ARIA'S POV
I woke up to Kael's voice saying he was falling for me.
Every instinct screamed to open my eyes. To respond. To say... what? That I felt the same terrifying pull toward him? That the bond made my chest ache when we were apart?
No. Safer to pretend I was asleep. Let him think I didn't hear.
So I lay there, listening to him confess. Feeling his lips brush my knuckles. Fighting the urge to squeeze his hand back.
When he finally left the room to talk with doctors, I opened my eyes.
"You're a coward, Aria Chen," I whispered to myself.
My body hurt everywhere. Three broken ribs. Punctured lung. Shattered arm. The Archdemon had almost killed me.
Worth it. Thirty kids were alive because Kael went to the hospital instead of saving me.
But I'd burned three and a half years of life to kill that demon alone. Down to twenty-one years left. Maybe less.
Time was running out.
My old phone—the one I'd kept hidden for six months—buzzed on the nightstand. Kael must have found it in my apartment and brought it here.
Seven missed calls. All from the same number.
Marco.
My dear stepbrother who'd helped sell me to the Triad. Who'd watched them drag me away and smiled.
I picked up the phone and listened to his voicemails.
"Aria? Is this still your number? I... I need your help. Please. Everything's falling apart. Call me back."
Delete.
Next message: "Aria, someone sent evidence to the police! My law license is suspended! They're investigating me for corruption! Was it you? It was you, wasn't it? You bitch!"
Delete.
Next: "I know you're alive! I know you're in the city! Show yourself and face me like an adult instead of hiding like a coward!"
I smiled. Not a nice smile.
For six months, I'd been gathering evidence on my family. Every crime. Every dirty deal. Every life they'd destroyed for money.
Marco defended human traffickers and took bribes to bury cases. Vivienne blackmailed wealthy men with fake assault claims. Stepmother embezzled from charities. Father's gambling debts came from money stolen from his business partners.
I'd collected everything. Bank records. Emails. Photos. Video evidence.
And yesterday—right before the Archdemon attacks—I'd sent it all to the police, the bar association, the IRS, and several news organizations.
Time for the Chen family to pay.
I pulled out my laptop. Hospital Wi-Fi was surprisingly good.
The news was already reporting it. "Prominent Attorney Marco Chen Under Investigation for Corruption and Human Trafficking Connections." "Social Media Influencer Vivienne Chen Accused of Blackmail and Fraud."
Beautiful.
My phone rang. Marco again.
This time, I answered.
"Hello, brother."
Silence. Then: "Aria? You're alive?"
"Disappointed?"
"Where are you? We need to talk. This is all a misunderstanding—"
"No misunderstanding. You sold me to gangsters. Helped traffic me like merchandise. The evidence I sent to the police proves you've done it to dozens of other girls too." My voice was ice. "How does it feel, Marco? Being powerless? Watching your life fall apart?"
"You don't understand! I had to! Father's debts—"
"Were his problem. Not mine. You didn't sell me to save the family. You sold me because you could." I pulled up another file on my laptop. "Want to know what else I found? Evidence that you killed someone. A witness who saw your trafficking operation. You paid gang members to make it look like an accident."
He was breathing hard. Panicking. "That's not... you can't prove..."
"I already sent that evidence to the police too. Separate email. They're probably getting the warrant for your arrest right now."
"Aria, please! I'm your brother!"
"You stopped being my brother when you watched them drag me away and smiled." I hung up.
My hands shook. From rage. From satisfaction. From the dark pleasure of watching someone who hurt me finally face justice.
This was why I made the deal. This feeling. This power.
The door opened. Kael walked in, then stopped. "You're awake."
"Just woke up." The lie came easily. If he knew I'd heard his confession, everything would get complicated.
His ice-blue eyes studied me. Could he tell I was lying?
"How do you feel?" he finally asked.
"Like I fought an Archdemon alone and lost three years of my life." I closed my laptop. "But alive. Thanks for saving the kids."
"Thanks for surviving long enough for me to find you." He sat in the chair beside my bed. Careful not to touch me. The bond hummed between us, wanting connection. "We need to talk about tomorrow."
