On our wedding day, the man made love to me three times in the backseat of the car. I lay there, weak and boneless, watching his back disappear through the entrance of the private club, my heart still sweet with happiness. Then I picked up the cuff link he had accidentally left behind and followed him inside. Before I reached the private room, I froze. My own breathless moans echoed from behind the door. “Julian, who would’ve thought Aria, the quiet little sweetheart, is such a wildcat in bed?” I stood rooted outside as the man who had whispered, *”A little louder,”* barely half an hour earlier lounged lazily against the sofa. “She really is,” Julian replied coolly. Someone turned to the man sitting beside him with a grin. “Hunter, making Julian pretend to be you and string Aria along for two whole years… that’s a hell of a move.” “And when she finds out even the marriage certificate is fake…” “…do you think she’ll lose her mind on the spot?” The blood drained from my face in an instant.
Aria’s POV On the day of our wedding, he took me three times in the back of the limousine. I was so thoroughly overwhelmed, crying and whispering between soft gasps, “Please, Julian… baby, stop.” Only then did he smile with deep satisfaction, kissing the tears from my swollen eyes. I lay slumped across the leather backseat, my body completely drained of strength, aching in every joint. Julian casually adjusted his designer suit, leaning down to plant a soft, lingering kiss on my lips. “I have a private celebration with the guys. Go home and get some rest first, okay?” I nodded weakly. I hated going to his parties anyway. His friends always looked at me with this strange, knowing smirk that made my skin crawl. I watched his tall, elegant figure disappear into the exclusive VIP club entrance, a sweet, warm flutter rising in my chest. For two years, from the moment our families set us up on that first date to our courtship and today’s wedding, he had spoiled me to the bone. Even though in the bedroom, he was always so insatiable, completely ignoring my pleas for mercy. My cheeks flushed at the memory. But I had to admit, he was incredibly skilled. He had endless stamina and a taste for variety. Over the past two years, he had introduced me to so many wild places and positions. He also loved recording videos. At first, I hated it. Every time he lifted his iPhone, I would turn my face away in sheer embarrassment. But he would hold me tight, whispering in his deep, husky voice, “When I’m away on business trips, I need to see you, Aria. Please?” And my heart would melt. I was always willing to make compromises for the man I knew as Hunter Vance. As the car door shut, I leaned back to rest. That was when I noticed the custom diamond cufflinks I had gifted him lying forgotten on the adjacent seat. Suppressing the ache in my lower body, I gathered my strength, grabbed the cufflinks, and headed into the club to return them to him. The VIP lounge door was left slightly ajar. Just as I reached out to push it open, a sharp, ragged gasp echoed from inside. I froze instantly. That was my voice. That was the sound I had made in the back of the limo just half an hour ago! “Jesus, Julian! Aria always acts like such an innocent, quiet girl in public. Who knew she was such a wild little slut in bed?” “Right? Listen to her moan. Damn, that’s hot!” “Come on, Julian, you’ve got a whole archive of these on your Snapchat, don’t you? AirPlay it! Let us all have a listen!” The room erupted into loud, malicious laughter. It felt as though a bucket of icy water had been dumped over my head. Every drop of blood drained from my face. Shocked, I peered through the crack at the man sitting in the center of the velvet sofa. Julian Carter?! Why were they calling him Julian? His name was supposed to be Hunter Vance! The man leaned back lazily, swirling a glass of whiskey, a cruel, mocking smirk playing on his lips as he tapped his phone screen. My voice was blaring right from his speakers. “She is quite wild,” he murmured indifferently, taking a slow sip. I could barely believe my eyes. Just thirty minutes ago, this exact man had held me in his arms, whispering, “Louder, baby, I love it when you scream my name.” The crowd laughed louder, turning to the cold, silent man sitting right next to him. “Hunter, you have got to admit, having Julian swap identities with you to play Aria for two whole years, that is the most genius scheme ever.” “Man, when she finds out her husband isn’t just a fake, but that fake marriage certificate you guys printed is a total sham, do you think she will lose her mind on the spot?” My brain exploded. A loud buzzing filled my ears, and my body broke into a cold sweat. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. Wasn’t my husband’s name Hunter Vance? Then who was the man they were addressing as “Hunter”? If that man was the real Hunter Vance… then who on earth had I been sleeping with for the past two years? What did they mean by “swap identities”? What did they mean by “fake marriage certificate”?! I stared, paralyzed, at the stranger sitting next to Julian. He had a cold, chiseled profile, and right beneath his ear was a very distinct, bow-shaped birthmark. In his hand, he was casually spinning a pink candy-shaped hair tie. My pupils dilated in absolute horror. I knew that birthmark. Twenty years ago, when I was still a little girl in the orphanage, there was an older boy named Seven who protected me. He had that exact birthmark. And that hair tie… it was mine. It was the parting gift I had given Seven the day his wealthy biological parents came to take him away. So… Hunter Vance was Seven?!
