Chapter 4 – Shadows Don't Lie
Aria's POV
"Don't react. We have a problem."
Kade's voice was smooth, like always, but there was a sharp edge buried beneath it. Aria didn't flinch outwardly, but her heart started pounding with a different rhythm.
Problem? That woman?
Her gaze flicked toward the second-floor balcony again, but the woman in red had vanished — as if she'd never been there.
"Who was she?" Aria whispered, staying in character. They were still in the middle of the dance floor, with far too many eyes on them.
"Later," Kade said, spinning her with precision. "Smile."
She obeyed, but her lips felt wrong. Like they didn't belong to her anymore.
The music ended. Applause. Aria stepped away from him, careful, elegant. Every movement calculated now — not for the cameras, but for survival. Something about the look in Kade's eyes had changed.
And not in a way that comforted her.
He guided her through the crowd with practiced charm, shaking hands, nodding to CEOs, exchanging niceties with art patrons who looked like they judged your net worth with a single glance.
"You've done this before," she muttered as they passed a group of board members.
"Every week," Kade replied. "Different venue. Same faces. Same threats."
That last word wasn't casual.
Threats.
Aria felt like she'd stepped into a game without knowing the rules.
They paused near a sculpture of twisted glass — blue, sharp, beautiful. Kade's hand settled lightly on her lower back, as if to signal to anyone watching that they were still the perfect newlyweds.
"You didn't answer me," she said. "Who was the woman?"
"She shouldn't have been here."
"That's not an answer."
Kade's jaw tightened. "She's... from before. From a time I buried."
A memory, then. A mistake?
Aria's eyes narrowed. "Ex?"
"Not the kind that fades quietly," he said, his voice flat. "And not the kind that forgives."
Aria suddenly understood the weight of the silence in their apartment, the security at every entrance, the precise public image.
Kade Vale didn't just protect his reputation — he guarded it like a fortress under siege.
And someone just slipped through the cracks.
---
Back at the penthouse, Kade disappeared into his office without another word. Aria didn't follow. She had learned enough in a few days to know that when he closed that door, he locked more than wood behind it.
She stood by the windows instead, still dressed in the expensive gown they'd picked for her. The city lights glittered below like a million secrets waiting to be uncovered.
And one of those secrets had red lipstick and a phone full of photos.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown Number
"You looked beautiful tonight, Mrs. Vale. But do you know what you married into?"
She froze.
The same number that had messaged her the night before. No name. No trace.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
Reply? Block? Report?
Instead, she snapped a screenshot and saved it to her locked folder.
When she turned, Kade stood in the hallway, watching her silently.
Her stomach dropped. "How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough."
He didn't ask who she was texting. Maybe he already knew. Maybe he didn't need to.
"Did you plant that message to test me?" she asked quietly.
Kade raised a brow. "If I ever test you, Aria, you'll know it."
The way he said her name — low and deliberate — made something coil tight in her chest.
She tucked the phone into her purse. "Are we going to talk about her?"
"I told you she's from the past."
"Your past is sending me messages," she snapped. "That makes it my problem now."
He stared at her for a long beat. "I'll handle it."
"That's not good enough."
Kade took a step closer, and for the first time, she didn't back away.
"This arrangement works because it's clean," he said. "No lies. No complications."
Aria tilted her head. "Then stop lying by omission."
His gaze darkened.
And then, softly, he said, "Her name is Calista."
It didn't ring any bells. "Ex-girlfriend?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what?"
He hesitated. A flicker of something passed through his eyes — not fear, but caution.
"She's the daughter of a man I ruined," he said. "Years ago. Business. A failed merger. I exposed him before he could bury his crimes. He lost everything."
"And she blames you."
"She should blame her father," Kade said coldly. "But people don't work like that. So yes — she blames me."
"And now she's watching us?"
"She's always watching," he murmured.
Goosebumps rose along Aria's arms.
"Why didn't you warn me?"
"I didn't think she'd resurface."
"She's taking pictures of us, Kade. She's messaging me. If this marriage is supposed to protect you from a scandal, it's already unraveling."
He stepped away, raking a hand through his hair. For the first time since she met him, Kade Vale looked... unsettled.
"I'll fix it," he said.
But Aria wasn't so sure he could.
---
Later that night, she sat in her room, unable to sleep. Her laptop glowed on the desk in front of her as she typed "Calista" into every search bar she could find.
Nothing.
No recent images. No profiles. No mentions.
It was like she didn't exist.
Until Aria clicked one old press release from nearly a decade ago.
Calista Devereaux, daughter of convicted financial criminal Marcus Devereaux, remains out of the public eye.
So she had changed her name. Disappeared from the spotlight.
And now, she was back.
Targeting them.
Aria stared at the photo.
The girl beside her disgraced father.
Dark hair. Red dress.
Same eyes.
Same woman.
Her inbox pinged again.
Unknown Number
"Ask Kade what really happened the night Marcus died. Or are you too afraid of the truth?"