ARIA'S POV
I wake up on the floor.
My head pounds like someone hit me with a hammer. My mouth tastes like metal. For a moment, I can't remember where I am.
Then it all comes rushing back.
Victoria. The pasta. The text from Damien warning me she drugs people.
Too late. The warning came too late.
I try to sit up, and the room spins. How long was I unconscious? I check my phone with shaking hands.
Three in the morning.
I've been out for nine hours.
Panic floods through me. What did Victoria do while I was unconscious? Did she search through my things? Did she find Daniel's note?
I crawl to my desk drawer and yank it open. My hands are still clumsy and slow from whatever drug she gave me. But everything looks untouched. Daniel's watch is still hidden under my clothes. His photo is still there.
She didn't search my stuff. Or if she did, she put everything back perfectly.
That's somehow worse.
I manage to stand up and stumble to the bathroom. In the mirror, I look terrible. My auburn hair is a mess. My eyes are red and confused-looking. I splash cold water on my face until I start to feel more awake.
Victoria's bed is empty. She never came back.
Where is she? With Damien?
My phone buzzes. A text from Damien: "Are you okay? You didn't respond to my warning. Please tell me you didn't eat anything."
I text back with trembling fingers: "Too late. She drugged me. I was unconscious for hours."
His response comes immediately: "I'm coming to get you. Pack a bag. You can't stay there."
"No. She'll know something's wrong. I have to act normal."
"Aria—"
"I'll see you at 2pm like we planned. I'll be careful."
I turn off my phone before he can argue.
The rest of the night, I don't sleep. I sit on my bed with my laptop, researching everything I can find about Damien Cross. If I'm going to trust him, I need to know who he is.
What I find makes my chest tight.
Damien's mother was killed when he was twelve. Murdered by a stalker who was obsessed with her. The man followed her for months before he finally broke into their house and killed her while Damien hid in a closet.
He watched his mother die.
No wonder he's helping me. He knows exactly what obsessive love can do. He's lived through it.
By the time the sun rises, I've made my decision. I have to trust Damien. He's the only person who believes me. The only person who knows Victoria is a killer.
I take a shower and get dressed. When Victoria finally comes back to the dorm at noon, I'm sitting at my desk studying like nothing happened.
"Aria! You're awake!" Victoria sounds surprised. "I came back last night and you were sleeping so deeply. I didn't want to wake you."
Liar. She drugged me and left me on the floor.
"Yeah, I was really tired," I say, forcing a smile. "Long first day."
"Well, I'm glad you're rested!" Victoria grabs her books. "I have class now. See you later!"
She leaves, and I wait exactly five minutes. Then I grab my bag and run.
Rosewood Café is a twenty-minute walk from campus. It's small and quiet, tucked away on a side street. Perfect for a secret meeting.
Damien is already there when I arrive. He's sitting in a corner booth away from the windows. When he sees me, relief floods his face.
"You're okay," he says as I slide into the seat across from him.
"Barely. Whatever she gave me was strong."
"She uses sedatives. Small doses usually, to make me more agreeable and easier to control. But she must have given you more." His jaw tightens with anger. "I should have warned you sooner."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I wasn't sure if I could trust you yet." Damien leans forward. "I needed to know who you really are. Why you're really at Blackwood."
My heart races. "What do you mean?"
"Don't." His gray eyes pin me in place. "Don't lie to me, Aria. Or should I call you by your real name? Aria Lin?"
The world stops.
He knows. He knows everything.
I should run. Deny it. But what's the point? He has Daniel's note. He already knows the truth.
"How long have you known?" I ask quietly.
"Since the moment you walked into class yesterday. You look different with the auburn hair and contacts. But I've seen your picture. Daniel showed me photos of you before he died."
Tears burn my eyes. "He talked about me?"
"All the time." Damien's voice softens. "He loved you so much, Aria. You were all he talked about. He was going to propose to you after he dealt with Victoria."
A sob escapes my throat. I cover my mouth with my hand, trying to hold it together.
Daniel was going to propose.
