CHAPTER SIX: THE MESSAGE SHE FEARED
Aria held Eli's hand all the way home, her grip tighter than she realized.
He chatted softly beside her—about his tummy ache, about the picture he drew in class, about how he wanted noodles for dinner—but her mind was in chaos.
Every word Damien had said echoed in her head.
You took my son.
He looks like me.
I won't let you walk away again.
By the time she reached her small apartment building, her hands were shaking. The sun was dipping low, casting long shadows across the cracked walls and faded paint.
Eli tugged her sleeve gently. "Mommy… why are you walking so fast?"
She slowed immediately, forcing air into her lungs.
"Sorry, sweetheart. Mommy's just tired."
He nodded, accepting the answer with the innocent trust only a child could offer.
Inside their tiny apartment, Aria closed the door and pressed her back against it. The room smelled like home—like Eli's baby shampoo, laundry detergent, and the faint sweetness of the vanilla candle she lit every night.
It was her safe place.
Her shelter.
Her world.
But after today… even this space felt fragile.
Eli sat on the couch and cuddled his stuffed fox. "Mommy, can I watch cartoons?"
Aria nodded. "Just for a little while."
She tried to steady her breathing as she moved into the kitchenette. Her hands trembled as she filled a pot with water.
Her phone buzzed.
Her heart stopped.
She didn't need to look to know who it was.
Still… she reached for it with numb fingers.
The screen lit up with a name she hadn't seen in three years.
Damien Cole.
The air rushed out of her lungs.
She opened the message slowly, fear clawing at her chest.
Damien:
You owe me the truth, Aria.
Her throat tightened.
Another message appeared instantly.
Damien:
Don't ignore me. Not after what happened today.
Aria's hands shook as she typed.
Aria:
Please. Not now.
The reply came within seconds, sharp and immediate.
Damien:
No. Not later. Not someday. Now.
I want to know everything.
She set her phone face down on the counter, fighting tears.
She had known Damien wouldn't walk away.
She had known this moment—the reckoning—would come the second he saw Eli.
But she wasn't ready.
She needed time.
She needed space to breathe.
Her phone buzzed again.
Then again.
Then again.
Aria squeezed her eyes shut.
She couldn't deal with this.
Not with Eli watching cartoons in the next room.
Not with her heart in shreds.
Not with memories clawing their way back, memories she wanted desperately to bury.
The night she left.
The reason she ran.
The betrayal she saw with her own eyes.
Her stomach turned.
She lifted the phone again.
12 missed messages.
Her pulse spiked.
She finally opened the thread.
Damien:
You don't get to disappear again.
Not with my son.
We talk tonight.
I'll come to you.
Where do you live?
Aria gasped.
Absolutely not.
She typed quickly.
Aria:
Damien, no. Do not come here.
Please.
Just give me a little time.
This time, no message came right away.
For a moment, she let out a shaky sigh.
Maybe he understood.
Maybe he would back off, just for tonight.
Just long enough for her to figure out how to—
Her phone lit up again.
Damien:
You have until tomorrow morning.
Then I come myself.
Her breath stuttered painfully.
She typed with trembling hands.
Aria:
Damien… please.
You don't understand.
You can't just show up.
It's not—
His reply cut her off.
Damien:
He's my son.
I will not be kept away from him.
Not anymore.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
She stared at her reflection in the darkened phone screen—broken, exhausted, terrified.
She knew Damien.
Once he made a decision, nothing could stop him—not lawyers, not security, not even her tears.
If he showed up here, if her neighbors saw him, if Eli saw him again without explanation—
Her entire world could collapse.
Eli's safety.
Eli's stability.
Their fragile peace.
Everything.
She set the phone aside, pacing the tiny kitchen.
What was she going to do?
If Damien forced a confrontation tomorrow, she wouldn't be able to stop him. He was powerful. Connected. Determined. And now… desperate.
Aria swallowed hard.
He thought she left because she didn't trust him.
He thought she left because she didn't care.
But the truth was deeper.
Darker.
More painful.
She left because of what she saw.
What she heard.
What she believed was the final truth about the man she once loved.
Damien didn't know.
Damien couldn't know.
She wiped her face and stepped into the living room.
Eli was curled up under his blanket, eyelids drooping as the cartoon played softly.
Aria's heart softened.
"Baby, are you feeling okay?"
He nodded sleepily. "I'm okay now."
She knelt beside him and kissed his forehead.
"You scared Mommy today, you know that?"
He giggled. "I didn't mean to."
"I know."
He glanced at her. "Mommy… that man from school… who is he?"
Aria froze.
She had hoped he wouldn't ask.
Her chest tightened. "Just… someone I used to know."
"From a long time ago?" Eli whispered.
"Yes."
Eli blinked at her, thoughtful. "He looked at me funny."
Aria's stomach dropped.
"I know."
"Why?"
Aria stroked his hair gently.
"He was surprised."
Eli yawned. "Did he know me before?"
Aria's heart cracked.
"No, baby," she whispered tightly. "He didn't."
Eli accepted the answer with a sleepy nod and cuddled his stuffed fox.
"I'm tired, Mommy."
"Okay." She scooped him up. "Let's get you to bed."
After tucking him in, Aria sat beside him until he drifted into sleep—his soft breaths steady, peaceful, innocent.
Only then did she stand and step into the hallway, closing his door quietly.
Her phone buzzed again.
She flinched.
Another message.
Damien:
I meant what I said.
Tomorrow.
Be ready to talk.
Aria's eyes burned with tears she could no longer hold back.
Her knees buckled as she slid down the wall, covering her face.
She didn't know how to face him.
She didn't know how to explain.
She didn't know how to open wounds she'd spent three years stitching shut.
But most of all—
She didn't know how to protect Eli from the truth.
Or from Damien.
Or from herself.
Her phone buzzed one last time.
She hesitated… then opened it.
It wasn't a threat.
It wasn't anger.
It was a single, quiet message.
Damien:
What's his favorite color?
Aria's breath caught painfully.
She typed back before she could stop herself.
Aria:
Blue.
A moment later:
Damien:
Mine too.
The phone slipped from her hands as she whispered into the empty hallway—
"I know."