Chapter 57 FINDING OUT
I mistakenly pressed my back against the wall just as the door swung open.
She didn’t look out,she was still talking, still pacing, still plotting.
But the door now hung slightly open…
And if she turned.
She would see me.
I held my breath, chest tight, praying my heartbeat wouldn’t betray me.
Finally, she walked back inside fully, the door drifting halfway shut again.
I inhaled shakily.
I then turned,and ranarefully.
I reached my car, slamming the door behind me.
Only when I realized I was safely inside did I press stop on the recording.
My hands trembled violently as I replayed the audio , just a few seconds, just enough to hear her say:
“…I switched Caleb’s food…”
“…set up Damian…”
“…make Aria look unstable…”
“…threatened the witness…”
Real evidence.
Not forged.
My phone buzzed loudly, vibrating against my sweaty fingers.
Damian.
I answered immediately.
“Aria,where are you?” His voice was sharp, urgent. “I checked the yard. You weren’t outside.”
“I found something”
“Are you okay?”
I shut my eyes. “Damian, I’m okay. I promise. I… I found something.”
“What do you mean ‘found something’?”
“I… I have a recording.”
Then Damian’s tone shifted completely.
“Of who?”
“Lila. It proves she poisoned Caleb. That she wants to frame you again. That she’s manipulating the witness. That she’s trying to make me look unstable.”
The line went dead silent.
So silent I thought the call dropped.
Then Damian whispered:
“…Aria, come home.”
“Damian…”
“Now.”
The moment I stepped out of the car, he was already outside. Waiting.
He moved toward me quickly, grabbing my arms and scanning me from head to toe.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded.
“No.”
“Did she see you?”
“No.”
“Aria,did anyone follow you?”
“No, Damian.” I grabbed his wrist gently. “I’m okay.”
He let out a breath that trembled with the force of everything he was trying to hold together. Then he cupped the back of my head and pulled me into him. Not a gentle hug. A desperate one. Like he needed to confirm I was physically in his arms.
“You can’t disappear like that again,” he whispered into my hair. “Not without telling me.”
“I know. I… I didn’t think. I just reacted.”
“You reacted because you’re protecting us,” he murmured with a sigh. “But you scared me.”
I nodded against his chest, breathing in the scent of him, grounding myself.
My heartbeat finally slowed.
Until..
“Where is it?” he asked, pulling back.
I held out my phone.
Hetook it carefully, like the device itself was something explosive.
“Inside,” he murmured.
We walked in together. He didn’t let go of my hand once.
Viktor was already waiting in the living room, sitting forward on the couch. The moment Damian and I entered, he stood.
“What happened?” Viktor asked instantly, eyes darting between us.
Damian didn’t speak. He simply pressed play.
Lila’s voice filled every corner of the house:
“…I switched Caleb’s food…”
“…he was supposed to collapse again…”
“…set up Damian…”
“…use the right girl for the scandal…”
“…Aria is already losing it…”
“…she’ll slip…”
“…we’ll make it look like she threatened the witness…”
Viktor’s expression hardened with every sentence. His chest rose and fell slowly, like he was trying to control something inside him.
When the recording ended..
Then Viktor cursed under his breath
Damian didn’t speak at all.
He stood completely still.
Like the calm before a storm.
“Damian,” I whispered softly.
He didn’t blink. “She poisoned Caleb.”
“Yes,” Viktor said. “This confirms it.”
“She tried to frame me.” His voice dropped lower. “Again.”
“Yes.”
“And she wants to destroy you.”
Viktor nodded slowly.
Damian turned away,his hands flexing his sides.
“She crossed the line,” he finally said.
I stepped toward him. “She crossed all of them.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they were burning.
“We’re taking this to the judge,” Damian said.
Viktor shook his head. “Not yet.”
Damian snapped his gaze to him. “Why not?”
“Because if we go in now, without context, without backing, they’ll twist it. They’ll say Aria manufactured this. Or edited it. Or forced Lila to say it. Especially with the false witness claim floating around.”
We all nodded.
“That's true.” I said.
“So what's the plan.”
Viktor looked at me carefully. “We give them a bigger truth. One they can’t dispute. One that exposes not just Lila — but whoever she’s working with.”
Damian frowned. “You think she has partners?”
Viktor rubbed his jaw. “Poisoning Caleb. Forging legal documents. Manipulating a trial. Recruiting a fake witness. That’s not one person’s work.”
I swallowed.
The thought chilled me.
Lila wasn’t acting alone.
“Who?” I asked softly. “Who would help her?”
“Whoever benefits if you and Damian fall,” Viktor said. “Whoever gains if he goes to prison. Whoever gains if the company collapses. Whoever gains if the trial is dragged out.”
“ Who could that be?”
“No one knows. That's what we're trying to figure out.”
“So the witness…” I whispered. “Might be part of it.”
Viktor nodded. “Or pressured. Or bribed. Or threatened.”
Damian stopped pacing.
His entire body went rigid.
“Or they already know Aria,” he said.
The subconscious thoughts in my head were saying.
The witness knows you.
The witness knows you.
The witness knows you.
Screw me.
“Aria” Damian called me.
I instantly regained my consciousness.
“I think there's something I need to do.” I said.
“No”
“Arrange security,” he said firmly. “Two guards outside our door. One in the back. And no one enters this house unless I say so.”
Viktor nodded. “Done.”
Damian looked at me, stepping closer again.
“I’m not letting anything happen to you,” he said quietly.
My throat tightened. “I know.”
“No, Aria.” His voice dropped deeper. “You need to really know. You walking into that studio,do you un
derstand how dangerous that was? If Lila had stepped out one second earlier..”
“I know,” I whispered, tears stinging. “But if I didn’t record her, we’d still be blind.”
“That's why you'll follow my plan”
We all stared at each other.