Aria's POV
Someone grabs my arm in the darkness.
I scream and try to pull away, but the grip is iron-strong.
"It's me!" Damien's voice cuts through my panic. "We need to move. Now."
The footsteps in the hallway are getting closer. Heavy boots. Multiple people. Not nurses or doctors.
Damien pulls me toward the window despite his shoulder injury. "Can you climb?"
"We're on the third floor!"
"Fire escape. Go!"
He shoves the window open. Cold night air rushes in. I see the metal ladder outside, rusty and old. My hands shake as I climb through.
The door to Damien's room slams open behind us.
"There!" A man's voice shouts.
I don't look back. I grab the fire escape and climb down so fast I almost slip. Damien follows, moving quickly even though he's bleeding through his hospital gown.
We hit the ground running.
"My car!" Damien points to a black SUV in the parking lot. "Get in!"
I dive into the passenger seat. He floors it before I even close the door. Tires screech. Behind us, three men pour out of the hospital entrance, but we're already gone.
My heart pounds so hard it hurts. "Who were they?"
"I don't know yet." Damien's jaw is tight. He's driving one-handed, his other arm pressed against his bleeding shoulder. "But that message you got—show it to me."
I grab my phone with trembling fingers and pull up the texts:
"They're lying about everything. Ask Damien about Elena Cross."
"Elena didn't die of cancer. She was murdered. Damien knows why."
"She's coming for you. Your sister. Run."
Damien reads them at a red light. His face goes dark. Dangerous.
"What does it mean?" I ask. "What sister?"
"I need to trace this number." He takes my phone and does something with it while driving. His fingers fly across the screen. After a minute, he curses. "It's untraceable. Whoever sent this knows what they're doing."
"Damien, please." My voice cracks. "You said Elena was murdered. You said she took me from the hospital. I need the whole truth. Now."
He's quiet for too long. We're driving through empty streets now, heading somewhere I don't recognize. Finally, he speaks.
"What do you remember about Elena's death?"
"She had cancer." The words hurt to say. "Stage four. The doctors said there was nothing they could do. She died in hospice three months ago. I was holding her hand."
"Did she say anything? Before she died?"
I close my eyes, remembering. Elena's thin fingers in mine. Her voice barely a whisper. "She said... 'Don't trust anyone who finds you.' I thought she was confused from the pain medicine. But she wasn't, was she?"
"No." Damien's voice is gentle. "She was warning you."
"About what?"
"About your family. About me. About everyone connected to your past." He takes a sharp turn. "Elena contacted me three and a half years ago. She told me she was dying and needed to clear her conscience. She said she knew where Anastasia Vandermere was—where you were."
My stomach twists. "Why would she contact you?"
"Because I'd been searching for you for five years already. Your family hired me when you turned eighteen—the age Marcus Vandermere decided to start looking for his daughter again." Damien's grip tightens on the steering wheel. "Elena had been following my investigation. She reached out because she wanted protection for you in exchange for information."
"Protection from who?"
"From the person who paid her to take you." Damien glances at me. "Elena wouldn't tell me who it was at first. She was scared. Said if the wrong people found out she was talking, she'd be killed."
Ice runs through my veins. "And then she died."
"Three months ago. The same week she finally agreed to give me the name." His voice goes cold. "Her cancer was real. But it wasn't what killed her. Someone poisoned her IV drip at the hospice. Made it look like the cancer finally won."
I can't breathe. Can't think. Elena was murdered. Someone killed her to keep her quiet.
"Who?" I whisper. "Who did it?"
"I'm still investigating. But I have suspects." Damien pulls into an underground parking garage. "Which is why we're doing this today. Right now."
"Doing what?"
"Meeting your birth mother. Vivienne Vandermere." He parks and turns to face me. "She's been begging to see you since you woke up. I've been putting her off because I don't trust her. But after tonight? After those messages? We need answers, and she has them."
My hands won't stop shaking. "You think my mother knows something about Elena's death?"
