Submitting to my Ex Uncle-Chapter 248

Another sound came first.

They were wheels scraping against the tiled floor. They sounded faint, yet echoing, and sharp enough to slice through the heavy silence that hung in the room.

Celeste’s head jerked up.

For a second, she couldn’t breathe. Then she saw Amara being wheeled in, with her wrists tied, her lips cracked, and blood drying at the corner of her arm.

Her chest caved in on itself. The ache that had been sitting inside her since the moment she woke up burst open.

Tears spilled down her face freely before she could stop them. "No..." she whispered. Her throat burned. "No, no, no..."

Amara’s eyes fluttered, barely open. Then they found her. The moment she saw Celeste, a faint relief flickered around her expression.

Celeste shook her head, violently, mouthing the words, "I’m sorry."

Her voice didn’t come out, but her lips trembled hard enough for the message to reach Amara. She mouthed it again. I’m sorry.

Amara’s lashes were wet with tears. Her head dropped slightly, too weak to even nod.

Dominic didn’t move. His eyes darted from Amara to Celeste, then up to Carlos.

Carlos watched with the calm of a man who’d already decided how this would end. His expression was a mask, and his tone was almost casual when he said, "You see? Now we can all stop pretending this isn’t exactly what it looks like."

Dominic’s jaw flexed. His throat moved as he swallowed, slow and deliberate. "What do you want."

It wasn’t a question. It was a line drawn in the middle of hell.

Carlos smiled, just slightly. "At first, I wanted you to marry my daughter. I wanted something as easy as marriage, but you ignored me. Now, I want something else, and you’ll see."

He snapped his fingers. Two men stepped forward, dropping a black leather folder onto the table beside them. Another carried a heavy briefcase and set it down, flipping the locks open. There were papers and documents on them. Stacks of them.

They were contracts, ownerships, and deeds. They were years of work from Dominic’s empire, laid out like offerings.

Carlos nodded once at the men. "Show him."

They spread the documents across the table. The paper rustled like dry leaves in the wind.

"Bars," Carlos started, his tone laced with venom. "Restaurants. Hotels. Companies. Every fucking thing you’ve taken all these years to gather, you’ll sign them over to me, and to my family. Every last one, and every recent one."

He paused, his eyes glittering with triumph. "And you’re going to do it now, or they die. Right now."

He pointed at Celeste. "Her first."

Celeste’s entire body jerked. "No." Her voice came out cracked, and trembling. This was all her fault. She shouldn’t have gone to the beach. "No, Dominic—"

The man standing beside her pressed the cold muzzle of the gun against her temple, forcing her words into silence.

Carlos stepped closer, his boots clicking against the floor. "I’ll let you live, Dominic. I’ll take everything you’ve ever built, everything you ever touched, and leave you with nothing but your name. You’ll watch me own your world." He tilted his head slightly. "So, sign. Sign every one of them with your knees on the floor."

The words fell like stones in the room.

Dominic didn’t move. He just stood there, shoulders stiff, and hands at his sides. His chest rose and fell slowly.

The air felt like it had been drained of oxygen. Even Carlos’s men didn’t speak.

Celeste’s pulse hammered against her ribs. "Don’t," she whispered, shaking her head hard. "Don’t you dare."

Carlos smirked. "Get on your fucking knees and sign."

Dominic’s eyes flicked toward Celeste. The space between them felt fragile.

She was shaking. Her lip quivered as she mouthed, Don’t do it.

He didn’t answer.

He just breathed.

And then... he moved.

The sound of his breath leaving his lungs was louder than the noise in the room. His shoulders rose once, then dropped, like a man exhaling everything left of pride. He bent his knees slowly, as the fabric of his suit whispered against itself.

The soft thud when they hit the floor made Celeste flinch.

Her heart cracked open in her chest.

Carlos grinned. "Good. That’s more like it."

Dominic didn’t look at him. His gaze stayed fixed on Celeste, and then, on the gun pressed against her head. His voice came out low. "Take the gun off her."

Carlos raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"I said," Dominic repeated, calm but steady, "take it off her."

