Chapter 37
434words
Bored out of my mind, I turned on the TV. Those prenatal videos Aria and I never finished appeared in the recommendations.
During my recovery, I watched all twelve episodes by myself.
The day Aria left, I forced myself to stand at the second-floor window, watching her disappear into the distance.
Then, just like the first time I saw her—
I blinked, and she vanished into the crowd. Gone.
I approached Dorian's cousin Evelyn with a business proposition.
Because she wasn't interested in men.
Her eyes lit up.
"So Aria's single now?"
"..."
Damn, these siblings are nuts!
During Aria's third year away, I couldn't stand it anymore.
Discreetly arranged a business trip to Brighton.
Mother insisted I bring Evelyn along.
But despite her suspicions, I didn't care—I'd already identified and removed her spies months ago.
Waited in the car all afternoon. Watched her return home with Dorian.
Hmm.
Good. Dorian was... reliable enough...
Smoked outside her building half the night.
Near dawn, I turned and viciously kicked my car tire.
Reliable my ass!
Dorian, that sneaky bastard!
Aria's sixth year away from London.
Almost there...
Early that year, Vivienne committed suicide.
Tch. What a shame.
I discovered the truth—Vivienne had been the one to tip off the Pack about Aria's pregnancy.
She'd gone to that obscure clinic by chance and spotted us.
When I learned this, I nearly laughed until I cried.
So many hospitals in London, such infinitesimal odds, and we still crossed paths.
The universe shows no mercy.
The Howe family had deep roots and shadier connections. Took me years to dismantle them completely.
After the Howe bankruptcy, Aria's biological father tried to flee with what was left. Vivienne's mother stabbed him in a rage. One got life imprisonment, the other permanent disability.
All the Howe family's criminal associates were rounded up. Vivienne was implicated as well.
But before her arrest, I anonymously leaked her location to her mother's oldest enemy.
Prison would have been too merciful.
For every tear Aria shed because of her, I made her pay a thousand times over!
She was held captive, tortured for two years. Last I heard, she was barely recognizable as human.
Beyond Vivienne—Aria's stepfather, Ethan Cross, everyone who had ever hurt her...
Every single one would suffer!
At year's end, Dorian returned to London.
Told me he and Aria had never been together. That she'd been alone all these years.
I scoffed to his face, but inside I was elated.
Together or not didn't matter anymore!
I would take her back either way!
