Free Web NovelChapter 21: Chapter 21
Aria’s POV
It was none other than the man who had tried to abuse me. The man I’d once stabbed in the neck to stop him from taking what wasn’t his. His cruelty had haunted me every night since then.
Kevin.
The name itself was bile on my tongue.
I stepped aside, fighting the instinct to bare my teeth at him. Then I saw the grin twisting his mouth.
"Aria," he sneered. "It has been a minute my dear."
For a moment, the corridor blurred. I was back in that room again, the flicker of a dying light bulb, the echo of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears. His breath hot on my neck.
Why was he here?
His grin widened as if he could smell my fear. He fed on it. My wolf clawed at my ribs, snarling for release, but I tried to suppress it.
He turned and went down the hallway to the room I had just left. He rapped on it before slipping inside. "Ms. Lawson, I’m here."
My wolf’s sharp ears picked on Frances’ voice as it floated out, smooth as oil. "Kevin, perfect timing. Anita’s gone. Her spot’s yours now. Do well, keep the team in line. These days, it seems just anyone dares to report their supervisors."
The same Frances who’d smiled sweetly at me an hour ago now practically purred at him.
Kevin came to the door as if he knew I was listening in. He glanced at me, smirking.
Our gazes locked, and ice spread through my veins. My wolf whined, a low, furious sound only I could hear.
One Anita was gone, an even more cruel person has taken her place. Fate had a cruel sense of humor.
I turned and left the Community Board, my footsteps echoing hollowly.
All the way home, the ghosts of the past came crawling back.
When Lana was born, she’d been so tiny. She weighed five and a half pounds of fragile life. My little cub, fighting for every breath. I’d tried to feed her, but my milk wouldn’t come. I needed food and strength—but in prison, food was power, and I had none.
The women there stole from me. My wolf had been weak then, starved into silence. They called Lana a nuisance, her cries a curse.
One night, in a storm that shook the concrete walls, I woke to cold emptiness beside me.
Lana was gone.
They’d taped her mouth and nose to keep her quiet.
Something inside me snapped that night. My claws tore through flesh before I could even think, injuring one of them severely. I got her back. If I hadn’t, if I’d woken a minute later, she would’ve suffocated.
Why I asked why that was done to my child, they said her crying interrupted their damn card game. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
What had I ever done to deserve this? Why did the world always choose to break me—and her?
I’d learned to keep my head down in order to survive, hadn’t I?
But maybe survival was never enough.
When I returned to the dorm, the air buzzed with gossip.
"You hear? Kevin’s taking over Anita’s spot," someone whispered.
"Anita’s job was a goldmine," another woman said. "Everyone wanted it. How did Kevin snag it?"
"After what he tried with Aria..." There was a pause. "She’s got the worst luck."
Luck. They said it like it was a weather pattern, like I hadn’t fought tooth and claw just to stay alive.
"I heard Kevin got that job through someone big," an older woman murmured. "Alpha Nathan, Asterfell’s richest man."
I froze at that revelation.
Across the room, kara looked at me, worry etched on her face. I barely registered it.
The world had gone muffled, a low buzzing filling my ears. My wolf growled, restless, pacing inside me.
"Aria?"
A voice pierced through the haze. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"Aria! Lana’s crying!"
It was kara’s voice.
Lana’s cries sliced into my ears at that moment, shrill and desperate, like claws raking against my heart. The sound yanked me back to myself. I realized my arms were locked tight around her, too tight. Her little body squirmed in my grasp, her sobs rising in panic.
Goddess, what was I doing?
I loosened my grip immediately, guilt clawing at my insides. "Shh, shh, my love," I whispered, but my voice trembled, the words breaking apart. She didn’t calm. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, and I could smell my own fear.
My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin, pacing.
Tears burned down my cheeks in quick, hot streaks. I tried to smile through it, but it came out wrong, it was a grimace. The room wasn’t cold, yet I shook like a leaf. My body remembered fear even when my mind tried to forget it.
I gathered Lana up again, breathing in her scent. My daughter, my anchor, my only reason for living.
"I’m going to confront him," I said to myself, my voice low and raw with anguish. "Why is he doing this to me? Haven’t I lost enough already? Does he want my life before it even ends?"
I stood abruptly, the motion startling kara. My movements were too sharp and fast.
I strapped Lana into her carrier, my fingers moving automatically, like muscle memory from another life.
"Aria, where are you taking her?" kara’s voice trembled behind me.
But by the time she reached the doorway, I was already gone.
Thunder cracked overhead, echoing like a growl from the heavens.
My heart answered it.
Outside, the sky split open, and the first drops fell against my face. I walked in the rain. I had only one destination in mind, The Hemsworth Group. Nathan’s domain.
I needed answers, I needed to know why all these where happening to me and why he was at the center of it all.
