Chapter: CHAPTER FORTY-SEVENAria's POVThe Jacket"I don't know," I admitted finally, my voice coming out raspy , I felt a light pain in my chest. “I'm sorry Marcus, I tried to follow up with you but I—” the words trailed off.I didn't know how to properly place the fact that we spent the whole evening talking and I couldn't repeat half the things he said.I lifted my head to meet his eyes, expecting him to look hurt and disappointed, and a part of him did, but he quickly masked it before I could place a hand on it.“I did suspect so, but it's fine, Aria.” He said I sigh, tucked in a strand of hair that was threatening to fall out of place.“It's not fine. You took your time planning all this and I keep—” I stopped, not sure of how the word would actually sound if it came out of my mouth.“You keep looking at him,” Marcus said quietly, finishing the sentence with a small smile.I didn't bother denying it because he was right, and I knew that anything I said to argue against it would only make me sound more def
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-14
Chapter: CHAPTER FORTY-SIXAria's POVGuilt"Yes," I said quietly. "It's Damien." The words came out almost as a whisper, and I kept my eyes fixed on the plate in front of me, suddenly finding it much easier to look at my food than to meet Marcus's eyes.“Aria.” He called softly and I looked up to see the look on his face. He turned to look back at Damien's table. I watched as he slowly put the pieces together.The way I'd stopped walking earlier, how distracted I'd been throughout the meal, and how my eyes kept drifting past him toward the table behind him instead of staying focused on the person sitting right in front of me.“Do you want us to leave?” he asked, his voice low with concern. Somehow, the concern in his voice only made me feel more guilty. “We can go somewhere else if you want. I really don't mind, Aria. We don't have to stay here.”“No.” I said too fast. I sighed, hearing how fast it came out and tried speaking again, slower this time. “No, we don't have to do that. I'm fine.”“You've been eve
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-13
Chapter: CHAPTER FORTY-FIVEAria's POVWho's she?I turned around before I could stop myself from doing so, some weird instinct pulling my eyes towards the direction the voice was coming from.The restaurant was actually fully booked and the guests looked very important and polished. However, despite the low flow of important conversations happening at every table, different servers moving with trays well balanced like it weighed nothing, a table of businessmen near the window clearly in the middle of a negotiation.It took me only a second to actually find him in all of it, but then I did.At the table near the far end of the VIP floor, Damien was there, dressed the way he did when the occasion was a really important one— dark suit, no tie, the top button of his shirt was left undone in that specific way that had made me feel like the only person in a room sometime ago but now, it made my chest go right for an entirely different reason.I felt my heart sink, he wasn't alone.The woman sitting across from him h
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-12
Chapter: CHAPTER FORTY-FOURAria's POVFriday came a lot faster than I admit and a lot slower than necessary too.Marcus had suggested that Friday was the perfect day since we both had less things to do at work. Compared to other days, Friday was way calmer with paper work.I had spent most of the week thinking about this particular day even when it wasn't really necessary, catching myself mid-thought.I dropped Elias at Mara's place straight from his daycare. Handling his overnight bag that I had stuffed with his favorite pajamas, two extra changes of clothes because he was going through a funny stage of always spilling things on himself and his favorite Elephant he didn't sleep without.“Have fun tonight, bug,” I said, crouching down to give him a kiss on the top of his head, then I ruffled his hair slightly. “Be good for Aunt Mara, Don't throw food, okay?.”“Bye, Mommy.” He waved, already distracted by the toy bin Mara kept for him for these types of visits, barely giving me a glance. I shook my head, some
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-11
Chapter: CHAPTER FORTY-THREEAria's POVDo You Still Love Him?Elias sat at his own side of the dining table, a small chair and table suitable for his size, with a clean sheet of paper and a fistful of crayons, his tongue poking out slightly in concentration, working on whatever masterpiece his daycare had assigned that week. Denise had said something about family when I went to pick him up, something about drawing the people you love.Mara and I moved around the kitchen, chopping vegetables for dinner, the radio playing faintly in the background.“Are you sure you're okay?” She asked for what felt like the tenth time. “You've sighed like four times in the last ten minutes,” she said, her eyes fixed on the onions she was dicing. “Either that garlic’s really offending you, or something is actually going on.”She said, referring to the garlic I was peeling.“It's not the garlic.” I groaned.“ I thought so.” She set the knife down and turned to face me properly. “Okay start spilling.”I glanced at where Elias was,
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-10
Chapter: CHAPTER FORTY-TWOAria's POVHave dinner with me.Monday mornings had a pattern of their own I have learned to like.I dropped Elias off at the daycare, the office was a bit quiet apart from the sound of movement across the road, before Priya arrived. I hadn't heard from Naomi in almost two weeks. I convinced myself that it was totally normal and nothing unusual.She had a life of her own outside of Edward Hart and everything connected to him. She had a job, friends and whatever looks normal for a woman who had spent twenty years carrying her sister's story alone.I made a mental note to text her late just to check in on her.Edward on the other hand hasn't made any move and by now I had stopped checking my phone every few minutes for updates from Damien's security teams, though I still noticed that somewhere in the back of my mind with every day that passed without incident. It was starting to feel more like relief than me holding my breath and that was a good thing.I tried to push the thoughts asi
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-09
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