Aria POV I remember the sound before the pain. Alex calling from downstairs. “Aria, are you not coming for dinner?” His voice carried warmth, the kind that always made something inside my chest soften. I smiled, one hand resting on my stomach, the other gripping the banister as I made my way down the stairs carefully. Nine months. Heavy. Slow. Careful. I had only gone upstairs to get my shawl. That was all. My foot slipped. Just a small mistake. A single moment. Then the world tilted. The banister vanished from my fingers. My body lurched forward and suddenly I was falling: tumbling, rolling, crashing against hard steps that knocked the air from my lungs. Pain exploded through my abdomen. Something warm spread beneath me. Blood. So much blood. I could not breathe. I could not think. My trembling hands moved instinctively to my stomach. “My baby…” The whisper barely left my lips. Footsteps thundered. “Aria!” Alex’s voice broke — sharp, terrified. He reached me,
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