"I think your mother knows everything." Damien's grey eyes bore into mine. "About the kidnapping. About Elena. About who wanted you gone twenty-three years ago."
He gets out of the car. I follow on numb legs. We're in some fancy building's garage. Rich people's cars everywhere.
"Where are we?"
"The Vandermere Estate. Manhattan penthouse." Damien leads me to an elevator. "Your birth family lives on the top three floors. Xavier's here too. And Vivienne is waiting."
The elevator rises. My reflection stares back at me in the mirrored walls—a stranger with bruises on her neck, terror in her eyes, and questions that might get her killed.
"Damien." My voice sounds small. "What if they're the ones who want me dead?"
"Then I'll get you out." He says it like a promise. "I've kept you alive for three years. I'm not stopping now."
The elevator dings. Doors open.
A woman stands in the hallway. She's beautiful even in her grief—dark hair, elegant clothes, tears already streaming down her face.
"Anastasia?" Her voice breaks. "My baby. My daughter. You're finally home."
Vivienne Vandermere rushes forward to embrace me. I stand frozen as she wraps her arms around me, sobbing into my shoulder.
"I've missed you so much," she cries. "Every day. Every single day for twenty-three years."
Something about her grip feels wrong. Too tight. Almost desperate.
Over her shoulder, I see Xavier emerge from another room. He stops when he sees me, his perfect face showing shock.
"Aria?" He looks between me and Damien. "What happened? You look terrified."
"We need to talk," Damien says coldly. "All of us. Now."
Vivienne pulls back, still holding my shoulders. Her eyes are red but there's something else in them. Something that makes my skin crawl.
"Of course," she says. "Come in. Sit down. I'll tell you everything you want to know."
We move into a massive living room. Vivienne sits beside me on a white couch, still touching me like she's afraid I'll disappear.
"Ask me anything," she says. "I have no more secrets from you."
I take a deep breath. This is it. The moment I learn the truth about everything.
"Did you know Elena Cross?"
Vivienne's face goes pale. "Who told you that name?"
"Did you know her?" I press. "The woman who raised me. The woman who died three months ago."
Vivienne's hands start shaking. She looks at Xavier, then at Damien, then back at me.
"Yes," she finally whispers. "I knew her."
My heart stops. "How?"
"Because—" Vivienne's voice breaks. Tears run down her face. "Because I'm the one who paid her to take you."
The room spins.
Xavier jumps to his feet. "Mom, what are you saying?"
"I did it!" Vivienne sobs. "I paid Elena half a million dollars to steal you from the hospital and disappear. I'm the one who took you from your crib. I'm the reason you grew up in foster care instead of here with your family."
I can't move. Can't speak. My own mother? She did this?
"Why?" The word barely comes out.
Vivienne reaches for me but I pull away. "Because I was scared! Because Marcus loved you more than anything. More than me. More than Xavier. You were his first daughter, his precious child. I knew if you stayed, Xavier would never be good enough. Never be the real heir."
"So you had me kidnapped?" I'm screaming now. "You stole your own baby?"
"I regretted it immediately!" Vivienne's makeup runs down her face in black streams. "The moment Elena took you, I knew I'd made a terrible mistake. I tried to get you back but Elena had vanished. I've been searching ever since. When Marcus died and his will made you the heir, I had to find you. Had to bring you home and make things right—"
"Nothing about this is right!" I stand up, backing away from her. "You're a monster!"
"I'm your mother!" Vivienne reaches for me desperately. "Please, Anastasia. I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but I love you. I've always loved you."
Damien steps between us, his hand on his gun. "Aria, we're leaving."
"Wait." Xavier's voice cuts through everything. He's staring at his mother with horror. "Mom, if you paid Elena to take Aria... did you also—"
He stops. Swallows hard.
"Did you also pay someone to kill her three months ago?"
Vivienne's face crumples. She opens her mouth to answer.
Then the lights go out again.
All of them. The entire penthouse goes dark.
And in the darkness, I hear a voice I've never heard before. Female. Cold. Coming from somewhere in the room.
"Hello, sister."