Chapter 19
Lucas remained frozen, his hand rising slowly to touch his reddening cheek, stunned disbelief
written across his unshaven face.
"You're... real?" he whispered, staring at her as if she might evaporate.
Aria had reached her absolute limit with this absurd day. She laughed-a sharp, brittle sound utterly devoid of humor.
"Real? Sure. Apparently I'm trapped in a real-life horror movie where my supposed death wasn't enough to get you out of my life."
Without deigning to look at him again, she pivoted sharply toward the staircase.
"Aria, wait-please!"
Lucas lunged after her, alcohol and desperation making his movements clumsy. As he grabbed for her wrist, the combination of his unsteady state and her quick evasion created disaster-her foot slipped on the polished marble step.
"Look out!"
Despite his impaired reflexes, Lucas managed to pull her against him as they fell, positioning his body to take the impact.
Their bodies hit the marble stairs with a sickening thud that echoed through the foyer.
Cushioned by Lucas's intervention, Aria escaped with minor disorientation. Lucas, however, wasn't as fortunate-a crimson stain began spreading across the white marble beneath his head.
"Alpha!" Davis's horrified voice cut through the sudden stunned silence.
The household erupted into chaos. After fifteen minutes, both were being loaded into separate ambulances.
still hospitalized, Aria decided it was finally time
escape.
16-41
Chapter 19
only to
hardened
glances. "Luna, we have
premises without Alpha's
seriously trying to hold me prisoner? That's a
choice."
response, she attempted to push past them toward
doors.
unwilling woman, the guards
Collins, please reconsider-Alpha Thornwood was
accelerated Aria's determined
as freedom appeared within reach, a black SUV with tinted windows glided to a stop directly
Her name emerged with an unsettling combination of
me that," she snapped, actual revulsion contorting her features. "It makes my skin crawl hearing it
confrontation with Lucas. She'd recognized the reality that neither she nor her family could match the
did encounter each other, nothing
Her silence read as invitation.
ignored. When blocked, he'd found new channels, seemingly content that
his orbit.
16:41
Chapter 19
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