Aria’s POV The pieces of the puzzle began to violently crash together in my mind. Those men just said Hunter had Julian impersonate him. I remembered that on “Hunter’s” phone, there was always a pinned contact named Julian. So… The man I had actually married, the man who went to family matchmaking dinners, who courted me, who lived with me, was Julian Carter. He had used Hunter’s name to deceive me from day one. Hunter’s cold, mocking voice cut through my chaotic thoughts. “Just wait until Chloe’s birthday party. Julian, we’ll project Aria’s finest videos on the grand screen. I want the entire high society of New York to see what Christian King’s precious little sister really is behind closed doors.” “Let’s see if Christian still dares to look down on us.” “We are going to make sure Chloe gets her sweet revenge.” “Though,” Hunter turned to Julian, “Julian, man, thanks for putting up with this for so long.” Julian locked his phone with a click. “It was nothing.” “Chloe loved Christian so much back in college, but that arrogant bastard rejected her in front of the whole school, making her a laughingstock, and then had his military buddies humiliate her family. We had to settle this score for her.” The blood in my veins turned to solid ice. I clutched the door frame, gasping for air, my knees trembling so violently I could barely stand. The man who had shared my bed, comforted me when I was sick, and held me through the night for two long years… was a lie. His name was Julian Carter. When he kissed my eyes during our most intimate moments and whispered, “I love you more than life itself, Aria,” it was a lie. When he drove across New York in the dead of a winter blizzard just to bring me my favorite warm chestnut cake, it was a lie. The perfect husband, the perfect lover, the perfect romance… it was a meticulously crafted trap. But how? His eyes had been so warm. His passion had felt so incredibly real. How could anyone fake that for two years? I didn’t want to believe it. “Hey Julian, don’t keep them all to yourself! You only let us hear the audio. Let us see some of the videos too! You took tons of them, didn’t you?” “Yeah, Aria’s got a killer body. Let us appreciate it too!” Julian declined instantly, his voice sharp. “You’ll see them at the birthday gala. On the big screen. It’ll be much clearer then.” The group burst into another round of crude laughter. “Man, I can’t wait for Chloe’s gala in two weeks! Not only do we get to strip Aria of her innocent little mask, but we get to see the look on Christian’s face!” “Exactly! I’ve been waiting to see Christian King fall from his high horse. Every time my dad meets him at charity events, he comes home and lectures me, comparing me to him. It’s disgusting!” “Hey, after you guys are done playing with her, pass her over to us. Aria always acts so pure and untouchable, but she sounds like an absolute siren in bed. That kind of contrast must be insane to play with.” Hunter let out a disdainful chuckle. “You guys aren’t worried about getting dirty?” The vulgar jokes continued to pile up, suffocating me. Tears streamed down my cheeks, hot and bitter. I tightly pressed my hands over my mouth, desperate to stifle my sobs. My parents were national heroes, scientists who sacrificed their lives in a laboratory accident when I was very young. I grew up in an orphanage. Back then, when the older kids bullied me, Seven was the one who stood in front of me, taking the hits. When his parents found him, he held my pink hair tie tightly and promised, “Candy, I will come back for you when we grow up.” I still kept the wooden toy block he gave me in my most treasured jewelry box. Through all the hardships of my life, the memory of Seven had been my anchor, my hope. But I never could have imagined that when I finally met him again after twenty years, he would be the monster pushing me straight into hell. I kept screaming inside my head, This isn’t real. It can’t be. Julian’s voice cut through the noise, silencing the room. “That’s enough. Don’t bring up sharing her again.” “Why, Julian? Don’t tell me you’ve actually caught feelings for her?” Julian swirled his drink, his voice devoid of any emotion. “She’s just a toy. Why would I care about a toy?” “After the birthday gala, both she and Christian will never be able to hold their heads up in New York again.”
