Todos os capítulos de Aria (The Complete Aria Series): Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

The first night home from the hospital, I didn’t sleep. Not because of Arias, but because someone was outside of my house. I was standing in the living room swaying Arias in my arms against my shoulder when I saw him standing under the streetlight at the end of the cul-de-sac while rocking Arias at two in the morning. Just a silhouette. Watching. Waiting. I shifted Arias slightly and leaned closer to the window, trying to see through the reflection of the living room lights. My heart started beating faster. He was definitely facing our house. Facing me. Arias stirred softly and let out a tiny whimper. I instinctively held him tighter, gently bouncing him against my shoulder. “It’s okay,” I whispered, “mama’s got you.” But I wasn’t so sure. The man finally moved. Slowly. Not walking away, just stepping backward into the darkness beyond the streetlight until the shadows swallowed him completely. My stomach dropped. He was gone. I stood there for a moment, staring at the empty st

The cul-de-sac had never felt so small. I stood near the living room window, gently swaying Arias against my shoulder as she watched the group gathered outside. The morning sun had fully risen now, spilling pale gold across the quiet neighborhood.It should have felt peaceful. Instead, the entire street felt like a stage. Josh, Chad, Joe, Amy, and the two police officers were gathered in Joe and Chad’s driveway across the street. Chad had pulled out a laptop and set it on the hood of his car looking at the garage camera while Joe scrolled through the doorbell footage on his phone. Security cameras, I had never been more grateful for neighborhood paranoia. I had amazing friends.Arias squirmed softly in my arms, letting out a small noise before settling again.“I know,” I murmured quietly. “Everyone’s curious.” I kissed the top of his head. The baby smelled like powder and warmth and something indescribably new.For a brief moment, I allowed myself to focus on that instead of

The paper slipped from my fingers. It fluttered to the floor like it weighed nothing, but the words on it felt heavy enough to crush me. “Josh did too.” My pulse roared in my ears. For a second, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think past the image of that photograph—me, asleep, vulnerable, my baby in my arms… and someone standing just outside the window watching. Watching us. And then writing his name. Josh.“No…” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, that’s not—” But the doubt was already there. Planted. Growing. I forced myself to move, grabbing the paper from the floor and clutching it tightly in my hand. My legs felt weak as I backed out of the nursery, my eyes flicking once more to the slightly open window. Had it been open all night? Or had someone opened it after I fell asleep?The hallway felt too long as I rushed toward the stairs. My heart pounded harder with every step down. Voices drifted up from below—Josh, the officers, Chad, Joe, Amy—all still ta

Sleep never came. Not really. It hovered at the edges of my mind, teasing me with moments of silence before snapping me back into awareness with every creak, every shift of air, every imagined footstep outside the walls. By the time morning light began to bleed through the curtains, I had already given up on trying.Arias stirred softly in his bassinet beside the bed, his tiny noises grounding me just enough to keep from unraveling completely. I reached over, brushing my fingers gently across his cheek.“You’re okay,” I whispered. But I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince anymore.Him… Or me. Behind me, Josh shifted. He hadn’t slept either. I could feel it in the tension radiating from him, in the way his breathing never fully settled into anything close to rest.For a long time, neither of us spoke. Because there was too much between us now. Too many questions. Too many cracks forming in something I had believed was unbreakable.“Aria…” he said finally, his voice low,

We left the nursery with the photo still in Josh’s hand. But it felt like something had stayed behind. Something watching us go.The hallway suddenly felt longer than it ever had before—each step toward the stairs stretching out like we were walking through water instead of air. I held Arias tighter against my chest, my body moving on instinct more than thought. Josh stayed close behind me. Too close, but not close enough. I couldn’t decide which.Downstairs, the house was still full of movement—officers speaking in low voices, radios crackling, the controlled chaos of people trying to make sense of something that refused to be logical. But I barely registered them. My mind was no longer fully in the present. It was somewhere else. Somewhere I had spent years trying not to go back to. Antonio. The name didn’t feel like a memory anymore. It felt like a pull. A gravity I couldn’t resist.I sat down on the couch without really realizing it. Amy started to speak, but the wor