Chapter 144: Many Things to Say

Tilda’s clothes were soaked through.

Her pale, beautiful face was covered in raindrops, but nothing could hide those deep, mysterious eyes—like old wells, impossible to read. Her long, dark hair hung wet and straight over her shoulders.

Sitting by the river in the light rain, the night wind swirling around her, Tilda seemed to blend into the city’s dazzling lights. There was a shattered kind of beauty about her, something haunting and fragile, like a butterfly breaking free.

She caught everyone’s attention in an instant. No one could look away.

No one knew where to put their feelings. You could almost hear your own heartbeat, but you couldn’t reach her. Tilda gave off an invisible loneliness, a quiet storm that kept everyone at arm’s length, so intense it felt like it might swallow you whole.

She swirled her Bloody Mary, eyes narrowed, then tipped her head back and drank it all in one go, not caring about the alcohol or whether she’d get drunk. It was like drinking was the only way to dull this miserable feeling.

Tilda had thought today would be a happy day. But instead… it was a disaster. DJ—the apprentice Tilda had taken under her wing on the dark web—turned out to be her own big brother, Dominic!

It was like the universe was playing a cruel joke. She should have realized it sooner… DJ was just the initials for Dominic Jenson. But who would’ve guessed someone could be so dumb as to use their real initials as a username on the dark web? If anyone traced it back, he’d be toast a million times over!

This time, Tilda’s own cleverness had backfired. She’d thought just like everyone else. No one in their right mind would ever use their real initials as a nickname online, especially not somewhere dangerous.

But Dominic did the exact opposite. It was like hiding in plain sight—the riskiest spot is sometimes the safest.

So…

Out of respect for her apprentice, Tilda never investigated. And now, that was one of her biggest regrets.

If she’d known DJ was Dominic, she never would have met him, never would have gotten involved, and definitely wouldn’t have taken him as an apprentice! But now, Tilda couldn’t talk to Una about it.

Andy wasn’t in Slosa either. Even though Andy saw the dark web announcement and messaged Tilda on WhatsApp, her mind was such a mess she didn’t even know how to reply.

She just pushed it aside, came to Nightingale Bar, and tried to numb herself with alcohol, hoping to forget this awful feeling.

Watching Tilda drink one glass after another, as if she wanted to drown herself in booze, Dominic’s fists clenched tight. Seeing her like this, all Dominic felt was sorrow and guilt—no more coldness, no more pride, no more mocking.

That’s right. The one who drove Tilda to this point was Dominic himself.

“Dominic, your sister… If she keeps drinking like that, she’s going to get wasted."

“If you’re worried, maybe you should go talk to her.”

Jody was right.

A while back, Jody would never have believed it. Dominic used to hate his missing sister Tilda, even wishing she’d just disappear. After Tilda cut ties with the Jensons and caused all that trouble, Jody had heard Dominic say more than once that he wished Tilda would just die.

Jody always thought Dominic was way too harsh, but it wasn’t his place to judge—it was family business. Better to just go with the flow.

Dominic was like that—he didn’t give approval lightly. Nothing won his trust overnight. No way he’d accept someone back into his life so easily, especially with the Jensons’ weird family situation—a spoiled adopted daughter, Kyla, and Tilda always stepping on landmines.

But now…

Jody could sense something huge had happened between Dominic and Tilda, something that left Dominic totally shaken.

“I…”

Dominic opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But after the first word, he couldn’t get anything else out. He wanted to go to her—there were so many things he wanted to say, to pull Tilda aside and sort it out.

But…

Tilda is Queen.

She’d deleted Dominic from her contacts on the dark web, publicly announced their mentor–apprentice bond was over, erased all their history. Now she probably hated Dominic more than anything.

What right did he have to go talk to her? She’d probably just end up hating him even more.

While Dominic hesitated, Tilda’s eyes turned toward Dominic and Jody. Her gaze went ice cold in an instant.