CHAPTER 50Aurelia
Aurelia
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Charles asked gently, his eyes searching hers for any flicker of indecision. He occupied the guest chair by her hospital bed, a notebook balanced on his knee, his brow furrowed in concern.
Aurelia’s fingers twisted in the blanket; her gaze fixed on the sterile sheets.
The truth was, she wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Her body ached, her heart felt fragmented beyond repair, and her mind replayed every horrible moment of the past twenty-four hours on an endless loop.
But one memory stood out in sharp, unforgiving clarity—Levi’s face when he saw her in that hotel room.
That look . The raw accusation. The disgust. At her.
She would never forget how she had begged him to listen, pleading for one moment to explain, and how quickly it was denied when he walked away. After the hateful things he had said—things meant to cut deep and leave a scar—he left .
He had made promises, held her to them when it was convenient for him. But the first time their marriage was tested, he proved what he really thought of her.
He didn’t trust her.
She had given as much of herself as possible. Had laid herself bare, shared her deepest fears and vulnerabilities…and still, he believed the worst.
A marriage without trust wasn’t a marriage at all. It was a prison sentence.
Eleanor’s inheritance was thrown in her face like a weapon, as if every hardship she had survived, like living out of her car and fighting for every scrap of stability, meant nothing.
She didn’t flinch, but the words left a ringing silence in their wake, like a slap that never quite landed but hurt all the same.
In a matter of seconds, Levi had become everything she hated—no better than Kyle. Abuse didn’t always leave bruises. Sometimes it left invisible wounds that never quite healed.
She wouldn’t let anyone treat her like that again. Not ever.
While the doctors ran their endless tests, while the police asked their endless questions, she had had plenty of time to think. To feel. And to realize that no one could save her from this pain but herself.
Her thoughts circled back to Eleanor and her final message—how love wasn’t the goal. Living life on her terms was. Becoming the fierce woman Eleanor always believed she could be.
Levi had cracked her open, forced her to face the world again…but he was also the reason she was closing herself off now.
No.
She pushed that thought away. That was the old Aurelia talking. She wasn’t that timid woman anymore and was in control of who she became. And she refused to let the Kyles—or the Levis—of this world have that power over her again.
She was enough.
She always had been.
“Yes,” she said, her voice low but unshakably steady. “I’m sure. File it. Serve it. I don’t care about the cost. I don’t want anything from him. I just want it over.”
Charles faltered, his concern deepening. Then he nodded slowly. “Understood. I can have the paperwork ready tomorrow.”
Aurelia stared down at her hands, her throat tightening.
In a whisper, she confessed, “I went into this heart and mind wide open. I thought…I really thought it could work. I tried so hard.” Her voice trembled.
“I’m sorry I failed. If you want to rescind your decision from last night, I’d understand.
No hard feelings. But even after all of this, I know one thing for sure…
” She swallowed hard, fighting back fresh tears.
“I’m enough. Even if I’m alone, I’m enough . ”
The words weren’t a mantra. They were a promise to herself.
Charles exhaled a long, weary breath and shook his head, his expression morphing into something more paternal. He looked at her the way Eleanor used to…right before delivering one of her trademark, soul-rattling lectures.
But instead, Charles surprised her.
“You know,” he began, his voice distant with memory, “Eleanor went through something a lot like this once. Head over heels in love. Engaged, even.”
Aurelia’s head snapped up, frowning. “She never told me that.”
“She wouldn’t,” Charles said with a sad smile. “It was one of the most painful chapters of her life. And…it’s how we became friends.”
He leaned back in his chair, eyes faraway.
“I was working in the kitchen part-time back then while I was in college. I stumbled into one of the old pantries during her engagement party…only to find her fiancé and one of the housekeepers together.”
Aurelia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
Charles chuckled humorlessly. “Before I could even process what I saw, I realized Eleanor had followed me. She was practically breathing down my neck. And when she saw them…” He shook his head with a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“She let out a scream so loud I couldn’t hear properly for six days. ”
Aurelia’s eyes brimmed with fresh tears, not from sadness of her troubles this time, but from the heartbreak of knowing even Eleanor had once fallen so low.
