ARIA'S POV
Aria didn't know how long she sat on the greenhouse floor after Damien left.
Minutes? Hours? Time had lost all meaning. All she knew was the cold concrete beneath her, the smell of earth and plants around her, and the devastating emptiness where her heart used to be.
Your mother will live. But we're done.
He'd saved her mother. Even after everything. Even after the betrayal. Even after she'd stolen from him, lied to him, destroyed everything they'd built together.
He'd made one phone call and saved her mother's life.
And then he'd walked away.
The greenhouse door opened again, and Aria's head snapped up, hope flaring painfully in her chest.
But it wasn't Damien.
Two security guards stood in the doorway, their expressions professional but not unkind. One of them....Marcus, she thought his name was, not her Marcus from medical school but the head of estate security....cleared his throat.
