I'M JUST A TROPHY WIFE

chapter 8

For days, she had tried to reach Aris.

She had begged Aiden to let her contact him.

"Please, Aiden. Just let me talk to him."

But he always refused.

The only thing she had left was the phone Aris had given her.

She tried calling him again and again.

Nothing.

The calls never went through.

At first, she told herself he was probably busy.

But as the days passed, worry began to settle in her chest.

Aris would have answered.

She knew he would.

One evening, she decided to try Aiden again.

She dressed carefully before going downstairs for dinner.

She wore an elegant fitted dress with a high slit, hoping that perhaps, for once, Aiden might listen to her.

When she entered the dining room, Aiden looked up.

His expression changed for the briefest moment.

He was clearly caught off guard by her appearance.

But he quickly composed himself.

"What do you want?"

She sat across from him.

"I want to see Aris."

"No."

"Please."

"I said no."

She leaned forward.

"Aiden, something isn't right. I've been trying to reach him for days. Please just let me see him."

"You aren't going anywhere."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

Her frustration finally boiled over.

"You can't keep doing this!"

Aiden's expression hardened.

She pushed her chair back.

"Fine."

She stood.

"Then I won't eat."

She walked away from the table.

Aiden watched her leave, his jaw tightening.

He picked up his phone.

"Find Aris."

His voice was cold.

"Deal with the situation."

Two days later, she was sitting alone when she opened her phone.

She absentmindedly scrolled through the news.

Then she froze.

A headline appeared across her screen.

GLOBAL SUPERSTAR ARIS STONES FOUND DEAD AT HIS RESIDENCE.

Her fingers went cold.

She stared at the screen.

"No..."

Her breathing became shallow.

She read the headline again.

And again.

It couldn't be him.

Not Aris.

Not the person who had laughed with her.

The person who had cooked for her.

The person who had made her feel like herself again.

Her phone slipped from her hand.

She sat completely still.

Then one thought entered her mind.

I couldn't reach him.

Her eyes slowly lifted toward the closed bedroom door.

Aiden.

For some reason, the first person she thought of was him.

And suddenly, everything she had been trying not to notice began connecting in her mind.

The unanswered calls.

Aiden's refusal to let her see Aris.

His anger.

The phone call.

Her heart began pounding.