Chapter 45

Aria

Sarah’s accusation hit me like a knife to the gut.

“She’s the one who attacked me!”

“Attacked you?” I sputtered. “What the hell are you talking about, Sarah?”

She pointed at the angry bruise on her face. “Don’t play stupid, Aria. You followed me home last night, and for what? You already got what you wanted, getting me fired like that—”

“Oh, that’s rich,” I said, voice trembling with anger as I descended the stairs toward her. “I didn’t get you fired. You literally got caught drugging animals in the lab, and your cohort confessed to everything.”

“Maybe so,” Sarah said, folding her arms across her chest, “but you still attacked me. Why? Because you’re fucking nuts, that’s why.”

I couldn’t help the wry laugh that escaped me. “Sarah, don’t be ridiculous.” I turned to our parents—her parents. They weren’t mine anymore. They never had been. “Don’t tell me you two actually believe this. She probably gave herself the bruise.”

“You fucking bitch,” Sarah growled.

“Ladies, please—” the security guard suddenly stepped between us, holding his hands up like he could hold back the storm that was brewing on the horizon. “Ma’am, you need to leave the premises—”

“Don’t you dare tell my daughter to leave!” My adoptive mother’s voice almost made me flinch, reminding me all too well of the hell I went through as a kid. She looked exactly as I remembered, just a little older now, with harsh lines on either side of her mouth from frowning constantly. “That little monster attacked my Sarah!”

Before I could answer, I heard the office door behind me open, followed by the sound of footsteps on the stairs as people started gathering to watch.

“What’s going on here?” Darren’s voice cut through the chaos. I didn’t need to turn around to know he was standing at the top of the stairs.

Sarah’s face lit up at the sight of him, desperately shoving forward. “Darren, baby! Oh, thank god!” She gestured wildly to her bruised face. “Look what Aria did to me! It’s just like when we were kids…”

My lips twisted into a bitter smile. “Just like when we were kids?” I scoffed. “Sarah, I can’t even tell at this point if you’re just messing with me or if you actually think you were the victim throughout our entire childhood.”

“Someone needs to explain what’s going on here,” Darren said. “Quickly.”

Suddenly, my adoptive father, his face red, took a step forward. I instinctively began to shrink back a little, reminded all too well of his anger when I was a kid. He never hit me—Sarah did enough of that for the both of them—but his words always cut just as deep.

He pointed at me. “Your employee attacked my daughter last night. Just look at her face.” He gestured to Sarah, who pushed her lower lip out in a pout. “You’re a reasonable man, Mr. Avarise. Given your history with our darling Sarah, are you really going to believe Aria over her? She’s always been violent.”

My breath hitched. “I was the violent one?” I retorted incredulously.

“It’s true. She was always attacking Sarah,” my adoptive mother chimed in. “Poor Sarah would come crying to us, covered in bruises—”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it!” I bit out. “Your memory must be failing you already, because I was always the one covered in bruises.”

Darren took a step forward, joining me at my side. “Aria, I think it’s best if you—”

“No,” I said, whirling to face him. “I can’t take this anymore. I won’t stand for it.”

My mother wrapped an arm around Sarah, who practically melted into her and buried her face in her shoulder like she was afraid of me. “Are you going to hit your sister again?”

“No. I’m going to prove you’re a bunch of liars.”

Before I could second-guess myself, I reached down and grabbed the hem of my pencil skirt, hitching it up just enough to reveal my thighs.

The others gasped. Brandon quickly turned away, his face reddening. Melissa clamped her hand over her mouth, and Lily grinned, bashfully running a hand through her hair. Liam, who had only just stepped outside the moment I’d turned around, immediately turned on his heel and went back inside, cursing under his breath.

Darren made a choking sound, which he quickly hid with a cough into his fist.

I stood there, my jaw set hard as I looked at them all. My dark thigh highs, with a band of delicate lace around the top, were on prominent display in the cold air. But I didn’t care. Let them look.

