ARIA’S POV
Aria’s entire world collapsed in the space between one breath and the next.
That voice. Damien’s voice. Behind her. In the greenhouse.
He knew. He’d found her. She’d been caught.
No. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. Not now. Not when I’m so close.
Her hands were shaking so badly she nearly dropped the roots she was holding. Her vision blurred with tears. Her entire body felt like it might collapse at any mont.
She’d been so careful. Had waited until he was asleep. Had moved so quietly. Had been certain she’d gotten away with it.
But he was here. Had found her. Had caught her in the act.
And now....now she’d lost everything. Her mother. Him. Any chance at a future. All of it gone in an instant.
"Aria." His voice was harder now. Commanding. "I won’t ask again. Turn. Around."
She couldn’t. Couldn’t bear to see his face. Couldn’t stand to watch his expression change from love to hatred. Couldn’t survive seeing the mont he realized exactly how thoroughly she’d betrayed him.
"Please," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Please don’t make ....."
"TURN AROUND!"
The command was sharp enough to make her flinch. And her body....trained by weeks of responding to his dominance.....obeyed before her mind could stop it.
She turned.
And imdiately wished she hadn’t.
Because the look on Damien’s face was worse than anything she could have imagined.
Not anger. Not fury. Not even hatred.
Devastation. Complete and utter devastation. Like she’d reached into his chest and torn out his heart with her bare hands.
His eyes were cold. Distant. The warmth she’d grown addicted to....the heat that had consud her just hours ago....was completely gone. Like it had never existed at all.
He looked at her like she was a stranger. Like the past weeks had been erased. Like everything between them had been reduced to nothing but lies and betrayal.
"Damien....." Her voice cracked. "I can explain....."
"Can you?" His tone was conversational, almost polite. Which sohow made it more terrifying than if he’d been yelling. "You can explain why, less than an hour after I took your virginity....after I claid you, marked you, made you mine in every way that matters...you snuck out of my bed to steal from ?"
"My mother—"
"Don’t." The word was sharp. Final. "Don’t you dare use your mother as an excuse. Don’t try to make this about desperation or impossible choices. Because you had a choice, Aria. You’ve had a choice this entire ti."
He moved closer, and she instinctively backed up until her back hit the cultivation table.
"You could have asked for help," Damien continued, his voice eerily calm. "You could have told the truth. You could have trusted . But instead—" His eyes traveled over her, taking in the rumpled clothes, the way she moved stiffly, the evidence of their brutal encounter written all over her body. "Instead, you let fuck you. Let claim you. Let think I was making love to a woman who loved . When really....." His laugh was bitter. "When really, you were just saying goodbye before committing your betrayal."
"No! It wasn’t like that....."
"Then what was it like?" He was right in front of her now, his presence overwhelming. "Explain it to , Aria. Make understand how you can say you love while actively stealing from . While lying to . While planning to disappear and never co back."
The tears were streaming down her face now, her entire body shaking. "I didn’t know what else to do! My mother is dying.....hours left, not days.....and I thought.....I thought if I told you the truth, you’d....."
"I’d what?" His hand shot out, gripping her chin and forcing her to et his eyes. "I’d say no? I’d refuse to help? I’d throw you out?" His grip tightened. "Is that really what you thought of ? After everything we’ve shared? After the way I’ve treated you? You really believed I was the kind of man who would let soone’s mother die out of spite?"
"I didn’t know!" she sobbed. "I was scared and desperate and I didn’t know what you’d do if you knew why I was really here....."
"If I knew?" Damien’s laugh was harsh, humorless. "Oh, Aria. Sweet, naive, foolish Aria." He released her chin, stepping back, and the distance felt like a chasm opening between them. "I’ve known who you really are since the day you walked through my door."
The words didn’t make sense. Couldn’t make sense.
"What?"
"I. Knew. Everything." Each word was precisely enunciated, deliberate. "I knew your na was Aria Chen, not Sarah Mitchell. I knew about your mother’s diagnosis. I knew about the Vitalis Radix. I knew why you were really here. I’ve known all of it from the very beginning."
The greenhouse tilted. The world stopped making sense.
"You.....you knew? But how....."
