The Apology That Wasn’t An Apology

The Apology That Wasn’t An Apology
Aria’s POV

⸻

I stayed on the floor for a long moment. I could not move. My cheek burned sharply where Nathan’s hand had hit me. It felt hot and swollen. My fingers lifted slowly and touched the skin there. The pain stabbed through me and made my breath shake.

Tears gathered in my eyes. I blinked fast because I did not want them to fall, but they blurred my vision anyway. My chest felt tight. I could not take in air properly. Everything around me felt distant and unreal, as if I was looking at the world through a thick layer of glass.

Nathan stared at me with wide eyes. His whole face was twisted with shock. He dropped to his knees in front of me so fast that the sound of them hitting the floor startled me.

“Aria. Aria. I am sorry. I did not mean that.” His voice rushed out in a panic.

His hands hovered near my face, near my arms, near my shoulders, but he did not touch me yet. He kept repeating my name like he was trying to pull me back into his world.

I did not respond. My heartbeat was too loud in my ears. The room seemed to tilt every few seconds.

“I should not have done that,” he said quickly. “You should have just listened to me. I was trying to explain and you kept fighting me. You should not have fought me like that.”

His words poured out fast, shaking and uneven, like he could not stop himself. He sounded desperate and angry at the same time.

“I am under a lot of stress,” he said. “Things are complicated. I did not want it to be like this. You should have just listened.”

He reached for my cheek.

I flinched so hard that my whole body jerked away from his hand.

Nathan froze. His mouth parted a little. His eyebrows pulled together as if the little movement had stabbed him directly in the chest. He looked guilty, frustrated, and confused all at once.

“Aria,” he whispered. “I am not that kind of man. I would never hurt you. You know that. I did not mean it.”

But he had hurt me. And we both knew it. The room felt heavier because of it. The truth of it sat in the air like a thick shadow neither of us could escape.

Nathan’s breathing changed. It grew faster. His shoulders rose and fell with each breath. Something broke inside him because the words that came next did not sound controlled at all.

“I love you,” he said suddenly. “Why can you not just see that.”

The words froze the air. My stomach twisted painfully.

He kept going, almost tripping over the words.

“I love you. I have loved you for a long time. And you keep pretending you do not see it. You keep chasing things that are not real. You keep dreaming about them. The triplets.” His face tightened. His jaw hardened.

“Dante. Matteo. Enzo.” He said each name like it tasted bitter in his mouth. “They are not for you. They are not good for you. They are not what you think.”

I was too shocked to speak. I could only stare at him.

“You belong with me,” he said. “Not them.”

I tried to move away from him. My body shifted weakly across the floor. My head throbbed and my arms felt like they were made of sand. I could barely sit upright, but I needed distance. I needed air.

Nathan saw me trying to pull away and something snapped inside him. He grabbed my arm and yanked me up from the floor. The strength of his pull made my breath catch. My legs wobbled under me. The dizziness made the room spin. Before I could steady myself, he dragged me toward the bed.

He placed me on the mattress carefully, as if nothing had just happened. As if his rough grip and the slap were just a dream. He arranged me with soft hands, moving slowly now. Too slowly. It felt wrong.

His fingers stroked my cheek. The same cheek he had hit.

A tear slid down my face and dropped onto my lap.

I could not form words. My voice stayed locked inside my chest. My mind felt numb and messy. Nothing made sense.

Nathan stood beside the bed, staring down at me.

“I will give you time to calm down,” he said softly. “Then we will talk again. We will fix this. You will understand everything once you stop fighting me.”

He turned away and began dressing. I watched him with blurred eyes. He kept glancing at me while pulling on his shirt. While fastening his pants. While sliding his feet into his shoes. His eyes kept searching my face, waiting for something. A reaction. A word. Anything.

I did not give him any.

At the door, he hesitated again.

“I love you,” he said one more time. “Remember that.”

He stepped out of the room and locked the door behind him.

The sound of the lock turning hit me harder than the slap.

When I no longer heard his footsteps, my body broke. I curled in on myself. My tears poured out all at once. The sobs tore through my chest. I pressed my hand against my mouth, trying to hold back the sound, but it did not help. The pain came out anyway.

I thought of Dante.

I thought of Matteo.

I thought of Enzo.

Their faces filled my mind like bright bursts of light in a dark room. Their voices. Their warmth. The safety I felt with them. The way they looked at me like I mattered. Like I was more than a burden.

I whispered their names into the empty room. My voice cracked with each one.

“Dante. Matteo. Enzo. Please.”

I pressed my forehead to my knees and cried harder.

I prayed they would find me.

I prayed they were already looking.

I prayed Nathan would not reach me first again.

The tears soaked the silk sheets beneath me. The door stood tall and silent across the room. The air felt colder. The walls felt closer.

My voice broke as I whispered again.

“Please. Please come get me.”