MADDEST OBSESSION - Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Dominic hadn’t followed her into the bedroom.
That was the first time.
He always came after her. Always claimed what he thought was his.
But tonight, Aria had left him standing in the hallway, stunned by a kiss that wasn’t surrender—just a taste of control.
And she knew it.
She stood by the vanity now, brushing her hair, wearing nothing but a satin robe loosely tied at the waist. The silence in the penthouse felt like a ticking bomb.
When the door finally opened, she didn’t turn.
Dominic entered slowly.
He was barefoot, shirtless, but the tension rolling off him was fully clothed in fury.
“You think this is a game,” he said.
Aria kept brushing her hair. “It’s always been a game. You just don’t like that I’ve learned the rules.”
He stepped behind her, placing both hands on the vanity. Trapping her reflection between his arms. His eyes met hers in the mirror.
“You’re pushing me.”
She smiled softly. “Not enough, it seems.”
His jaw flexed.
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Are you afraid of losing me, Dominic? Or of losing control?”
He turned her to face him.
“No one loses what they own.”
Her brow lifted. “Then show me.”
He kissed her hard. Desperate. Brutal.
But this time, Aria didn’t melt.
She held his gaze the entire time, her fingers tangled in his hair, her body hot against his—but her eyes said something else entirely.
“You don’t own me anymore.”
Dominic felt it. Felt the resistance hiding beneath the heat.
It drove him insane.
He yanked the robe open, sliding it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. She stood before him—naked, unflinching, unbothered.
Dominic traced a hand down her spine, stopping at the curve of her waist.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.
She tilted her head, lips brushing his.
“No. I want you to try and make me beg.”
The air between them sparked.
He pushed her against the wall, lips devouring hers, hands gripping her thighs as he lifted her into him.
But even as her moans filled the room, even as she arched and gasped and clung to his body like her life depended on it…
Dominic knew.
She was still in control.
She was guiding the rhythm.
Leading the tension.
Letting him have her body—but only because she was watching him crumble for it.
Afterward, she didn’t curl into him like she used to.
She lay beside him, fingers tracing invisible lines on his chest.
“Why do you really keep me, Dominic?” she asked softly.
He didn’t answer right away.
When he finally did, his voice was rough.
“Beca
use I don’t know how to stop.”
Aria smiled in the dark.
“Then maybe I’ve already won.”