Lucian’s POVI checked my watch. It was almost 1:15 pm, so I waited for the seconds to tick by. When the time arrived, I stood from my chair and stepped out of my office and into the hallway. Per my routine, at 1:15, I stretched my legs by walking one round around the main walkway of the Alpha headq
Aria’s POVThe hug with Jasper lingered. Five years was a long time to be away from a friend, and it was nice to catch up, so I didn’t totally mind. When we did eventually part, he looked me over, smiling like I hung the moon in the sky.“You look exactly the same,” he said, grinning.I couldn’t say
Aria’s POVThe moment Lucian stepped into the breakroom, everything else faded away. My heart began pounding in my ears, beating so loudly that I felt like I was trapped inside of a bass drum.Lucian was here. He was right there in front of me.He looked exactly the same. Stern and tall in his tailo
Jasper’s POVEven after all this time, Jasper was still unaccustomed to being rejected. Even though Aria had rejected him consistently for the past five years, he had somehow still convinced himself that Aria would accept him this time.He believed, if she could see him, see how much he had changed,
Aria’s POVI regretted how things had to end with Jasper. Though I was relieved we would continue to be friends, I didn’t like having to hurt him, even if it was the right thing to do.I couldn’t live a lie, not even for Jasper, who I knew would try his best to make me happy. We might even have some
Aria’s POVAfter Lucian left, I returned to my office and then down to the lab, where I worked with the researchers until their shifts were done. At that point, the jetlag began to set in, and I grew tired myself.When I was tired, it was difficult not to keep my thoughts from wandering.Lucian had
Lucian’s POVMy voice trailed as I stared at Aria. Seeing her again brought many old feelings to the surface, things I had thought buried. What I fool I had been.She was as beautiful as ever, barely aged a day in my eyes, despite five years having passed since I’d last seen her. Her scent, so famil
Aria’s POVLucian’s request caught me off-guard, and for a moment, I just stared at him, uncertain. I had no idea what he could be thinking, asking me that out of the blue, as if he’d been thinking of me and only me these past five years we’d been apart.But that couldn’t be. Even if Cathy said he’d
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