Chapter 23 Aurora
AURORA
My fingers hover over my phone, a knot forming in my throat as I stare at the screen. Five days back in the city, and I’ve avoided this call long enough. I press the group chat icon for my friends.
Instantly, messages flood in.
Daisy: AURORA! Oh my god, where have you been?
Grace: We’ve been worried sick about you and Liv!
Chloe: Are you okay? No one’s telling us anything
I take a deep breath and type.
I’m safe. I need to see you all. Can you meet at Caffeine & Co near downtown in an hour? I’ll explain everything.
Their responses are immediate—they’ll all be there.
Hunter wraps his arms around me from behind, his breath warm against my ear. “You sure about this? It might be dangerous.”
“They’re my friends. I can’t keep hiding from them.” I turn to face him. “I need something normal right now.”
He nods reluctantly. “Marcus will go with you.”
“One of your security team?” I ask.
Hunter’s jaw tightens. “Marcus is a former special forces soldier. He’s good. He’ll keep his distance but stay close enough.”
An hour later, I’m sitting at a corner table in the café. Marcus, a broad-shouldered man with watchful eyes, positions himself three tables away, his gaze continuously scanning the room.
When my friends burst through the door, their faces a mixture of relief and concern, something inside me breaks, and I start crying. Grace reaches me first, wrapping me in a fierce hug.
“Where have you been?” she whispers. “And where’s Liv?”
Daisy and Chloe join the hug, creating a protective circle around me. When we finally separate, tears streak all our faces.
“What happened at that masquerade ball?” Chloe asks, gripping my hand across the table. “One minute you were there, the next you vanished—Olivia too.”
I take a deep breath, my hands trembling around my coffee cup. My friends watch me with worried expressions, waiting for answers. Where do I even begin?
“At the masquerade ball,” I start, my voice lower than I intended, “Olivia and I were—” I pause, the memory flashing vividly. “We were drugged and kidnapped.”
Daisy gasps, her hand flying to her mouth. Chloe’s eyes widen in shock, and Grace reaches for my arm.
“By whom?” Grace asks, her voice tight.
“A man named Jax King. He’s...” I choose my words carefully, “Hunter’s enemy. They have some kind of business rivalry that turned dangerous.”
“Oh my god,” Chloe whispers.
I fidget with my napkin. “Hunter had been searching for us since that night. He finally found me at a warehouse by the coast, but—” My voice cracks. “By then, Jax had moved Liv somewhere else. He still has her.”
“But you’re safe now?” Daisy asks, her eyes darting to Marcus, clearly noticing his protective stance.
“Yes. Hunter rescued me about a week ago. I was...” I swallow hard. “I was held captive for almost two weeks.”
Grace’s grip on my arm tightens. “And Hunter is still looking for Liv?”
“Every resource he has is focused on finding her. We had a lead in Montana, but—” I stop, not wanting to share about Ari being captured too. “It didn’t pan out. Jax is always one step ahead.”
“Why would someone do this?” Chloe asks, tears welling in her eyes.
“To hurt Hunter,” I say simply. “Jax wanted to take something Hunter cared about.”
I don’t tell them about my father’s murder or that Hunter knew all along. I don’t mention the Vipers organization or the blood and violence of the past weeks. They don’t need that burden. They just need to know enough to understand why I’ve disappeared and why Olivia is still missing.
I fidget with my coffee cup, the steam rising between us. They need to know the whole truth.
“There’s more,” I say, my voice barely audible over the café chatter. “And I need you all to just... listen. Don’t judge me until I’ve finished.”
Their expressions shift from concern to wariness.
Daisy reaches for my hand. “Whatever it is, we’re here for you,” she says softly. I wonder if she suspects what I’ll say, considering she knew about our almost kiss.
I take a deep breath. “Hunter and I... we’re together. Romantically. It started before the masquerade ball, before the kidnapping.”
The silence that follows feels suffocating. Grace’s eyebrows shoot up, Chloe’s mouth falls open, and Daisy squeezes my hand tighter.
“But he was engaged to Olivia,” Grace finally says.
“I know. That’s why I said don’t judge me until I explain.” I stare down at the table. “It was wrong. I betrayed my sister. But the engagement was a business arrangement set up by my step-dad. It wasn’t real.”
“Does Liv know about you two?” Chloe asks.
I nod. “When we were held captive together, I finally told her everything. I couldn’t keep lying to her, especially in that situation.” My throat tightens remembering our cell. “She was upset, but not because of Hunter. She was angry that I hadn’t been honest with her.”
“So she didn’t care about Hunter?” Daisy asks.
“No, because—” I push my hair behind my ear, “—she’d been seeing Ari Carter. Hunter’s friend. They’d been together about the same time.”
“Ari Carter?” Grace asks, clearly shocked. “The guy who’s always at those charity events?”
I nod. “Hunter and I weren’t the only ones with secrets.”
“So this whole time, you were with Hunter, and Liv was with Ari, while everyone thought Hunter and Liv were engaged?” Chloe summarizes, her eyes wide.
