CHAPTER 31 — Doubt

The silence in the study felt heavier than the argument itself.

"No," Aiden repeated, his voice steadier this time despite the storm raging inside him. "I'm not staying here."

Justin immediately rose from his seat as though he had been waiting for the opportunity.

"Me too," he announced. "We appreciate the hospitality and all, but we're university students, not witnesses under protective custody."

Charlie rubbed a hand over his face.

"Nobody said you're prisoners."

"Then why did he say it wasn't a request?" Justin asked, pointing directly at Damien.

No one answered.

Aiden couldn't take his eyes off Damien. For the first time since Tokyo, since the kidnapping, since waking up in a hospital bed believing he was going to die, he wasn't looking at the man who had saved him. He was looking at someone he wasn't sure he knew anymore.

"You knew," Aiden said quietly.

Damien's expression remained unreadable.

"Knew what?"

"That I was important to your company."

A silence fell over the room so quickly that even Justin stopped moving.

Damien took a slow breath.

"Yes."

The word struck Aiden harder than he had expected.

"So Mike was telling the truth."

"No," Damien replied immediately.

"But you just admitted it."

"I admitted that your family's shares are significant."

"My family's what?"

Charlie sighed softly and stepped forward.

"The Lawson shares."

Aiden stared at him blankly.

"What are you talking about?"

Justin looked equally horrified.

"Wait, hold on. Are we talking about actual shares? Like... money shares?"

Damien walked toward the window before answering.

"Your grandfather invested in the Smith Empire decades ago. Those shares were never sold."

The room spun.

Aiden laughed.

Not because anything was funny, but because he suddenly understood why Mike had looked at him the way he had.

"So let me understand this," he said slowly. "I get kidnapped because of your family. I nearly die because of your family. I get dragged halfway across the world because of your family. And now I'm finding out that my own family secretly owns part of your company?"

No one responded.

"You all knew?"

Charlie lowered his gaze.

Damien remained silent.

"You all knew," Aiden repeated.

"We were trying to protect you," Damien finally said.

The words snapped something inside him.

"Protect me?" Aiden laughed bitterly. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"I never lied to you."

"No," Aiden agreed, his voice shaking. "You just didn't tell me the truth."

For the first time since entering the study, Damien didn't have an answer.

Justin slowly raised his hand.

"I don't mean to interrupt what appears to be a very expensive emotional crisis, but I think Aiden has a point."

Charlie groaned.

"Justin..."

"No, seriously," Justin continued. "If someone found out my family secretly owned millions and didn't tell me, I'd probably lose my mind too."

Aiden almost smiled, Instead, he looked directly at Damien.

"Mike said that everyone who protects someone wants something in return." The room fell silent again. Aiden watched Damien carefully.

For the briefest moment, something flashed across his face.

Something that looked dangerously close to hurt.

"Do you believe him?" Damien asked quietly.

Aiden opened his mouth. Then closed it.

Because he didn't know. And that frightened him more than anything.

Damien's jaw tightened.

"Starting tonight, you and Justin will remain here."

"What?" Justin nearly shouted.

"No," Aiden replied immediately.

"It isn't a request."

Aiden stared at him.

For a split second, Mike's voice echoed in his mind.

"Not everyone who protects you does it because they care."

"No," Aiden repeated. "I'm not staying."

"You don't have a choice."

"Don't say that."

"You are not safe."

"Then let me decide that!"

The force of Aiden's voice startled everyone in the room.

Damien took a step forward.

"You think leaving this house is safer?"

"Yes."

"The photographs that were leaked included your address."

The words hit like a physical blow. Aiden froze.

Justin's face lost all color. "Our address?"

Damien nodded. "The media already knows where you live."

The room became deathly quiet.

Justin slowly sat back down.

"I hate rich people," he muttered weakly.

Charlie sighed. "Welcome to our lives."

---

The walk back to the guest wing was silent. Not the comfortable silence Aiden and Justin usually shared, but the kind that settled between people carrying too many thoughts and not enough answers.

They reached the room without speaking.

Only after the door closed behind them did Justin finally turn. "Aiden."

"Hmm?"

"Tell me honestly."

Aiden sat on the edge of the bed.

"What?"

"Do you actually believe Mike?"

