Tangled with you

The Man I Once Loved

Six Years Ago

Aria sat on the front porch of the old white house at the end of Bellview Street, her knees tucked under her chin, sketchbook in hand. A soft summer breeze played with the strands of her hair, but she didn’t notice. She was too focused on the boy lying in the grass nearby, tossing a baseball up into the air.

Liam Carter.

Even then, he was everything she wasn’t — loud, fearless, always teasing someone or breaking some rule. But with her, he was different. Softer. Kinder.

“I think I’m gonna marry you someday,” he said, catching the ball mid-air and flashing that boyish grin she used to love so much.

Aria laughed. “You say that now, but in a few years you’ll forget all about me.”

“No way.” He sat up, crossing his arms. “I’m not like other guys.”

She arched a brow. “You’re exactly like other guys.”

“I’m not.” He pointed at her sketchbook. “You draw stars when you're sad. You hate strawberries. You only talk when you trust someone, and you trust me.”

Her lips parted, caught between surprise and warmth.

Liam leaned closer, lowering his voice. “I know you better than anyone else. And one day, when I have everything — the job, the house, the name — I’ll come back for you.”

“You promise?”

He didn’t blink. “I swear.”

That was the last summer before everything changed. Before his father’s company skyrocketed. Before the car crash that took her mom. Before Liam was sent to boarding school in New York, and Aria was left behind in a home that slowly stopped feeling like one.

He stopped calling.

Stopped writing.

Stopped keeping that promise.

And now, six years later, he’d married her like she was a burden. A deal sealed with signatures and silence.

---

Present Day

Aria blinked away the memory, standing in the bathroom mirror, removing the last bobby pin from her hair.

The reflection staring back at her looked like someone else — a woman wrapped in silk and sorrow, still haunted by a boy who no longer existed.

The man I loved is gone.

And in his place, there’s only Liam Carter — a stranger with my heart in his fist.

But what Liam didn’t know was that Aria Walker was no longer the girl who used to draw stars when she was

sad.

She was learning to become her own storm.