Chapter 6

"Let me finish, alright? Getting close to him won't do you any good. First off, the guy's a player-you don't wanna mess around and end up with something nasty. Second, sure, he's loaded, but he doesn't lift a finger for our family's businesses. He's not gonna keep up with your high-maintenance lifestyle. So..." Before he could go on, she cut him off with an eye-roll. "Save your breath, okay? I'm not into Sterling men, whether it's you or him. Now let me go. I've already given you what you wanted-it's my time now." She pushed him, trying to leave, but he stayed put, still talking. "Oh right, I forgot. You're probably still hung up on that Forrest guy? Or maybe someone else?" "This - this has nothing to do with you." She jabbed a finger at her chest, eyes blazing. The air went still, heavy with silence. Only their unyielding breaths tangled in the space between them - shallow, tense, unwilling to give in. Ariella thought the conversation was finally over. But then, his voice cut through the quiet, cold and sharp as glass. "You think you're so pure?" he said, his tone laced with disdain. "Your first time... was already gone when you turned eighteen." Her whole body stiffened. She looked up at him, stunned. "That's not true!" she shot back, her voice trembling with fury. "I never begged you to love me, so why look for excuses to doubt me? Don't you think I'd know my own body? We met when I was twenty. How the hell would you know what happened when I was eighteen?" "I just..." Lucian clamped his words shut midway. One day she'd figure it out-why rush that? He didn't even glance at her before turning on his heel and walking off. Ariella grabbed a full set of pajamas and underwear before heading to the shower. Water trickled down, warm and steady, but her mind was stuck on his words. She'd been in a car crash at sixteen and spent two years in a coma. If he was talking about that time, he had to be lying. Still, the unease wouldn't leave her, especially remembering how familiar he'd felt when they first met. If that was their first meeting, then why did it feel like déjà vu? She stayed up all night thinking, but this wasn't something she could figure out alone. So in the morning, she made up her mind-she'd go home and ask Dominic. ***** At breakfast with her parents, things were easy and cheerful. Ever since Lucian invested in FortuneRise Inc., they'd been visibly relieved, chatting and laughing like old times. Lucian handled everything flawlessly. Her parents never once suspected anything, thinking it was just a sound business deal, not realizing what their daughter had sacrificed. She'd been raised like a little princess-sheltered, carefree. Until the day she overheard them saying she wasn't their biological daughter... just someone they found and took in. Even so, they'd loved her like their own. And that's why she felt so grateful-these two people, with no blood bond, gave her everything. Seeing them happy made her feel like what had happened last night, no matter how rough it was, had been worth it. "Is Dylan Rivers treating you well? If anything's bothering you, just tell Dad." "Huh? Yeah, of course! You both know how I am. If anyone's getting the short end of the stick, it's him-not me!" Ariella chuckled. Back when Dad's factory was in trouble, he hid away and mumbled to himself about how he couldn't go on without the business-but more importantly, he worried about her, his daughter, who hadn't even gotten married yet. So Ariella agreed to Lucian's terms. To put her parents at ease and have an excuse to move out, she staged a fake wedding. The groom? Dylan, Lucian's assistant.