CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE FILE WITH MY NAME ON IT

Aria’s POV

The sound of Daniel’s voice punched through the door again, louder this time, carrying this tight edge of panic that made my stomach twist so sharply I had to grab Damon’s sleeve just to steady myself. I didn’t even realize I was holding him until his hand curled around mine, grounding me with one solid, steady squeeze that barely hid the tension vibrating through him.

Security found her file.

My file.

And Damon wasn’t going to like what was in it.

My throat closed. I tried to swallow, but the motion stuck halfway down. The air felt thick, like breathing through wet cloth. Damon’s eyes flicked toward the door, then toward me, then back at Liana who stood there with that awful calm expression carved into her face.

She didn’t look surprised.

She didn’t look confused.

She looked like she already knew exactly what was inside that file.

And she looked like she was waiting for me to crumble.

My fingers tightened around Damon’s without thinking. I could feel the trembling I was trying so hard to hide. I couldn’t stop it. My body kept shaking like someone was pulling cold threads under my skin.

Liana’s voice cut through the air, soft and almost sympathetic.

“Go ahead, Aria. Ask him why there is a file on you at all.”

Something hot pricked behind my eyes. I blinked fast, refusing to let anything spill out. But her words burrowed under my ribs like sharp little hooks.

A file.

On me.

Why would there even be—

I forced my voice out, barely a whisper.

“Damon… why would security even have something about me.”

His jaw tightened. His eyes didn’t leave mine now, not even for a second. The look there was a mixture of worry and something heavier—something he didn’t want me to see yet.

“Aria,” he said quietly, “I need you to stay calm.”

Stay calm.

My heart was slamming out of rhythm.

My breath felt too small.

My legs didn’t know if they wanted to run or fold underneath me.

“I am calm.”

A lie.

A bad one.

My voice shook on the last word.

Liana exhaled softly, like she could taste the fear in the room. “She should hear it from me. Not from a file. Not from some security staff.”

Damon snapped at her with a sudden force that made the air crack.

“You will not speak another word.”

She lifted a brow. “You are losing control.”

“I am choosing not to hurt you,” he said through clenched teeth. “Don’t push me further.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

Not because of Damon.

But because Liana didn’t look scared.

She looked intrigued.

Daniel knocked again, harder, the urgency rising.

“Sir. Please.”

Damon exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his jaw like he was deciding whether to tear the door off its hinges or throw Liana out the window first.

Then his hand found mine again.

“Aria. Come with me.”

I nodded instantly. I didn’t want to be in that room anymore. I didn’t want to be alone with Liana or her knowing eyes or her too-quiet voice or this feeling swelling inside my chest like something was about to split open.

But Liana stepped sideways, subtly, enough to block the path.

And something inside Damon snapped like a wire pulled too tight.

“Move,” he said.

She didn’t.

Instead she laughed under her breath—barely a sound, barely even a real laugh—but it made my whole body stiffen.

“Running won’t change what she is,” Liana said softly. “The truth always finds its way out.”

My heart lurched.

“What truth,” I whispered.

Damon turned toward me so fast I startled, his hand cupping the side of my arm lightly, steadying me. “Do not listen to her. I will explain.”

“When?” Liana murmured. “After you read her file. Or when she figures it out herself.”

I pressed both hands against my stomach. My pulse was everywhere now—fingertips, throat, ears, even my knees.

“What is she talking about. Damon… what is in that file.”

He didn’t answer.

Not right away.

His silence throbbed in my ears.

Liana watched us with a softness that didn’t match the sharpness in her eyes. “She has a right to know.”

“Not from you,” Damon hissed.

“And not from you either, apparently.”

The air snapped tight.

Damon stepped closer, so close I felt the heat of him, his voice low enough only I could hear.

“You are not what she is implying.”

The words should have helped. They didn’t.

Not when his voice sounded like someone cracking thin ice under their feet.

I nodded slowly even though my throat was closing.

Another knock hit the outer door. Daniel’s voice rose.

“Sir, the footage attached to her file is escalating. You need to see this immediately.”

Footage.

My file had footage.

My stomach twisted so violently I pressed a hand over it, trying to keep myself upright. Damon took a step as if he wanted to lift me, carry me out of the room. His hand hovered at my back like he wanted to touch me but wasn’t sure if he should.

That hesitation was what scared me most.

Before I could speak, Liana’s voice drifted closer, soft enough to make the hair along my arms rise.

“Look at me, Aria.”

I didn’t want to.

But my eyes lifted on instinct.

She tilted her head.

“You feel it, don’t you. The way everything inside you is starting to remember.”

Remember.

The word hit me so hard I stumbled back a step, nearly colliding with the edge of the desk. Damon caught me, hands firm at my arms, steadying me before I fell.

“Don’t listen,” he breathed. “Aria, please. Do not let her get inside your head.”

But she already had.

A file.

Footage.

Something Damon didn’t want to tell me.

Something Liana said I was running out of time to learn.

Something I was apparently supposed to “remember.”

My breath came faster.

Shorter.

Sharp little bursts that barely reached the bottom of my lungs.

Damon cursed under his breath and pulled me gently toward him, shielding me again. “We’re leaving.”

Finally. Finally something I wanted to hear.

Liana didn’t try to block us this time.

She only smiled.

Slow.

Knowing.

Almost sad.

“Go on,” she whispered. “See what your people found.”

Damon grabbed the door handle.

My entire body shook.

And just as the door cracked open—

Liana added one last quiet sentence that felt like ice water down my spine.

“You will not unsee it, Aria.”

Damon froze.

And I stopped breathing entirely.