Chapter 40 Day Four
Ariella woke up to seventeen missed calls from an unknown number.
Her stomach dropped. Something was wrong.
She called back immediately.
"Miss Hayes." A woman's voice, professional but urgent. "This is Jessica Chen from the Portland Tribune. I'm calling about the story we're running tomorrow."
"What story?"
"About your contract marriage to Aiden Frost. We have sources claiming it was arranged by Richard Frost for business purposes. That you were paid to marry his son. We'd like your comment before we go to print."
The world tilted.
"No comment," Ariella managed.
"Miss Hayes, we have documentation. Bank transfers. The original contract. Anonymous sources within Frost Industries confirming…"
Ariella hung up.
Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely dial Aiden's number.
He picked up on the first ring. "I know. Marcus called. Someone leaked the contract."
"How? Who would…"
"We don't know. But it's everywhere. Every major outlet has it. They're running the story tomorrow morning."
"Oh my god."
"Ariella, breathe. We knew this might happen. We prepared for this."
"We prepared for maybe getting caught, not for someone deliberately exposing us!" Her voice was rising. "Someone leaked this on purpose. Someone wants to destroy us."
"Or destroy the company. Or both." Aiden's voice was strained. "Marcus thinks it might be Winters. If he can discredit me, prove the marriage was fake, then the bylaws clause doesn't hold. He could challenge my control of the company."
"So we're fucked."
"We're…we're in trouble. But we're not fucked. We can spin this."
"How? Aiden, they have the actual contract. They know we were paid. They know this was arranged. There's no spin that makes that okay."
"Then we tell the truth. Again. Like at the press conference. We say yes, it started as an arrangement. But it became real. We fell in love for real."
"Did we?"
The question hung between them.
"Did we?" Ariella repeated, softer. "Because we've never actually said it. We've danced around it. We've hinted. But we've never just…"
"I love you."
The words hit like a physical force.
"What?"
"I love you, Ariella. I'm in love with you. I don't know when it happened, maybe the first night you stayed through my nightmare, maybe when you held my hand at my father's funeral, maybe the moment i walked into the bakery and you looked at me like I was human instead of a trust fund. But somewhere between the contract and now, I fell completely, terrifyingly in love with you."
Ariella couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't do anything except sit on her childhood bed and process the fact that Aiden Frost just told her he loved her over the phone while their entire life was imploding.
"Say something," Aiden said, voice small. "Please."
"I love you too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I think…I think I've been in love with you for weeks. But I was too scared to say it. Too scared it wasn't real. Too scared it was just the contract or the trauma or…"
"It's not the contract. It's not the trauma. It's us. Just us."
"So what do we do?"
"We face this together. We tell the truth, the whole truth and we hope that's enough."
"And if it's not? If they destroy us anyway?"
"Then at least we go down honest."
Ariella laughed despite everything. "You're ridiculous."
"You love me anyway."
"I really do."
"Come back early. Please. I know we said a week but fuck the week. I need you. We need to face this together."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah. I'm coming home."
"Home," Aiden repeated softly. "I like the sound of that."
"Me too."
Day Four, Evening
Ariella packed in a frenzy.
Her mother watched from the doorway, arms crossed. "You're going back."
"I have to. The contract leaked. The press knows everything. And I…" Ariella turned to face her mother. "I love him, Mom. I'm in love with him. And I need to be there."
"Even though the world is about to tear you both apart?"
"Especially then."
Claire pulled her into a hug. "You're so much braver than I ever was."
"I learned from you."
"No. You learned despite me. But I'm so proud of who you've become."
They held each other for a long moment.
Then Ariella grabbed her bags and called for a ride.
Not Thomas this time, she didn't want to wait for the official Frost car. Just a regular Uber that would get her back to the mansion, back to Aiden, back to whatever chaos waited.
The drive felt like hours even though it was only forty minutes.
When she finally pulled up to the gates, Aiden was waiting outside.
He must have been watching for her. Couldn't wait the extra two minutes it would take her to get from the driveway to the door.
She got out of the car and he was already there, pulling her into his arms, holding her like she was the only solid thing in a world that had gone sideways.
"You came back," he whispered into her hair.
"I promised."
"Three days early."
"Because I'm an overachiever."
He pulled back enough to look at her face. "I love you."
"I love you too."
"Even though we're about to get destroyed?"
"Even then."
He kissed her. Not gentle, not tentative, but desperate and claiming and real. The kind of kiss that said you're mine and I'm yours and fuck the rest of the world.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Ariella said: "So. What's the plan?"
"We call a press conference. Tomorrow morning. Beat them to the story. Control the narrative."
"And say what?"
"The truth. All of it. The contract, the arrangement, the way we fell in love anyway. Everything."
"That's either brilliant or suicidal."
"Probably both."
"I'm in."
Aiden took her hand. "Together?"
"Together."
They walked into the mansion, into the storm they'd helped create, ready to face whatever came next.
Because they had each other.
And sometimes, that was enough.