Aria's POV
I threw up in Sophie's bathroom for the third time in an hour.
My hands shook as I gripped the toilet seat. Everything hurt—my chest, my head, my heart. But my stomach hurt worst of all. I couldn't stop being sick.
"Aria, honey, you need to drink something." Sophie knelt beside me, pulling my hair back. Her doctor voice was gentle but worried. "You're going to dehydrate."
"I can't." Another wave of nausea hit me. "I can't stop seeing his face. The way Julian looked at her instead of me."
Sophie pressed a cold cloth to my forehead. "He's a monster. They all are."
"Twenty-four hours." My voice cracked. "He gave me twenty-four hours' notice that he was marrying my sister instead. Like I was nothing. Like six years meant nothing."
"Because to him, you were nothing." Sophie's voice turned hard. "But you're everything, Aria. You're brilliant and kind and you rebuilt that entire company by yourself. They used you. All of them."
I wanted to believe her. But right now, curled on her bathroom floor in borrowed pajamas, I felt like garbage. Like something people threw away when they were done with it.
"The wedding is tomorrow," I whispered. "In the venue I planned. With the flowers I chose. Wearing the dress that was supposed to be mine."
Sophie's jaw clenched. "I hope they both choke on the cake."
A laugh bubbled out of me. It sounded broken. Wrong. Then the laugh turned into a sob and I couldn't stop crying.
"Why wasn't I enough?" The words ripped out of my throat. "I did everything right. I worked so hard. I loved him so much. Why wasn't I enough?"
"Oh, sweetheart." Sophie pulled me into her arms, rocking me like a child. "You were always enough. He just wasn't good enough to see it."
We sat there on the cold bathroom floor while I cried six years of wasted love into her shoulder. Outside, the city lights blinked. Somewhere, Julian was probably with Celeste, planning their stolen wedding. My stolen wedding.
My stomach lurched again. But this time, nothing came up. Just dry heaves that made my whole body hurt.
Sophie's expression changed. Her doctor face came on—sharp, analytical, concerned.
"Aria, when was your last period?"
The question hit me like ice water. "What?"
"Your period. When was it?"
I tried to think through the fog of grief. "I... I don't know. Six weeks ago? Maybe seven? I've been so stressed with wedding planning that I didn't—"
Sophie was already moving, digging through her bathroom cabinet. She pulled out a small box. A pregnancy test.
My blood turned cold.
"No." I shook my head hard. "No, no, no. I can't be—we were careful—"
"Careful isn't perfect." Sophie pressed the box into my trembling hands. "Take it. Now."
"Sophie, please—"
"Aria." Her voice was soft but firm. "You need to know."
My hands shook so badly I could barely open the box. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when everything was already destroyed.
I took the test. Three minutes felt like three hours.
Sophie held my hand while we waited. Neither of us spoke. The bathroom was silent except for my ragged breathing.
The timer on her phone beeped.
I couldn't look. I physically couldn't make myself look at that little stick that held my entire future.
Sophie picked it up. Her face went white.
"What?" My voice came out strangled. "What does it say?"
She turned it toward me with shaking hands.
Two pink lines. Clear as day. Undeniable.
Positive.
The world tilted sideways. I grabbed the counter to keep from falling.
"I'm pregnant." The words felt foreign in my mouth. Impossible. "I'm pregnant with Julian's baby."
"Oh, Aria." Sophie's eyes filled with tears.
"He's marrying my sister tomorrow." A hysterical laugh escaped me. "He's marrying Celeste tomorrow and I'm carrying his child and he doesn't even know and—"
I couldn't breathe. My chest was too tight. The bathroom walls were closing in.
Pregnant. I was pregnant with the baby of a man who threw me away like trash. A man who chose my sister over me. A man who was getting married in less than twenty-four hours to someone else.
"What am I going to do?" I whispered. "What am I supposed to do?"
Sophie opened her mouth to answer.
My phone rang.
We both froze. The sound was too loud in the quiet bathroom.
I looked at the screen. My heart stopped.
Unknown Number.
But somehow, I knew. I knew with every cell in my body who was calling.
"Don't answer it," Sophie said quickly.
But my hand was already reaching for the phone. Like I was watching myself from far away.
I answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice, deep and smooth as dark chocolate, filled my ear.
"Aria Montgomery. We need to meet. Tonight."
"Who is this?"
"Someone who knows exactly what happened to you today. Someone who wants to help you destroy them all." A pause. "Someone who's been waiting five years to save you."
My breath caught. "How do you—"
"I'm texting you an address. Come alone. Come now. Your life is about to change, Aria. The question is: are you brave enough to let it?"
The line went dead.
A text arrived immediately. An address I didn't recognize.
Sophie grabbed my arm. "Aria, no. You can't go meet some strange man in the middle of the night. Are you insane?"
I stared at the pregnancy test in my other hand. At the two pink lines that meant my whole life was about to explode.
Julian was marrying Celeste tomorrow. My family had thrown me out. I was pregnant and alone and broken.
What did I have left to lose?
"I'm going," I said quietly.
"Then I'm coming with you."
I looked at my best friend—the only person in the world who hadn't betrayed me. The only person who still cared.
"Okay," I whispered. "Let's go meet whoever this is."
As we grabbed our coats, one thought kept running through my mind:
Who was this man? And how did he know what happened today?
How did he know my name?