?Chapter 107:


    As Lauretta tumbled into his arms, her faint, alluring scent made him freeze, his brows knitting. There was something hauntingly familiar about that fragrance…


    Dominic’s brow furrowed slightly. That faint, elegant scent tugged his mind backward—five years into the past.


    Back then, during an overseas mission, he had been ambushed—wounded, dragged, and feverish. That night blurred into chaos and ended with a woman. When he came to, she was gone. No name. No trace. It felt like a dream—one that dissolved with the morning light. Between the injury, the fever, and the drugs in his veins, his memory had been aplete haze. Her face, her voice—everything was lost. All that lingered was her scent. That soft, refined fragrance that clung to her skin like a whisper.


    He had searched for her ever since. Quietly. Desperately. But his efforts had always led to dead ends. He never expected to catch that simr scent on Lauretta.


    Being steadied by Dominic, Lauretta looked up and locked eyes with him. His gaze was cold, yet deep—heavy with something unspoken, like a secret buried under years of silence.


    She caught his scent—dark, clean, and undeniably masculine. It was dizzying, almost overwhelming. Her heart skipped a beat before she could stop it. Her face heated up. Realizing she was faltering, she quickly steadied herself and pushed him away, hoping he hadn’t noticed.


    But Dominic didn’t even note her flush. His thoughts were somewhere else, trapped in that night five years ago. Her shove snapped him back to reality. His eyes sharpened, turning cial as they fixed on her.


    “Where were you five years ago?” he asked, his voice low and sudden.


    “Huh?” Lauretta blinked, thrown off by the sudden question.


    He took a breath, reigning in his impatience. “Weren’t you abroad then? Which country?”


    “Oh! Yeah, I was in Dravonia. I came back shortly after. That’s when… Well, we ended the engagement. Why are you asking?”


    His eyes darkened, and the spark faded. “Nothing,” he muttered, his voice t. He had spent the night with that mysterious woman in Malvren. Not Dravonia. It couldn’t have been Lauretta.


    Lauretta, oblivious to his thoughts, wasn’t ready to let things go. “Are you absolutely sure you won’t sell the Woodfort?”


    Dominic’s expression iced over. His entire demeanor shut down. “Not for sale,” he said coldly.


    Her voice grew soft, almost pleading. “Come on. Just consider it. I really need it.”


    He cut her off sharply. “Ms. Gomez, don’t waste your breath. I won’t sell it.”


    Still, she followed him, throwing every argument she could think of. At first, he replied with short, clipped refusals. Then came silence. Complete and unforgiving. She kept pushing, her voice growing hoarse, while he remained a stone wall.


    When he finally climbed into his car and mmed the elerator, leaving her coughing in the dust, she snapped. She stomped her heel into the ground with a hiss of fury. “Bastard!”


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