"It's about Raoul"
"I can guess. You obviously don't like him," he said, his tone blunt.
I shook my head. "No, I don't." I could feel the weight of the words, the reasons behind them being clear frustration, yet it felt so good to finally say them out loud. His silence encouraged me, and I laid out my reasons, my voice steady but resolute. It felt relieving, like I was releasing something that had been eating away at me for far too long. He listened without interruption, not a single word of protest. I didn’t expect him to agree, but I appreciated that he heard me.
Then, something shifted. His face darkened, his jaw tightened. “He grabbed you?”
I nodded, the memory of that moment lingering uncomfortably in the back of my mind. The thing was, every time Domini acted like this; protec