Aria’s POV I stumbled out of the club like a ghost. It was the dead of winter, and large snowflakes began to drift down from the dark sky, landing on my bare shoulders. Yet, I felt absolutely nothing. My body was numb; my entire world had shattered into a million sharp pieces. I was adopted by the King family. Christian was my foster parents’ only biological son, and he was my older brother. He had loved and protected me since we were kids. When I first arrived at the King estate, I was terrified, too scared to eat or play. My foster parents were renowned research scientists, practically living in their laboratories. It was Christian who took my hand, fed me, played with me, and introduced me proudly to everyone as his little sister. Chloe Albright was my high school classmate. She had been obsessed with Christian for as long as I could remember. At first, Chloe tried to get close to me just to grab Christian’s attention. But during our high school graduation prom, Chloe publicly confessed her love to Christian in front of the entire class. Christian rejected her flatly, and she was utterly humiliated. From that day on, Chloe became my worst nightmare. She put laxatives in my water bottle, making me a laughingstock at school. She stuffed dead rats into my locker to terrify me. She cornered me in the girls’ restroom, slapping my face, pulling my hair, and forcing me to drink dirty water from the floor. By then, Christian was already away at military academy. I didn’t want to worry my foster parents, so I endured it all in silence, never saying a word. But my silence only made Chloe more vicious. For five years, all through high school, Chloe bullied me mercilessly until I finally left for college in another city. I thought my nightmare was over. I had no idea I had never escaped. Two years ago, my foster father arranged a setup for me with the son of an old family friend from overseas. Hunter Vance. Or rather, Julian Carter pretending to be Hunter. On our first date, Julian was quiet but incredibly attentive. He asked about my food preferences and listened to my thoughts with absolute focus. Ever since Christian joined the special forces, no one had looked after me like that. Julian was different. When I was sick, he would show up at my apartment with medicine immediately, staying by my side all night. When I worked late at the news agency, he would wait downstairs in his car, sending me a text: “Here to take you home, sweetheart.” For two years, he treated me like royalty, placing me on a pedestal. I thought I had finally found the man I would spend the rest of my life with. But now, I knew it was all a staged performance. “Julian, you’ve got serious patience, acting the devoted husband for two whole years.” “It’s just acting. I tell her what to do, and she does it. Very obedient.” Their mocking words echoed in my head like a death knell. I clutched my chest, unable to draw in a single breath. I didn’t even know who to hate more. My legal fiancé, the real Hunter Vance, had never even shown his face to me. And the man I had slept next to for two years, I only just learned his real name today. No wonder Julian hated it when I called him “Hunter” in bed. Every time I cried out “Hunter” in his arms, he would grip me harder, pushing deeper, forcing me to call him “baby” or “Julian” before he would let me go. I staggered into a quiet bar down the street, ordering shot after shot, pouring the burning liquid down my throat. My mind became hazy, but the agonizing pain in my heart only grew sharper. Hours later, I stumbled back to the empty villa we called home. I dug out our marriage certificate from the safe, my hands trembling as I inspected it. The paper was cheap, the seal imitation. It was such a lazy forgery. But of course. If the man was fake, how could the marriage certificate be real? Everything was a lie. My tears soaked the fake document, smudging the names written on it. