Aria's POV
The knock outside Damon's office felt like a gunshot. My entire body jolted, breath catching in my throat so hard I thought I'd choke on it. Daniel's voice came muffled through the thick outer door, urgent, tight, like he was trying not to panic.
"Sir—security found something downstairs. You need to see this. It's about her."
Her.
Me.
Not Liana.
Me.
My stomach dropped so violently I had to grip the wall to keep myself upright. I felt Damon tense in front of me, shoulders tightening, his weight shifting like he was ready to bolt into action.
Liana didn't move.
She just smiled.
A small, slow, poisonous tilt of her lips. Like she already knew what Daniel had found. Like she'd been waiting for someone to say it out loud.
She turned her head slightly, eyes skimming me again. Not a glance. A dissection. Something in my chest folded in on itself under that look, something fragile snapping in the quietest possible way.
Damon took a half step back toward me, shielding me again, and Liana let out a soft breath that sounded too much like a laugh.
"You're hiding her," she said.
"I'm protecting her," he replied without hesitation.
The words hit me like heat rising off pavement. Too hot. Too confusing. Too much. My pulse jumped so sharply I pressed my fist against my sternum, trying to calm it before the shaking gave me away entirely.
Liana's eyes flicked between us, and something in her expression shifted—barely, but enough for the air to thicken all over again.
"I see," she murmured. "So that's how it is."
My throat tightened painfully. I didn't want whatever she was seeing. I didn't even know what she thought she was seeing. I just wanted her gaze off me, away from me, far enough that my heart could remember how to beat in a straight line.
Damon turned slightly, voice low. "Aria. Stay behind me."
I nodded automatically, even though my legs felt like water and my lungs felt too small. A tremor crawled up my arms, the kind you can't hide no matter how tightly you fold your hands.
The outer knock came again, louder this time.
"Sir," Daniel pressed from the hallway, "you need to come. Now."
Damon exhaled through his nose, a sound that wasn't frustration or fear but something heavier—like he was calculating ten different outcomes at once and hating all of them.
He turned back to Liana. "Don't move from this spot."
Her eyebrows lifted, amused. "You're giving me orders now?"
"Yes."
The single word cracked like a command that had been gathering force for years. Liana blinked, just once, but it made something cold pool in my stomach.
Damon shifted toward the door, and panic flared in me before I could stop it.
"You're leaving me alone with her?" The words slipped out, too raw, too honest, my voice breaking on the last word.
He froze.
His head turned back slowly—first his shoulders, then his gaze—and when his eyes found mine, something inside them softened. Not weak. Not hesitant. Just warmer than the air between us had any right to be.
"No," he said.
The word wrapped around me like a hand closing gently around my wrist.
"You're coming with me."
My breath stuttered. I took a tiny step forward without meaning to, drawn to the steadiness in his tone, the certainty of it.
But Liana moved too.
A single step sideways.
Cutting off the path between me and Damon.
She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. The way she positioned herself was enough—silent, intentional, blocking, challenging.
Damon's reaction was immediate.
Instant.
Instinctive.
"Liana."
His voice dropped to something darker.
"Move."
She tilted her head. "Why? Afraid I'll say something she should've heard from you?"
My chest tightened so hard I folded an arm across my ribs.
Damon took a step forward, a warning in every line of his body. "I won't repeat myself."
She didn't move.
The air cracked.
Something electric.
Something dangerous.
I tried to breathe through the tension, but every inhale felt shallow, shaky. Liana looked at me again, and the smile she wore was different this time—not mocking, not angry.
Knowing.
"You really have no idea why you're being watched, do you?" she asked softly.
My heart slammed against my ribs. "What?"
Damon snapped, "Don't talk to her."
She kept going, voice gentle in a way that made my skin crawl.
"Why someone keeps sending photos of you around the city."
A beat.
"Why someone wants you inside this building."
My fingers curled against my palm in reflex. A small, frantic noise escaped me before I could swallow it.
Damon stepped between us again, body angled forward like he was ready to tear the room apart if she came any closer.
"Stop," he said, voice low, lethal.
Liana only smiled.
A slow shift of her lips.
Something terrible behind it.
"It's funny," she whispered. "You're both so in the dark."
Damon took another step.
Liana took one back.
But she didn't look afraid.
If anything…
she looked pleased.
"Let's go," Damon said quietly, his voice directed at me. "Now."
I moved toward him.
Liana's eyes followed.
And right as I crossed behind him—
right as his hand brushed my arm, guiding me toward the door—
Liana leaned in just enough for her voice to carry through the room.
"You should tell her the truth before I do."
Damon stopped cold.
So did I.
My heart slammed painfully once, twice, like it didn't know whose chest it belonged in.
Damon turned slowly toward her. "Liana. Don't."
Her smile sharpened.
"You didn't tell her who she really is."
I went still.
Completely.
Utterly.
Horrifyingly still.
Damon's breath left him in a harsh exhale.
And Liana took one final quiet step forward.
"Don't worry, Aria," she murmured.
"I'll tell you everything."