Chapter 6 — The Price of Truth
The following morning broke heavy and gray, as if the sky itself carried the weight of what had happened the night before. Rain still clung to the streets, washing away the last of the night's chaos, but inside the Cole Enterprises tower, nothing was clean anymore.
News had spread like wildfire.
The wife thought dead has returned.
Corporate betrayal, arson, stolen identity.
Every headline carried her name, every whisper spoke it like a legend reborn — Aria Cole, the woman who had risen from her ashes to expose the empire that destroyed her.
But Ariana — Aria — wasn't celebrating.
She sat at her office desk, eyes fixed on the window, the city blurred behind a thin veil of drizzle. Her assistant Leah entered quietly, hesitant to disturb the silence.
"Ma'am," Leah said softly, setting a stack of newspapers down. "The media won't stop calling. Should I issue a statement?"
Ariana didn't look up. "No. Let them guess. The truth spreads faster when it's whispered."
Leah nodded and left, but as the door clicked shut, Ariana's expression hardened. The victory she'd waited for all these years didn't feel like triumph. It felt like a wound reopened — one that bled memories instead of relief.
She had exposed Selena. She had faced Damien. But the part of her heart that used to believe in him still refused to die.
She closed her eyes. For a moment, she saw her son again — Ethan's small hand in hers, his laugh, the way he used to chase sunlight through their old garden.
Her throat tightened. "I'm sorry, baby," she whispered. "It's almost over."
---
Across the city, chaos reigned inside Damien's office. Reporters camped at the gates. Shareholders demanded answers. Executives resigned overnight.
Damien stood by the window, tie loosened, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. The world he had built through discipline and pride was collapsing, one truth at a time.
And at the center of it all stood the woman he had loved — the woman he had condemned.
He hadn't slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the fire again — the smoke, the panic, the guilt. And her voice, breaking through the flames. You chose her, Damien. You chose wrong.
Now, the woman he thought dead was alive, walking through his city with his name buried inside hers.
The door opened. His assistant, trembling, said, "Sir… the police have arrested Selena Voss. She confessed to part of the fraud, but she's claiming you were involved."
Damien's jaw clenched. "Of course she is."
He turned away from the window, his expression carved in stone. "Prepare my statement. And get me everything we have on that night — the fire, the evidence, the case files. All of it."
He was done being blind.
---
That evening, Ariana sat in her apartment surrounded by folders, photographs, and old police reports. Every detail of her past lay before her — except one truth she still couldn't find.
Who had started the fire?
Selena had orchestrated it, yes, but there had been someone else. Someone who had lit the match.
She stared at a burnt corner of an old photo — Damien holding Ethan in his arms, sunlight streaming through their living room window. The image trembled slightly in her hand.
Her phone buzzed. Unknown number again.
Unknown: You're not done, Aria. You think you know who betrayed you, but the fire came from higher up.
Her heart skipped.
Ariana: Who is this?
Unknown: Someone who was there that night. Meet me at the old Cole estate. Midnight.
She hesitated. The estate had been abandoned for years — burned, rebuilt, and burned again. It was where her life had ended once.
But if the truth waited there, she would face it.
---
Midnight came cloaked in fog and silence. The old Cole mansion loomed against the hills like a wounded beast, its windows shattered, ivy crawling across the walls.
Ariana stepped out of her car, her heels crunching on gravel. The air smelled faintly of smoke — the same bitter scent that had haunted her dreams for seven years.
She entered through the side door. The floorboards creaked. Her flashlight cut through dust and darkness.
"Hello?" she called softly. "Who's there?"
No answer. Only the echo of rain on broken glass.
Then, a voice behind her. "You came."
She turned sharply. A man stepped from the shadows — gray hair, lined face, eyes that knew too much. She recognized him immediately.
Detective Harris. The lead investigator from her case.
"You," she whispered. "You said the fire was an accident."
He nodded slowly. "Because that's what they paid me to say."
