Aria stood frozen, her fingers trembling as she stared at the document in her hands. The truth she had been searching for… the truth she feared… was right there.
And it was worse than she imagined.
"You knew…?" her voice cracked as she looked up at Damien.
He didn't answer immediately.
That silence was enough.
Her heart shattered.
"You knew all this time…" she whispered, stepping back like he had just struck her.
Damien clenched his jaw. "Aria, listen to me—"
"No!" she snapped, her voice rising, breaking, trembling with pain. "Don't say my name like that. Not after everything!"
Her chest tightened as memories flooded her mind the way he protected her, the way he looked at her, the way she had slowly… foolishly… fallen for him.
Was it all a lie?
Or worse… was she just part of his plan?
"You think I used you?" Damien finally said, his voice low, dangerous, but laced with something deeper hurt.
"What else am I supposed to think?" she shot back. "You had the power to tell me the truth, and you didn't!"
"Because I was trying to protect you!" he snapped.
"Protect me from what? The truth?" she laughed bitterly. "Or from you?"
That hit him.
Hard.
The tension between them thickened, heavy with unsaid words and buried emotions.
Damien stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, his eyes locked onto hers.
"You don't understand the kind of danger you're in," he said quietly.
Aria shook her head. "No… I think I finally do."
She took another step back, creating distance—distance he felt instantly.
"You're part of it, Damien. Everything that's been happening… you're connected."
His silence again.
And this time, it confirmed everything.
Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
"I trusted you," she whispered.
"And I never wanted to break that," he replied, his voice softer now.
"But you did."
The words cut deeper than anything else.
A long silence followed.
Then Damien spoke again, quieter, almost defeated.
"If I tell you everything… you won't walk away?"
Aria hesitated.
Her heart screamed at her to run.
But something stronger held her in place.
"Tell me," she said.
Damien exhaled slowly, like a man about to destroy everything he had built.
"It started years ago… with your father."
Her breath caught.
And just like that—
Everything changed.
💬 What do you think Damien is hiding?
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