Chapter 20
Aria POV
The bathroom door was still open behind me, and the light was too bright, hurting my eyes as I caught sight of myself in the mirror across from where I stood. My reflection stared back at me—someone who pretended to have it all together but looked like a liar instead. The person I saw wasn’t really me, not anymore. She was someone I used to be before everything fell apart, before I learned what it meant to be truly alone.
My hands were shaking as I pressed them against my thighs, trying to make them stop, but they wouldn’t listen. I gripped the phone tighter and took a breath, then another. Someone laughed in the hallway outside, the sound high and sharp as it echoed through the quiet corridor.
I needed to fix my face, put myself back together, go back out there and smile and pretend everything was fine. But I couldn’t move. I just stood there with my phone in hand and my heart in pieces.
“Mama p>
I spun around to find Damien standing five feet away, his face pale and his eyes wide with shock.
“Did that child just call you Mama?” His voice was barely a whisper.
My blood turned to ice. “How long have you been standing there p>
“Long enough.” He took a step closer, his movements deliberate. “That was my son, wasn’t it? That little boy on your phone with my eyes p>
“Damien” I called out, my voice shaking slightly.
“Don’t lie to me. Not about this.” His voice shook with barely contained emotion. “I saw him, Aria. I saw our son p>
People were starting to gather in the hallway, drawn by our raised voices, and I felt the weight of their stares pressing down on me. Someone’s champagne glass clinked against another, and the sound made me flinch.
“Not here,” I hissed. “Not now p>
“Then when?” He moved closer, his presence overwhelming as he towered over me. “When were you planning to tell me I’m a father? When he was eighteen? Never p>
The overhead lights felt too bright, and my heels were starting to hurt as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, trying to steady myself against the moment.
“You don’t deserve to know him.” The words came out cold and sharp, cutting through the tension between us. “You gave up that right when you threw me out p>
“I made a mistake p>
“You made a choice.” I stepped back until my shoulder blade hit the wall behind me. “And now you have to live with it p>
“He called someone Daddy.” Damien’s voice broke, revealing the pain beneath his anger. “Who is he calling Daddy, Aria p>
I pressed my palms flat against the wall, feeling the cool, smooth painted surface under my hands. “No one. He doesn’t have—” I stopped myself. “This is none of your business p>
“Like hell it’s not!” His control snapped completely. “That’s my son! My child! You can’t keep him from me p>
The hallway went silent, and everyone was staring now. I could see them in my peripheral vision—women in expensive dresses, men in tailored suits—all watching us like we were dinner theater providing their evening’s entertainment.
Damien’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw tight as a vein pulsed visibly in his neck. I felt my carefully constructed walls crumbling under the weight of his accusation.
“You want to talk about what you deserve?” My voice rose despite my attempts to control it. “You told me to get rid of him. You called me a liar and a gold-digger and threw me out like I was a problem to be solved. So no, Damien. You don’t get to meet him. You don’t get to be his father. You don’t get anything p>
“Aria, please”
“Stay away from us.” My voice turned cold and final. “Or I’ll file a restraining order and make sure you never get within a hundred feet of my son p>
I pushed past him, past the staring crowd, toward the exit with my breath coming too fast. My purse caught on someone’s sleeve, and I yanked it free as the hallway seemed to stretch on forever.
Lucas caught up with me at the coat check. “Let me drive you home p>
“I’m fine,” I said, though my heart was beating so loudly I could barely hear my own voice. I fumbled in my purse for the coat check ticket, but my hands were shaking so badly that I dropped it. The small paper square fluttered down to the marble floor.
Lucas bent down and picked it up, handing it to the attendant without a word. “You’re shaking,” he said gently, taking my arm. “Come on. You shouldn’t be alone right now p>
The coat check attendant returned with my jacket, and Lucas helped me into it with careful, slow movements, as if I might break at any moment. I let him guide me outside where valets were bringing up cars, and the night air hit my face like a slap. It was cold—I hadn’t noticed before—and my breath came out in white puffs that dissipated into the darkness.
Behind us, I heard Damien’s voice calling my name, but I didn’t look back.
Lucas’s car pulled up—a black sedan—and the valet got out to hand Lucas the keys. Lucas opened the passenger door for me, and I slid in, feeling the cold leather seat through my dress. He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side while I watched through the windshield, seeing the front of the hotel with its golden lights and people coming and going. It all looked far away now, like a scene from someone else’s life.
Lucas got in and started the engine, the car rumbling to life beneath us.
“Seatbelt,” he said quietly.
I pulled it across my chest and clicked it into place, though my hands were still shaking. We pulled away from the curb, and the hotel fell behind us as the city lights blurred past the window.
In Lucas’s car, I finally let myself break down. The tears came all at once—ugly and hot—streaking down my face. I tried to wipe them away, but more kept coming in an endless stream.
“He saw Noah,” I whispered through the tears. “On the video call. He knows p>
Lucas’s hand found mine, his grip warm and solid and reassuring. “Then we’ll deal with it p>
But as we drove away, I caught sight of Damien in the rearview mirror, standing alone on the steps with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched against the cold. He was still watching us.
I turned away from the mirror and looked out my window instead, taking in the busy streets with cars everywhere and people walking on the sidewalks. A couple laughed as they crossed at a red light, and someone was selling hot dogs from a cart on the corner, steam rising from the metal container in ghostly wisps.
My phone buzzed in my purse once, twice, three times, but I didn’t look at it.
“Do you want me to turn that off?” Lucas asked.
I nodded, and he reached over to take my purse, digging out my phone. The screen was lit up with notifications, and I saw Damien’s name before Lucas hit the power button until the screen went dark. He dropped the phone back in my purse.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice rough from crying.
We stopped at a red light, and an old man crossed in front of us with a small dog on a leash. The dog stopped to sniff a fire hydrant, and the man waited patiently beside it. The light turned green, and we continued forward.
“What am I going to do?” I asked, the words feeling heavy in my mouth.
“Right now? Nothing. You’re going to go home, check on Noah, and get some sleep p>
“He won’t let this go. You saw him. He won’t just walk away.” My voice was shaking again.
Lucas was quiet for a moment, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. “No. Probably not p>
“He’ll want custody. Visitation. He has money and lawyers, and he could” I couldn’t finish the sentence, the implications too terrifying to voice.
“He can’t take Noah from you. You’re his mother p>
“But what if”
“Aria.” Lucas glanced at me, his face serious in the dashboard light. “One step at a time. Okay p>
I nodded, but my chest felt tight, like someone was pressing down on it with both hands. We turned onto my street where the trees were bare, their branches reaching up toward the dark sky like skeletal fingers. My apartment building came into view, and Lucas pulled into a parking spot in front, putting the car in park but leaving the engine running.
“Do you want me to come up?” he asked.
“No. I’ll be okay.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, feeling the cold air rush in again.
“Text me when you’re inside, so I know you made it p>
“I will p>
I got out and closed the door, and Lucas waited, watching through the window without moving. I walked to the front entrance and dug my keys out of my purse, feeling the cold metal in my palm before I unlocked the door and pushed it open. When I looked back, Lucas raised his hand, and I waved back.
The door closed behind me with a heavy click, and the lobby was quiet except for the sound of my heels clicking against the old linoleum floor. I walked to the elevator at the end of the hall and pressed the button, waiting as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. I stepped inside and hit the button for the fourth floor.
As the elevator rose, I caught my reflection in the metal doors and saw my smeared makeup with black mascara under my eyes and my hair a complete mess. I looked like someone who’d been through a war, and when the elevator dinged again, I realized that in many ways, I had been.