Chapter 164 This is Home

Chapter 164 This is Home
Aria's POV

My head was pounding when I woke up, and for a moment I couldn't figure out where I was. The room felt familiar, but wrong somehow - like a memory that didn't quite fit.

I blinked, trying to focus, and realized I was lying in a bed I recognized. This was the apartment Marcus and I had first lived in together. But how did I get here?

I turned my head and froze. Marcus was there, slumped forward in a chair beside the bed, his head resting on his folded arms on the mattress. He was asleep, his dark hair falling across his forehead, and for a moment he looked almost peaceful.

This was too strange. The last thing I remembered was being at that awful engagement party, feeling sick and hot, Derek helping me... and then nothing. How did I end up here with Marcus sleeping beside me like some kind of guardian?

I tried to sit up quietly, but the movement made my head spin. Marcus stirred immediately, those blue eyes snapping open and focusing on me with an intensity that made my breath catch.

"You're awake," he said, his voice rough with sleep. He straightened up, rolling his shoulders. "Good. You should wash up first, then we need to talk."

I stared at him, completely confused. Was this some kind of fever dream? "Marcus, what—"

"Just go," he said gently but firmly. "We have a lot to discuss, but you need to clear your head first."

I nodded dumbly, not knowing what else to do. In the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face and noticed immediately that someone had changed my clothes. Instead of the dress I'd worn to the party, I was wearing one of my old t-shirts and pajama pants.

Had Marcus changed my clothes? The thought made my cheeks burn. But wait - he was engaged to Isabella. He was probably married to her by now. I shouldn't be here at all.

I rushed out of the bathroom, panic rising in my chest. "Marcus, I need to leave. You and Isabella are—"

"Mommy!"

I spun around to see Sophia running toward me from the kitchen, her silver hair bouncing with each step. She threw her arms around my waist, and I automatically hugged her back, but my mind was reeling.

"Sophia? What are you doing here?" My voice cracked with confusion and relief.

"After I handled things last night, I went to get her," Marcus said quietly from the doorway. "I had to make sure you were both safe first." His expression was serious, protective. "She's been worried about you."

"Uncle Marcus said we can come home now!" Sophia said brightly, looking up at me with those amber eyes that mirrored my own.

"What do you mean, come home?" My voice came out sharper than I intended, but Marcus's explanation only raised more questions.

Marcus appeared fully in the doorway now, watching us with an unreadable expression. "I'm not with Isabella, Aria. Everything you saw last night - it was all part of exposing a conspiracy. I had to play along to catch them in the act."

"What are you talking about?" I felt like the ground was shifting beneath my feet.

"Check your phone," he said simply, pointing toward the coffee table. "Then we'll eat and I'll explain everything."

I hurried over and grabbed it, my hands shaking as I unlocked the screen. The first thing I saw was a news notification, and my blood ran cold as I read the headline.

#SOCIALITE ISABELLA WHITE CAUGHT IN EXPLICIT VIDEO SCANDAL - FOOTAGE GOES VIRAL#

"What the hell?" I whispered, clicking on the article. There were screenshots - blurred but unmistakably showing Isabella with two men. The comments were brutal, calling her every name imaginable.

"How is this happening?" I asked, looking up at Marcus. The timeline made no sense. How had everything changed so dramatically overnight?

"Food first," he said firmly. "Then answers."

I wanted to demand explanations immediately, but Sophia was tugging on my hand, and Marcus was already heading back to the kitchen. With no other choice, I followed.

The small dining table had three paper bags from a local deli, along with coffee cups and orange juice. Simple, but it was clear he'd thought of both Sophia and me.

"I grabbed whatever I could find open this early," Marcus said, almost apologetically. "Figured we all needed something in our stomachs."

I sat down and unwrapped a bagel sandwich, my stomach still queasy but my curiosity overwhelming. Marcus sat across from me, watching Sophia with an expression I'd never seen before - soft, almost tender.

"Did you miss me?" he asked her quietly.

Sophia giggled and nodded enthusiastically. "I missed you so much, Uncle Marcus!"

His whole face lit up with a genuine smile. "Finally," he murmured, and something in his voice made my chest tight. There was a longing there, a relief that seemed to go deeper than just missing a child.

I couldn't wait any longer. "Okay, I've eaten something. Now tell me what's going on. I can't take this anymore."

Marcus glanced at Sophia, then back at me. "Sophia, sweetheart, why don't you go watch cartoons in the bedroom? I think there are some new coloring books in there too."

Sophia's eyes went wide. "Really? Can I go look?"

"Of course," I said, needing her out of earshot for whatever Marcus was about to tell me.

She bounced off toward the bedroom, and I turned to face Marcus fully. "Start talking."

He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. The gesture was so familiar it made my heart ache. "Derek and Isabella have been working together for months. Derek wanted to bring down the Sterling Pack, and Isabella wanted to secure her position by any means necessary. They used Felix as their inside man."

"Felix?" I had a vague memory of that name, but everything about the accident was still a blur of pain and confusion.

"He was Derek's plant in our security team," Marcus explained, his voice hardening. "The car accident that nearly killed you? That wasn't random. Derek orchestrated it to weaken me, to make me desperate enough to agree to anything."

My blood ran cold. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying Derek has been targeting you from the beginning, Aria. And last night, he drugged you to try to..." Marcus's jaw clenched. "But I was ready for him this time."

The room started spinning again, but not from whatever they'd given me at the party. This was pure shock. "You knew?"

"I suspected. I've been investigating for weeks, gathering evidence. The engagement party was the perfect trap - Isabella thought she was celebrating her victory, but she was actually giving me everything I needed to expose them both."

I stared at him, trying to process everything. "But you looked so convincing with her..."

"I had to be convincing, Aria. One wrong move and they would have hurt you or Sophia to get to me." His hand reached across the table toward mine. "Every second I had to pretend to care about her was torture when all I wanted was to protect my family."

"Family?" The word came out as barely a whisper.

"You and Sophia," he said simply. "You're my family. That's what I've been fighting for this whole time."

I felt tears prick my eyes. "But the video... how did you...?"

"Isabella got sloppy. She thought she was untouchable, so she started recording her conversations with Derek and Felix as insurance. She never expected me to get my hands on those recordings." Marcus's expression was grim but satisfied. "The video that's trending? That's just the beginning. The real evidence is much worse."

"Evidence of what?"

"Conspiracy, attempted assault, sabotage, corporate espionage..." Marcus ticked off each crime on his fingers. "Isabella and Derek are finished, Aria. Legally, socially, professionally - they'll never be able to hurt anyone again."

I wanted to feel relief, but everything was happening too fast. "And what about us? What about Sophia?"

Marcus leaned forward, his blue eyes intense and earnest. "That's up to you. I know I've made mistakes, Aria. I know I hurt you by not trusting you with the truth. But I was trying to keep you safe."

"By lying to me?"

"By protecting you from becoming a target," he corrected. "If Derek had known how much you mean to me, he would have used that against us both."

I looked down at my hands, overwhelmed. Part of me wanted to be angry at Marcus for keeping me in the dark, but another part understood why he'd done it. And the relief of knowing that everything I'd seen between him and Isabella had been an act...

"Mommy, look!" Sophia came running back with a coloring book, completely oblivious to the heavy conversation we'd been having.

"That's beautiful, sweetheart," I said automatically, but my eyes were still on Marcus.

He was watching me with an expression I recognized - hope mixed with fear, like he was waiting for a verdict that would determine his entire future.

"So what happens now?" I asked quietly.