The next morning, sunlight poured through the curtains, but Aria felt anything but bright inside. The events of last night spun in her mind like a relentless storm. Leah's arrival had thrown everything into chaos, pulling Jace's carefully guarded secrets into the open, leaving her unsure of what to believe.
Jace was sitting at the kitchen table, staring into his coffee, silent. The weight of his family's tangled history pressed down on him, and Aria could see it in the slump of his shoulders.
She took a deep breath and sat across from him. "You need to tell me everything. No more secrets."
He nodded slowly. "I want to. I owe you that."
His voice was rough, heavy with regret.
Jace began to unravel his story—how Leah had fallen into the wrong crowd years ago, how he had tried to save her, how their family's business problems made everything worse. He explained the layers of lies he'd built to protect not just Leah, but himself.
Aria listened carefully, her heart aching for both of them.
She saw a man burdened by loyalty and guilt, struggling to be the hero in a story that had no easy endings.
"Why didn't you reach out for help?" she asked softly. "You didn't have to carry this alone."
Jace looked up, eyes full of pain. "I was scared. Scared that if I let anyone in, I'd lose control. I wanted to fix everything myself."
Aria reached out, placing her hand over his. "You don't have to do that. You have me now."
For a moment, the walls between them seemed to crack.
But just as she felt hope, her phone buzzed again—another message from the unknown number.
Trust no one. Not even him.
Aria's breath hitched. Doubt clawed at her again.
She looked at Jace, searching for answers he might not be ready to give.
"Who else knows about this?" she asked.
Jace hesitated. "A few people. But it's messy."
Aria nodded, knowing the path ahead wouldn't be simple.
Days passed with awkward silences and stolen moments. Jace tried to prove himself—opening up more, letting her into his world, but the shadows of his past lurked behind every smile.
One evening, they met at a quiet café. Jace reached across the table, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'm sorry for all the lies," he said. "I want to make this right."
Aria smiled softly, her heart softening.
"Me too," she whispered.
Just as things seemed to be mending, Leah appeared again—this time with a warning.
"Stay away from him," she said to Aria, eyes hard. "You don't know what you're getting into."
The tension shattered the fragile peace.
Jace's face darkened, but Aria felt a strange chill.
Who was Leah really protecting?
And what was she hiding?
As the night deepened, Aria realized that love was no fairy tale.
It was a battlefield.
And she was ready to fight.