My fingers tighten around the phone 113

Aria’s POV
I slammed the car door behind me, the sound echoing through the quiet air. My legs couldn’t carry me away from Leo
fast enough, desperate as I was to escape this conversation that had dredged up memories I’d fought so hard to bury. My heart thrashed against my ribs, a wild animal trying to break free from its cage.
“Aria!” Leo’s voice carried from the bottom of the stairwell, laced with urgency. I pressed my lips together and quickened
my pace, pretending I hadn’t heard him.
When I pushed open the stairwell door, I nearly collided with Leo, who had somehow managed to beat me upstairs via
the elevator. Before I could retreat, he caught my arm and pulled me into an embrace that felt both comforting and
suffocating at the same time.
“Aria, I’m sorry,” he murmured, his breath warm against my hair. His arms tightened around me, as if afraid I might
dissolve into thin air. “I messed up. That’s not what I meant. I was just trying to help you find out who Lucas’s father is.”
“Why?” I shouted, my voice muffled against his shirt. I pushed against his chest with both hands, needing space to
breathe. The soft fabric of his expensive shirt bunched beneath my fingers as I created distance between us. My eyes
burned with unshed tears of frustration. “Why do you want to know so badly? What is this really about? Why are you
suddenly so invested in helping me with this?”
Leo’s expression softened, his shoulders dropping slightly as he released me from his grip. “Because I care about you,
Aria,” he said simply, as if those five words explained everything. “I want to help and support you in any way I can. I have
resources you don’t—connections, money, influence—to help track him down, if that’s what you want.”
I stared at him, unsure how to respond. His offer hung between us like a tangible thing, heavy with implications I wasn’t
ready to face. After several heartbeats of awkward silence, I turned away, fumbling through my bag for my apartment
keys, suddenly desperate for the sanctuary of my own space.
“I… I’m not sure I want that,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper as I approached my door. My hands trembled
so violently that I dropped the keys twice, the metal clattering against the floor in the quiet hallway. When I finally
managed to slide the key into the lock, I paused and turned to face Leo, who was watching my clumsy movements with
an expression somewhere between hope and concern.
Did I truly want to uncover the identity of Lucas’s father after all these years? Did I want answers to questions that had
haunted my dreams for six long years? The mere thought sent a cold shiver racing down my spine.
My mouth opened, released a small, helpless gasp, and closed again. My thoughts were a tangled mess, impossible to
sort through in this moment. Finding Lucas’s father would undoubtedly complicate my already chaotic life in ways I
couldn’t begin to imagine. Right now, he existed only as a shadowy figure—some faceless man who had taken my
innocence and left nothing but a silver necklace as a cruel souvenir.
I was so lost in this internal debate that I didn’t notice Leo moving closer until his cologne—expensive and slightly
overpowering—enveloped me. He leaned in with deliberate slowness, one hand reaching up to cup my jaw, gently tilting
my face toward his.
Leo’s breath, warm and heavy with the scent of the wine he’d had at dinner, brushed against my lips. My stomach
churned in protest, pregnancy hormones heightening my sensitivity to the smell. I parted my lips to tell him to back away,
but before I could form the words, Leo closed the remaining distance and pressed his mouth firmly against mine.
His tongue invaded my mouth without preamble, his body pressing insistently against mine until my back met the solid
resistance of my apartment door. My eyes flew wide open in shock, staring at his closed eyelids as he held the back of my
neck in a grip that was firm but not painful, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.
I made a valiant effort to reciprocate, to melt into the moment, but every cell in my body screamed that this was wrong—
so fundamentally, irrevocably wrong. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping darkness might somehow ignite whatever passion
Leo was trying to kindle, but all I could see behind my closed lids was Ethan’s face, crystal clear and devastating in its
perfection.
With a strangled gasp, I tore my mouth away, my hand immediately flying up to cover my lips as if to erase what had just
happened.
“I…” Leo stood before me, his exterior calm but his brows drawn together in genuine confusion. The kiss had been empty,
devoid of the passion that should exist between lovers. It had felt wrong, awkward, like kissing a brother or a lifelong
friend.
Leo blinked rapidly, like he was trying to wake himself from a dream, then lifted his eyes to meet mine. I couldn’t stand to
look at him, my gaze sliding away as I turned toward the elevator, desperate to pull myself together. That’s when I saw
him.
My entire body froze. Standing just a few steps away was Ethan, tall and imposing, as still as if someone had turned him
to stone. For a split second, time itself seemed to stop.
“Ethan?” His name fell from my lips in a whisper, half disbelief, half prayer.
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My heart crashed against my ribs so hard I thought it might bruise. What was he doing here? How long had he been
standing there? The look on his face—shock quickly giving way to something dark and raw—told me he’d seen
everything.
Leo’s head whipped around, following my gaze. To my horror, an easy, almost triumphant smile spread across his face,
completely blind to the emotional storm raging through the hallway.
“Hey, Ethan!” he called out, his voice jarringly casual, like they’d just run into each other at the grocery store instead of…
this. This terrible, awkward moment that felt like watching a car crash in slow motion.
Ethan remained motionless, but he didn’t need to move for me to see the profound anger silently boiling beneath his
composed exterior. A muscle jumped in his jaw, his hands curling into fists at his sides. His green eyes had turned to cold
fire, burning into mine with an intensity that made my knees weak.
Leo grabbed my hand and squeezed it possessively, cutting off my words. He smiled with a sweetness that felt calculated
as his eyes darted between Ethan and me, taking in the silent communication passing between us. After a few painfully
long seconds, Leo broke the silence: “What are you doing here?”
The question hung in the air, unanswered. Ethan’s chest rose and fell with several deep, measured breaths, his nostrils
flaring slightly with each exhale. Then, without a word, he abruptly turned on his heel and walked away.
Without conscious thought, I wrenched my hand free from Leo’s grasp and took several hurried steps after Ethan’s
retreating form.
“Ethan, wait!” I called, my voice cracking with emotion.