Chapter 4 The Edge of Truth

The folder trembled slightly in Aria's hands, but she didn't let it show.

Damien stood across from her, jaw tight, heart in his eyes for the first time in years.

"Just say it," he said. "Was there a child?"

She looked away for a moment-at the skyline, at the past, at the what-could-have-beens.

Then, finally, her voice: "Yes."

The air between them cracked like thunder.

Damien staggered back, as if struck. "Why... why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't give me a chance," she said. "You signed me off like I was a defective product. You didn't listen, didn't ask questions. You told me to disappear. So I did."

He sat down heavily, as if the truth had knocked the breath out of him.

"A boy?" he asked.

She nodded.

"He's-"

"Safe. Protected. Raised with everything you threw away."

Damien swallowed, but his voice was steady. "What's his name?"

Aria paused, then answered: "Elian."

He closed his eyes. "Does he know about me?"

"No," she said softly. "Not yet. He thinks his father died before he was born."

The silence after that was raw.

Later - Aria's Apartment

Leo stood at the window, arms folded as Aria poured herself a glass of wine.

"You told him."

"I did."

"Was that part of the plan?"

Aria didn't respond.

Leo turned to face her. "You still love him."

She froze.

Her fingers tightened around the glass.

"No," she said. "I remember him. That's different."

Leo stepped closer. "If that's true, then end it. Destroy him now. Pull the final trigger."

Aria's eyes flared. "Not yet. He still needs to feel it. I want him to break before he begs for redemption."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "And what if you break first?"

She didn't answer.

Meanwhile - Damien's Penthouse

Damien stood in Elian's room.

Empty, untouched, and imaginary-for now.

He gripped the photo of the ultrasound Aria had left behind. He couldn't picture the boy's face, but the reality was suffocating.

A child.

His child.

All this time, he'd been chasing power, burying guilt, resenting Aria-never realizing he'd walked away from the only thing that could've saved him.

He picked up his phone and called someone he hadn't spoken to in years.

"Ava," he said, voice low. "You're going to tell the board everything. About what you did. About how you framed Aria."

"I-I can't-"

"You will. Or I'll make sure the next person you talk to is my lawyer."

He hung up.

Then looked back at the ultrasound.

"I'm going to fix this," he whispered. "Even if it kills me."

The Next Day - Cross Enterprises Press Conference

Aria watched the livestream from her office.

Damien stood before the press, grim and commanding.

"I've made mistakes," he said. "But the greatest one was betraying the only person who ever truly stood by me."

Gasps echoed across the room.

He continued. "Aria Cross-my ex-wife-was innocent. The accusations made against her were false, orchestrated by someone within my own team."

Ava sat in the front row, pale, silent.

"This isn't just an apology. It's accountability. I was wrong."

Aria's breath caught. Her phone lit up with headlines.

"Cross CEO Publicly Admits Wrongdoing-Ex-Wife Cleared."

"Public Redemption or Strategic Ploy?"

"Who is the mysterious Ms. Leontes?"

She closed the laptop slowly.

He'd given her the one thing she thought he was incapable of: the truth.

That night, Aria walked into her son's room.

Elian was asleep, curled under a navy blanket dotted with stars. He looked peaceful. Whole.

She knelt beside him and kissed his forehead.

"Your father's not dead," she whispered.

Elian stirred, but didn't wake.

"I don't know what comes next," she murmured. "But he's coming."

She stood, turned off the lights-and didn't see the flash of a red laser dot scan across the window pane behind her.

Outside, someone in black lowered a sniper rifle and whispered into an earpiece:

"Target located. The boy is real."

To be continued.