“Yes. And now Jax has Liv.” I blink back tears. “I’m terrified for them. And I feel responsible. If I hadn’t gotten involved with Hunter...” My voice trails off, the weight of guilt pressing down.
Daisy shakes her head firmly. “Aurora, you can’t blame yourself.”
“Then this probably still would have happened, because this enemy wanted to hurt him, right?” I admit, twisting a napkin between my fingers. “Jax was already watching Hunter. He might have taken Olivia anyway, just because she was Hunter’s fiancée.”
No one speaks for a long moment. The café bustles around us, people living normal lives, ordering coffee, laughing about weekend plans. The contrast with our reality feels surreal.
Chloe clears her throat. “So... does Hunter have, like, a team of super hot Jason Bourne types looking for Liv? Because that would explain Muscles McGee over there.” She tilts her head subtly toward Marcus.
The unexpected comment startles a laugh out of me. “Something like that.”
“I knew rich people had their secrets, but this is some next-level shit,” Grace says, attempting a smile. “Like, what’s next? Does Ari have a secret lair? Does Daisy’s crush have a double life as an international spy?”
Daisy blushes furiously. “I don’t have a crush.”
“You absolutely do,” Chloe counters, momentarily slipping into our normal banter. “You’ve been stalking Penn’s Instagram for months.”
For a fleeting moment, it feels like before—the four of us sharing secrets, teasing each other. Then reality crashes back.
“Fuck,” Chloe whispers, her smile fading. “I can’t believe Liv is kidnapped by a psycho right now.”
“I know,” Grace murmurs, reaching for my hand.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Daisy adds, eyes glistening.
I look at my friends’ troubled faces and realize I need to give us all a moment of normalcy—something that doesn’t involve kidnapping or secret relationships or life-threatening danger. Even if it feels forced, we need this.
“Let’s talk about something else,” I say, straightening in my seat. “I’ve been locked away from the world. What’s been happening with you all? What did I miss? Please—I need to hear about normal life.”
They exchange uncertain glances, clearly caught off guard by the shift.
“It feels wrong to talk about our boring lives when Liv is...” Grace trails off, but I shake my head.
“No, I need this. Just for a few minutes. Please.”
Chloe, always quick to adapt, nods enthusiastically. “Well, I finally got that promotion at the museum. Senior curator.”
“That’s amazing,” I say, forcing a smile that gradually becomes more genuine. “You’ve been working toward that for so long.”
“And I met someone,” Daisy says quietly, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. “Nothing serious yet, but... he’s interesting.”
“Not Penn, I assume?” I tease gently, remembering Chloe’s comment earlier.
Daisy’s blush deepens. “No. His name is James. He’s a lawyer with that firm downtown.”
“She’s being modest,” Grace cuts in. “He’s absolutely smitten with her. He sends flowers to her office every week.”
For a brief moment, the tension in the air lifts. We’re just four friends catching up, sharing life updates.
“What about you, Grace?” I ask. “Any news?”
She hesitates, then shrugs. “The gallery’s been getting offers from some corporate buyer. He keeps raising the price. I keep saying no.”
“Xavier Porter’s company,” Chloe supplies. “Grace hates him.”
“I don’t hate him,” Grace protests. “I just don’t trust him. There’s something off about a tech bro suddenly interested in art.”
As I listen to Grace talk about her gallery troubles, I find myself clinging to her words like a lifeline. This normal conversation—this mundane evening with friends—keeps the darker thoughts at bay, if only for moments at a time.
But they creep back in, unwelcome and persistent.
What is Liv enduring right now? Is she scared? Hurt? The image of her with Jax flashes through my mind—her back arching, her lips parting in what looked like pleasure, not pain. My stomach churns with dread.
You belong to me now, don’t you, Olivia?
Yes... I belong to you.
I blink hard, trying to erase the memory. What if she wasn’t just playing along to survive? What if something in her actually responded to him? The thought makes me physically ill, but I can’t deny what I saw with my own eyes.
Maybe it was just survival. Maybe it was Stockholm syndrome. Or maybe there was something darker in my sister that Jax recognized and drew out.
I take another sip of my coffee, forcing myself to focus on Chloe’s animated hand gestures as she describes some gallery mishap.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting here, safe with our friends.
Protected. Sleeping in Hunter’s penthouse at night with its ridiculous thread-count sheets and panoramic views.
I have security. Comfort. The man I love.
And Liv has... what? A monster? A cell? Or worse—what if she’s developing feelings for her captor?
The guilt is crushing. It should be both of us suffering or both of us free—not this half-measure where I get to sip lattes with friends while my sister remains in Jax’s clutches. Every moment of normalcy I steal feels like a betrayal.
But I need this. These slivers of ordinary life keep me from collapsing under the weight of everything else. They remind me of what we’re fighting to get back to.
Still, as Daisy laughs at something Grace says, I can’t help but wonder how Liv is coping.