Chapter Thirteen: Blood Runs Cold
667 Words
The private jet touched down in New York under a steel-gray sky. The moment the wheels hit the tarmac, Aria felt the change—like a cold hand gripping her spine. She hadn’t set foot in her family’s city since before the a*******n. Everything here still smelled like power and pretense.
Lucien remained in the shadows, just out of sight. He didn’t trust the city. Didn’t trust them.
“I shouldn’t let you go in alone,” he growled, jaw tight as they stood by the car.
Aria zipped up her sleek black coat and met his eyes. “If I’m going to confront my father, I need to do it without your shadow behind me.”
“Aria—”
“I need him to look me in the eyes when I ask him why he sold me like a pawn.”
Lucien hesitated. “If anything feels wrong, you call me.”
She kissed him—firm, brief, but searing.
“I will.”
---
The Vale Tower hadn’t changed. Still chrome, still sterile, still cold. Aria walked into her father’s office without knocking.
He was behind his desk, reading reports on a screen. He looked up—and froze.
“Aria?”
She didn’t sit. “We need to talk.”
Elias Vale stood slowly. His expression was equal parts relief and guilt. “I thought you were dead. Or worse.”
“I was worse,” she said. “I was property. Yours, apparently.”
He paled.
“I’ve seen the accounts,” Aria said. “The shell companies in my name. The wire transfers. You used me as a front, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to,” Elias said quickly. “But I had no choice. The Rivas cartel—Lucien’s father—he offered protection in exchange for financial access. I thought Lucien was dead. I thought—”
“You sent me to cover the Rivas story knowing what might happen.”
“I thought you’d just get close. Ask questions. Build a profile.”
“No,” she said, eyes burning. “You used me as a test. To see if Lucien could be manipulated. And when he didn’t break, you backed off and left me there.”
Elias moved around the desk. “You have to believe me. Everything I’ve done has been to protect this family.”
Aria laughed bitterly. “You don’t protect a family by sacrificing its heart.”
Elias reached for her. She stepped back.
“I’m not your pawn anymore, Dad.”
“I never meant to hurt you—”
“But you did,” she snapped. “And now I have to live with what I became because of it.”
She turned and walked out without another word.
---
Back at the safehouse, Lucien paced like a caged beast. When Aria returned, he swept her into his arms, silent but fierce. He held her like he was afraid she’d vanish again.
“You were right,” she whispered into his chest. “My father sold me to buy security. He used my name to clean blood money. I’m not just a pawn. I’m evidence.”
Lucien’s jaw locked. “He’s a dead man.”
“No,” Aria said, eyes flaring. “Not yet. I’m going to use what he taught me. I’ll bring him down with the tools he gave me.”
Rafael raised a brow from the corner. “Now that’s the voice of a Rivas.”
Lucien looked at her, pride and fury warring in his gaze.
“You’re becoming one of us,” he said.
Aria stepped close. “No. I’m becoming something new. And with you at my side, nothing can stop me.”
Lucien leaned in, brushing his lips over hers.
“Then let’s burn your old world to the ground.”
They kissed—slow, deliberate, powerful.
Not as predator and prey.
But as two monsters in love with the fire.
- Writer
