Free Web NovelChapter 42: Chapter 42
Aria’s POV
I stepped out of the car, Lana nestled in my arms, her small body warm against me. I tried to ignore the uneasy feeling crawling up my spine, but it was impossible to shake. I glanced over toward the alley, my gaze instinctively darting toward the shadows. There, at the far end, sat a car, its lights were off, blending into the darkness.
I couldn’t see who was inside, but the feeling of being watched hit me like a punch to the gut. My instincts screamed danger.
I forced myself to move, quickening my pace and holding Lana tighter to my chest. She stirred a little. I didn’t stop to look back, even though the unease twisted in my gut. My senses were sharp, too sharp, and everything about the air felt wrong.
When I reached the door, I breathed a little easier. Maybe I was just being paranoid for nothing. Was I though?
Inside, Collins was waiting, but his eyes immediately flicked to me when he saw my face. My face must’ve gone ashen because Collins looked startled. "What happened?"
I pressed my lips together, pushing the unease aside. "Nothing. I am just tired."
Collins didn’t seem convinced, but he nodded anyway. "Then go get some rest." His voice was gentle as he opened the bedroom door for me, the gesture was a very comforting one.
I pushed down my anxiety and nodded, forcing my body to relax, to calm the frantic thoughts racing through my mind. freeweɓnøvel.com
About half an hour later, the light in my room finally flickered off and I slept off.
Nathan’s POV
I waited for several hours outside before I got into the front door of the house and clicked it shut behind me, the sound instantly sharpening my senses. I froze, every instinct snapping to attention as my eyes darted toward the narrow hallway.
I let my gaze sweep over the modest furnishings, the simplicity of the space somehow making it feel even more foreign, even more wrong. She didn’t belong here. My eyes locked onto a bedroom door down the hallway, tightly closed, and something in me tightened.
She’s in there... right?
Doubt crept in, fleeting but heavy.
I moved forward, my shoes deliberately quiet, but even with the lightness I tried to give my steps, they still echoed down the hallway like the beat of my heart. The space felt suffocating, the short walk down the hall taking forever, like I was walking through time itself.
When my fingers brushed the cold metal of the door handle, I hesitated for the briefest moment.
Then, with a slow push, the door creaked open, a soft sound that seemed louder in the stillness of the house.
My gaze flicked instinctively to the window, where moonlight spilled in, the pale glow casting long shadows across the room. Earlier, when I’d been watching from the car, her silhouette inside had caught my attention.
The outline of her, small and fragile, against the darkness. My chest had tightened then, heat surging in me, restless and stifling.
Then, a few moments later, I saw a different silhouette. It was that of a man, obviously Peter.
Why was he in here?
The question rattled through me like a sudden storm, my mind spinning. What’s he done to her?
I couldn’t quite name the anger, the jealousy spreading through me.
I stood at the foot of her bed, the weight of the moment settling in. I didn’t look at her face immediately.
My eyes landed on the divorce papers resting on the bedside table. Could this possibly be what Peter came to keep?
The question tore through my mind, but it barely made a dent in the wave of emotions crashing over me. My gaze shifted, slowly and cautiously, until it finally landed on her face.
I hadn’t seen her in so long, and the moonlight blurred her features, casting everything in an ethereal glow. But something about her face caught my attention immediately. There was a shadow, marring the smoothness of her cheek.
No.
My breath hitched, a shock rippling through me like a sudden, cold wave. I couldn’t process what I was seeing. How had this happened? A scar, right there, marring her once-perfect skin.
I remembered her before she went to jail. She was a beautiful woman, full of life and light. How could something like this happen to her? What the hell happened to you, Aria?
The anger I’d been holding onto, the fury that had been simmering inside me, just... vanished. In its place was something raw I couldn’t even name. My heart clenched, as if someone was slowly squeezing the breath out of me. I didn’t even realize my fingers had started to tremble, hovering above the scar, hesitant but drawn to it like a magnet.
I didn’t want to touch it, didn’t want to feel the evidence of whatever had caused this damage. But my hand betrayed me, slowly lowering until my fingertips brushed the rough skin. It was real. The texture was undeniable.
What have you been through, Aria?
A wave of helplessness hit me hard, and I couldn’t stop myself from tracing the scar with my fingers, my eyes softening as I studied her face. My mind scrambled for an explanation, for something, anything that could make sense of this. But it wasn’t just the scar that caught me, it was the way she looked now, the way she felt different.
I didn’t realize how long I had been standing there until my gaze shifted, and I froze, my body going stiff.
There was a baby.
She was holding a baby.
My breath caught in my throat. The child looked to be about seven to eight months old, her smooth face was soft and peaceful in her sleep. I didn’t even have to see her clearly to know. She was a perfect reflection of innocence, unmarred by the world. But that wasn’t what stopped me dead in my tracks.
The baby’s face, the baby’s face was so familiar.
It was like staring into a mirror of my own childhood. A near-perfect replica of me, just... smaller.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Everything in me locked up.
Could this be my child?
