CHAPTER FIVE: "HE LOOKS LIKE ME."
For a long, breathless moment, the world fell completely silent.
Aria couldn't breathe.
Damien couldn't move.
Even the busy sounds of the city seemed muted, swallowed by the intensity of the moment.
Eli stood at the preschool gate, clutching his tiny backpack with one hand and rubbing his sleepy eyes with the other. He looked so soft—his curly dark hair messy from naptime, his cheeks flushed, his lips parted in a faint pout.
But it was his eyes that froze Damien.
Those deep, stormy grey eyes.
Damien's eyes.
His breath left him in a sharp exhale, as if someone had punched him.
All the air, all the certainty, all the carefully controlled composure he possessed shattered.
"Aria…" Damien whispered, barely audible.
"Tell me he's not—"
Eli blinked at them, confused. "Mommy? Why are you standing there?"
Aria's heart twisted painfully.
This was the moment she had feared for three years.
The exact moment she prayed would never happen.
She rushed forward before Damien could take a step, forcing her legs to move even though they threatened to collapse beneath her.
She reached Eli, crouching and pulling him into her arms.
"Hey, baby."
Her voice trembled.
"Mommy's here."
Eli hugged her neck, warm and trusting. "I had a tummy ache."
"I know. I'm sorry I was a little late."
He rested his head on her shoulder, small and tired.
But Damien…
Damien could not take his eyes off the child.
His expression had changed.
Not anger.
Not shock.
Something deeper.
Rawer.
Crushing and consuming at the same time.
Aria stood slowly, holding Eli close.
"Damien," she said quietly, "please… go."
He didn't move.
"Leave," she whispered.
Still, nothing.
Damien took a single step forward—and Aria stepped back instinctively, tightening her hold around Eli's small body.
The movement cut Damien deeper than any words.
His voice broke when he finally spoke.
"You were pregnant when you left."
Aria froze.
She didn't confirm.
She didn't deny.
She simply looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.
The silence was the answer.
Damien swayed a little, running a hand through his hair—a gesture she had seen only when he was losing control.
"My God," he whispered hoarsely.
"You took my son."
Aria flinched. "No—Damien, it wasn't like that—"
"You disappeared."
His voice rose, trembling with fury and disbelief.
"You left me—without a word. You vanished from the entire city. I thought—God, Aria, I thought something happened to you."
Her throat tightened. "I had no choice."
"No choice?" Damien laughed bitterly—a sound that wasn't amusement. It was pain twisted into something sharp.
"No choice but to hide my child from me?"
"Please lower your voice," she begged. "We're in public."
Damien didn't seem to hear her.
His eyes were fixed on Eli—his son—studying every detail.
Eli's hair.
His nose.
His cheeks.
His small chin.
Damien's breathing turned uneven.
Eli peeked over Aria's shoulder, eyes curious and timid.
"Mommy, who is that man?"
Aria panicked internally.
"It's nothing, baby. Let's go home."
Damien's voice cracked.
"He doesn't know who I am."
Aria shut her eyes tightly. "Damien—"
"He doesn't know I exist."
"Please—"
"You didn't even tell him he has a father?"
Aria couldn't speak. The words lodged painfully in her throat.
Damien took another step.
Eli tucked his face into her neck. "Mommy, I'm scared."
Damien froze, devastation crashing across his features.
He took a small step backward, his breath shuddering.
He had terrorized his own child without even trying.
Aria's heart clenched. She had not wanted this—this pain on either side.
"Aria," he whispered, voice trembling, "why would you keep him from me?"
Her lips parted, but the explanation she always rehearsed—the one she told herself at night to justify her choices—wouldn't come out.
Because nothing she could say would ease the storm in Damien's eyes.
"I can explain," she said weakly.
"Then do it," he demanded.
"Not here. Not now."
"When?"
His voice cracked again.
"When, Aria? After he turns ten? Eighteen? When he asks why he doesn't have a father?"
Tears burned in her eyes.
Eli looked up, sensing her distress.
"Mommy… are you crying?"
She forced a smile, kissing his forehead.
"No, sweetheart. Mommy's okay."
Damien dragged his eyes away for a moment, trying to steady his breathing. His hand shook visibly.
The dam within him broke.
"I missed everything."
His voice was a whisper made of shattered pieces.
"His first steps. His first words. His first birthday. Every moment."
He shook his head slowly, devastation etched into every line of his face.
"You took all of that from me."
Aria bit her lip hard, tears spilling despite her efforts.
"I didn't want to," she whispered.
"Then why did you?" Damien's voice was low, wounded, desperate. "Tell me why you ran."
She shook her head.
"Aria," he pleaded softly, "I deserve the truth."
Her voice trembled. "I was trying to protect him."
Damien reeled as if she'd slapped him.
"Protect him… from me?"
Her silence answered.
Damien's eyes widened in disbelief.
Pain—sharp, cold, unforgiving—flashed across his face.
"You believed I would hurt my own baby?"
"No!" she said quickly. "Not physically. Never physically. But your world… Damien, your world is dangerous. Powerful men. Ruthless enemies. Media. Scandals. I couldn't raise a child in all that chaos. Not then."
Damien clenched his fists. "You should have given me a chance."
"I did," she whispered. "You just… didn't see it."
He stared at her, confused and torn.
Aria tightened her hold on Eli. "I need to take him home."
Damien's voice dropped dangerously soft. "Aria… I'm not letting you walk away again."
Her stomach dropped. "Damien—"
"You've hidden my son from me for three years." His voice was firm now, controlled again—but the pain beneath it was unmistakable.
"I won't take him from you. I won't cause a scene. I won't scare him again."
He swallowed hard.
"But I will be in his life."
His eyes locked onto hers, fierce and unshakeable.
"You can run all you want. You can fight me all you want. But this time, I'm not letting my family slip through my fingers."
Aria's heart pounded violently.
Family.
The word felt like a blade and a balm all at once.
"You don't understand—" she whispered.
"Then help me understand."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can," Damien said firmly. "And you will."
She turned away, desperate to escape this moment.
"Aria," Damien said softly, "don't take him away from me again."
Her knees nearly buckled.
She could feel the ending of her carefully built life—
And the beginning of something she wasn't ready for.
She took Eli's hand.
"Damien… not today."
He stepped back, letting her pass, but his eyes never left Eli.
Not for a second.
And as Aria walked away, holding her son tightly, she heard Damien whisper behind her:
"He looks like me."
Her heart shattered.
Because she had known, from the very first moment Eli opened his eyes, that this day would eventually come.
And it was only the beginning.