LOGINAria’s POV I woke up with the same tight feeling in my chest I’d gone to sleep with. It had been creeping in since yesterday’s verdict, since that hug, since the way his whole body softened against me like he didn’t care who was watching. I didn’t want to think about it, but every time I blinked, it was there. That warmth. That weight. That moment where I realized he wasn’t as untouchable as he pretended. I kept replaying the look in his eyes when the judge said he was free. Relief mixed with something else I didn’t really understand. Something almost… grateful. Something that felt too close to hope. I tried to shake it off when I got out of bed. I took a shower, changed, brushed my hair, all the normal things. But the second I stepped outside my room and walked into the main living space, I felt it again. That strange awareness that settled right under my ribs whenever he was nearby. He was standing near the grand table, talking to Christiano and Ethan. Papers were scatter
Aria’s POV It had been hours since the verdict, but I still felt that hug on my body like it had only just happened. My skin remembered the weight of his arms before my mind even caught up. I kept replaying it even though I told myself I shouldn’t. It didn’t matter how many times I blinked or tried to think of something else. The way he held me kept coming back. He didn’t hold me like someone being dramatic or looking for attention. He held me like someone who had been holding everything in for too long and finally broke open for a moment. Like he had needed that hug more than breath. And I didn’t know what to do with that feeling, because something inside me answered it immediately, and that reaction scared me more than any of the courtrooms or cameras. When we got home, everything felt different in a way I couldn’t explain. The house looked the same. The walls, the floors, the furniture all the same. Nothing had changed physically, but something in the air between us felt com
Aria’s POV The last hearing felt slower than all the others. Hours stretched like they were holding their breath, waiting for someone to make the world start again. I sat a few rows behind him, hands pressed together, knees stiff. The sound of papers shifting, pens clicking, shoes scraping against the floor every small thing felt too loud. Damien sat in front, his back straight, his head tilted slightly to the side like he was listening to something far away. From where I was, I could only see part of his face, the edge of his jaw, the way his hand rested on the table. He looked calm, the kind of calm that only came when everything inside you had already been torn apart. I wanted to move closer. I didn’t. I just watched the small, quiet things he did how his thumb brushed the pen he wasn’t using, how his breathing barely showed, how sometimes he leaned forward like he was about to speak but never did. His lawyer did all the talking, clear, firm, measured. They went through t
Aria’s POV We left the courtroom together. The hearing was over, but everything still felt unfinished. The noise inside had faded behind us, replaced by the heavy quiet that follows when people stop pretending to care. Damien walked beside me, his shoulders straight, his eyes forward, the kind of calm that never really is. My heels clicked against the tiles. I didn’t know where to look, so I just focused on moving. The floor felt too smooth, my legs too weak. I wanted to disappear before anyone else could stare, before someone asked me how it felt to lie and call it truth. Then his hand brushed mine. I thought it was an accident at first. But when I didn’t pull away, he didn’t either.It was so light I almost didn’t feel it at first, but the moment my skin caught his, something inside me paused. His fingers slipped around mine, slow and certain, like he’d made the decision long before his hand even reached for me. My pulse jumped, fast and loud in my chest. He didn’t look
Aria I’d never been inside a courtroom before that day. I thought it would feel like a place for justice, for truth, but when I stepped inside, it felt more like a stage. Every pair of eyes turned toward , guessing, waiting to decide who I was supposed to be victim, liar, or girl too broken to know the difference. The other girls went first. One after another. Each of them dressed in soft colors, hair tied back, their voices trembling but steady enough to sound real. I sat in the back, hands clasped, fingers digging into my palm as I listened to their stories all just telling the truth. I could hear Vance voice in all of them, shaping each sentence, cutting away the parts that didn’t fit the version of the truth we needed. Every testimony was like watching pieces of myself being repeated by someone else. Damien sat at the defense table, motionless. His suit was immaculate, but his eyes they looked exhausted, haunted, the way someone looks after fighting for too long. He didn
Damien’s POV She was standing by the window when I walked in. Morning light slipped through the blinds, cutting across her in soft lines that caught the edge of her skin, her hair, the pale curve of her neck. She didn’t see me at first. She was just there, quiet, arms folded loosely, watching something outside that probably didn’t matter. I told myself to keep walking, to go straight to the study, to not look too long. But I did. I stopped. And I just watched her. Her robe hung loose around her waist, the tie barely holding it together. Beneath it, I caught the faint shape of her body through the thin fabric. The light turned everything into suggestion the curve of her hip, the soft rise of her chest as she breathed, the line of her collarbone peeking through. It hit me then, that slow ache that starts somewhere in your chest and spreads lower until it becomes heat. I’d felt it before, but never like this. Not when she was this close, this unaware, this painfully human in fr
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