We were going to get married.
And Victoria took that away from us.
"I'm sorry," Damien says. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save him."
I wipe my eyes. "Tell me everything. How did you know Daniel? Why did he come to you?"
Damien takes a deep breath. "Daniel and I had a class together last semester. We became friends. One day, he told me about Victoria. How she wouldn't leave him alone. How she showed up everywhere he went. How she sent him dozens of messages every day even though he kept telling her to stop."
"She was stalking him."
"Yes. Daniel was scared but didn't want to make a big deal out of it. He thought he could handle it himself. But Victoria got worse. She started threatening him. Saying if she couldn't have him, no one could."
My hands clench into fists. "Why didn't he go to the police?"
"He tried. They said there wasn't enough evidence for a restraining order. Victoria is smart. She never threatened him in writing. Never left proof." Damien's voice is bitter. "So Daniel came to me. He knew about my mother. Knew I understood how dangerous stalkers can be. I agreed to help him gather evidence."
"And?"
"We spent weeks documenting everything. Photos of Victoria following him. Recording her voice when she said threatening things. Building a case." Damien pulls out his phone and shows me a folder full of files. "But we weren't fast enough."
"What happened the night he died?"
Damien's face goes pale. "Daniel called me at eight PM. He sounded terrified. Said Victoria had been texting him all day, saying they needed to talk. She wanted to meet him at the nature reserve. Daniel told her no, but she said if he didn't come, she'd hurt herself. He felt guilty, so he agreed to go. But he was scared. He asked me to come with him as backup."
"Did you go?"
"I tried." Damien's voice cracks. "But my car wouldn't start. Dead battery. By the time I got a cab and arrived at the reserve, it was too late. Victoria was crying and screaming that Daniel had fallen. That it was an accident."
"But it wasn't."
"No. Daniel was terrified of heights. He never would have gone near the edge of that cliff. Victoria pushed him. I know she did. But I couldn't prove it. The police believed her story. They ruled it an accident within two weeks."
I feel sick. "So you stayed with her. Pretended nothing was wrong."
"What choice did I have? If I accused her without proof, she'd disappear. Or worse, hurt someone else. I thought if I stayed close to her, I could gather evidence. Catch her confessing. Something. Anything."
"Instead, she's been drugging you."
"I know. I've been pretending to drink whatever she gives me but pouring it out when she's not looking. It's exhausting. Living with a killer. Pretending to care about her when all I want is to see her in prison."
We sit in silence for a moment. The weight of everything pressing down on us.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I finally ask.
Damien looks at me with those intense gray eyes. "Because I can't do this alone anymore. I've been gathering evidence for six months and I'm no closer to proving Victoria killed Daniel. But now you're here. And together, maybe we can finally get justice."
"You want to work together?"
"Yes. I'll share everything I have with you. You help me gather more evidence. We bring Victoria down together."
I think about Daniel. About his last voicemail. About the future we'll never have.
"Okay," I say. "Let's do it. Let's make her pay."
Damien reaches across the table and takes my hand. His grip is strong and warm. For the first time in six months, I don't feel alone.
"We need to be careful," Damien warns. "Victoria is dangerous. And she's getting more unstable. Did you notice how possessive she is? How she watches me constantly?"
"Yes. She warned me to stay away from you."
"She does that with every girl who talks to me. She's terrified I'll leave her. Which means—" Damien stops. His phone is buzzing. He looks at the screen and his face goes white.
"What? What is it?"
He turns the phone so I can see.
It's a text from Victoria. Just two words and a photo.
"I know."
The photo shows me and Damien sitting in this café. Holding hands across the table.
Someone took this picture through the window.
Victoria is here.
Victoria is watching us right now.
Damien and I both jump to our feet and look around the café. There are only three other customers. None of them are Victoria.
We run outside and scan the street. No sign of her.
But she was here. Watching. Waiting.
My phone buzzes. Another text from Victoria:
"You broke the rules, Aria. I told you to stay away from what's mine. Now you'll pay. Just like Daniel did."