The man with the gun cocked it instead. The metallic click echoed, sharp and final.

Celeste flinched again, a strangled choked sound escaping her throat.

Dominic’s jaw tightened. Every line in his body screamed control. His rage was caged too tightly. He straightened slowly, with his palms open, and his arms slightly lifted.

"I’ll do what you want," he said, his tone cutting through the tension. "But you touch her again, and I’ll make sure you never breathe long enough to regret it."

Carlos’s smirk didn’t waver. "You don’t give orders here."

Dominic turned his head slightly, just enough to look at him. "You sure?"

For a second, silence filled the room again. A dangerous kind. The kind that warned everyone in the room.

Celeste couldn’t look away. The sight of Dominic kneeling was tearing her apart.

She wanted to scream. To tell him to stop. To tell him she’d rather die than watch him surrender himself. But her voice failed her. The fear gripped her too tight.

Dominic turned away from her and faced Carlos fully. "You said you wanted me to sign," he said quietly. "Then give me the pen."

Carlos chuckled. "No pen, Dominic. Not yet."

He leaned forward, placing both hands on the table. "First, I want you to say it. Say you’re done. Say I won."

Celeste’s breath caught.

Dominic didn’t move. He didn’t blink.

Carlos smiled wider. "You can’t even do that, can you?"

Dominic’s silence was louder than a scream.

Behind him, Celeste trembled harder. Her shoulders shook with every breath she forced in. "Dominic, please," she whispered. "Just... don’t."

Carlos looked between them, his amusement darkening into cruelty. "I wonder," he said, "if you’ll still look at him like that when you realize he’d trade you for his empire."

"Shut up," Celeste hissed.

Carlos laughed. "Ah, there she is. The quiet little lover who found her voice." He looked at Dominic again. "You see what she’s worth to you, Dominic? You see what love costs a man like you?"

Dominic’s eyes flickered, barely noticeable.

Carlos saw it, and grinned. "You built everything on power. Control. Fear. Now look at you."

He leaned close. "On your knees."

The moment dragged. The silence grew louder, and heavier.

Dominic’s chest rose and fell once, twice, then he exhaled sharply through his nose and reached for the paper.

His hands didn’t shake.

Carlos’s eyes gleamed. "Go on. Sign."

Celeste’s voice broke. "Dominic, don’t!" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The man with the gun pressed the barrel harder against her skin. "One more word," he warned.

"Don’t threaten her," Dominic snapped.

Carlos chuckled again. "Still pretending you’re in control."

Dominic ignored him. He glanced down at the papers, then at the pen now offered by one of Carlos’s men. His fingers wrapped around it. The metal was cold. Heavy.

He stared at the line where his name and signature was supposed to go.

He could feel Celeste’s gaze burning into him.

Her breath hitched behind him. "Please," she whispered. "Please, just don’t."

Carlos clucked his tongue. "She’s making this harder for you, Dominic."

Dominic’s pen hovered above the paper. His throat moved.

Then he lowered it.

The first stroke of ink hit the page, and Celeste broke. A quiet sob tore through her chest.

Carlos smiled wider. "There we go. History in the making."

Amara, still half-conscious on the chair, turned her face weakly toward Celeste. Her voice came out hoarse. "Don’t..."

Carlos turned sharply. "What was that?"

Amara coughed, blood smearing her lip. She can’t tell what Theresa forced down her throat. "You... won’t... get away with this."

Carlos laughed, shaking his head. "That’s adorable."

He looked at Elias, standing near the back, quiet and unreadable. "You should teach your little pet some manners."

Elias’s jaw twitched. His fingers curled into his palm. For a second he looked like he wanted to hit Carlos.

But he didn’t.

He turned his head away from Amara. His eyes shut briefly. When they opened again, they were empty. "Do it," he said to the man holding the knife. "Give her another one."

Celeste’s scream tore the silence apart.

Amara’s head jerked back, her voice breaking as the blade kissed her arm again.

Dominic’s pen froze. His knuckles turned white.

Carlos grinned at him. "Sign faster."