CHAPTER 425: ACCUSATION

The world came back in pieces. The first was an aggressive buzzing, sharp and insistent against the wood of the nightstand.

My eyelids felt glued shut. I prised them open, grit crusting my lashes. Kael’s arm was a heavy weight around my waist, his skin radiating a warmth I desperately tried to sink into. For one fragile second, I let the lie settle over me. Yesterday was real. We were fixed. We were safe.

Then the phone rang again.

Kael shifted, his body tensing against mine. He fumbled for the device, his voice a low, sleep-ravaged growl. "What?"

Even from my pillow, Ash’s voice was a distorted shriek from the speaker. A torrent of profanity, so vicious it was almost artistic.

"Put on the goddamn news! Now!"

Kael moved like a spring uncoiling. He snatched the remote, thumbed the button. The screen flared to life, a sickly blue light washing over us.

My gut twisted, a violent, physical lurch.

Sarah’s face dominated the picture.

She looked... polished. Immaculate. Except for the violence painted across her skin. A storm of purple and black bloomed around one eye. Her lip was split, a dark line of scab. More discoloration mottled her jawline.

And the tears. They traced perfect, glistening paths down her cheeks.

The words crawling along the bottom of the screen turned my blood to ice.

PREGNANT FIANCEE ALLEGES ASSAULT BY XE CORP CEO KAEL ROMAN, SON OF EWAN ROMAN

A sound escaped me, a weak exhale. "Oh, God."

A grave, anonymous voice narrated the horror. "Sarah Brown, fiancée of Kael Roman and mother of his unborn child, gave a public statement this morning alleging Roman assaulted her at the hospital yesterday evening. Brown claims he confronted her to intimidate her into retracting her pregnancy announcement."

The image cut. Sarah sat at a table bristling with microphones. Andrew hovered behind her, his hand on her shoulder... a gesture of support that made my skin prickle.

"He grabbed me," she whispered, her voice trembling with a convincing fragility. She touched the bruise on her face, her fingers fluttering. "He threatened me. Said if I didn’t disappear, he’d make me disappear. When I tried to get away, he... he hit me."

A delicate wince. "I’m so scared. I just want to protect my baby."

The anchor returned. "This isn’t Roman’s first documented violent episode. Military records indicate he once assaulted a fellow soldier with such force the victim needed reconstructive surgery for a shattered jaw. The incident was allegedly suppressed by his family’s influence."

Graphs flashed. Plummeting stock prices. A feed of social media fury. "Police officials report that Kael Roman is scheduled to be brought in for questioning, though no further details have been released. While the financial toll may be negligible for a family of their wealth,the damage to their pristine public reputation could be irreparable."

The air vanished from my lungs.

Kael’s fingers found mine, locking tight.

"Aria—"

His face was a careful mask, but a hurricane raged in his eyes.

"That soldier," he said, the words quiet and rough. "My father had threatened Ivan. I was... jumping at every shadow. Then I found out the man was on my father’s payroll. Sent to hurt Ivan. To send me a message."

His hands clenched into rock-hard fists. "So I broke his face. Made sure he’d never be used as a weapon against us again."

"Kael." I reached up, my palm curving against the rough stubble of his cheek. "You don’t owe me an explanation. I know why. I know you were protecting someone you love."

His gaze searched my face, hunting for a condemnation that would never come.

I looked back at the screen, at Sarah’s performance. A fury I didn’t recognize erupted in my chest. Scalding. Consuming.

"She’s a pathological liar," I heard myself say, the words trembling.

Then the guilt descended again. A crushing wave, so heavy I felt my shoulders bow. This was my fault. My blindness.

"Don’t carry this, Aria," Kael said, his tone absolute. "I’ll manage it."

Those words carved me out. Because he always managed. He always bore the burden alone.

I turned and kissed him. A hard, desperate collision of lips and teeth and all the things I couldn’t say.

When I broke away, I pressed my forehead to his, our breath mingling.

"You aren’t alone in this anymore," I told him. "I’m here. With you."

Something in his expression fractured, softening into a look of pure, unguarded wonder.

"I should have warned you about Sarah sooner," he murmured. "I should have told you everything the second I suspected—"

"No." I cut him off. "I understand why you didn’t. You were trying to spare me the pain of losing her. And I... I hurt you without a second thought. I didn’t let you explain."

"None of it matters now," Kael said, pulling me into the solid wall of his chest. "You’re with me now. And I am never letting you go."

A low, possessive note colored his voice, one that should have sent a warning chill through me.