"I don't know," he admitted quietly.

Justin stared. "You don't know?"

Aiden laughed bitterly. "What am I supposed to know? One person tells me I'm important because someone cares. Another tells me I'm important because I own something valuable. Then I find out that somehow both of them were telling the truth."

Justin sat beside him. "He saved your life."

"I know."

"He came to get you when you were drunk."

"I know."

"He drove all the way here in the middle of the night because you called him."

Aiden looked up. "What?"

Justin frowned. "You didn't know?"

Aiden shook his head.

"Charlie told me. Apparently he left so quickly that everyone in the mansion panicked."

The room fell silent.

"I know all of that," Aiden whispered eventually. "But why didn't he tell me? Why does everyone keep deciding what I should know and when I should know it?"

For once, Justin didn't joke. Instead, he leaned back and sighed.

"For what it's worth, I don't trust Mike."

Aiden looked at him. "Why?"

"Because people who care don't introduce themselves by terrifying you."

Despite everything, Aiden laughed.

That sounded exactly like Justin.

"But," Justin continued, "I also think Damien is an idiot."

Aiden blinked. "What?"

"Not a bad person. Just an idiot." He shrugged.

"Rich people seem to think keeping secrets protects everyone."

For the first time that evening, Aiden smiled.

---

Back in the study, Charlie walked in without knocking. Damien stood exactly where he had left him, staring out at the city lights.

"You handled that terribly," Charlie announced.

"I know."

Charlie stopped. "You know?"

"Yes."

The room fell quiet.

"Then why?" Charlie asked softly.

"Because I didn't know how to explain it." Damien finally turned.

Charlie laughed humorlessly. "You? Not know something? That's new."

Damien ignored the joke.

"He looked at me like I was a stranger."

For the first time that day, Charlie saw something in his brother's face that unsettled him.

"You should have told him," Charlie said quietly.

"I know."

"Then why didn't you?"

Damien turned back toward the window. "Because once he knew, he would never be able to go back."

Charlie didn't ask what he meant. Because he already understood.

"What if Mike gets to him first?"

Damien's expression hardened.

"He won't." Charlie swallowed.

Because he recognized that look.

Someone was about to regret crossing Damien Smith.

---

That night, Aiden didn't remember falling asleep. But he remembered the dream. The floor was cold.

His body hurt. Everything hurt.

"Mom, please..."

His own voice sounded small.

Weak, Pathetic.

"Don't call me that."

The woman's voice cut through him like glass.

"I am not your mother."

A slap. Pain. Finn crying. Blood.

Then darkness, Then the bedroom.

The last thing he felt was his father's hand touching his forehead, Then darkness. The nightmare again...

Aiden sat upright with a scream.

His entire body trembled. His chest burned, He couldn't breathe, The room was dark, Reality returned slowly, Then came the knock.

"Aiden?" Damien knocked

He froze, Then the door opened.

Damien stepped inside wearing a dark shirt and trousers, looking as though he had never gone to bed.

"You had a nightmare," he said quietly.

Aiden nodded.

"You were screaming."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize."

Damien sat in the chair opposite the bed.

"I didn't mean everything I said," Aiden whispered.

Damien remained silent.

"I mean... I don't know what I mean anymore."

For the first time that night, Damien's expression softened.

"You don't have to trust me right now."

"Then why are you here?"

Damien looked at him for a long moment. "Because you were scared." And somehow, that frightened Aiden more than all of Mike's words.

---

Across the city, Mike sat alone in his office. The lights were off. Only the glow of Monaco's skyline illuminated the room.

A photograph lay on the desk before him.

A Sixteen years old, Bruised, Terrified, Crying Aiden.

Or rather...Ariel.

His phone vibrated.

"They're keeping him at the mansion," a voice reported.

Mike smiled. "Excellent."

"And Damien?"

Mike's smile widened. "He's doing exactly what I expected."

He traced the edge of the photograph with his finger.

"Protect him harder, Damien." He laughed quietly.

"The harder you protect him, the easier it becomes to make him doubt you."

Then he opened another file. Unlike the photograph, this one contained official records.

Medical reports, Police statements, A birth certificate.

And at the top of the first page, written in bold black letters, was a name Damien Smith had never heard before.

"ARIEL LAWSON "