Chapter 18
Eighteen
Ronan
I groggily awoke from my sleep to the sound of knocking on my door. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table, and it was well after midnight.
Whoever thought it was appropriate to knock on my door at such an hour was going to get more than an earful from me.
As I passed by Finn's room, I peeked in to make sure he hadn't been disturbed by all the ruckus, and fortunately he hadn't—for both him and whoever was on the other side of the door.
"You had better be a cop with a warrant," I hollered as I approached the door. I unlocked it and swung it open, ready to unleash my irritation.
All the rage in my body fled in an instant.
Aria was standing there, and the sight of her stopped my heart. Her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed, like she'd been crying for hours. Mascara streaked down her cheeks in dark rivers, and her face was blotchy and pale.
She was shaking—her whole body trembling like she was standing in a blizzard. Her hair was disheveled, falling around her face in tangled strands. She looked like she might collapse right there on my doorstep, or be sick, or both.
In her hand, she clutched a piece of paper so tightly her knuckles had gone white.
"Aria," I gasped, my mind racing to catch up. What was she doing here? What had happened? "What are you—"
She whispered something, her lips barely moving, the words so quiet they were swallowed by the night air.
"What?" I leaned forward, my concern spiking. "Aria, I can't hear you. What did you say?"
Her eyes lifted to meet mine, and what I saw there made my blood run cold. It wasn't just sadness or fear—it was betrayal. Raw, devastating betrayal.
And then she exploded.
She shoved me in the chest with both hands, putting every ounce of force her body could muster behind it.
I stumbled backward, more from shock than the actual impact, my shoulder hitting the doorframe. She came at me again, her face contorted with rage and anguish, and shoved me a second time. This time I was ready, and I steeled myself, catching her wrists as she tried to push me again.
"Aria, stop—"
She wrenched herself free with a violent twist, flailing away from me like my touch burned her. A sound tore from her throat—half sob, half scream.
"How could you do this?" The words ripped out of her, her voice breaking on every syllable. She could barely get them out through the tears. "How could you?"
My heart was hammering against my ribs. Panic clawed at my chest. "What?" I said, trying to keep my voice calm even as my world tilted. "What are you talking about? Just calm down—"
"Don't tell me to calm down, you monster!" She screamed it so loud I flinched, terrified Finn would wake up.
Her hands were shaking violently as she thrust the paper toward my chest, but her grip faltered and it slipped from her fingers, fluttering to the floor between us.
I stared down at it, my breath caught in my throat.
I didn't want to pick it up. Some primal part of me knew that once I saw what was on that paper, everything would change.
But I had no choice.
I bent down and grabbed it, my hands unsteady. As I lifted it into the light, the world seemed to tilt and fall away beneath me.
In my hands was a photo of Eva, in the position in which she'd died, with me standing, plain as day, in the picture with Eva's blood on my hands.
How had she gotten ahold of the photo? What did she know? Who had managed to find me? Why were they targeting Aria?
"I can explain," I started as softly as I could; I didn't want Finn to overhear.
"Please just give me a minute.”
“A minute," Aria exclaimed. "I'm disgusted with the time I've given you already.
I can't believe I was such an idiot. Is this your game?
You find stupid, caring, blond-haired, blue-eyed women and lure them into a false sense of security and then kill them?
You were always the most quiet and observant.
I thought it was because you were just the mature and relaxed one, but it's because you didn't want me to catch on to your plan!”
"I would never, ever hurt you," I started, taking a step towards Aria, but the instant I did, she pulled out a taser and set it straight for me. I held up my hands and backed a few feet away.
"Aria."
"Stay away from me." Aria started to sob once again.
"I can't believe I actually started to fall in love with you."
“Aria, please," I begged.
I could feel frustration building in my body.
My mind went careening back to when I was still in Florida.
No one there believed me either. I fought for myself, I proved that Eva was depressed and wanted to end her own life.
I supplied the suicide note she'd left for Finn and had it verified as her handwriting.
I showed the prescription medication that she got from the doctor without my knowing, and proved using the toxic screening that it was that she had ingested en masse and overdosed.
The blood on my hands was from a nosebleed that had been caused by the OD.
I had solid, viable explanations for everything they threw at me. But all people saw was that I had the clout to cover up a murder, and that Eva's brother Nathan was on a warpath to have me convicted, and believed that I'd killed her. I never would have hurt her. I loved her with all my heart.
The same way I love Aria.
"I promise you, I can explain everything. Please, you have to believe me, I never would have done-"
"Shut up!" Aria screeched. "I don't want to hear another word out of you, you murderer.”
All of the anger and frustration in my body boiled over. I turned and threw my fist at the wall. It pressed through the drywall, leaving a huge hole in its way, and making it look like I put more force into the punch than I really did.
I whipped my head back towards Aria, prepared to continue to defend myself, but Aria's face was no longer angry, but sheet white with fear.
I realised in a flash how my outburst didn't help my case, and it broke my heart to see someone I cared about so much look at me with so much terror in her eyes.
I tried to make my body as least menacing as I could make it.
"I'm sorry, I was upset, but I would never hurt you.”
“You're a liar. That was supposed to be me." Aria held out the taser towards me with an aggressive shake in her hand.
"Stay away from me. I have copies of that picture and others.
If you come after me, I'll call the police.
" She didn't wait for me to say anything else.
She backed away from me as quickly as she could, and once she was through the door frame, she turned and raced to her car where she got in and sped off.
I backed against the wall next to the hole I made and slid down until I was sitting on the floor.
I dropped my face to my hands and could feel myself starting to hyperventilate. It felt like I couldn't get breath to my lungs, and my chest was starting to burn. My eyes were watering and my head was spinning. How had my past followed me?
I'd taken every precaution to start a new life; to ensure I wouldn't hurt anyone else that I loved. How? My vision started to wane as I continued taking in the short, shallow breaths. I started to shake and knew that I'd be passing out any second.
"Daddy?" The tiny voice snapped me to reality like a rubber band against my skin. I looked up and Finn was standing in the hallway with tears in his eyes. "I'm scared. I heard yelling.”
“I'm sorry," I responded to him, holding out my arms. "Everything is okay.”
Finn didn't hesitate. He walked towards me and threw the weight of his body into my embrace.
Everything that had happened washed away and I was left with a simple reminder of why I’d made every choice I'd made. My son. He held on tight and rubbed my back, somehow a stronger person than I ever was.
"It's okay, Daddy. Don't be sad," he said.
"Thank you, buddy," I responded. "I'll be okay."
I said the words, but the sentiment was totally vapid. I was putting everything I had into consoling my son, when I had no idea at all how to console myself.
Rubbing Finn's back, he fell asleep and I stood up from the floor, taking him with me.
I carried him to his bedroom and put him back to bed, and then called the guys and asked them to meet me at my home. I'd spent too many years running away from my past, and now that this had happened, it was finally time to face it head-on and fix it.