Chapter 6

ARIA 

I took an opportunity. 

The words echoed in my head, loud enough to drown everything else out. I knew she couldn’t stand me, but this?

This low?

“Come on, Aria.” She dropped beside me like she owned the space. “Don’t sit there looking like a damsel in distress. Don’t you get tired of playing the pity card? Doesn’t this script bore you?”

All I could think about was how easy it would be to shove her off the bed.

“How long…” My voice came out thinner than I liked. “How long has this been going on? You and Adrian?”

I shouldn’t have asked. 

Deep down, I knew the answer would only break me but I was hell-bent on finding out. I wanted to know how long I had been a joke. How long they’d laughed behind my back. 

Her lips curled slowly, like she was savoring it. My hands clenched, nails biting into my palms.

“Do you really want to know?” she murmured. “You know Adrian said you were kind of a masochist and maybe he wasn’t lying after all.”

Her fingers brushed my chin, but I slapped them away. 

“Almost a year.”

Everything in me went still.

A year.

Not weeks. Not months.

But a whole year.

All the nights Adrian would say he was working late, all the ‘short’ business trips he took that lasted for months, all the dates he ended up canceling…

So they were all spent with her. 

My cousin. 

My chest tightened, but I refused to let it show.

“Are you okay?” She asked. For a second, I thought she cared. Until she burst out laughing, sharp and ugly. 

“You’re going to die if you don’t calm down. It is my wish that you die actually, but just not at my expense.” 

“What did I ever do to you, Cas?” My voice was quiet now. 

But her eyes flamed with fire capable of consuming us both. 

“First of all, don't you call me that.” Her voice dropped. “And second? Everything.” 

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t remember, do you?” She smiled. “You took everything away from me, now I won’t stop until you lose everything too. I want to see you helpless, alone, and struggling to breathe with no one there.”

A flicker of confusion passed through me, quickly swallowed by anger. 

She was insane. 

I have never taken anything from her, not when we were kids and definitely not now either. 

“I heard you’ve got one year left.” Her lips twisted. “I hope it’s painful. I hope you don’t even make it that far. Adrian will leave you, and you’ll die alone.”

She spat out with so much spite. 

Something inside me snapped into place. I straightened. 

“You think Adrian loves you?” 

She scoffed. “I don’t think. I know.”

I let out a small laugh. 

God, she really was still that stupid. 

“Then you’re more naive than I thought.” I tilted my head. “Do you honestly think he’d leave me for you?”

That made her pause. 

“Adrian doesn’t love me,” I continued. “But he’s not stupid enough to walk away. He cares about himself. About his name. And more importantly, he’s terrified of his father.”

My heart bloomed with the look on her face. Priceless. She looked like she had lost a battle. 

“So no,” I finished softly. “He’s not choosing you.” For a second, she stared at me like  I’d just slapped her across the face. 

I won’t lie…it felt so good. 

“Get out.”

She stood slowly, smoothing her skirt. 

“You’re still the gullible naive person I know.” She said, leaning down to kiss my cheek.  

My stomach turned. 

The only thing that kept playing on a crazy loop in my head was that she’d used those same lips on my supposed fiancé.  

Disgusting. 

The door clicked shut. 

And just like that, everything I had been holding in broke. I pressed my hand over my mouth, forcing the sound back down.

No one needed to hear this. 

Especially not her. She would be elated. 

The timer beeped and I sighed. 

As a little girl, I always dreamed of the day my life wouldn’t be regulated by a disrespectful timer, beeping every two minutes. 

A horrid reminder that I would never be able to escape this life of drugs. 

 I reached for the pill bottles beside my bed and popped them into my mouth. It didn’t take long before sleep engulfed me. 

“WHAT IS IT I’M HEARING?” 

I jerked awake, heart pounding. My father stood at the foot of my bed, his face tight with anger. Kade hovered behind him, an apologetic look spread across his face. 

“Honey, maybe you should calm down—” Margaret stepped in, eyes darting between us.

I rolled mine.

“What is going on?” My voice was hoarse.

My father let out a sharp breath. “You lie there and act like you’re not the mastermind behind everything going on.” 

My stomach dropped.

“Aria,” he continued, voice rising, “I have done everything for you. Everything. And this is how you repay me? By causing problems? By ruining things?”

“Mr. Hale—” Kade started.

“Dad,” I cut in, my throat suddenly dry. “Can someone just tell me what’s happening?”

“There she goes again,” Margaret muttered. “Always pretending.”

I ignored her.

Kade moved quickly and handed me a bottle of water. Our fingers brushed for a second before I pulled away, unscrewing it and taking a long sip.

I watch as everyone’s eyes trail the bobbing of my throat. A dull ache pangs at the side of my head and I wince.

“Are you okay—” 

“Are you done?” My father asked, cutting Kade off.

I lowered the bottle slowly.

“Why did Adrian text me,” he said, each word clipped, “saying he wants to call off the wedding? That you’ve been spreading lies about him cheating? That you’re the one who wants out?

“Aria, I know you’re angry with the world but that poor boy has done absolutely nothing to deserve this. I don’t think you understand the gravity of this misinformation and the rumours you've been spreading. Do you have any idea what you’re doing? The kind of damage this could cause? To him? To us?”

My grip tightened around the bottle.

What?

“He told me everything,” my father went on. “I know your mother left pretty early but Margaret and I did our best to raise you properly. But this….”

“Aria,” Margaret added, softer but no kinder, “that boy has stood by you through everything. Why would you try to ruin him?” 

A beat passed.

“Adrian mentioned you’ve been unstable lately. That you’re imagining things…maybe we should have someone look at you.”

My chest tightened. I turned slowly to my father. I looked at him. 

“You believe him.”