Chapter 174
Aria's POV
"Ensure she stays alive, but don't make her too comfortable." My voice echoed in the dim basement as I addressed the two professional guards in black suits. They nodded with practiced efficiency. "Understood, Ms. Harper."
As I turned to leave, Victoria's shrill scream tore through the damp air. "You'll regret this, Aria! I swear you'll pay for this!"
Her threats dissolved into the darkness as I ascended the stairs, each step taking me further from the woman who had poisoned my mother and stolen my father. My fingers traced the cold railing, steady despite the storm inside me. Was this justice or vengeance? The line had blurred somewhere between discovering the truth and locking Victoria in our family basement.
At the top of the stairs, Elsa met me with worried eyes. Our family housekeeper had served my mother for decades, and her loyalty had never wavered.
"Miss Aria, are you alright?" she asked, her weathered hands clasped tightly before her.
"I'm fine, Elsa," I replied, my voice even despite my trembling fingers. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving behind a cold clarity that frightened me more than Victoria's threats.
Elsa lowered her voice. "Perhaps you shouldn't go down there again... that woman isn't worth dirtying your hands over."
Her words held protection, but also a subtle endorsement of my actions. I nodded and continued past her toward my bedroom, needing solitude to process what I'd done.
In my childhood room, I sank into the chaise lounge and lit a slim cigarette with shaking hands. Manhattan's lights spilled through the windows, highlighting the sharp angles of my face. Smoke curled upward as I stared at my mother's photograph on the wall.
"Mom," I whispered, "would you think I'm too cruel?"
Elizabeth Harper's elegant smile offered no answer, but I felt her presence strongly. Victoria had systematically poisoned her, watching her deteriorate day by day. Now Victoria was experiencing a fraction of that helplessness.
I spent the entire afternoon in my room, skipping meals, chain-smoking as thoughts swirled. Was I becoming the monster I was fighting? The coldness with which I'd arranged Victoria's imprisonment frightened me, yet I couldn't deny the satisfaction it brought.
Night fell, and restlessness drove me to my door. As I opened it to peer from the second-floor landing, I spotted my father walking toward the basement, his face set in grim determination. William's figure looked particularly ominous in the shadows. Minutes later, a muffled scream echoed through the house—Victoria's voice, unmistakably.
My spine tingled with unexpected coldness. My father had always prioritized his interests, but to inflict such treatment on his beloved Victoria... "My father truly is a devil," I whispered to myself.
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Harper family dining room. Silver cutlery gleamed as I precisely cut my fried eggs, maintaining perfect composure while my father lowered his Wall Street Journal.
"Starting today, you'll move out," William declared coldly. "I'll buy you an apartment if necessary."
I continued eating without looking up. "This is my home, Father. My mother's home. I'm not going anywhere." I paused, then added with deliberate precision, "Are you trying to handle Victoria's situation alone? Without my interference?"
His jaw tightened. "That's none of your concern."
"Isn't it?" I looked up, meeting his gaze directly. "If not for me, you'd still be Victoria's fool, the laughingstock of Manhattan's elite."
William stood abruptly, face twitching with barely controlled rage, before storming out of the dining room.
Later at the Harper Group office, I focused intently on my computer screen, restructuring departments that had languished under Victoria's influence. A soft knock interrupted my concentration as Julie Anderson entered, her usually confident posture now uncertain.
"About my... situation," she began hesitantly. "What are you planning to do? Will you turn me over to the police?"
I studied her briefly, remembering how she'd accessed confidential files for Victoria. "As long as you help me and stay on my side, I won't expose you. Wait for now. I'll call when I need you."
She nodded gratefully and left. I returned to my work, completing the corporate restructuring proposal and emailing it to Devon.
The trap I'd set for Victoria had sprung perfectly, yet victory tasted more complex than I'd expected. Mother's photograph seemed to watch me from my desk, her eyes asking a question I couldn't answer: was justice worth becoming someone I might not recognize?
I closed the proposal and leaned back in my chair. For better or worse, I had crossed a line—one that separated the naive girl who'd once loved Ethan from the woman who now held her family's fate in her hands.
As Devon's name appeared on my screen few minutes later, I felt a flutter of anticipation I refused to acknowledge.I tapped on Devon's reply notification, my fingers trembling slightly with anticipation. After spending half the night perfecting this proposal, I was eager—perhaps too eager—to see his response. The single word that filled my screen sent a cold wave through my body.
"Garbage."
I stared at my phone, blinking several times as if the word might change. My cheeks flushed hot with a mix of anger and humiliation. My throat tightened. After everything—the hours of work, the business implications for Harper Group, the complicated personal relationship we now shared—this was his entire feedback?
"Is that your entire critique?" I typed back, my fingers pressing harder than necessary on each letter.