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A week later, Aria was discharged. It was a quiet morning.
Mia, who stood by her bedside, tried to cheer her up. “It’s okay Aria”
“I know” Aria responded softly
Thane hovered near the door, his hands held the door knob tigthly , he felt very guilty. These few days, he felt very useless and powerless as he could not protect his stepsister from his evil mother.
“You’re free,” Mia said, smiling as Aria stood up to wear her coat
Aria nodded
Empty was the word she would use. She felt hurt,broken and traumatized. The pain she had gone through these past few days was something she had never felt before. It wasn’t even the physical pain.Her dad had abandoned her when she needed him the most. She stayed days hoping he would come visit, to see how she was doing. But he never showed up.
The jeep slowly pulled away from the hospital and Aria looked at the moving buildings quietly.
“I thought he would come” she said blankly
Mia glanced at her and her hands held the steering wheel tightly “He might be busy”
“I know.” She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes
The air was so thick that one could cut it with a knife.
Aria slept through the entire day in Mia’s room. When she woke up, she felt relaxed but she was scared to go back to the Flynn mansion.
“I’m too scared to back” Aria said sitting on the flurry rug beside the bed, holding a teddy bear.
“You don’t have to Ari. You are always welcome to stay here. My parents won’t mind and you know that”
“But I have to go” Aria said as she hugged the bear even tighter.
Mia sighed “Thane called to check up on you” Mia said changing the topic.
“Oh”
“He said he’s sorry”
“It’s not his fault”
“It’s going to be fine” Mia hugged her.
Three days later, Aria returned to her family’s Mansion. The mansion seemed too quiet. The servants spoke in hushed tones. Something was wrong.
“Well, well, well what do we have here” Ravenna said slowly. She stood near the stairs, her eyes slowly looking at her from head to toes.
Aria looked up at her deciding to ignore her to avoid trouble.
“Foolish girl, I’m talking to you!”
Aria stopped walking.
Thane had just entered the living room to hear his mother speak harshly to Aria.
“Mum not again!” He rushed upstairs to where his mother stood
“Son this has—
“ it has everything to do with me mum!” Thane interrupted.
“If you ever hurt Aria again! You will have me to contend with!” He flared, eyes full of rage.
Ravenna couldn’t believe that her son could speak to her that way. Her nineteen year old had grown to a man without her realizing it. She stared at Aria with eyes that could kill before walking away angrily.
Thane let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He slowly turned to Aria.
“It’s okay now”
“Thank you” Aria said softly and hurried to her room and she closed the door quickly, Her hands were trembling.
She sat on the bed and reached for her phone. It had died. She quickly plugged it and waited for it to turn on. She planned to go to the company she was newly employed in, to explain why she didn’t resume on the expected day. With this in mind, she grabbed her phone the very moment it turned on.
At first, everything seemed normal. 20 missed calls from Mia and notifications she hadn’t checked. She quickly went online, scrolling from one post to the other and catching up with what she has missed.
Then she saw it.
A trending headline. It was all over blogs and news articles
“FLYNN HEIRESS TO WED BILLIONAIRE CEO.”
Her heart started beating violently. There must be another Flynn family.
It was one of the top five trending topics
She quickly opened one of the articles. It was her picture from her twenty-first birthday. She had uploaded it on her page she held the cake and smiled brightly at the camera and beside it was his picture.
The dangerous CEO.
He was devastatingly handsome, lips set a restraint, charming eyes, dark and disturbingly beautiful. They don’t chase, they wait and it holds a pull she can’t explain. His expression was unreadable.
He was in a tailored suit which was of course custom made, expensive enough to change people’s lives. His tall frame stood perfectly, structured and clean.
This man will become her husband in the next few weeks.
Any girl would die to get this opportunity but not Aria. All this was made public? When?
A wedding date has already been fixed.
Two weeks.
Aria scrolled.
There was another picture of him stepping out of his private jet, surrounded by men in suits. He never acknowledged the cameras.
The article wrote beneath his picture
“Zayne Wilder Known for his business empires and acknowledged by the public as the most eligible bachelor, have confirmed an arranged marriage between him and the daughter of business mogul Gillard Flynn.”
Aria’s started panting like someone who ran a hundred miles
What? Marriage?!
She kept scrolling and she saw another blog?
“THE WOMAN WHO CAPTURED THE UNTOUCHABLE CEO.”
There were several comments
‘ Oh my gosh She’s so lucky’.
‘I will die to be her’
‘Oh no! My crush is getting married’
And soon someone tagged her and she quickly went to her profile and saw new comments under her birthday day post
‘What did she do to deserve him?’
‘I”ll admit she’s beautiful’
‘How did she capture our husband?’
‘What a lucky girl’
Aria couldn’t take it anymore. Her phone slipped from her hands. Her hands flew to her mouth.this was a huge blow.
She rushed out from her room and went straight to her father’s study.
“Dad!”
“Dad!”
She opened the door without knocking
“Please tell me this isn’t true?”
Gillard looked up slowly and irritated.
“Do you want to bring my house down?” He barked as he stood up from the leather chair.
“Why am I being called someone’s wife?” She asked
“My face is all over the web”
“Stop overreacting”
“you always overreact” his lowered his tone.
“You didn’t come to see me, I was in the hospital for a week,” Aria said with tears flowing freely now.
“Calm down Ar—
“You didn’t even call”
“I said calm down!” he raised his voice this time.
“Ravenna said you were exaggerating.”
“What? And you didn’t care to ask me what happened?”
Aria asked in this belief
“You never ask for my side of the story!” She continued
“Enough!”
There was a long pause. They stared at each other with different thoughts running through their minds.
“You’re really marrying me off dad?” Aria whispered
“It’s an arrangement,” he said calmly. “One that benefits everyone.”
“He is a stranger! You didn’t even inform me first”
“You don’t need be informed Aria!” Gillard snapped back
“This marriage is to save this family.”
“And me? What about my feelings dad?”she cried.
“You’re should be happy, this is every girls dream” he replied
Aria looked at her dad with tears flowing from her eyes. She couldn’t believe that a father would do this to his own child.
Behind her, Ravenna clapped as she laughed
“What a show!,” Ravenna said.
“A pity you”ll be leaving soon . Such an ungrateful child.”
Aria turned swiftly and ran to her room,slipped under the covers and started crying even more.
Outside, the distant sound of rotating blades began to rise.
Aria cleaned her eyes as she looked outside her window which faced the courtyard. She saw different black cars pull up. And a helicopter slowly landing on the grass.
And in that moment, she knew that her life was no longer hers.
- Writer
