Chapter 20 An invitation
The room was beautiful.
Not in the cold, perfect way of the rest of the house. But warm. Lived-in. Real.
Someone had clearly spent time making this feel like a space where an actual person could live. The walls were a soft gray-blue, not stark white. The furniture was comfortable-looking. A big bed with fluffy pillows, a reading chair by the window, and a desk with good light. Bookshelves lined the wall, currently empty but waiting to be filled.
Her three boxes sat in the corner, looking less pathetic here than they had in the car.
But what made her throat tight were the small details: a vase of wildflowers on the nightstand, a soft throw blanket draped over the chair, framed photos of the Portland skyline on the walls familiar views that reminded her of home.
“I picked out the blanket,” Lily said. “And the flowers. And I told them to skip the fancy art stuff and get photos of the city instead. Because I thought…” She looked uncertain. “I thought maybe you’d want to see home even when you’re stuck here.”
Ariella’s eyes were burning. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Look through there.” Lily pointed to a door on the far end. “The connecting door.”
Ariella walked to it. Opened it.
On the other side was Aiden’s room.
It was similar to hers but had different darker colors, more cluttered, and actually lived-in. Books stacked on surfaces, clothes draped over a chair, the kind of mess that came from a real person existing in a space.
And right now, Aiden was standing in the middle of it, talking on the phone.
“I understand, but he needs to rest. No, I’m not going to ask him about the merger when he can barely stay awake. Because he’s dying, Marcus. That’s more important than…” He stopped when he saw her standing in the doorway.
They stared at each other.
“I have to go,” Aiden said into the phone. Then hung up without waiting for a response.
“Hi,” Ariella said.
“Hi.” He looked exhausted. Like he’d aged five years overnight. “You’re here.”
“I’m here.”
“Did Lily give you the unauthorized tour?”
“The best tour,” Lily called from Ariella’s room. “I’m leaving now. You two need to have a weird moment and I don’t want to see it.” She appeared in the doorway, gave Ariella a quick hug, and whispered, “Be nice to him. He’s more fragile than he looks.”
Then she was gone.
Leaving Ariella and Aiden standing in the doorway between their two rooms, with no idea what to say to each other.
“Your dad,” Ariella said finally. “Is he okay?”
“No.” Aiden’s voice was hollow. “He had a bad night. Couldn’t keep anything down. He’s sleeping now but…” He stopped. Swallowed hard. “This is it. This is what dying looks like. And I don’t know how to…”
His voice broke completely.
Without thinking, Ariella crossed the threshold into his room and hugged him.
Aiden went rigid for a second. Then he folded into her, burying his face in her shoulder, and just broke.
She held him while he cried huge, gasping sobs that sounded like they’d been held in for years. She didn’t say anything. Didn’t try to fix it. Just held on while he shattered.
When he finally pulled back, his eyes were red and he looked mortified.
“I’m sorry. That was…I shouldn’t have…”
“Stop,” Ariella said firmly. “You’re allowed to fall apart. Your dad is dying. You’re allowed to not be okay.”
“But I’m supposed to be…” He gestured vaguely at the house. “The heir. The strong one. The one who holds everything together.”
“You’re also just a person. A person who’s losing his father.”
“I’m losing him and I still hate him,” Aiden whispered. “For forcing us into this. For manipulating everyone. For dying and leaving me alone. And I feel like a monster for being angry at someone who’s dying.”
“You’re not a monster. You’re human.”
He looked at her like she’d said something impossible. “How are you so…” He stopped. “You just got here. You just left your home. And you’re comforting me.”
“Maybe that’s easier than thinking about my own stuff.”
“Is it working?”
“Not really.”
Despite everything, they both smiled.
“We’re a mess,” Aiden said.
“Catastrophically.”
“This is going to be impossible.”
“Probably.”
“But we’re doing it anyway.”
“Yeah.” Ariella nodded. “We’re doing it anyway.”
They stood there in the doorway between their rooms the threshold between his space and hers, between who they were before and who they were becoming.
“The door locks from both sides,” Aiden said finally. “Like Marcus promised. You can have complete privacy. But I…” He paused. “I’m glad it’s there. The door. Just in case.”
“In case what?”
“In case one of us needs to not be alone.”
Ariella understood. “Yeah. Me too.”
Her phone buzzed. Her mother, probably wondering if she’d survived.
“I should text my mom,” she said. “Let her know I’m alive.”
“And I should check on my dad.” Aiden wiped his face. “But tonight we should have dinner together. All of us. You, me, Lily. Start building the story for the staff. Show them we’re actually…”
“A couple,” Ariella finished.
“A partnership,” Aiden corrected. “That feels more honest.”
“Okay. Dinner. I can do that.”
“Seven?”
“Seven.”
They stood there a moment longer. Then Aiden stepped back into his room, and Ariella stepped back into hers, and the door between them stayed open.
An invitation. A promise. A maybe.
Ariella unpacked her three boxes, sending photos to her mother to prove she was okay. She arranged her books on the shelves and hung up her clothes in the massive closet that swallowed them whole. She set up Ethan’s journal on the nightstand and her grandmother’s apron on a hook by the door.
Small pieces of home in a place that would never feel like home.
But maybe, just maybe…she could make it feel like something.
Outside her window, the rain finally stopped.
And for the first time since signing the contract, Ariella let herself breathe