Chapter 4

His words, "You reek of lies," echoed in the sterile white room, a poison that seeped into Aria's very bones.

Her face, already pale from the ordeal, lost its last trace of color. She looked like a fragile porcelain doll, beautiful but cracked, on the verge of shattering completely.

"Kade, you' re so cruel..." she whispered, not to him, but to the empty space between them.

Just then, a light, mocking voice cut through the heavy silence from the doorway. "Cruel? Oh, I think he' s just being honest. Some people just can' t accept the truth about themselves."

Aria' s head snapped up. Kendall Figueroa stood there, leaning against the doorframe with an air of casual ownership. She was dressed in a vibrant red dress that was a stark, almost violent, contrast to the muted tones of the hospital. Her smile was bright, but her eyes were cold, sharp chips of obsidian.

"Kendall," Aria breathed, her name a curse. "What are you doing here?"

Kendall laughed, a sound like tinkling glass shards. "What do you think? I' m here to see the star of the show, of course. To see the traitor who got what she deserved." She sauntered into the room, her hips swaying, and perched on the edge of Aria' s bed as if she belonged there.

"It was you," Aria stated, the pieces clicking into place with sickening clarity. "You framed me."

Kendall didn' t bother to deny it. She leaned in, her voice a conspiratorial whisper laced with triumph. "Of course, it was me. Who else? You really thought I' d let you stay Mrs. Cordova forever?"

The memory of the guards' rough hands, the tearing fabric, the cold floor against her bare skin, flashed through Aria' s mind. A violent tremor ran through her body.

"Why?" Aria asked, her voice shaking. "We have no history of hatred. I have never done anything to you."

Kendall' s perfectly sculpted face twisted for a moment, a flicker of genuine malice breaking through her polished facade. In her mind, Aria was the ultimate obstacle. She had spent years carefully cultivating her relationship with Kade, positioning herself to be the next Mrs. Cordova, only to have this quiet, unassuming artist steal the prize right from under her nose because of some dusty old family obligation. The injustice of it burned in her gut.

"No history?" Kendall scoffed, her smile returning, more venomous this time. "You exist. That' s enough. You took what was rightfully mine. Did you really think I would just step aside and let you play the happy wife?"

She patted Aria' s hand with a condescending pity. "You have nothing, Aria. No powerful family, no brilliant career. You' re just... you. And I am everything. Kade will always choose me."

"You hired those men, didn' t you?" Aria whispered, the horror dawning on her. "The ones in the detention center."

"Naturally," Kendall admitted with a chilling lack of remorse. Her eyes glinted with a cruel satisfaction. "I wanted you to understand your place. Kade might be bound to you by paper, but his heart, his body, his loyalty... they all belong to me."

Aria felt a bitter laugh rise in her throat. "His heart? Kendall, you are as blind as he is. Kade Cordova doesn' t have a heart. He has a ledger, a list of assets and liabilities. This marriage, for him, was a business deal forced upon him by his grandfather. He resents it. He was never going to marry you, not when it meant risking his position as CEO of Cordova Tech."

The shot hit its mark. Kendall' s smile faltered, the vulnerability she so carefully concealed flashing in her eyes.

"Shut up," she hissed, her voice losing its playful edge.

Aria pressed on, a cold, desperate strength flowing through her. "He will never give up his power for you. You will always be his mistress, hidden in the shadows, a convenient distraction. Never his wife. Never the one he brings home to his family."

"I said, SHUT UP!" Kendall shrieked, her composure finally cracking. She grabbed a heavy glass vase from the bedside table and, with a guttural cry of rage, hurled it at Aria.

Aria tried to duck, but she was too slow. The vase struck her on the side of the head with a sickening thud. Pain exploded behind her eyes, and warm, sticky blood began to trickling down her temple. The room spun, the white walls blurring into a gray vortex.

Kendall stood over her, breathing heavily, her face a mask of fury. "I will ruin you," she spat. "I will destroy you."

Aria' s vision started to go dark at the edges. Through the haze, she saw Kendall' s expression shift with terrifying speed. The rage vanished, replaced by a theatrical look of terror.

Kendall suddenly dropped to her knees, clutching her own stomach.

"Aria, please, I' m sorry!" she cried out, her voice filled with a convincing, desperate plea. "I' ll leave. I' ll break up with Kade, I swear! Just... just don' t tell him what I did. Please, don' t hurt me!"

Aria stared at her, bewildered by the sudden, bizarre performance. What was she doing?

Then, Kendall did something that made Aria' s blood run cold. She took a deep breath, and with a small, sharp cry, she deliberately slammed her own head against the corner of the metal bed frame.

"AH!" she screamed, a genuine sound of pain this time, followed by a torrent of sobs.

At that exact moment, the door burst open.

Kade stood there, his face a thundercloud. He had heard the crash and the scream. His eyes took in the scene in a single, damning glance: Aria on the floor, blood on her head; Kendall on her knees, crying hysterically, a fresh gash on her own forehead.

He didn't hesitate. He rushed past Aria as if she didn't exist.

"Kendall!" he yelled, his voice thick with panic. He knelt and gathered her into his arms.

"Kade, I' m sorry," Kendall sobbed into his chest, her acting flawless. "I came to apologize to her, to tell her I would leave you alone. I just want you to be happy, to honor your family' s commitment. But she... she said she would never let me go. She pushed me."

The lie was so blatant, so audacious, yet Kade swallowed it whole. It fit perfectly into the narrative he had built in his mind. Aria, the vindictive, violent shrew. Kendall, the loving, persecuted victim.

His head whipped around, his eyes locking onto Aria. The look in them was no longer just hatred. It was pure, unadulterated fury.

He stood up, Kendall still cradled in his arms, and took a menacing step toward Aria. He grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back violently.

"You venomous bitch," he snarled, his face inches from hers. "First you betray my company, and now you attack a pregnant woman?"

He shoved her backward, hard. Aria' s head slammed against the wall. The world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of pain and flashing lights. She felt herself sliding down the wall, a puppet with its strings cut.

"She' s not pregnant," Aria managed to gasp, the words tasting of blood. "She' s lying."

But Kade wasn' t listening. He was already carrying Kendall towards the door, his movements urgent and protective.

He paused at the threshold and looked back at her, his face a mask of chilling promise. "If anything happens to Kendall or my child," he said, his voice a low, deadly growl, "I will kill you with my own hands."

Then he was gone, leaving Aria alone on the cold floor, her blood pooling around her, the sound of his threat echoing in the sudden, deafening silence. She lay there for a long time, too broken to move, too numb to cry. She felt her consciousness slipping away, darkness pulling her under.

As her eyes fluttered shut, she saw a hazy figure rush into the room. A man' s voice, filled with alarm, called her name. But it was too late. The darkness consumed her.