Chapter 44

Chapter 44
Aria tried sneaking back into the house, her binder gone, her makeup wiped, and everything she had used to hide her gender was safely kept in her handbag.

She was unsuccessful with the sneaking aspect. The moment she stepped into the living room, Aston was there, sitting like a king, a large tablet in his hands and a stylus moving rapidly against the screen.

Damn it.

She took a deep breath. She could pretend. She was normal, she just went out for a walk, to meet friends.

She walked beside him. He didn’t even look up. Huh, she wasn’t used to him being in the house, maybe he didn’t like being distracted.

It was all better for her after all, she could just walk by and continue living like normal tomorrow morning.

She had almost gotten to the doors when his voice sounded. “Welcome, lady Beaumont.”

She swallowed. “Good evening,” and zipped her mouth immediately, clearing her throat. She had accidentally forgot to switch out of her male voice. Hopefully he thought nothing of it, and just simply assumed that she was hoarse.

She didn’t necessarily need Aston to know she went around crossdressing to do clandestine deeds. He’d think she was a weirdo… well, an even bigger weirdo. God knew Liam had riddled her with more than enough insults when they were children.

She had only experimented differently with makeup and pretended, but he had looked very disgusted.

She knew Aston didn’t necessarily care, but she still wanted to assume he did. The assumption made it seem like Aston might have even the slightest bit of fleeting feelings for her too. 

Not…that she wanted him to have feelings for her! She was a Griffin, and he was her grandfather’s traitor! They were enemies. She just…wanted to even the playing field, let them both have weird feelings for each other.

She glanced back at him to catch him looking at her, his face completely bland and devoid of emotions. Just like when she had first met him. No. No no no. 

He hadn’t given her that look in ages. He always at least looked permanently strangely amused, he didn’t look at her like she was a stranger in his house. “What? Why are you staring at me?,” she asked, her voice clear and bright as usual, masking her anxiety and conveying it as irritation instead.

“It seems the cat has claws too.”

What did he mean? What was he saying? Had he seen it? Did he care? She hoped he didn’t . She hoped he was completely unlike her grandfather in that aspect, how was she supposed to face against Aston if he found her shameful for soiling her reputation again?

Arthur didn’t really care whether she was framed or not, all he cared about was the fact that she was tarnishing the family name. What if Aston was like that? 

“I don’t get it?,” she ended in a question.

He was silent for a few seconds and all they did was stare at each other. 

“I heard you had some issues with the Piccorin’s young master,” he said, neither inflection nor deflection in his voice, like a bored man noticing the weather. Dammit. He saw it.

“The repellent idiot, I don’t even know what he did exactly but I have a feeling my stepsister’s in on it,” Aria pinched her brows. He already knew. Was that why he was acting this way…?

…was Aston…jealous?

Impossible. She was overextending in her thoughts again.

"The news is gone though," Aria said, her voice steady, though her heart was doing a frantic rhythm against her ribs. "I took care of it."

Aston dropped his head in a slow nod. "I noticed."

“…I may have hinted at the big three to clear it up…”

Aria could have sworn Aston’s lips twitched but she could have also sworn she’d hallucinated the whole day. 

“Mm. That’s alright,” he shrugged.

Huh. He didn’t care that she had basically hinted to the public that the people were missing? His crime had been perfect and unnoticeable but she brought it to the light. 

She supposed for a man like Aston, people knowing his crimes were more of a personality bolster, because the people that suspected him didn’t even know if Aston Beaumont actually existed or was simply a boogeyman sent to scare misbehaving children into sleeping.

“That’s alright…is that all…? You don’t mind that they dragged the Beaumont name into the headlines with me?,” she asked. For some reason, she wanted to bait him. She wanted him to show anger, even disgust, anything except that bland look on his face.

“There’s not much in a name,” he said with gravitas.

She had a feeling he wasn’t done talking. 

“You can have as many lovers as you want, Aria," he said, his voice a low, terrifyingly calm drone that immediately speared through her heart. "You’re a grown woman. If Devan Piccorin is the itch you need to scratch, go to him. You don’t have to go around burying information and playing games with journalists to hide your tracks from me. I don’t care, my lady."