Let them see what my beloved ‘sister’ was really like.

“You want to talk about violence?” I ran my finger along the jagged scar that slashed down my thigh, the one that had never fully healed properly. “Do you remember this, Sarah? Remember when you stabbed me with a pair of safety scissors for no reason? Because I do. I still have the scar.”

With that, I let my skirt fall back into place. “Or how about the time you cornered me in the barn?” My voice wavered, the memory of that day clawing its way to the surface yet again. “You attacked me, and if it weren’t for that stray dog I’d been feeding, you would’ve really hurt me that day.”

For a moment, I thought I saw Darren stiffen out of the corner of my eye, his face turning pale. But he remained silent.

“Show them, Sarah,” I continued icily. “Show everyone the bite mark from where that dog saved me from you. I know you still have it.”

Instinctively, Sarah’s hand flew to her hip, the exact spot where I knew that scar would be hidden under the layers of her expensive designer clothes—clothes that Darren had paid for. Her face was pale as ash, as if she might be sick.

“You don’t know this, but I got emancipated at sixteen,” I said, looking up at Darren. “Because I preferred living in a youth shelter with a bunch of kids who had criminal records and drug problems to staying one more goddamn day in that house with these people. At least those kids were honest about who they were.”

“You ungrateful little—” my adoptive mother began, venom dripping from her tongue, but she didn’t get far.

“Back off!” Lily was suddenly at my side, glaring daggers at my so-called family. “We all know Aria would never attack anyone. She’s the kindest person in this entire building. She even let herself get attacked by a dog so a little boy could be safe!”

A murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd. Brandon crossed his arms, his gaze hard as he glared at Sarah. “Yeah. Get out of here, Sarah.”

“None of us want you here,” Melissa added with a sneer. “We never wanted you here. You’ve been nothing but a pain in the ass—”

“Melissa,” Darren growled in warning.

Melissa simply shrugged and folded her arms, falling silent but still standing her ground.

Sarah’s face twisted, her lips trembling as she glanced around at the crowd of people turning against her. Real tears welled in her eyes this time, not the crocodile tears she had been using to manipulate.

She was unraveling.

But she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at Darren.

“I-I didn’t—” She stumbled forward, reaching for him. “Darren, baby, please—”

Before she could touch him, Darren stepped out of her reach. “Don’t call me that,” he said quietly, painfully, as if he’d been stabbed. “You lied to me, didn’t you?”

Her face turned ashen. “N-No! She’s lying, she—”

“Bullshit,” Darren hissed, looking away with his jaw set hard. “All these years, you took me for a fool. And I was a fool, because I fell for it. I should have known it wasn’t you.”

“No! Baby, I was the one who—”

“I told you not to call me that.” Darren’s eyes were like ice as they whipped toward her. Sarah stiffened, her hands falling back to her sides. Her lip quivered, her jaw working uselessly as she tried to come up with a response.

But before she could say anything, Darren was jerking his chin toward the security guard. “Escort them off the premises, Jason. Call the police if they ever come back. I want them blacklisted.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “No, Darren, please!” she shouted as the security guard escorted her and her parents away. “It was me all those years ago! Not her!”

Whatever Sarah meant, I wasn’t sure, and I was too shaken to ask. Before I knew it, the angry sounds of her parents’ voices were mingling with that of the security guard and Sarah’s sobs, turning into an incoherent din.

I stood there, breathing hard as I watched them climb into the car and pull out of the parking lot, tires screeching against the asphalt. Only once their car had disappeared around the corner did I let my shoulders slump with relief.

Darren stood beside me, his eyes hard and face ashen. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, nostrils flaring. He looked terrifying, like he was ready to burst.

Suddenly, his gaze snapped to me. And when he looked at me, his eyes seemed to glow ever so slightly in the light of the morning sun.

Those eyes really did look so much like the puppy I had fostered all those years ago.

But before either of us could say any more, Darren sighed and turned, facing the others.

“Show is over, everyone,” he said. “Get back to work.”