Ariana's heart pounded. "Who?"
He stepped closer, his voice low. "You were never supposed to die, Aria. They only wanted to erase the evidence. You found something that night — financial records, offshore accounts. You were going to expose them. Selena and…"
He hesitated.
"And?" she pressed.
"Damien's father."
The words hit like a blade. "What?"
"Robert Cole. He was laundering funds through subsidiaries. Selena was his partner. When you confronted her, they set up the fire. But it got out of control."
Ariana stared at him, disbelief turning to rage. "So Damien… he didn't know?"
"No," Harris said quietly. "He thought you were gone. Robert made sure of that. He covered it all up — the investigation, the reports, even your body. That's why no one questioned the ashes they buried."
The room tilted. Ariana gripped the wall to stay standing. For years, she had carried her hatred like a torch. And now, the truth threatened to extinguish it.
Her voice trembled. "Robert's dead."
"Yes," Harris said. "But his secrets aren't. Selena has the last files — she kept them as insurance. She's been waiting to use them against Damien."
Ariana's eyes burned. "Then I'll get them first."
The detective handed her a flash drive. "This will lead you to them. But be careful. She's not finished."
He turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "You're not the only one who came back from that fire, Aria. Some ghosts are still walking."
---
The next day, news exploded again — Selena Voss Escapes Custody.
Ariana read the headline at her desk, her blood running cold. She had known Selena wouldn't go quietly.
By evening, her phone rang. Damien.
"Where are you?" his voice demanded, tense and rough.
"At my office."
"Don't move."
"Why?"
"Because Selena called me," he said. "She wants us both. At the old estate. Tonight."
Ariana's grip tightened. "It's a trap."
"I know," he said. "That's why I'm going."
"So am I."
He hesitated. "Aria—"
"You don't get to tell me no," she said sharply. "Not anymore."
And then she hung up.
---
Night fell hard and silent. The mansion rose again out of the fog, darker than before. Inside, candles burned in the ruins, flickering like eyes.
Selena stood at the center of the old ballroom, gun in hand, her once-perfect face twisted with desperation.
"You couldn't stay dead, could you?" she hissed when Ariana entered. "You just had to ruin everything."
"You ruined yourself," Ariana said coldly. "You burned everything you touched."
Selena laughed — a brittle, hollow sound. "You think you won? Damien's father built this empire on lies. And Damien will burn with it."
"Not if I end it first."
Selena's hand trembled. "You don't deserve him. You never did."
Before Ariana could move, a gunshot split the air.
The sound echoed through the mansion, shaking dust from the rafters.
For a second, everything froze. Then another voice rang out — Damien's. "Selena, drop it!"
He stood in the doorway, his gun drawn, his eyes wild.
Selena turned toward him, tears streaking her cheeks. "You destroyed me, Damien! You were supposed to love me!"
"I never loved you," he said. "You used me."
Her scream was raw. She raised her gun — but Ariana moved first, shoving her hand aside. The shot went wide, hitting the wall. They struggled, the gun between them, both breathing hard.
A flash. A bang.
Then silence.
When the smoke cleared, Selena lay on the floor, the gun fallen from her hand, blood staining the marble. Her eyes were open, but they no longer saw.
Ariana stood frozen, trembling, the echo of the shot still ringing in her ears.
Damien crossed the distance, catching her as she swayed. "You're bleeding," he said roughly.
"It's not mine," she whispered.
They both stared at the body — the woman who had destroyed them, the one who had started it all.
Outside, sirens wailed in the distance. The truth had finally come full circle, burning everything in its path.
Ariana looked at Damien, her voice barely a breath. "Now you know what fire feels like."
He didn't answer. He just held her tighter, as if afraid she would van
ish again.
And in the ruins of what once was their home, the rain began to fall once more — washing blood and ashes into the earth, burying the past beneath its cold, endless rhythm.
---
End of Chapter 6