "Where did you say your father got that locket?"

"I-I don't know. I thought he gave it to me for graduation, but... I never noticed this before."

He stepped forward, plucking the memory card from her palm.

"I need to see what's on it," he said, already heading for his office.

"Wait-Dominic-"

"Stay here."

The door closed behind him.

And Liana was left standing in the middle of the room, shaken and breathless.

That locket had just opened a door neither of them were ready for.