"And then what?" Aria turned to look at him.
Damien t her gaze directly. "And then we decide together how to handle it. Not making decisions for you, Aria. Together."
The words hit her sowhere soft and vulnerable. He’d understood imdiately what she needed....not to be protected from this, but to be included in whatever ca next. Not handled, not shielded, but trusted with her own situation.
She turned back to her mother, who was sitting again, wiping her face with a handkerchief, trying to compose herself.
"You should have told sooner," Aria said gently. "When the first photograph arrived. You shouldn’t have carried this alone."
"I know." i looked up at her with eyes that were still wet but steadier now. "I kept thinking I could manage it. That I could protect you the way I always have."
"Mama, I’m twenty-four years old."
"You’ll be my child when you’re seventy-four," i said with a watery laugh. "A mother doesn’t stop protecting her children just because they grow up."
Aria sat on the arm of the chair beside her mother, and i leaned against her with a sigh that sounded like it had been stored for days.
"Tell everything," Aria said. "All the ssages. All the cards with the flowers. Everything he said. I want to know all of it."
i began talking, and Aria listened carefully, not interrupting. Heard about the first flowers, the first card with references to gardenias and peonies and the garden of their old apartnt. Heard about the ssages, the promises of change, the claims of a man who said twenty-five years had transford him.
Heard about the photograph, the three days of surveillance, the ssage that had finally broken i’s careful reserve and made her call Marcus.
When i finished, the apartnt was quiet except for the distant sounds of the city outside the window.
"He wants to et ," Aria said finally. It wasn’t a question.
"Yes." i’s voice was careful.
"Do you think he’s genuinely changed?"
i was quiet for a long mont. "The notes seed sincere. The acknowledgnt of his failures felt real. But the photograph....the surveillance...that frightened . Because it looked like the behavior of the man I ran from. The man who needed to control everything, who couldn’t respect boundaries even when he claid to want to."
"Or it’s the behavior of a man who’s been searching for his daughter for twenty-five years and couldn’t help himself when he finally found her," Aria said quietly.
Damien spoke from across the room, his voice neutral, presenting information rather than opinion. "Alexander Wei is one of the most powerful real estate developers in Asia. He’s known for being extrely intelligent, extrely determined, and completely accustod to getting what he wants. He’s also, based on everything I know of him professionally, not soone who takes no for an answer easily."
Aria looked at him. "You know him?"
"By reputation. Our companies have crossed paths in international markets. He’s formidable, Aria. Whatever his intentions, he’s not soone to underestimate."
Aria nodded slowly, processing everything. Outside the apartnt window, Chinatown was alive with its evening rhythms.....vendors closing up shops, families heading ho for dinner, the city moving at its own pace indifferent to the drama unfolding in this small living room.
Her father was in New York. Had been watching her for three days. Wanted to et her.
And she.....despite every rational reason to be afraid, despite her mother’s warnings and Damien’s assessnt and the evidence of surveillance that suggested control rather than respect....felt sothing pulling at her that she couldn’t quite extinguish.
He’d spent twenty-five years looking for her.
What kind of man did that? What did it an, that kind of searching?
"I want to et him," Aria said quietly.
Both i and Damien went very still.
"Aria...." i started.
"I’m not saying I trust him. I’m not saying I want a relationship with him. I’m not saying any of that." Aria’s voice was steady, clear, certain in the way it got when she’d made a decision she felt completely sure about. "But I’ve spent my entire life not knowing where half of ca from. Not knowing anything about the man whose DNA I carry, whose blood runs in my veins. I have a right to know who he is. To make my own assessnt."
She looked at her mother. "You made the decision to run when I was two months old. I understand why, and I’m not criticizing it. You protected . But Mama, I’m not two months old anymore."
i’s eyes filled with tears again, but she nodded slowly. "I know, baby."
Aria looked at Damien. "And I’m not asking for permission."
"I know you’re not," Damien said carefully. "I’m just asking to be there when it happens. Whatever eting he wants, wherever it takes place....I’m there. Not to make decisions, not to interfere. Just....there."
Aria held his gaze for a mont, then nodded. "Okay. You can be there."
She pulled out her phone and looked at the number her mother had been texting from....the unknown number that she now knew belonged to Alexander Wei, her biological father.
Her hands were completely steady as she typed a ssage.
This is Aria. You want to et . I’ll give you that eting. But on my terms, in a location I choose, with the person I choose present. If you agree to those conditions, reach out tomorrow. If you don’t, I block this number and you’ll never hear from .
She hit send before she could second-guess herself.
The three of them sat in the flower-filled apartnt, surrounded by the evidence of a man’s twenty-five-year search, and waited.
Thirty seconds later, a response ca.
Aria. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear from you. I agree to every condition. Wherever you want. Whenever you want. Whatever terms make you comfortable. I’ll be there.
And Aria? Thank you. For giving a chance.
Aria stared at the ssage for a long mont. Then she set her phone face down on her knee and reached out with both hands to take her mother’s hand.
"Okay," she said quietly. "Okay. We deal with this together."
Her mother squeezed her hands and nodded.
And in the flower-scented air of the small Chinatown apartnt, Aria felt the weight of the unknown pressing down on her.
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