Damien's POV
I break down the door with one kick.
Vivienne's hands are around Aria's throat. Aria's face is turning purple. She's clawing at Vivienne's arms but the woman won't let go.
"Get off her!" I grab Vivienne and throw her across the room. She hits the wall hard, crying out.
Aria gasps for air, choking and coughing. I kneel beside her, checking her neck. Already bruising. Another thirty seconds and she would have been dead.
"Why?" I turn to Vivienne, my gun aimed at her head. "Why would you kill your own daughter?"
"She's not my daughter!" Vivienne screams. The perfect society woman is gone. This is someone broken. Insane. "Catherine's daughter. Marcus's precious first child. The one he loved more than Xavier. More than me!"
"So you tried to murder a baby?" My finger tightens on the trigger. "You hired Elena to take her. And when that wasn't enough, when Marcus's will still made Aria the heir, you brought her back just to kill her yourself?"
"I had no choice!" Vivienne's makeup runs down her face in black streams. "Xavier deserves that inheritance. He's my son. My blood. Not her. Never her."
"Mom?" A voice from the doorway.
Xavier stands there, staring at his mother with horror. Behind him, my security team waits for orders.
"Xavier, darling, you have to understand—" Vivienne reaches for him but he backs away.
"You tried to kill her." His voice is hollow. "You're the one who had her kidnapped. You murdered her real mother. All of it was you."
"For you!" Vivienne sobs. "Everything was for you! So you could have what you deserve!"
"I never asked for this!" Xavier's hands shake. He looks at Aria, still gasping on the bed, then back at his mother. "How many people did you kill? Elena? The hospital witnesses? Catherine? How many?"
Vivienne doesn't answer. She doesn't need to. The truth is written all over her face.
"Take her," I order my team. "Call the police. Make sure she doesn't leave this compound."
They move forward but Vivienne pulls something from her dress. A small pistol. She aims it at Aria.
"If I can't have the perfect family," she says, voice eerily calm now, "then no one can."
I don't think. I just move.
The gun fires.
Pain explodes through my shoulder as I throw myself between Vivienne and Aria. The bullet hits me instead of her.
Worth it. Always worth it.
I hear Aria screaming. My team tackles Vivienne. Xavier is shouting. Everything goes distant and fuzzy.
I hit the floor hard. Blood spreads across my shirt, hot and wet. Aria's face appears above me, tears streaming.
"No, no, no! Damien, stay awake! Please!"
"I'm fine," I lie. It hurts to breathe. "Are you hurt?"
"You got shot for me, you idiot!"
"Good." I try to smile but my face won't cooperate. "That's my job."
"Your job is protection, not dying!" She presses her hands against my wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Her hands are shaking. "Don't you dare die. Don't you dare leave me alone in this nightmare."
"Never," I promise. The world is getting darker. "I've watched you too long... kept you safe too long... to lose you now."
"Then stay alive!" She's sobbing now. "Damien, please. I need you. I know you're a stalker and a control freak and probably insane, but you're the only person in this family who actually tried to protect me. So you don't get to die. Understand?"
I want to answer but my vision is fading. The last thing I see is her face. Beautiful even through tears. Safe. Alive.
That's all that matters.
When I wake up, everything is white. Hospital room. Machines beeping. Pain in my shoulder like fire.
Aria sits in a chair beside my bed, asleep. Her head rests on the mattress near my hand. She looks exhausted. Dark circles under her eyes. Bruises on her neck from Vivienne's attack.
But alive. Safe.
I reach out slowly, careful not to wake her, and touch her hair.
"You're awake." Her voice is rough. She lifts her head, blinking sleep from her eyes. "The doctors said the bullet missed everything important. You'll be fine."
"How long?"
"Two days. You had surgery. Lost a lot of blood." She sits up straighter. "Vivienne's been arrested. Murder conspiracy, attempted murder, all of it. Xavier gave a full statement against her. He's... not doing well."
"And you?"
"Alive. Thanks to you." She looks at my shoulder. "Why did you do that? Jump in front of the bullet?"
"Because losing you would be worse than dying." The truth comes out easily. Too easily. The pain medication must be making me honest.
Aria's eyes widen. "Damien—"
"I know what I am," I interrupt. "I know watching you for three years makes me a monster. Installing cameras in your apartment. Following you. Learning everything about you without your permission." I meet her eyes. "But I can't regret it. Every second of watching you meant I could keep you alive one more day."
"That's not normal."
"I never claimed to be normal." I try to sit up but pain stops me. "I'm obsessed with you, Aria. Have been since the moment I saw your photograph three years ago. It's wrong. It's sick. But it's the truth."
"You're insane."
"Probably." I reach for her hand. She doesn't pull away. "But I'm your insane stalker who took a bullet for you. That has to count for something."
She almost smiles. Almost. "You're impossible."
"And you're alive. Fair trade."
For a moment, we just look at each other. Her hand warm in mine. The beeping machines. The knowledge that we both almost died.
"Xavier wants to see you," she says finally. "He's been waiting outside for hours. Says he needs to talk to you. Something about his mother's confession."
"What about it?"
"Vivienne told the police everything before they took her away. About the kidnapping. About Elena. About..." Aria's voice drops to a whisper. "About the twin."
My blood runs cold. "She confirmed it?"
"Yes. There were two babies stolen that night. Not just me." Aria's grip on my hand tightens. "Xavier knows where the other baby went. Who has her. And Damien... it's worse than we thought."
"How could it be worse?"
"Because my twin wasn't just stolen and hidden away like me." Aria's eyes fill with tears. "She was sold. To a family that trains children for very specific purposes. Vivienne paid them to make sure that if my sister ever came looking for the inheritance, she'd be... capable of removing me as competition."
Understanding hits me like ice water. "They turned her into an assassin."
"Yes." Aria's voice breaks. "My twin sister has been trained since birth to kill people. And according to Vivienne's confession, she's been activated. Someone hired her three weeks ago."
"Hired her to do what?"
Aria looks at me with absolute terror in her eyes.
"To kill me. My own twin sister is the one who's been hunting me this whole time."