"The entity that cursed you. I know. Samael texted me too."
"Did he mention you were awake during my... conversation?"
My heart stopped. He knew.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Aria." His voice was gentle. "You squeezed my hand when I said I was falling for you. I felt it."
Damn. The bond betrayed me.
"Fine. I heard." I met his eyes. "But it doesn't change anything. You're feeling emotions for the first time in twenty-four years. It's confusing. Not real."
"How do you know what's real for me?"
"Because the bond is forcing us together! These feelings aren't natural. They're manufactured by supernatural contract."
"Are yours manufactured?" He leaned forward. "When we're apart, do you feel it? The ache? The pull?"
"That's just the bond—"
"Is it? Or is the bond showing us something that was always there?" His hand moved toward mine, then stopped. "I've hunted hundreds of supernatural beings. I know forced emotions from real ones. This isn't forced, Aria. It's just... accelerated."
"I don't have time for accelerated." My voice cracked. "I have twenty-one years left. Less every time I fight. I can't waste those years on—"
"On what? Being happy? Being partnered? Having someone who'd die to protect you?"
"On being vulnerable!" The words exploded out. "Everyone I've ever loved has betrayed me, Kael! My family sold me. My boyfriend cheated with my stepsister. The boy I tried to save died anyway. Love makes you weak. I can't afford weak."
Silence.
Then Kael stood and walked to the window. "You're right. Love does make you vulnerable. I've spent twenty-four years avoiding it for exactly that reason."
"Then you understand—"
"But it also makes you stronger. Tonight, we both nearly died because we fought alone. Together, we would've won easily." He turned back to me. "The bond isn't a trap, Aria. It's a weapon. Against everything trying to kill us."
Before I could respond, my laptop dinged. Email notification.
From an unknown sender. Subject: "Your Family."
I opened it.
Photos. Recent photos. Marco, Vivienne, my stepmother, and father. All together. All in some kind of warehouse.
The message read: "Your revenge was adorable. But incomplete. Your family made a deal of their own—with my master. They want their power back. They want YOU dead. Come to this address at midnight tomorrow. Alone. Or we kill them and frame you for murder. Your choice. - A Friend"
An address in the industrial district. Same area where the Triad warehouse used to be.
"No," Kael said, reading over my shoulder. "Absolutely not."
"They're my family—"
"They're bait. Obviously." He pulled out his phone. "This is a trap. Separate us before tomorrow's real fight."
"I know it's a trap!" My machines beeped faster with my rising panic. "But if I don't go, they die and I'm wanted for murder. That destroys everything I've built!"
"They sold you to gangsters!"
"And I want them to pay through the justice system! Not die and make me a fugitive!" I tried to sit up. Pain shot through my ribs. "I'm going."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"The message said alone—"
"I don't care what the message said." His voice was steel. "We're partners. That means we don't walk into obvious traps separately anymore."
"We split up tonight and thirty kids lived!"
"We split up tonight and you almost died! Lost three years! Nearly cost both of us everything!" He grabbed my hand. The bond flared to life, warm and urgent. "No more splitting up. We complete this bond or we die trying. Those are the only two options left."
His touch made my resolve crumble. The bond wanted him close. My stupid, traitorous heart wanted him close.
"After tomorrow," I whispered. "After we survive the entity that cursed you. After we save my family from their own stupidity. Then we can talk about the bond."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
He squeezed my hand. "Then rest. You need to heal before tomorrow."
"Two fights in one day. This is insane."
"Welcome to our life." He smiled slightly. "Get used to insane."
As I closed my eyes, pretending to sleep again, a text came through.
From Vivienne. My stepsister who'd stolen Damian and helped sell me.
"Aria. I know you're alive. I know what you did to us. You want revenge? Fine. Come to the warehouse tomorrow. Alone. Let's finish this face to face. No powers. No tricks. Just you and me. Unless you're too scared? - V"
I stared at the message.
Vivienne had made a deal. With something dark enough to be connected to Archdemons.
My family wasn't just bait.
They were weapons.
And tomorrow, I'd have to fight them all.