Chapter 2

Aria woke with a sharp cry, her voice echoing through the hospital room.

“My baby. My baby. Please.”

Her hand flew to her stomach, desperate and shaking. The pain beneath her ribs hit her instantly, sharp enough to force her back against the mattress.

A nurse rushed to her side. “Ma’am, calm down. You’re awake. You’re safe. Please stay still. I’ll call the doctor.”

Aria’s breaths came in broken bursts. Her fingers clutched the fabric of the hospital gown as if she could hold the life she had already lost.

The door opened again. The doctor hurried in and moved straight to her bed, adjusting monitors, checking her pulse, watching her face carefully.

“Ms. Aria,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

Aria lifted her eyes, heavy with fear.

His expression told her everything before the words came.

“I’m very sorry. You lost the baby.”

Her entire body stilled.

“We tried everything we could,” he continued quietly. “But the bleeding was too much. Your body went into shock.”

Aria stared at him, frozen, unable to breathe.

“I’m truly sorry this happened.”

The moment the door closed and she was left with the truth, her sob broke free. She covered her face with both hands, crying so hard she didn’t feel the tears anymore, only the ache tearing through her chest.

Images hit her one by one.

Helena’s fingers digging cruelly into her arm.

Viola pushing her toward the stairs like she was trash.

Margaret calling her barren with satisfaction.

Gabriel standing in the doorway looking at her like a stranger.

His voice accusing her of things she didn’t do. His threat to destroy her entire family. His cold silence when she begged him to listen. His back turned while she cried his name.

And he never denied having an affair with Sienna.

They dragged her out. They shut the door in her face. They didn’t give her a chance to speak.

And she lost her baby because of them.

Her tears deepened, shaking her shoulders. “My baby… they made me lose it,” she whispered into her hands. “After everything… after trying for so long…”

The door opened again, and Aiden Blackstone stepped into the room. Aria recognized him instantly.

Gabriel’s older stepbrother by two years.

The son born outside the marriage, the one Margaret pretended didn’t exist unless she needed someone to blame.

Aiden had built an empire of his own in the same city… wealth, hospitals, real estate, and power. He had refused to merge with the Blackstone corporation when their father begged him to.

That refusal caused a brutal fight between the brothers that split the family apart.

Aiden had never been close to Aria, but he had always been there at the edges of her life, always quiet, and distant, watching in a way she never understood.

He paused, taking in the sight of her, then closed the door softly behind him.

Aria blinked through tears. “Aiden? What… what are you doing here?”

The doctor spoke before Aiden could answer. “Mr. Blackstone brought you in. If he hadn’t found you when he did, things could have been much worse.”

Aiden stepped beside her bed, his posture calm and steady.

“You… found me?” she whispered.

“I did,” he said simply.

“But why?” Her voice cracked. “Why would you help me?”

Aiden’s gaze softened slightly. “Because I saw the state you were in. No one should be left on the roadside like that.”

Aria’s chest broke open again. She covered her mouth, sobbing quietly. “My baby… after years… after everything…”

Aiden sat on the edge of her bed, slow and careful, as if approaching a wounded animal. His hand rested gently on her arm.

“You’ve been through something no one should go through alone. But you will have another one,” he said.

“When will I ever have another chance?” Aria asked him through tears. “Another five years? After another round of disappointment? Another night of humiliation?”

She leaned into him without thinking, her forehead resting against his chest, her fingers gripping his shirt as the grief shook her body. He let her cry, wrapping an arm around her and stroking her back in slow, steady movements.

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “Just breathe. I’m here.”

When she finally lay back on the pillow, exhausted, a memory struck her.

“The voice that called me before everything went dark… it was you,” she whispered.

Aiden didn’t deny it.

“But why were you near the estate?” she asked.

His expression remained unreadable. “I had business nearby.”

Aria nodded, knowing there was more to it but too tired to ask.

Aiden had always been close enough to affect everything, yet distant enough to stay out of their family’s darkness. Until tonight.

Aria swallowed hard, her voice trembling. “I believed in my marriage. I fought for it. I stayed even when they tried to push me out. And they threw me away like nothing.”

Her eyes filled again. “They called me barren. They humiliated me. They blamed me for things I didn’t do. They made me lose my baby.”

Her voice dropped, shaking. “And Gabriel… he didn’t even listen.”

Aiden listened, silent and steady, giving her space to break without judgement.

“Why did Sienna lie?” Aria whispered. “Why would she say I pushed her? I haven’t seen her in months. What did I do to deserve this?”

No one answered. The silence in the room felt thick with everything she had lost.

After a long moment, Aria wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Thank you for bringing me. I’m sorry you got pulled into something that has nothing to do with you.”

She took a shaky breath. “One day… I’ll return the favour.”

Aiden stood slowly. His gaze stayed on her a little longer than before. His voice remained calm. “You don’t need to apologize. But I will come for the favour when the time is right.”

He adjusted his jacket. “Rest.”

Then he walked out, leaving a strange, heavy calm behind him.

Aria stared up at the ceiling, whispering his words slowly. “The favour…”

The words echoed in her chest with an unfamiliar weight. She didn’t know what he might ask of her, or when.

But her thoughts drifted back to the people who had hurt her.

Margaret’s face when she watched her break.

His divorce papers. Had he prepared to divorce her before today?

They had destroyed her joy. They had torn her life apart. They had taken her baby from her. They had crushed her heart like it meant nothing.

The grief was still there, sharp and deep. But beneath it, something else began to rise.

Not a weakness, not helplessness, a slow, unshakeable resolve.

They expected her to crumble. They expected her to disappear quietly.

But Aria, lying alone in that hospital bed with pain in every part of her, felt something she hadn’t allowed herself to feel in years.

Strength.

She would never forget what they did.

And she would never forgive it.

Not now.

Not ever!