“She locked herself away for weeks after that,” Charles continued softly. “Didn’t eat. Didn’t speak. I volunteered to bring her meals to help keep the gossip away. Over time, she started to talk. And little by little…she started to heal.”
Aurelia’s voice was a mere breath. “How did she come back from that?”
“I’m not sure she ever fully did. But one morning, she got out of bed, walked into the dining room like a woman reborn, and declared she was done living by anyone else’s rules.
She refused to marry. Took lovers when she wanted and lived life however she saw fit.
And when children never came, that’s when the search for you began. ”
Aurelia’s chest clenched. “She chose me…because I reminded her of herself?”
Charles gave her a knowing look. “She said you’d figure that out eventually.”
Aurelia laughed through her tears, the sound uncomfortable but real.
Letting her process this revelation, Charles stood and gathered his things, preparing to leave. At the door, he turned back one final time.
“You’ve fulfilled the terms of her will,” he said quietly. “You opened your heart. You learned that you are enough, as you are. That’s all she ever wanted for you. My decision stands.”
Aurelia could barely speak past the lump in her throat. “Thank you,” she managed weakly.
Charles nodded, but before he left, he offered one last truth and the hardest one of all.
“I was married nearly fifty years to the love of my life. And even we had moments where we almost didn’t make it. Pain and fear…they’ll convince you to run before you even know what you’re running from.”
He paused, his eyes sharp despite the kindness in them.
“Everyone comes with baggage, Aurelia. But sometimes…it’s the way we carry it that makes all the difference. Don’t let fear choose for you. And don’t shut the door before he’s even had the chance to apologize and fight like hell for you.”
With that, he was gone, the door clicking softly shut behind him.
Though she knew, deep down, Charles was right…she wasn’t ready to believe it. Not yet.
Hours later, she was discharged.
Owen walked silently at her side, his presence steady as he escorted her through the hospital’s sliding doors and into the cool morning air. She slid into his car without a word, the familiar weight of exhaustion and heartbreak pressing down on her.
Home , she told herself. I’m home now.
But it rang hollow. The moment she stepped through her front door, the lie unraveled. What had once been her refuge, a sanctuary at the end of every long, weary day, now felt empty. Lifeless.
Precisely as she had asked, Owen had seen to it that every trace of Levi was gone before she returned. His things were gone. His scent. His presence.
Her house was exactly as it had been before him: perfectly in order, everything in its rightful place.
And yet…It felt wrong.
Too quiet. Too still. Too lonely.
She walked through the house in a daze, each empty room echoing with memories she didn’t want but couldn’t stop reliving. Though she had never spoken it aloud, she knew what her heart had been screaming for weeks.
She loved him. It’s why every cruel word Levi hurled at her, every moment he refused to listen, every hateful look he gave her hurt so much. She was splintering apart from the inside out.
Owen offered no details about what happened after he left her hospital room, only that Levi had been there—worried, desperate to see her—and that he had “taken care of it.” His voice was distant, painfully formal, when he confirmed that Levi had received her message…and was moving out.
She didn’t ask how long Owen had been gone before returning to her hospital room.
She didn’t ask why his eyes were red or why his jaw had been clenched tight enough to crack bone.
Owen was Levi’s friend before he was hers.
Whatever happened in that waiting room…It appeared to have destroyed him , too.
Now, sitting on a stool at her kitchen island, Aurelia stared at the single object left behind.
A key.
Levi had left it there, right where she had asked him to.
It gleamed faintly under the soft overhead lights, a tiny, shining symbol of everything she had lost, and everything she had chosen to let go.
But Charles’s words circled endlessly through her mind, each one cutting deeper than the last.
Everyone comes with baggage, Aurelia. But sometimes…it’s the way we carry it that makes all the difference. Don’t let fear choose for you. And don’t shut the door before he’s even had the chance to fight for you.
Her fingers curled into fists on the cold marble counter. And still…she couldn’t bring herself to move that key.
Not yet. Maybe not ever.
The weekend crawled by in a haze of sleepless nights and endless tears. Time lost all meaning.
Morning, afternoon, night…it all blurred together as Aurelia drifted through the motions of existing, hollowed out and numb.