"Did you really think I wouldn’t run a background check on every employee I hire?" Damien’s voice was cold. Clinical. "Did you think my security was so incompetent that they wouldn’t flag a fake identity? That they wouldn’t investigate when soone with multiple skills far beyond a maid’s requirents suddenly appears at my door?"
He pulled out his phone and held it up, showing her a file. Her file. Complete with her real na, her mother’s dical records, everything.
"I’ve had this since week one," he said. "I knew everything. And I chose.....stupidly, foolishly.....to give you ti. To give you opportunities to tell the truth. To trust . To ask for the help I was ready and willing to give."
Aria couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t process what he was saying.
He’d known. The entire ti. Every lie she’d told. Every deception. Every desperate plan.
He’d known and he’d said nothing. Had let her dig herself deeper and deeper. Had let her fall in love with him. Had let her give him her virginity.
All while knowing she was lying.
"Why?" The word ca out broken. "Why didn’t you say anything?"
"Because I wanted you to choose to trust ." His voice finally cracked, showing the pain beneath the anger. "I wanted you to believe in enough to ask for help instead of stealing. I wanted....." He stopped, shaking his head. "It doesn’t matter what I wanted. Because you made your choice. And it wasn’t ."
"Damien, please....."
"The Vitalis Radix treatnt has been prepared for your mother for three weeks." He said it flatly, like he was discussing the weather. "I have a team ready at Mount Sinai. The protocols are established. I was just waiting for you to ask. Just waiting for you to trust enough to let help."
The words were like bullets, each one tearing through her.
He’d been ready to save her mother. For weeks. Had been preparing the cure. Had everything ready.
And she’d been so consud by fear and desperation that she’d never even considered asking.
"Oh god." Her legs gave out and she collapsed, her back sliding down the cultivation table until she was sitting on the floor. "Oh god. What have I done?"
"You betrayed ." Damien’s voice was hollow now. Empty. "You chose to steal from rather than trust . You chose lies over honesty. You chose to destroy us rather than risk being vulnerable."
He crouched down in front of her, and the devastation in his eyes broke her completely.
"I would have given you everything, Aria. Anything you asked for. I would have moved heaven and earth to save your mother. All you had to do was ask. All you had to do was trust ."
"I’m sorry," she sobbed. "I’m so sorry. I didn’t know—I was scared...I thought...."
"I know what you thought. You thought I was like everyone else in your life. Soone who would abandon you. Soone who would say no. Soone who couldn’t be trusted with the truth." He stood, looking down at her with an expression that was equal parts love and heartbreak. "And that.....that’s what hurts most. Not that you stole from . But that after everything we’ve shared, you still couldn’t believe I’d help you."
He pulled out his phone and made a call.
"Dr. Morrison? It’s Damien Blackwood. Yes. Begin the treatnt for i Chen imdiately. Send the team to Mount Sinai. I’m authorizing full use of the Vitalis Radix protocols... Yes, I’m aware of the cost. I don’t care. Save her... You’re welco."
He ended the call and looked at Aria, still crumpled on the floor.
"Your mother will live," he said quietly. "The treatnt is beginning now. She’ll make a full recovery."
Relief flooded through Aria so powerfully it was almost painful. "Thank you. Oh god, thank you...."
"Don’t thank ." His voice was cold again. "I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. Because unlike you, I don’t let fear stop from helping people I care about."
He turned toward the door.
"Wait!" Aria scrambled to her feet, ignoring the pain. "Damien, please.....don’t leave....we need to talk...."
"No." He didn’t turn around. "We don’t. You made your choice. Now you get to live with it."
"I love you!" The words tore from her throat. "I love you and I’m sorry and please....please don’t leave ...."
"You should have thought about that before you betrayed ." His hand was on the door. "Goodbye, Aria. I hope your mother’s life was worth the cost."
"Damien, please...."
But he was already gone. The door closed behind him with a finality that felt like the end of the world.
And Aria collapsed back to the floor, surrounded by the stolen plants, her body marked by his possession, her heart shattered beyond repair.
She’d gotten what she ca for. Her mother would live.
But she’d lost everything else that mattered.
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