It drew me in instead.

I climbed onto his lap, my arms winding around his neck, holding on as if he were the only anchor in a world gone fluid and treacherous.

He held me just as fiercely, his face buried in the curve of my neck, his breath a warm ghost on my skin.

But my thoughts were a swarm of hornets.

I had to see Sarah. I had to stand in front of her and demand the truth. I needed to understand how the person I’d trusted most could become this.

I knew Kael would never allow it.

But I had to try.

An hour later...

A sharp rap at the door shattered the silence.

Kael went rigid beneath me. I slid off and went to answer.

Ash stood in the hallway, her face a thundercloud of rage and resolve.

And behind her stood Sylas.

I froze.

"I’m sorry," Ash blurted. "He can a real pain in the ass sometimes. Wouldn’t listen."

Sylas shouldered past her, his gaze pinning me to the spot.

For a long moment, we just stared.

Then he crossed the room in two strides and crushed me against him.

"You absolute moron," he choked out, his voice muffled in my hair. "Do you have any clue what you put me through? Three weeks, Aria. I didn’t know if you were dead."

Tears needled the backs of my eyes. My hand came up, patting his back on instinct. "I’m fine. I’m so sorry I worried you."

Sylas pulled back, his hands gripping my shoulders. "Don’t you ever vanish like that again. I thought... god, I thought I’d lost you."

"I’m okay," I promised. "I’m right here. I’m safe."

"As heartwarming as this is," Ash interrupted, her voice slicing through the moment, "we have a catastrophe to contain."

She jerked her head toward the living area. We all moved to sit.

Kael had pulled a shirt on and joined us, his posture defensive as he watched Sylas.

"Andrew’s trying to bury Kael for good," Ash stated, no preamble. "Painting him as an unhinged brute so he looks like the ideal heir when Ewan dies."

"We have proof on Sarah," Kael countered. "Files from the mental institution. Her intake papers. Everything."

"They’re at your penthouse?" Ash asked.

Kael gave a single nod. "Someone’s bringing them."

"Sarah always seemed... wrong to me," Sylas said, his voice low. "Something felt off."

"I guess I was the only one who didn’t see it," I whispered, the realization a poison dart.

The room went still.

I hadn’t meant to say it aloud.

"Aria—" Ash began.

"I’m sorry," I said quickly. "I didn’t—"

"It isn’t your fault," Ash overrode me. "Sarah was your family. She made herself essential. That’s what predators do."

I nodded, but the shame remained, a cold stone in my gut.

"Are you issuing a formal response?" Ash asked Kael.

"No," he said, immediate and firm. "Releasing the documents is enough."

"Kael, you need to defend yourself publicly—"

"No statements," he repeated, his voice leaving no room. "The evidence can talk for itself."

Ash looked ready to fight, but she exhaled, letting it go.

I drew a shaky breath, gathering my courage.

"I want to see Sarah."

Every head turned toward me as if I’d sprouted a second one.

"Are you out of your mind?" Ash demanded.

"Aria, no," Kael said, the words flat and final. "Not a chance."

"I have to speak with her," I insisted. "I know how it sounds. I know I should never want to be in the same room with her again. But I can’t move past this without looking her in the eye."

"No," Kael repeated.

"I’m with him," Sylas said. "This is insanity."

"Please." I looked only at Kael, begging him to see. "I need this. I need to hear her say it to my face."

"She’ll just feed you more lies," Kael argued. "It’s all she knows how to do."

"I know that," I said. "But I still have to go."

We stared each other down, a silent war waging between us.

Finally, Kael shut his eyes and released a long, slow breath.

"Fine," he conceded. "But I’m coming with you."

"No," I said instantly. "It has to be just me and her."

"Absolutely not."

"Kael, please. Have faith in me."

"I have faith in you," he said, his voice grating. "I have zero faith in her. I won’t let you walk in there by yourself."

"She wouldn’t dare try anything in public," I countered.

"You can’t be sure of that."

"I’ll be close by," Kael relented. "Close enough to get to you in a second if something happens. But you are not going in alone."

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a compromise I could take.

"Okay," I agreed.

I picked up Kael’s phone, my fingers unsteady as I dialed her number.

One ring. Two.

Then, her voice.

"Hello?"

That single word coiled in my stomach.

I forced my own voice to work.

"It’s me... Aria."

Silence. A thick, heavy void stretching between us.

When she finally spoke again, her tone was different. Softer. Almost like a relief.

"I knew you would call."