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CHAPTER ELEVEN — THE DILEMMA
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2026-02-20 01:25:35Aria's POV
“Lucien, please…"
"Marcus!" His voice was sharp, commanding. "Take Mrs. Blackwood home."
The door opened immediately. Marcus must have been waiting just outside.
"Mr. Blackwood…"
"Now, Marcus." Lucien didn't look at me. "And make sure she takes that folder with her."
I stood there for a moment, tears streaming down my face, desperately wanting to fix this, to explain, to make him understand.
But Helena's words echoed in my mind: 'Forcing him to choose between his wife and his mother. Men love being put in that position.'
So instead, I picked up the folder with shaky hands and walked to the door.
I paused at the threshold, looking back at him one last time.
He stood at the window now, his back to me, his shoulders rigid with tension. Every line of his body screamed pain and exhaustion and defeat.
"I love you," I whispered, knowing he probably wouldn't believe me. "I know you don't believe it, but I do."
Lucien's reflection in the window showed no reaction. He might as well have been carved from stone.
I left, Marcus silent beside me as we took the elevator down. The folder felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my hands.
When we reached the car, I finally looked at Marcus. "Does it ever get better? With his mother?"
Marcus's expression was carefully neutral. "Mrs. Helena Blackwood is... a formidable woman."
"That's not an answer."
"No, ma'am." He opened the car door for me. "It's not."
The drive home was silent. I spent it staring at the folder, this innocent-looking document that held the power to destroy everything.
Six months to get pregnant.
Six months to produce an heir.
Six months to prove I was worth keeping.
Or lose Lucien forever.
When we arrived at the apartment, I went straight to the bedroom and locked the door. Then, with trembling hands, I opened the folder.
The agreement was exactly as Helena had described, clinical, precise and devastating. Six months to conceive, regular medical checkups to confirm attempts were being made. Penalties for non-compliance that included not just divorce, but a carefully worded clause that would make it look like the separation was my choice, my failure.
Helena had thought of everything.
At the bottom of the agreement was a note in elegant handwriting:
'This is for his own good. One day, you'll understand that everything I do is to protect my son from making the same mistakes his father made. Love destroys. Legacy endures.
You have until Friday to decide.
H.B.'
I sat on the bed, the agreement spread out before me as I tried to think.
In my previous timeline, I'd died seven months from now. Betrayed by Ethan and Lydia, killed for my organs, destroyed by the people I'd trusted most.
But I'd never met Helena. Never faced this ultimatum.
Which meant this was new. An uncharted territory.
I could refuse. Tell Helena no, face whatever consequences she threw at me. But that would hurt Lucien, would force him to choose between us, would probably end with his mother systematically destroying his company to punish him for choosing me.
Or I could agree. Try to get pregnant, try to give Helena what she wanted. But that felt like giving in to her manipulation, letting her control not just my life but Lucien's future.
And underneath it all was the horrible, shameful truth, I didn't even know if Lucien and I could conceive. We'd been married for five months and had never…
My phone buzzed.
Lydia: Hey babe! Just checking in. You seemed off yesterday. Is everything okay with you and your 'husband'?
The emphasis on the word 'husband,' the little smirk emoji, it all made my skin crawl.
Before I could respond, another message came through.
Ethan: Lydia told me you're having second thoughts about the papers. Don't do this, Aria. You know he's not right for you. You know where you belong.
My hands clenched around the phone.
They were still circling, still manipulating, still trying to separate me from Lucien so they could destroy us both.
And now Helena was doing the same thing from the other side, trying to reduce me to nothing but a vessel for Blackwood heirs, trying to eliminate any real connection between Lucien and me.
I was trapped between three different people, all trying to control my life in different ways.
Ethan and Lydia wanted to destroy me.
Helena wanted to use me.
And Lucien...
Lucien just wanted me to tell him the truth.
I looked at the agreement again, at Helena's note, at the impossible choice laid out in black and white.
Then I looked at my phone, at Lydia's and Ethan's messages, at the trap they were setting.
And I realized something.
I'd been given a second chance at life, sent back to fix my mistakes and save myself from the future I'd seen.
But I'd been so focused on Ethan and Lydia, on revenge and prevention, that I'd missed the real threat.
Helena Blackwood wasn't just difficult or demanding.
She was dangerous.
And she'd just declared war on me without Lucien even knowing the battle had begun.
My phone buzzed again.
This time, it was an unknown number.
'The car will pick you up Friday at 5 PM. Dress appropriately. And Aria? Don't disappoint me. Lucien's future depends on the choices you make now.
'—H.B.'
I stared at the message, my heart pounding hard
Helena wasn't waiting until Friday dinner for my answer.
She was coming for me in two days.
And I had no idea how to survive her.
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