Chapter 4: Consider us square. We're done here.
Chapter 4: Consider us square. We're done here.
Aria's POV
Julian's hand closed on air. Something flickered across his face. "Aria. Don't be like this."
I looked away. He followed anyway. Of course he did.Julian spoke to me in that "you'll understand eventually" tone of his."Aria, I know you're hurting right now, but you need to hear me out."
I said nothing.
Then, calmly and clearly, he explained.
"The Ashworth merger needs the Sterling family trust assets as startup capital. And the only way to access those assets is to marry someone with Sterling bloodline. Once the deal closes, I'll cut things off with Stella completely. You know I've always chosen you, Aria."
I stared at him.
Twenty years. He thought this was an explanation. He actually thought I'd hear all this and say "okay, I'll wait."
He had no idea. Never even tried to find out.
I told him everything. Stella's Instagram video, crying about how I'd been harassing "her fiancé." #CancelAria trending nationally, the word escort sitting next to my name. The flood of complaint emails filling the orchestra's inbox. Diane in Margaret's office, going to bat for me over and over again.
"You were building your business case while my career was being dismantled. And you didn't even know."
He went quiet for a beat. Then said he hadn't realized it had gotten this bad.
"Right. So inconvenient for you, having to grin and bear it and play along with the real heiress." My voice stayed flat. "From the moment you chose Stella, you were dead to me."
His expression cracked — just a hairline fracture — then reset. "Once I secure the funding, I'll fix everything. I'll come back for you."
I'll come back for you.
Like he was doing me a favor. Like I was supposed to stay put and wait for him to ride back in.
A sharp voice cut through before I could respond. "You shameless bitch! Still chasing after him?"
A girl came charging from the side, plastic bucket in both hands. Julian instinctively stepped right.
That one step blocked my only way out.
The whole bucket came down on me.
I just stood there, stunned. Water poured down my collar, soaked through every layer, the cold hitting bone before I could even process it. The girl was laughing like she'd done something righteous. "Ha! That's what you get for going after Stella! Karma's a bitch!"
Then I looked up.
Julian was right there. Suit spotless. Not a single hair out of place.
That girl wouldn't stop. Going off on me like she was God's personal messenger of justice.
Julian slipped off his jacket and stepped toward me.
"Don't touch me."
I held his gaze.
"You stepped aside."
He opened his mouth.
"You stepped aside," I said again, my voice shaking so hard each word came out separate and sharp. "Reflex. Didn't even think about it."
That's the truth of it. He's never loved anyone but himself.
Then someone came up behind me and draped a jacket over my shoulders.
Fast. Steady.
I turned.
Orion was standing beside me, not looking at me at all. Looking at Julian.
I'd seen that expression exactly once before. Boarding school. Someone cut my cello strings during study hall. He wore that same face.
Orion moved before I could even process what was happening.Orion took two steps forward and hit Julian square in the face. No warning. No wind-up.
He grabbed Julian by the collar and slammed him against the wall. Hard.
"You piece of shit." His voice was low. Controlled. That was somehow worse than shouting. "You had her for twenty years and you treated her like a backup plan."
Julian shoved back. "Get your hands off me, Voss. This has nothing to do with you—"
"Nothing to do with me?" Orion laughed — no humor in it. He landed a punch clean across Julian's jaw. "We've been doing this since high school, Ashworth. You always thought you owned everything in your reach. Her included."
Julian swung back. Connected with Orion's cheekbone.
Neither of them went down.
"She was never yours to own," Orion said, grabbing him again.
Another hit. Julian's lip split.
I'd seen Orion step into plenty of situations before — coolly, calculatedly, always on his own terms — but never like this.
*As a friend, he didn't have to do that. But he did. *
Something cracked open in my chest. Small. Quiet. The kind of thing you almost miss if you're not paying attention.
I was paying attention.