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Helen, my foster mother. I respected my foster parents deeply, though we had grown distant over the years due to their endless research projects. “Mom,” I whispered, forcing down the sob in my throat. “Aria, sweetheart, how are you?” Helen’s voice was naturally quiet, but warm. “I’m doing great, Mom. Don’t worry about me.” I wiped my tears quickly. “How are you and Dad?” “We are doing well,” Helen said, her tone softening. “Aria, your father and I have made a decision. We’re getting older, and I’m retiring next month. We want to move abroad to Australia and live a quiet life by the coast.” “That’s wonderful, Mom! When are you leaving? I’ll come to the airport to see you off.” I fully supported them. They had given their lives to science; they deserved peace. “Aria, we want you to come with us. Your news agency has an international bureau in Sydney. You can request a transfer.” She paused. “Talk it over with Hunter. You two can come together. You have no other family left in New York besides us, and we don’t feel comfortable leaving you behind.” Hunter? My foster mother had no idea that the “Hunter Vance” they had introduced to me was currently plotting to destroy their son and daughter. If this were yesterday, I would have refused. I would have insisted on staying in New York with Julian. But now, there was absolutely nothing left for me here. “Okay, Mom. Let’s go together.” “Really?” Helen sounded overjoyed. “Wonderful! We’ll handle your visa and transfer paperwork. We leave in two weeks.” I hung up the phone and looked around the grand villa. This was supposed to be our marital home. I had designed every corner of it myself. I had handpicked every piece of furniture, every plate, and every curtain. I thought I was building a sanctuary of love. Instead, I had built a beautiful stage for my own execution.
Aria’s POV After hanging up, I collapsed onto the bed. Having spent hours wandering in the freezing snow, my body began to shake uncontrollably, and my forehead burned with a raging fever. I didn’t even have the energy to reach for a blanket. I drifted into a dark, heavy sleep. I don’t know how much time passed before I heard the click of the front door. Heavy footsteps approached, and my bedroom door was thrown open. “Aria, why are you still in bed at this hour?” Julian didn’t even notice my flushed, feverish face. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of bed. “Chloe is back. Get up and come greet her.” I stumbled, nearly falling over as he dragged me into the living room. The sight before me instantly cleared my hazy mind. Standing in our living room were Chloe Albright and Hunter Vance. “Chloe heard we got married and flew back from London just to congratulate us,” Julian said, his voice softening unconsciously as he looked at Chloe. “And this is Chloe’s fiancé… Julian Carter.” I looked at the man introduced as “Julian Carter,” who was actually the real Hunter Vance, and quickly looked away. Hunter’s icy gaze swept over me with utter disdain, but when he turned to Chloe, his expression melted into pure tenderness. I clenched my fists. After all these years, Chloe was standing in my house, while I was shivering with a high fever, looking pathetic and weak. “Aria, long time no see.” Chloe stepped forward, wrapping her arm around mine with fake intimacy. She leaned in, whispering in my ear, “Still as pathetic as ever, I see. You look like a stray dog no one wants.” I yanked my arm back and took a step away, my eyes filled with defensive anger. Julian’s brow furrowed, clearly displeased by my reaction. Chloe let out a soft, delicate cough, looking incredibly frail. “The flight was so cold, and my stomach is acting up. Julian, could you ask your maid to make me some hot oatmeal?” “Aria, go make it,” Julian ordered immediately. “Aria’s cooking is great, Chloe. You’re in for a treat.” I stared at Julian. “I have a fever. I’m sick.” Julian’s face