The "I don’t care" hit her harder than any insult. It was a physical weight in her chest. It hurt so bad that her hands almost shook. 

"I am trying to clear my name, Aston!" she snapped, her eyes stinging. "It wasn't about lovers. I don't want him! I don't want any of them! I’m just trying to protect my reputation!”

Why was she explaining to him? Why? Oh that was right. Because she liked him. Aria Griffin had been foolish enough to fall for a man that didn’t care about her, he didn’t even care enough to hide it. She was just his arranged wife, the granddaughter of the man he wanted to betray, and some random woman living in his house after setting him on fire.

Aston looked at her, his gaze no longer bored and impassive, staring into her eyes with frost. "I don’t like being lied to. I’ve been transparent my lady, you can be transparent too. I only need to ensure our marriage is happy to Arthur."

"I'm not lying for Devan!"

"Then stop acting like a guilty woman," he said, his tone casual, turning his back on her. "Go play with your son. Leave the adult mess to me. After all, what is the duty of a husband that can’t help his wife keep her little secrets?"

He thought she was protecting Devan. He thought she was actually going around with men rotating around her finger. And the most pathetic part? The part that made Aria want to scream? She was hurt that he wasn't jealous. She was hurt that he could see her being "claimed" by another man and simply offer her a hall pass to continue. 

She knew that if she opened her mouth again she’d cry. And Aria Griffin never cried in front of people, not since 5 years ago. She grit her teeth and stomped to her room, her lower lip wobbling all the way, despite her efforts to keep it straight.

~~~

The internet had a short memory when a bigger predator entered the waters.

Within forty-eight hours, the scandalous headlines were not only faded, but were also completely buried. Every major news outlet shifted its gaze to the vanishing of the big Vanguard Three.

The stock market began a speedy descent, and the public forgot about “Aria’s "incestuous" past in favor of watching their Vanguard funds evaporate.

Aria was a lovely opportunist. Depressed or not. She had bought their replacement stocks with all her savings and they were cashing in fast. She wouldn’t have to ask Aston for a commission anymore… that was of course, if he even wanted to continue the mission with her.

A full week passed. A week where the halls felt longer, and she didn’t see even the slightest shadow of Aston.

Hartie had so very magnanimously told her to stay home till the mental toll on her had faded, but Aria knew she had something to do with it. 

Not going to work would give Hartie more ammo against her during meetings. She’d cite that Aria had voluntarily missed work. Aria SHOULD have gone either way, to avoid giving Hartie free right if way, but she was all out of sorts. She couldn’t walk in there and watch everyone’s pensive gazes.

She had scraped the news but it was still in people’s hearts, and she hadn’t even been able to do anything about Liam’s post, so she was just stuck in the middle of a hurricane. 

Asher was still his normal self but Aria noticed him looking around for ‘daddy’ every time they entered a room.

Oh how she hated Aston for making her and her baby feel this way. Oh how she hated the fact that he was reacting just like someone who didn’t care would. Oh how she hated the fact that he didn’t care.

By the tenth day, the silence became unbearable.

Aria pulled aside the brown haired guard in the shadows. She couldn’t remember the day she had caught them spying on her, and she also couldn’t remember his name, but she knew he’d give her what she was looking for.

"He's not traveled, Ma'am," 

“Where is he?”

“Not traveled, Ma’am.”

Scratch that. What Aria hated the most was this guard. How unhelpful.

Well, he had helped her in some way. Aston was definitely still in the city, maybe still at home in one of the secret compartments. She would find him.

She was sick of silence, sick of not even being able to see him. She was supposed to hate him but she found it hard, she found it near impossible.

What did she like about him? She couldn’t figure it out. 

She spent over six hours exploring every nook and cranny, checking for secret spaces. She found some, but they were unimportant and decidedly Astonless.

Then she saw a hatch in the basement.

The basement had a basement?

She opened the hatch and descended the stone steps, the air changing. It became damp, smelling of salt and copper. 

Then, sound reached her.

Thwack. A wet, heavy sound. Like a rug being beaten, but with more weight behind it. Then a groan, low, gurgling, and desperate.

Aria’s breath hitched. She knew that sound, she had definitely heard it before.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and peered around a corner into a room lit by a single, harsh halogen bulb.

There was Aston.