"Back then you made her invisible." Orion's knuckles were bleeding now and he didn't care. "You put her in a corner and called it love. Twenty years, Julian. Twenty goddamn years — and you tossed her aside for another woman."
Julian spat blood. "You don't know anything about us—"
"I know everything." Orion's grip tightened. "Because I was watching. The whole time."
That shut Julian up.
The silence was heavier than any punch.
Julian stumbled back two steps, hand flying to his mouth, blood in the air. Orion moved with him — grabbed his collar and pulled him close, said "You're nothing. You never were."
Julian's eyes had gone bloodshot, fixed on him. "Whatever's between the two of us — what the hell does it have to do with you?!"
"Exactly!" The fan who'd thrown the water screamed too. "I'm the one who dumped that bucket! She deserved it! That shameless bitch had it coming! What are you gonna do, hit a woman?!"
Orion turned his head.
Sharp eyes dropped down to her, cutting sideways, voice ice-cold:
"Funny. I almost forgot you existed until you started barking."
The girl opened her mouth.
"Not another word."His voice sliced through the noise. Clean. Final.
"Don't." He turned to his assistant. "Call the police. Verbal harassment, trespassing. Document everything and have legal calculate damages.
His chief assistant Ethan nodded and stepped out immediately.
Orion didn't look at the girl again. Like she'd already stopped being worth the attention.
The girl finally went quiet.
Too late for that now.
Then he turned back to me.
"You okay? Let's get you in the car." He brushed the wet hair back from my face with one hand. "Ethan — get the heat running and find her something dry to change into."
"Yes, sir." Ethan gave a quiet nod and gestured toward the car. "This way, Ms. Sterling."
I wanted to say I was fine. But my teeth were chattering. Though I'll admit — that punch was deeply satisfying.
I glanced at the wall of phone cameras around us. After a moment I said, "You're going to be all over Twitter."
Orion looked at me. "Like that's new."
Julian steadied himself. He was about to come back swinging when his eyes snagged on something at Orion's neck and stopped there.
His expression shifted into something uglier.
"Aria." His voice dropped, something in it he couldn't quite contain. "You and him —" He moved forward. "I told you to stay away from him. Didn't I say that?"
Orion stepped in front of me. "That's none of your business."
Julian went around him. Reached for my arm directly. "Come on. Get in my car." Completely certain I would.
I didn't move.
Orion stepped back. He didn't try to stop Julian. He turned to me instead, and something shifted — like a lion pulling its fury back under its skin. His voice came out low and rough.
"You leaving with him, or with me?"
I looked at Julian. Hand still outstretched, that familiar confidence in his eyes — he already thought he knew what I was going to do. He was already rehearsing whatever came next.
I looked at his hand.
Julian's mouth started to curve upward.
I walked straight up to him, stopped, and slapped him across the face.
Clean. Loud. The sound carried across the whole plaza.
He went completely still.
"That's what you owe me," I said.
Twenty years. One slap. We're even.
I turned around. Didn't look back.
Orion met me halfway, one eyebrow lifted. "You crushed it."
Something came loose in my chest.
He leaned in, voice low. "From here on out, the only person you need to please is yourself."
He glanced back at Julian. "And he just lost something he can't buy back."
Julian stood there, hand pressed to his face, watching us walk to the car.
He'd always believed that.
The car was warm.
Ethan produced a blanket from somewhere and I wrapped it around myself, only then realizing how hard I was shaking. Orion waited outside while I changed into the spare shirt, door closed, back turned.
I kept my eyes on the window the whole time. The crowd outside hadn't dispersed.
I know this is going to trend. I know it's going to get messier before it gets better.
But that slap — that was the clearest thing I've done in years.
Orion got in and pulled the door shut. Ethan started the engine.
A few seconds of quiet.
I tightened my hands around the blanket and opened my mouth. My voice still came out rough. "You still mean it? What you said this morning about marriage?"
Ethan's hand slipped on the steering wheel.
