Aria's pov
“What were you doing out there?”
Marcel’s voice startled me. I froze halfway through the door, I can bet I looked like a deer caught in headlights . I had only been on the balcony, whispering to Hope, but still….it felt like sneaking.
Sneaking to talk to my own daughter, because I didn’t want my ex-husband to find out about her.
I cleared my throat and forced myself to face him. He was sitting in a chair at the end of the room, relaxed, watching me like he already knew the truth.
“The weather,” I said, my tone sharper than I meant it to be. “It’s quite lovely, if you don’t spend all your time working.”
My eyes slid past him, to the desk. His laptop was open, documents spilling across the screen.
But his gaze wasn’t on the laptop. It was on me.
“Do you expect me to never
