Chapter 5

[ARIA’S POV]

I slumped against the wall, the vibration of the slamming door still rattling through my spine.

Then came the silence. It was heavy, thick with the smell of dust and damp stone.

The first tear was hot against my cheek, and then the floodgates just broke. I curled my knees to my chest, my shoulders shaking with sobs I couldn't hold back anymore. This was it. This was my life now… a cage, a shadow, a mistake.

But as I sat there, a sharper pain started to cut through the fear.

I could almost see my sister’s face. She’d be out there right now, probably tucked under a warm blanket or laughing at some joke, completely untouched by this nightmare. She was breathing clean air and living a life that didn't involve bruises or iron bars.

She was free, and I was rotting.

A jagged, pathetic laugh scratched its way out of my throat. It sounded hollow in the empty cell.

"How?" I whispered, my voice cracking in the dark. "How did it come to this?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, hugging my arms around my stomach as the first pangs of hunger began to settle in. I tried to pull myself into a tighter ball, trying to hold the pieces of my mind together, but the bitterness just kept growing. It felt colder than the floor beneath me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like forever, the door groaned on its hinges.

I didn't move. I couldn't. After sitting in the dark for so long, I’d lost track of time, hours, maybe days. I’d stopped waiting for a savior. I’d stopped waiting for anything at all.

Then the light hit. It was blinding, a sharp blade of white that made my head throb. I flinched, shielding my eyes with a shaking hand.

Minutes or hours, it was all just one long, suffocating blur. My throat felt like it had been scraped with glass, and my body was so hollow it felt like the slightest breeze could shatter me.

Then the door creaked.

I didn't look up. I didn't want to see Luca again. I didn't want to see the coldness in his eyes.

But then I heard it. A soft, melodic laugh that made my skin crawl.

I forced my head up, my neck straining with the effort.

Elara.

She walked in with a slow, graceful confidence, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She looked refreshed, polished the complete opposite of the trembling girl who had fallen to the floor earlier.

"Look at you," she said, her voice light and airy. She tilted her head, studying me like a broken toy.

"Pathetic."

I didn't have the breath to answer.

She stopped right in front of me, looming over me. Then she crouched down, her eyes gleaming with a sick kind of satisfaction.

"I warned you," she whispered, her face inches from mine. "You should have stayed in your place, Aria."

Before I could even blink

Smack.

The blow was harder than the first. My head slammed into the stone wall behind me, and a sharp, jagged gasp tore out of my lungs. The world spun.

I touched my tongue to the back of my teeth. I tasted copper.

She laughed again, a sound so cold it made the damp cell feel like a freezer. "Still think anyone is coming to save you? Still think you're the hero of this story?"

My vision was blurring, but it wasn't just from the hit. It was a dark, boiling realization.

She hadn't been scared of Luca. She hadn't been trying to help me that I know. The performance, the tears, the husband comment it was all a game.

She grabbed my chin, her nails sinking into my skin. She forced my head up, making me look directly into those cold, triumphant eyes.

“Useless,” she sneered, her voice dropping to a vicious hiss. “Did you actually think you could take my place? That you were even in the same league?”

I didn't answer. I just leaned into her grip, my body too heavy to fight back.

“Gold digger,” she spat. “Husband snatcher. Liar.” Each word was a calculated strike, meant to break whatever was left of my spirit. “You’re a parasite, Aria. You don’t belong in this house. You never did.”

I let out a shallow, broken breath. My head was spinning, the room tilting on its axis.

“Look at you,” she said, her voice dripping with pure disgust. “You’re pathetic. You can’t even hold your own head up, and you thought you could stand beside a man like him?”

Her grip tightened for one last painful second, then she abruptly let go.

The cruelty in her face didn't vanish, but it shifted. It became something sharper, more focused.

“You know what?” she said, her voice suddenly quiet. She leaned in, her breath smelling of expensive mint. “When you finally get the chance… when that door is left unlocked…”

My heart gave a weak, jagged thud.