darkened instantly, his eyebrows knitting into a tight scowl. “Stop throwimg a tantrum. Chloe flew all this way for us. You didn’t even go to the airport, and now you won’t even make her a simple bowl of oatmeal?” Of course. In Julian’s eyes, because Chloe was here, my sickness was just a dramatic act. I let out a bitter, silent laugh. My body was entirely drained of strength. I didn’t want to waste my breath arguing with them, so I turned and walked into the kitchen. When the first bowl of oatmeal was served, Chloe took a bite and frowned. “It’s too salty.” I took a deep breath, took it back to the kitchen, and remade it. The second time, she said it was too bland. The third time, she complained about the texture. By the fifth time, Chloe walked into the kitchen alone, shutting the door behind her. “So, you know now, don’t you? About Hunter and Julian swapping places to play you like a fool?” Chloe smirked, her eyes gleaming with malice. “Then you must also know that Hunter is your precious ‘Seven’ from the orphanage, right?” She leaned closer, her voice dripping with venom. “He promised to protect you forever, yet he doesn’t even recognize your face now.” I kept my head down, ignoring her, but my hands began to tremble violently. “Want to know a secret? He thinks I am Candy. He’s been treating me like a queen all these years because of it.” Chloe’s laughter grew wilder. “I wonder… if Christian finds out his beloved little sister has been shared by two men for two years, will he lose his mind? Will he break his precious military codes and rush back to save you?” Before the words fully left her mouth, Chloe suddenly threw herself backward. She grabbed the pot of boiling oatmeal and poured it over her own hand. The skin of her wrist turned instantly raw and red. “Ahhh!” she screamed. The two men burst into the kitchen. Hunter rushed forward, catching Chloe in his arms, inspecting her hand with intense panic. “What happened? Chloe, are you okay?” He whipped his head around, glaring at me with murderous eyes. “I didn’t know Julian’s wife could be so vicious.” Julian’s face was even darker. Whether it was anger or jealousy over Hunter holding Chloe, his eyes were filled with disgust as he looked at me. “Aria, you and your brother bullied Chloe back in school, and she never held a grudge.” “I can’t believe that after all these years, you’re still this cruel!” Julian’s voice was freezing. “Go out to the terrace. Stand in the snow until you learn how to apologize.” I stared at him, my last shred of hope dying. “I didn’t push her.” “I have a fever. My knees can’t take the cold. You know this, Julian.” Julian knew about the chronic joint damage in my knees. He used to protect them carefully, never letting me get cold. For a second, Julian’s eyes flickered with hesitation. Even Hunter’s brow furrowed slightly when he heard about my knees. But Chloe chose that moment to whimper softly, “Julian, please, it’s fine. Aria clearly doesn’t want me here. I should just leave.” “Julian!” Hunter barked, warning his friend. Julian’s expression turned completely cold. “Take her coat. Put her out on the terrace.” Two burly bodyguards stepped forward. Without a word, they stripped off my heavy coat and dragged me toward the glass doors, shoving me out onto the freezing, snow-covered terrace.
Aria’s POV The snow was still falling heavily. Standing on the freezing stone floor in nothing but my thin indoor clothes, the cold bit into my bones, and my knees began to ache with a blinding, white-hot agony. When we were kids at the orphanage, Seven had fallen through thin ice into a freezing pond. I had jumped in without a second thought, dragging him out with all my might. Since then, I had suffered from chronic joint pain. Seven knew how much I feared the cold. Back then, he would wrap his oversized coat around me. “Candy, as long as I’m here, I’ll never let you freeze.” I also remembered Julian holding me on winter