at the sheets, her chest heaving as she dragged in deep, greedy gulps of

ned breeze whispered across her skin. She looked down at her hands. They were p

asn't

were weak, unsteady, like a newborn foal's. They buckled, and she fell to h

bathroom. It was a vast space of marble and chrome. She gripped the edge o

her features. There was no angry red slice on her cheek from the edge of a document. Her eyes, though, were ancient. They

n sleek digital script, it displayed the date and t

years

, cruel trick her dying brain w

scooped it up in her hands and splashed it violently onto her face. The

r eyes, focusing on the steady, powerful beat of her own heart. Th

terror and overwhelming relie

in the familiar, hated details. The minimalist decor in shades of black, white, and

thouse. Her

it up. The screen lit up with several unread me

ai

thumb, she op

y? Please answer m

er. Locking you up like this.

f an event that had just happened. This was the day. The day Blair had convinced her to fake a suicide attempt. She'd given Aria a bottle of

pills. And Julian, upon finding her, had not been scared. He had been incandescent with a terrifying, poss

a venomous snake. How could she have been so stupid? So blind? She had played righ

carpet-made her spin around. Her body instinctively fell int

eapon. Her gaze landed on a heavy, ornate brass letter opener on the vanity. She gr

iform, carrying a tray. The woman's eyes widened in s

awake. Shall I call the doctor?" She bowed her he

ache bloomed in Aria's chest. The tension drained from her s

d, her voice raspy, des

stion, by the raw urgency in Aria's tone. Usu

ed, her voice hesitant. "He's dealing with an urgent

and he was at work, and he was coming back. Tears pricked her eyes, hot and sudde

on a nearby table. As she turned t

black coffee? As stron

be sharp. She

rehead against the cool glass, looking down at the city below. The yellow cabs loo

e took a deep breath, pushing the weak, foolish girl from her past life de

d them all, pulling a simple, oversized black shirt from a drawer. Julian's. She slipped it on. The soft cotton smelled of him-a clean

e found Blair's contact and set a specific, jarr

m the sleeping pills. She barely flinched, her mind alrea

buzzed, startling her. It

Carlisle is in the lobby. S

fying thing. She pressed the talk button, her voice perf

er com

-