“Run,” she whispered. “Run as far as your legs will take you. And leave him.”

I squinted at her, my brain struggling to keep up with the whiplash. “What?” I rasped.

“If you’re smart,” she said, a small, knowing smile pulling at her lips, “you won’t ever look back. You’ll disappear and stay dead.”

She stood up, casually smoothing her dress and fixing her hair as if we’d just been having tea. She had just shredded my soul, and now she was offering me the exit.

The door hadn't even clicked shut behind her when I heard them.

Footsteps. Heavy, measured, and terrifyingly familiar.

My stomach did a slow, sick roll. No. Not again.

Elara’s transformation was instant. Before I could even blink, she threw herself onto the cold floor. She let out a small, pathetic sob, curling her body into a ball as if she’d been struck.

“I just wanted to bring her some water,” she whimpered as Luca stepped into the room. Her voice was trembling perfectly. “She threw it back at me! She pushed me!”

I stared at her, my jaw dropping. The sheer boldness of it left me breathless.

“That’s not true,” I rasped. My throat felt like it was full of sand, but the words forced their way out. “She’s lying, Luca

Elara scrambled to her feet and was on me before I could finish the sentence.

Smack.

The sound of her hand hitting my cheek echoed off the stone walls. My head snapped to the side, a fresh jolt of pain white-washing my vision. I tasted blood.

“You shameless girl!” she shrieked. Her face was a mask of pure, righteous fury. “Even now, you’re going to lie? To his face?”

I looked up at her, my head spinning and my ears ringing. I couldn't even find the words.

“She called me Husband snatcher!” she spat, her eyes burning with a pity that looked very real, even if the story wasn't. “and a Liar! And asked if I can really think of just taking what belongs to her?”

I shook my head weakly, my chest heaving as I tried to draw in enough air to defend myself. “No… that’s not… she’s the one who

But she had already recoiled, her posture collapsing back into that of a victim. She looked small, trembling, and completely innocent.

It was a masterclass. In three seconds, she had rewritten everything that happened in this cell.

And Luca was standing right there, his shadow stretching across both of us, watching the exact performance she had staged just for him.

The room went dead silent.

I could feel him coming before he even took a step. The air seemed to vibrate with his anger, thick and suffocating.

Then, his hand was there.

He didn't just touch me; he clamped his fingers onto my face, his nails digging into the skin of my jaw. He jerked my head up, forcing me to meet his eyes. I let out a jagged gasp, pain radiating through my skull.

“After everything...” Luca’s voice was a low, dangerous growl. “You still haven’t learned when to shut your mouth?”

Tears blurred my vision, but I didn't blink. I couldn't.

“I didn’t do anything,” I managed to rasp. My throat felt like it was lined with glass. “She’s the one... she’s lying to you...”

His grip tightened until I thought my jaw might actually snap.

“Enough!”

The word felt like a physical blow. His eyes were cold, flat, and completely empty of the man I used to know. There was no doubt in his expression, just a final, crushing judgment.

“You’ll stay here,” he said, his voice dropping back into that terrifying, calm level. “Another twenty-four hours.”

My heart didn't just drop; it felt like it stopped.

“No,” I breathed, the word barely a whisper.

“No food. No water.”

The room started to tilt. I shook my head weakly, my hair sticking to the sweat on my forehead. “Please... Luca, look at me. I won’t survive another night. I’m telling you the truth...”

“Maybe this time,” he said, ignoring my plea as he leaned in closer, “you’ll finally understand that your words don't mean a damn thing to me.”

He shoved my face away, letting go so abruptly that my head cracked against the stone wall. I slumped down, my muscles too exhausted to keep me upright.

I heard his boots click on the floor. The door groaned open, then slammed shut with a finality that echoed in my chest.

The lock turned.

I was back in the dark. Alone.

I curled into a ball on the cold floor, my breath coming in shallow, shivering hitches. Twenty-four hours. I closed my eyes, wondering if I’d even have the strength to open them when the sun finally came back.