nights, whispering, “My sweet girl is so sensitive to the cold. I’ll never let you freeze.” Yet now, they had pushed me into the freezing winter night themselves. While they sat inside the warm, heated living room, whispering comforting words to Chloe. My heart died completely. The last spark of warmth in my soul was extinguished. I don’t know how long I stood there before my legs finally gave out, and I collapsed into the snow. When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a hospital bed. The doctor looked at me with deep sympathy. “The chronic damage in your knees is severe. If you don’t take care of them, you might lose the ability to walk properly.” I nodded silently. The door opened, and Julian walked in, his face filled with worry and regret. Seeing him, the doctor scolded, “Are you her husband? How could you let her get this cold? Her joints cannot take this kind of trauma!” Julian looked incredibly guilty. He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling me into his arms and kissing my lips softly. “I’m so sorry, Aria. I didn’t mean to leave you out there for so long. It’s just… Chloe was in so much pain, and we had to rush her to the ER, so I…” I closed my eyes, refusing to look at him. So he simply forgot about me. Julian squeezed my hand. “You guys were classmates. Let bygones be bygones. You’re my wife now. You need to be magnanimous and kind, not petty and resentful.” My eyes remained dead and hollow. On the day I was discharged, Julian drove me home, only for us to find Chloe already settled in our villa. She was wearing my silk pajamas and my slippers, lounging on our sofa like she owned the place. I froze at the entrance. How could he? How dared he let Chloe move into our home? But Julian acted as if it were completely normal. “Aria, the Albright family has gone bankrupt, and Chloe has nowhere to go. Staying at a hotel is so lonely, so I invited them to stay with us for a while.” Hunter walked down the stairs, casting a cold, indifferent glance at me. “Is Julian’s wife really that fragile? A little cold and she ends up in the hospital?” Julian explained, “Aria has a chronic knee injury from childhood. She fell into freezing water and is extremely sensitive to the cold.” Hunter’s eyes flickered. He seemed about to ask something. But Chloe quickly interrupted, “I’m tired, Hunter. Let’s go rest.” Hunter’s expression softened. “Go on up, Chloe.” They walked up the stairs together, hand in hand. I watched them disappear around the corner of the hallway, listening to their bedroom door click shut. Forcing down the agony in my chest, I walked silently back to my own room. Julian saw the way I looked at Hunter. His face darkened, and he followed me into the bedroom, locking the door. He crawled onto the bed, pinning me down and biting my earlobe with a possessive grip. “Aria, your man is right here. Stop staring at another man’s fiancé, understand?” Anger flared in my chest. I wanted to scream the truth in his face, to tear off his mask of lies. But I forced myself to hold back. I had more important things to do. “I understand,” I whispered. Seeing my obedience, Julian’s mood seemed to improve. He stroked my hair. “We are married now, Aria. You need to drop your bad habits. Just be a good, obedient girl, okay?” I lowered my eyes, hiding the utter disgust in them. His hands began to slide under my clothes. “Aria…” My body went stiff as a board, a wave of nausea washing over me. “I’m on my period. It’s not convenient.” Julian frowned slightly, but eventually let go of me. “Fine. Just let me hold you.” Before long, the sound of his steady, heavy breathing filled the room. I opened my eyes, waiting until I was absolutely sure he was asleep before gently slipping his phone from the nightstand. I had never looked at his phone before, and I didn’t know his passcode. I tried my birthday. Error. I tried his birthday. Error. Finally, I typed in Chloe’s birthday. The screen unlocked.
