ARIA'S POV
One month.
Thirty days since Aria had walked out of the Blackwood estate with security escorts. Thirty days since Damien had looked at her with those cold, empty eyes and said they were done. Thirty days since she'd destroyed the best thing that had ever happened to her.
Seven hundred and twenty hours of existing in a fog so thick she could barely see through it.
The first two weeks had been hell. Pure, unfiltered hell. She'd barely eaten, barely slept, barely functioned beyond the absolute minimum required to take care of her mother.
But then Mei had been discharged....fully recovered, vibrant, alive, a walking miracle thanks to Damien's treatment....and she'd sat Aria down for a conversation that had been both loving and brutally honest.
"You can grieve," Mei had said, holding her daughter's hands. "You can hurt. You can cry. But you cannot stop living. You saved my life, Aria. Don't throw away yours in the process."
"I don't know how to live without him, Mama."
