5. BIRTHDAY PRESENTS 

ARIA'S POV

This wasn't an accident. Mario didn't have the brains or the motive to pull off something this huge alone. There was only one person ruthless enough to orchestrate this kind of public humiliation.

Stepsister charming, Lora.

Everything started adding up in my head. The two strange men who were tailing me in the corridor. She must have hired them to defile me, probably planning to record it so she could post it everywhere and destroy my reputation forever.

How dare she? Who gave her the right to make plans about my body?

She stole the man I loved, just like she takes every goddamn thing I own. But messing with my body was crossing a line she would deeply regret.

And I wouldn't listen to any of my father's excuses this time. Enough is enough. I couldn't take a single second of this anymore.

I had never missed having my mother around so much.

Right now, I felt like an orphan. Honestly, sometimes I wished I was one. Having a totally biased, spineless father who always side wrong was so much more harmful than having no father at all.

I burst into another round of tears, never being more pleased that my car windows were heavily tinted.

I reached into the pocket of the coat to grab my phone, wanting to block Jamie's number permanently. But my fingers brushed against something else.

A small, velvet jewelry box.

Curious, I popped the case open. The breath was instantly knocked out of my lungs.

Resting inside was a beautiful, dazzling ruby ring, encased in a heavy, vintage platinum band. It looked so beautiful and familiar.

It looked like an engagement ring.

What the fuck!

Had I just slept with an almost-engaged person?!!!

Well, I supposed I was one myself until about eight hours ago. Is it possible to get engaged to another person while you are already privately engaged to one?

I really needed answers to my damn questions.

I prayed that I was wrong. I needed to be. I also tried convincing myself that the stranger had bought it for his mother or his sister, desperate to stop the nausea from hitting my stomach and my conscience.

I slammed the box shut and shoved it back into the coat pocket, swearing to forget this night forever.

Remembering it would only cause uncomfortable memories. I would treat it as a meaningless one-night stand. After all, Daisy did it almost every weekend.

Right. My phone. I needed to call her.

I plugged my dead phone into the car charger, knowing she must have seen the videos of Jamie's public engagement by now.

She was probably frantic, trying to reach me from out of state.

She had been feeling so guilty about missing my twenty-first birthday due to her modeling contract, even though I told her it was fine. We both thought I would be safely lost in Jamie's eyes last night, celebrating our own future.

No more stupid thoughts, Aria, I told myself, wiping my face and finally shifting the BMW into drive.

A heavy coldness settled into the pit of my stomach as I finally pulled up to our estate.

The house was a sprawling limestone mansion, built with towering white pillars and endless glass facades that screamed old money but inside, it felt completely empty.

I didn't even acknowledge Dan, one of our security guards, who waved and greeted me at the security gate.

I parked, stepped out of the car, and wrapped the stranger's oversized coat tightly around my torn dress.

I walked up the grand stone steps, my knees shaking violently, my entire body aching with deep, physical and mental exhaustion.

As I reached the massive mahogany front door, the sound of voices drifted clearly through the front window.

The perfect little family of four.

Laughing.