CHAPTER 13: The Call of Despair
Dominic’s POV
The call came just as I was reviewing the latest proposal for the land deal. Lewis and Clara had left for the evening, leaving me alone in the quiet of my office. The vibration of my phone against the polished mahogany desk was low but distracting, it cut through the silence sharply.
A slight frown creased my face when I saw Eva’s name flashing on the screen.
Eva rarely called me these days. Our conversations had dwindled to strained pleasantries and occasional, uncomfortable encounters. Picking up the call felt like opening a door I’d been trying to keep shut, but something compelled me to answer.
What now, Eva?
“Eva,” I said, keeping my voice neutral.
For a moment, there was only silence on the other end, broken by the sound of shallow, ragged breaths.“Dominic,” she finally whispered, her voice trembling. “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore.”
My eyes widened as something cold and heavy settled in my chest.
“What are you talking about?” I asked sharply.
What was she doing now? What was she talking about?
Her next words made my blood run cold. “I’m at the shore. If you don’t come… I’ll walk into the ocean. I’ll end it, Dominic. I swear I will.”
“Eva!” I barked, standing so abruptly my chair screeched against the floor. “What the hell are you saying? Where are you exactly?”
“Coral Point Beach,” she said between sobs. “By the shore.”
“Stay where you are, I ordered, already grabbing my keys. “Don’t move. I’m coming.”
The line went dead before I could say anything else. And though I tried to remain calm, my heart pounded heavily against my chest. I knew Eva could be reckless at times, and I didn’t want to even think about what she would stupidly do if I didn’t get there in time.
The drive felt endless, even though I was pushing the car to its limits. The city lights blurred as I weaved through traffic, my mind a storm of emotions.
Eva’s voice echoed in my head, raw and broken. I tried to convince myself that this was just another one of her dramatic episodes, but a deeper, more unsettling part of me knew better.
She wasn’t the same girl I remembered,
There was a time when Eva’s world had been vibrant, full of light and possibility. I remembered her as a sweet, spirited child with an infectious laugh that could soften even my sternest moods. She had been my sister–not by blood, but by every other measure that mattered.
I remembered the day she had insisted on painting my room as a surprise. She’d picked the most ridiculous shade of green, claiming it was ‘fresh and lively.” I’d been furious at the time, but now, the memory brought a bittersweet ache.
Where had that girl gone?
She had began changing slowly; being mean towards my female friends when we were younger, saying rude and hurtful things to them. There was one time she got into a fight with one of them, and when I had asked her about it she had said my friend, Lisa, had started it.
“She’s a gold digging bitch!” She had screamed. “Don’t let her anywhere near you.”
I had been too blind back then, I hadn’t realized that she just didn’t want ladies being around me. Somewhere along the way, life had chipped away at her. Maybe it was my fault. Maybe I should have been more attentive to her, more mindful. I shouldn’t have let her hang around me so much.
The salty tang of the ocean hit me before I even saw the shore. The air was damp and heavy, the distant sound of waves crashing against the sand growing louder as I approached.
I parked haphazardly and stepped out of the car, the chill of the night air biting into my skin. The sand crunched beneath my shoes as I made my way toward the water, my eyes scanning the shoreline frantically.
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donmy
CHHARTER 135 The Call of Despair
Sva!d called out my voice carrying over the sound of the waves.
ThThere was no response.
P.Panic surged through me as i moved closer to the water’s edge, my eyes darting between the shore and the unda da cansete of the ocean.
Elara! shshouded againo louder this time.
Thitherbreezer picked uputugging at my coat and chilling me to the bone. My heart was pounding each beat echoing on my ears.rs.
ichenthil
Ith thought of her words on the phone, the despair in her voice. She had always been dramatic, but this felt different thinfelteftranal.
есе
My nina reced with memories of her rooments that now felt like pieces of a puzzle I couldn t put together. Her daughterien de fiance.ccbthe alwaysyidbretted at ene with a mixture of admiration and stubbornness.
Antith the matore recent memories: the tutterness in her voice when she’d spoken about the women i went out with the liestin heneyes eservis lookedoch mede.
Damn, Evival” mutredenden my breath, my fists clenching at my sides.
I tootea step platosen to the water the cold surf tapping at my shoes. The waves seemed impossibly loud, their relentless shythana stark rerend fragile everything te fein than torment.
“Whererarervound whitusperedannovoice berely audible over the crashing waves.
The shore stretcheded punetoreros, vast and unyielding. The thought of Eva, somewhere out there in the darkness, sent a shiver down my sp
For the first mine on yourass, fete lehelpless.
It wasnt just about utvävanymvazerét tasashabour everything the weight of my past, the choices I’d made, the people I dihurt along the way. av
Eva had been a constanann imyninieje, nemdederf of the family had tried so hard to protect. And now, the thought of losing her was unbearable
I took another step forward, daveyes ex songth chlechonzon desperately.
Could be
otions.
more
ugh
and
s one
Viat
“Eva! I called dutione da so times avoice cracking.
The only response was the sound of thchwaveseshizmeticleshythm should have been
