After all this time, my heart should have been numb. Nothing had changed from then to now. It was always the same pain, again and again. Lucian loved Sheila. He didn’t love me. It still hurt. My foolish little heart still longed for a day when Lucian would want me instead. Distance was going t
Lucian’s POV Knowing that if we tried to have this conversation in our home, Sheila would just storm off to her room and slam her door in my face, I called Sheila to my office in the Alpha headquarters building to have a discussion on her recent press appearances and interviews. When she arrived
I’d been too lenient with her, and in doing so, created a monster. I had no one to blame for her behavior but myself. “This is not a matter that is up for debate,” I said firmly and definitively. Anyone else would have heard the warning in my voice and accepted what I had to say. But not Sheila.
Aria’s POV After being released from the hospital, I decided that Cathy was right. My stress levels were dangerous to both me and the baby. For both our sakes, I needed to take some time to balance myself out before something worse happened. So I returned to Cathy’s house, put away my doctor cos
Looking toward the door, he saw me and immediately stood. “Aria.” I knew Matt well. In the past, he’d asked me on a few dates, and I even went on a couple. But at the same time, Lucian and I had begun to become entangled. My growing love of Lucian kept me from developing feelings for Matt. In the
Lucian’s POV To avoid Sheila at home, I’d taken to spending long hours at the Alpha headquarters building. At first, much of the staff had seemed unnerved by my presence, as if they always needed to be formal, but now, they were coming to be more comfortable with me. No more saluting in the hallwa
Aria’s POV “Aria,” Lucian said, his voice low, nearly growling. I stood on the sidewalk beside Matt, watching as Lucian’s car came to a screeching halt and then as Lucian himself emerged, storming toward us. My heart sunk down with dread. Lucian’s face was twisted with rage. Had he discovered
“What were you doing with him?” Lucian asked. “I was visiting Caleb in the hospital,” I explained, eager to clear up this misunderstanding so that we could get to the better part of what might happen here. “Matt was there too. He seemed upset about everything, so I agreed to have coffee with him.
Aria’s POVAt the hospital, Lucian gave me a final squeeze. “Please help him,” he said.“I’ll do my best,” I promised. Then, breaking away from him, leaving him with Julia in the waiting room, I rushed to the emergency room to see what was going on.Fortunately, one of the nurses lent me a hair-tie
“But the food hasn’t arrived yet,” he said.I couldn’t wait. Feeling like I was going to pass out, I needed out of here.I pushed my chair back and stood. “I’m sorry,” I said.Turning, I hurried away from the table, from the dining room, from the restaurant. I threw the door open and ran outside.Wh
Aria’s POVSilas’s words haunted me long after the phone conversation, and that, combined with my discussion with Cathy and Piper convinced me to at least hear Lucian out. Because of this, when he called me to talk, and asked me to go out on a date with him, I decided to say yes.Now, after dressing
Aria’s POVHow was it, even after all this time, after all this distance, after all the hurt that sat piled up between us – I still so easily fell back into Lucian’s web.I wanted to be stronger, to be harder, and keep up the walls with him, yet every time we’d been around each other, he seemed to s
Aria’s POVMaybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that Lucian finally pieced this together, but the reality of it still hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t know why I thought he would never find out. There was no reason he wouldn’t, especially with Jasper and Lucian’s own parents already in on the s
Lucian’s POV“It’s not possible,” I said.Mom pressed her lips hard together before asking me slowly, “Are you sure? The boy especially looks just like you.”“A coincidence,” I said. It had to be.Because if it wasn’t, that meant that the night of pleasure I had shared with Aria a few months before
Lucian’s POVI knocked on my parents’ door and hugged my mom after she answered. She squeezed me somewhat tighter than usual.“One of my friends told me she saw you working at the hospital,” Mom said as she led me inside.“I’ve been helping Aria,” I told her. “Her friend Cathy was very sick, and Ari
Aria’s POVI hated to break up the scene, wanting Lucian and the kids to spend as much time together as possible, so I watched from a distance for a while, before tracking down one of the nurses to discuss Cathy’s condition.I checked on her a few separate times before deciding that she was healthy
“I don’t know what you mean.”“Don’t lie.”My blush continued to burn but still I said, “Even if I do have some idea what you mean, and even if I might even agree in a way, this… thing between Lucian and I doesn’t matter in the long run.”“What are you talking about?” Cathy said. “You love him.”“My