Aria’s POV I let out a cold, silent laugh. Opening his photo album, I selected the hundreds of private videos and photos of me, hit delete, and permanently cleared the trash folder. Once it was done, I finally breathed a long sigh of relief. Next, I opened his Snapchat and found their private group chat with his wealthy friends. I scrolled up through the chat history. For two years, they had been mocking me behind my back. “Julian, Aria looks so pure and untouchable. How did you get her into bed so fast?” “Just a few sweet words and some flowers, and she lays down and does whatever I want.” I clenched my teeth, scrolling further. “Julian, make sure you don’t accidentally get her pregnant. You’ll never get rid of her then.” “I’d never let her carry my child. She isn’t worthy.” Every sweet memory, every gentle promise, and every midnight whisper shattered into worthless, ugly shards of glass. But the text that truly chilled me to my core was from Hunter: “Once you’re done playing with her, destroy her. If she tries to cling to you, I don’t mind disposing of her myself.” The boy who had promised to protect me at all costs now wanted to strip me of my dignity and throw me to the wolves. I was completely, utterly done. I exited the group chat and opened Julian’s direct messages with Chloe. “Chloe, Aria was begging me not to go on the business trip today. I told her I had an urgent board meeting.” “Thanks for putting up with her, Julian. Once the truth is out, you won’t have to deal with her disgusting presence anymore.” I scrolled up. On my birthday last year, Julian told me he had an emergency meeting in Chicago and left after giving me a cheap brooch. In reality, he had flown to Miami to spend the weekend on a yacht with Chloe. And when my grandmother passed away. I had called him dozens of times, crying, but he kept saying he was stuck in crucial negotiations in London. According to their chat logs, he was actually spending Christmas with Chloe in Paris. Not a single tear fell from my eyes. I put the phone back exactly where it was and stared at Julian’s sleeping face. This face, which I had loved with every fiber of my being, now filled me with nothing but absolute disgust. I never wanted to look at it again. The next morning, I was choked awake by thick smoke. I ran to the window and saw Chloe in the backyard, burning something in a metal bin. Once I realized what she was burning, my heart stopped, and I ran downstairs. “Stop it! Stop!” I screamed, rushing at her to grab the items from her hands. “Give them back to me!” It was a stack of old polaroids. They were the only photos I had left of my biological parents. Most of them had already been turned to ash inside the fire bin. Only a few remained in her hands. Chloe giggled, stepping back. “Give them back? Sure. If you give me the wooden block.” So that was why she had moved in. She wanted the wooden toy block Seven had given me, the ultimate proof of identity. “I lost that block years ago! Give me the photos!” “Lost? Oh, what a shame!” Chloe threw the remaining photos directly into the roaring flames. “You better hope you really lost it.” I ignored the heat, reaching my hands directly into the fire to pull out the burning photos. Chloe whispered maliciously, “Because even if you find it, Hunter will only believe you stole it from me!” Just then, the sound of a car arriving echoed from the driveway. Seeing this, Chloe quickly scratched her own wrist against the metal bin, then pretended to struggle with me over the fire. “What are you doing?!” Julian and Hunter rushed into the backyard, immediately pulling Chloe away from the fire. “It’s my fault… I thought they were just old, useless papers, so I wanted to clean up. I didn’t know they were Aria’s things…” Chloe sobbed hysterically. She wasn’t burned at all, but the scratches on her wrist looked red and dramatic. Hunter’s face darkened as he inspected her wrist. “Did she do this to you?” I was on my knees, frantically pulling the last half-burnt photo out of the ash, my hands covered in painful, blistering burns. I couldn’t care less about their drama. Furious, Hunter kicked me hard in the shoulder, knocking me flat onto the frozen grass. My blisters popped, and blood began to seep through the dirt. Julian stared at my bleeding hands, his brow furrowing slightly, but seeing Chloe crying so pitifully, he snapped, “Aria, Chloe didn’t do it on purpose, and she tried to help you save them! How could you put your hands on her!” I screamed through my tears, “She did it on purpose! Those were the only photos of my parents!” Hunter remained completely unmoved. “A dead person’s photo isn’t more important than a living person’s well-being. I can’t believe Christian’s sister is such a classless bitch.” Julian felt humiliated in front of Hunter. “Guards! Lock her in her room. She is not allowed to leave this house without my permission!” With that, the two men rushed Chloe inside to treat her scratches. I clutched the half-destroyed photo with my bleeding, raw hands, letting out a shattered laugh that turned into a quiet, painful sob. It was fine. In just a few days, everything would be over. And I would make sure every single one of them paid the price. I dragged myself back to my room and began to pack. The clothes Julian had bought me. I took scissors and cut them into shreds, hanging them back in the closet. The jewelry he gave me. I smashed them with a hammer, placing them back in their velvet boxes. The watches, cufflinks, and ties I had gifted him. I destroyed them all and put them back in his drawer. Our framed photos were torn into tiny pieces and left in a neat pile on his desk. The villa still looked beautiful and warm on the outside. But on the inside, it was already a graveyard.
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