CHAPTER 30: Aurora Hale

The paper slipped from Aria’s fingers.

It drifted soundlessly onto the floor between them.

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

Aurora Hale.

The name echoed through her mind with terrifying familiarity, like something buried deep beneath years of silence had finally cracked open.

Aurora.

Not Aria.

Aurora.

Her pulse pounded so violently she could hear it.

The room blurred around the edges again while the storm outside battered the city without mercy.

Ethan stepped toward her immediately.

“Sit down.”

She pulled away before he could touch her.

“No.”

Her voice shook.

Not from weakness.

From sheer overload.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do right now.”

Ethan stopped instantly.

Celeste remained near the doorway, watching quietly.

Almost sadly.

Aria looked at her sharply.

“You knew this whole time?”

Celeste’s expression tightened faintly.

“I knew enough.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“No,” Celeste admitted softly. “It isn’t.”

Aria pressed trembling fingers against her forehead.

Everything inside her felt fractured now.

Aurora Hale.

A name she had never heard before and somehow already hated.

Because it threatened everything.

Every memory.

Every certainty.

Every version of herself she’d spent years building.

Daniel quietly picked up the paper from the floor and examined it briefly.

His face darkened immediately.

“This document’s authentic.”

Aria looked toward him sharply. “How can you tell?”

“The hospital seal.” He pointed toward the bottom corner. “It’s real.”

That should not have mattered.

Yet somehow it destroyed another fragile piece of denial she’d still been holding onto.

Ethan looked toward Celeste coldly.

“Where did you get this?”

“Isabella hid copies.”

The room went still again.

Aria’s throat tightened painfully.

“She really knew about me.”

Celeste nodded once.

“She spent years trying to find you.”

A strange ache spread slowly through Aria’s chest at the thought.

A sister.

No.

Not sister.

The word still felt too large.

Too dangerous.

But Isabella had searched for her.

Protected secrets for her.

Maybe even died because of her.

The thought made nausea twist sharply through her stomach.

“Why didn’t she contact me directly?” Aria whispered.

Celeste looked away briefly before answering.

“Because Victor was watching everyone connected to her.”

Ethan’s expression hardened again.

“And yet somehow you’re here.”

Celeste met his stare calmly. “Victor thinks I’m loyal.”

“Are you?”

That question lingered heavily.

Then Celeste smiled faintly.

“Not to the right people.”

Daniel let out a quiet breath somewhere behind them.

The tension inside the suite had become unbearable now.

Not explosive.

Worse.

Dense.

Every person in the room carrying different versions of the same ruined history.

Aria moved slowly toward the windows again, needing distance from all of them.

The city below looked unreal through the rain.

Media vans still crowded the streets outside.

The story had already escaped containment.

Tomorrow the entire country would know the name Aurora Hale.

And somehow that frightened her more than anything else.

Because once the world believed something, reality almost stopped mattering.

Her reflection stared faintly back at her from the glass.

Same face.

Same body.

But suddenly she felt detached from it.

Like she was looking at someone else wearing her skin.

Ethan approached slowly behind her.

Not too close.

Careful.

“You don’t have to decide anything tonight.”

Aria laughed quietly under her breath.

“You think this is about deciding?”

He stayed silent.

She turned toward him sharply.

“My entire life might be fake.”

“No.”

“Stop saying no like that fixes things.”

His jaw tightened.

“I’m trying to keep you grounded.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want to be grounded right now.”

The anger finally surfaced fully then.

Hotter than before.

More emotional.

“You investigated me behind my back.”

“We were trying to understand what Victor wanted.”

“You already suspected I was connected to him.”

“I suspected possibilities.”

Aria stared at him in disbelief.

“And you still married me.”

The sentence hit hard.

Ethan’s expression shifted immediately.

Not guilt.

Something deeper.

“You think that’s why I married you?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore.”

The honesty of it cracked something briefly between them.

Neither spoke for several seconds.

Then Celeste quietly interrupted.

“There’s something else.”

Ethan closed his eyes briefly like he already knew he wouldn’t like whatever came next.

Aria turned slowly.

“What now?”

Celeste’s expression had lost all traces of calm now.

For the first time since entering the suite, she actually looked worried.

“Victor knows the document exists.”

Fear slid sharply through the room.

Ethan straightened instantly. “How?”

“He’s been searching Isabella’s hidden storage accounts for weeks.”

Daniel frowned. “Then why didn’t he release it himself?”

“Because the original copy still exists.”

Silence.

Aria’s pulse quickened again.

“Where?”

Celeste hesitated.

Then:

“Isabella hid it before she disappeared.”

Ethan’s attention sharpened dangerously.

“You know where.”

“Yes.”

“Then why are we still talking?”

Celeste looked directly at Aria this time.

“Because Victor’s already moving toward it too.”

The storm outside thundered violently overhead.

Aria suddenly realized where this was heading.

A race.

Not for money.

Not for power.

For proof.

Proof of who she really was.

Proof of what happened twenty years ago.

And maybe proof of why Isabella vanished.

Daniel spoke carefully. “If Victor gets that document first…”

“He controls the narrative permanently,” Ethan finished coldly.

Aria felt dizzy again.

Everything was moving too fast.

Too large.

She looked toward Celeste.

“Where is it?”

Celeste’s eyes darkened slightly.

“In Blackwater House.”

The room froze instantly.

Ethan’s expression changed completely.

Not surprise.

Alarm.

Real alarm.

Daniel looked equally disturbed.

Aria frowned. “What’s Blackwater House?”

Nobody answered immediately.

Which meant she wasn’t going to like it.

Finally Ethan spoke.

“It was Victor’s private estate years ago.”

“Was?”

“It burned down.”

A chill crawled down Aria’s spine.

“When?”

Ethan looked directly at her.

“The same night Isabella disappeared.”