Chapter 389: Aftershock
It happened so fast I almost didn’t feel the ground move ... it was just the sound first, Sarah’s voice spilling through the speakers, steady and cruelly calm, saying the words that didn’t belong in my world.
"...and Kael is the father."
The room fell away.
Sound folded in on itself until all I could hear was my own pulse, hammering like it was trying to claw out of my chest. The lights blurred, faces turned to shapes, mouths moved without sound. My heart beat so loud it drowned everything else.
For a second I just stood there, staring at her... at Sarah, standing on the podium like she wasn’t destroying everything, like she hadn’t just split me in half in front of a whole crowd. The microphone gleamed in her hand, her expression smooth, unreadable.
And beside me, Kael.
Frozen.
Not denying it, not moving, not breathing. His shoulders were tight, his jaw set, his eyes locked on her like he could kill her with a look... but he didn’t speak. He didn’t say a single word.
That was all the answer I needed.
And like rubbing salt on wound.
"I know this is difficult, Aria," Sarah continued softly. "But you deserve the truth. You deserve better than a man who builds his love on lies."
Something inside me went quiet, so quiet it hurt. The kind of quiet that felt like falling through ice. My blood went cold. My body felt wrong, distant, like I was watching it from far away as it took a step back. Then another. My hand slipped from the crook of his arm before I even realized it, like my body wanted to escape before my mind could catch up.
I turned.
I didn’t look back.
The crowd blurred around me, a sea of whispers and perfume and confusion. The chandelier light fractured against the tears I hadn’t realized were already falling. My legs felt hollow, my breath thin. Every step felt heavier, like I was wading through water, trying to get somewhere that didn’t exist.
I heard him then ... his voice cutting through the chaos, low, desperate.
"Aria—wait."
I couldn’t.
The air hit my face when I pushed past the doorway, colder, sharper, but it didn’t help. I could still taste the room, still feel all those eyes, still hear Sarah’s words echoing like a curse. My stomach twisted, my chest ached, my vision swam. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream. I wanted to wake up.
Then his hand caught my arm.
And the moment his skin touched mine, something snapped. I recoiled so fast it startled even me, the revulsion spilling out before I could stop it. I yanked my arm back like his touch burned, like it was something filthy.
The sound of my own heartbeat was louder than him, louder than anything, and all I could think was don’t look at him, don’t look at him, don’t. But I did. I turned, and there he was, standing a few feet away, drenched in disbelief and guilt, every bit of him a contradiction I couldn’t bear to see.
The look on his face... God.
It was like I’d hit him.
Shock, pain, disbelief all at once.
It confused me.
But I couldn’t care.
Because all I could think was that he’d already done the same to me, only worse. He’d carved that hurt deep, and now I could feel it spreading like poison.
So I just stood there, chest heaving, eyes wet, staring at him through the blur of everything that used to be ours. And for the first time, I didn’t see Kael ... the man I loved, the man I’d trusted. I saw a stranger standing where he used to be.
And that was somehow worse than anything Sarah could have said.
His voice started broken, rough, almost strangled at the edges like it hurt to even form words.
"She’s lying," he said. The words cracked in the middle. "Sarah’s lying. She’s just trying to tear us apart."
Tear us apart.
He said it like there was still an us left to destroy.
My breath caught, trembling in my throat. "So what—you’re saying it never happened?" My voice came out soft, trembling, almost childlike. "That there was never a night, never a reason for her to say that?"
He didn’t answer right away.
He didn’t need to. Once again.
It was right there in his face... the way his eyes darted away, the slight tightening in his jaw, the silence that stretched too long.
I laughed. I don’t even know why. It wasn’t really a laugh. It was a sound that broke apart halfway through, the kind that felt like glass under your tongue. I turned to leave, my body screaming at me to move, to get away before I lost it completely.
But his voice followed, desperate, cracking open the air between us.
"Aria, please... just wait. She came to me first. It was a set up. She wanted this to happen. You don’t understand, she’s been waiting to do this for a long time—"
"Kael..." I whispered, but my voice shook so violently I almost didn’t recognize it. "Just stop. Please stop."
He stepped closer, his eyes dark, searching, begging. "No. You have to believe me. This isn’t—she’s not—"
I cut him off, my chest heaving. "Then tell me it’s the truth. Tell me she’s the only one guilty here. Tell me you didn’t have anything with her."
He froze again. That same silence. That same unbearable silence that said everything he didn’t.
My throat burned. I swallowed hard. "Do you even hear yourself right now?" I whispered. "Do you really think I can believe anything you say after this?"
His jaw clenched, frustration flaring behind his eyes. "You think I wanted this?" he snapped, his voice rising. "You think I chose this? That I’d do something like this to hurt you?"
"I don’t know!" I screamed back. My voice cracked, splintering like my heart. "I don’t know who or what to believe anymore!"
He took a step closer, his composure breaking, the storm fully visible now. "Then believe me!" he shouted. "Just this once, Aria, believe me! That’s all I’ve been trying to do, prove to you, to myself, that I’m not everything the world says I am. That I’m someone capable of being human—" His voice fractured, falling into something hoarse, raw. "But how am I supposed to keep believing that when the woman I love won’t even believe me?"
His words hit hard—too hard—and I flinched like they’d struck me.
I could barely breathe. "My best friend is pregnant for you, Kael!" I cried, my voice trembling, tears spilling freely now. "How did that happen and how am I supposed to understand that? How am I supposed to—" My breath hitched, my words cutting off as the tears took over, blurring everything. "I just... I just wish you’d said it wasn’t true. That you never touched her. That there wasn’t anything to ruin us."
He swallowed hard, his voice low, defeated. "I never wanted to—"
"But you did anyways," I interrupted, almost whispering, but the pain laced through every word. "You say you didn’t want to, but somehow it still happened."
The world felt like it was collapsing again... every heartbeat, every memory, every promise unraveling in the same breath. My chest hurt so much I thought it would cave in. The more I looked at him, the more it hurt; it was like trying to breathe underwater, suffocating in what used to be love.
Why me?
Why always me?
Why did it have to be Sarah? Why did it have to be him?
I heard voices... Ash’s voice calling my name, Sylas somewhere behind her... but they felt miles away, muffled, fading. I didn’t want anyone. I didn’t want comfort. I didn’t want to hear explanations or apologies or pity.
I just wanted to disappear.
So I turned away... my heels clicking against the floor, my tears hot against my skin... and walked.
And Kael didn’t follow.
Not this time.