Chapter 28
28
Aria
A ria lost track of time as the tears spilled down her cheeks. The second Daniel had left, she leaned her back against the door and slid down into a heap of misery. Drawing up her knees to her chest, she buried her face atop them and let her walls come crashing down.
She was miserable.
While Cayden wasn’t doing anything to physically hurt her, nor had he reverted to the person who put her down and made her feel like she wasn’t worth anything—yet—he was still controlling her life.
Little by little she had noticed his patience with her waning. She knew the signs. And now that he knew how to maintain that control, she wasn’t sure what she could do to fix it. She’d come up with several solutions that she eventually tossed aside.
She couldn’t call the cops. What would they do anyway? It was Cayden’s word against hers. She’d gone that route before—back in Georgia. And no one believed her.
Running was out of the question because he knew he could hurt her family… and Daniel.
Aria had nothing left.
A knock pounded on the door and she groaned. Daniel needed to learn to listen to her. He needed to finally accept what she’d accepted the moment Cayden had found her.
Intent on ignoring him this time, she remained quiet and seated on the floor.
He knocked again. Then harder.
“Aria! Let me in. I know you’re up. I saw Daniel leave.”
Her head snapped up. It wasn’t Daniel.
Sophia’s frustrated yell penetrated through the door clear as day.
Aria scrambled to her feet and unlocked the door, with shaking hands, to let her cousin in without giving it a second thought. But she immediately regretted it.
Sophia’s eyes swept over her face, lingering on the tears that were still visible. Her brows pinched. “Did Daniel?—”
“What? No! Of course not.” If Sophia thought Daniel was capable of hurting her, she didn’t know him well at all. “He didn’t do anything.”
Sophia shivered, reminding them both that she was out in the cold in the middle of autumn in Colorado. Aria stepped to the side and beckoned her cousin to come in. She was probably going to regret doing so, but at this point, she didn’t feel she had much of a choice of anything anymore.
Sophia stared at her hard, not bothering to take a seat. They stood there, by the now closed door, in silence. Whatever Sophia had come to say, it was clear she wasn’t sure how to press forward.
Aria wanted to scream at her to get on with it or leave. She needed to have a good cry and not worry about being judged by her cousin. But most of all, she wanted to get it all out in the open, chase down Daniel, and plead for him to accept her apology.
Time stretched on longer than it should have. The silence between them grew to a deafening roar. All of Aria’s problems came rushing to the surface, threatening to overflow until she couldn’t take it any longer.
Tears sprang to her eyes once more and her face crumpled as a sob wracked her body. “I love him.” Those were the only words that she could force past her lips.
Sophia was at her side in an instant, pulling her into her arms and rubbing her back as Aria continued to release all the pent-up emotion she’d been burying since the moment Cayden had found her.
By the time the tears stopped flowing, they were both seated on the couch.
“Are you going to tell me what’s really going on?” Sophia asked quietly. “Because I find it really hard to believe that you would agree to marry Cayden if you’re in love with someone else—unless Cayden is forcing you against your will.”
Aria grimaced, and Sophia stiffened at her side.
“That’s it, isn’t it? Cayden has something over you. He’s blackmailing you.” Her voice was hushed, but there was no denying the rage that hovered in the air between them. “What is it? Tell me what he has on you, and I’ll get Mateo to?—”
“No!” Aria all but yelled. “You can’t do anything. It’s not about me, not really.”
Confusion filtered through Sophia’s rage-filled expression. “What do you mean it’s not about you?”
Aria groaned, crumpling over so she could put her head in her hands. “He’s on some sort of board that chose Daniel’s application for that scholarship thing. He threatened to make them take it back.”
“They can’t do that!”
“I don’t know what they can or can’t do. I have no idea how this works, but I know Cayden.” She lifted her itchy, swollen eyes to her cousin. “Cayden always gets what he wants. He has the money and the connections. He doesn’t make empty threats.”
There was an ominous tone to the sound of her words that even she could hear. Still, Sophia didn’t seem to be affected by it. “I don’t care how much money he has. I don’t even care if he has connections. No one is above the law, and what he’s doing is definitely wrong.” She made a move to get to her feet, but Aria’s hand reached out and stopped her.
“It’s not only Daniel he’s threatening.”
Sophia stared at her expectantly. When Aria didn’t expound on her statement, she asked. “What? Is he threatening your mom? Your sister?”
Aria shook her head. She didn’t know if she’d just been lucky when she’d run off the first time or if Cayden had gotten smarter, but he’d left her immediate family out of his plans.
“Then who is it?”
She gnawed on the inside of her cheek until it burst with pain. Sophia wasn’t hot-headed like Daniel. She might not even care that her own livelihood hung in the balance. But she wouldn’t let it stand just on the principle of the thing.
“Aria, who is he threatening?” she asked softer.
Closing her eyes, Aria attempted to draw strength from what little she might have left inside her. “He said that he would do whatever it took to ruin this place. He’d ruin what you and Mateo have built.”
Sophia bolted to her feet with a scoff. “He can’t do anything to hurt us.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to do much.” She stood with her hands on her hips, her cheeks flushed with a fresh wave of anger. “Is that all? Daniel’s schooling and our dog training business?”
Slowly, Aria shook her head. “He said he’d mess with the Keagans’ ranch, too.” Once again, she felt numb all over. The weight that had been pressing down on her from the moment Cayden had made his threats was easing up a bit. Simply knowing that Sophia was aware of the whole truth made it feel as though Aria could weather the storm.
Sophia glowered, shaking her head. Her body seemed to vibrate with a new sort of wrath. “He can’t get away with this. I take it you haven’t told Daniel.”
Aria’s eyes widened. “Of course not. He…” She didn’t want to tell Sophia how scared she was of Daniel taking matters into his own hands. The scars were enough to force Aria to keep her mouth shut. If Daniel lost his temper, there was no telling what might happen.
What if he went to prison?
Instead, she whispered, “I couldn’t let him risk losing out on his dream.”
Sophia snorted. “He wouldn’t care about losing his scholarship. If you think that’s the most important thing to him, then you’re dumber than you look.” When Aria’s mouth dropped open, Sophia’s expression softened. “I mean that in the nicest way.” She settled onto the couch beside Aria and took her hand in her own. “Daniel…” She pressed her lips together as if she wasn’t sure how to express what she wanted to say. “He cares about you more than that. You have to believe me.”
That wasn’t the problem. Aria knew Daniel cared about her. He might even love her. But her own love was what kept her from walking away from Cayden. She nodded, but words got stuck in her throat.
“And as for the other threats, I’m sure we could get Cayden to back down if we all grouped together. You’re talking about Wade and all his brothers. Do you honestly think Cayden could go up against that family?” She made a good point, but that didn’t change the fact that Aria wasn’t willing to be the reason for anyone getting hurt.
Sophia got to her feet. “If you’re not going to tell Daniel, then I will.”
Aria jumped up from the couch and grabbed onto Sophia. “You can’t. I don’t want?—”
“This goes beyond what only you want, Aria. He’s threatening all of us. We deserve to have a say in how we deal with this. I know you haven’t been here long, but we can handle ourselves.”
Before Aria could stop her, Sophia wrenched away from her grasp and marched toward the door. She gave Aria one more determined look and left the cabin, leaving Aria swimming in her own tumultuous thoughts.