Dante's POV
Julian's voice crackled through the phone speaker, sickeningly sweet.
"Aria, baby, I'm so glad you answered. I was worried about you."
I watched Aria's face carefully. Her jaw clenched. Her free hand curled into a fist.
"Worried?" Her voice came out flat. Cold. "You're worried about me?"
"Of course! You left so suddenly yesterday. I wanted to explain properly—"
"Explain what, Julian?" Aria's voice started rising. "Explain how you're marrying my sister in less than twelve hours? Explain how you posted engagement photos on Instagram? Explain which part, exactly?"
Silence on the other end. Then Julian's tone changed—harder, more manipulative.
"Don't be dramatic, Aria. You know this is temporary. Celeste is dying. She has six months. Once she's gone, we can finally be together properly."
My hands clenched into fists. The audacity of this man.
Aria's face twisted with rage and pain. "So I'm supposed to wait around like your backup plan? While you marry my sister and play happy husband?"
"It's not like that—"
"Then what is it like?" Aria was shaking now. "Tell me, Julian. What am I to you?"
Another pause. When Julian spoke again, his voice was calculating. Cruel.
"You're practical, Aria. You've always been practical. This is a business decision. Celeste's family money combined with mine will save both our companies. You understand business. Once she's dead, you'll get everything—the money, the status, me. Just be patient."
I'd heard enough. I reached over and pressed the speaker button so everyone could hear.
"Aria's patience just ran out," I said clearly.
Julian's voice changed immediately. Sharp. Angry. "Who the hell is that? Aria, who are you with?"
"Someone who values her more than you ever did," I replied before Aria could speak.
"This is a private conversation—"
"Not anymore." I stepped closer to Aria, close enough that Julian would hear the proximity. "Aria has something to tell you, Cross. Don't you, sweetheart?"
Aria looked up at me. Her eyes were wet with tears, but underneath was pure fire. She understood what I was offering her. A chance to hurt him back.
She took a deep breath.
"Julian, I'm calling off our relationship. Completely. Forever."
"What? Aria, don't be ridiculous. You're just emotional—"
"And I'm getting married," Aria continued, her voice getting stronger. "To someone who actually wants me. Not as a backup plan. Not as a business decision. Me."
The silence on the other end was deafening.
Then Julian exploded. "MARRIED? To who? You don't know anyone! You have no one!"
"She has me," I said smoothly. "Dante Blackwood. Perhaps you've heard of me?"
The sharp intake of breath told me he had. Everyone in business knew my name. Knew my power. Knew I could destroy companies with a single phone call.
"Blackwood?" Julian's voice went high with panic. "Aria, what are you doing? You can't just—this is insane—"
"No more insane than you marrying my sister twenty-four hours before our wedding," Aria shot back. "Goodbye, Julian. Have a wonderful wedding tomorrow. I hope you and Celeste are very happy together."
"Aria, wait! Don't hang up! We need to talk about this—"
She ended the call.
For a moment, we all stood in silence. Then Aria started laughing. That same broken, terrible sound from before. But this time, there was triumph mixed in.
"I did it," she whispered. "I actually did it."
"You were magnificent," I told her honestly.
Sophie grabbed Aria's shoulders. "Are you okay? That was intense."
"I'm better than okay." Aria wiped her tears away. "I'm free."
Her phone started ringing again. Julian calling back. She rejected the call. Then a text came through. Then another. Then five more in rapid succession.
I plucked the phone from her hand and turned it off completely.
"He doesn't get to harass you anymore," I said firmly. "From now on, all communication goes through lawyers."
"I don't have a lawyer," Aria said quietly.
"You have mine. You have everything that's mine." I pulled out my business card, handing it to her. "Tomorrow morning, ten AM. Come to this address. We'll make this marriage official and start planning how to destroy everyone who hurt you."
Aria took the card with trembling fingers. "This is really happening? You're really going to marry me? Help me fight back?"
"I don't say things I don't mean." I caught her chin gently, making her look at me. "By this time tomorrow, you'll be Mrs. Blackwood. And everyone who threw you away will realize they just made the biggest mistake of their pathetic lives."
Something shifted in her eyes. The brokenness faded a little. Hope flickered.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Don't thank me yet." I released her chin. "Revenge is ugly work. Are you sure you're ready for it?"
"After what they did to me?" Her voice hardened. "I'm ready to burn it all down."
Pride surged through me again. This woman was going to be spectacular once I helped her find her power.
"Go home. Rest. Tomorrow, everything changes." I nodded to Sophie. "Take care of her tonight."
"Always do," Sophie replied, wrapping an arm around Aria's shoulders.
They walked back to the car. I watched them drive away, Aria's face visible through the window—determined, angry, alive.
Marcus appeared beside me. "So we're really doing this? Marrying her? Going to war with the Cross and Montgomery families?"
"We are."
"Boss, you know this is insane, right? You're marrying a pregnant woman you barely know to help her get revenge on her ex-fiancé. That's not business. That's—"
"Love," I finished quietly.
Marcus's eyes widened. "You love her? You've only talked to her twice!"
"I've loved her since she handed me that coffee five years ago." I pulled out my phone. "She just didn't know it yet. Now she will."
I dialed my head of security. He answered on the first ring.
"Sir?"
"I need complete background checks on Julian Cross, Celeste Hartley, and Victoria Montgomery-Hartley. Everything—financial records, medical records, text messages, emails. I want to know every secret, every lie, every piece of dirt they're hiding."
"How deep should we dig?"
"All the way to hell if necessary. I want ammunition to destroy them."
"Understood. Timeline?"
"By morning. I'm getting married at noon, and I want wedding gifts ready for my bride." I smiled coldly. "The gift of watching her enemies burn."
"On it, sir."
I hung up and turned to Marcus. "Get the legal team ready. Marriage contract, prenup that protects Aria completely, and paperwork to claim paternity of her baby."
"You're really going to raise another man's child?"
"I'm going to raise Aria's child. There's a difference." I headed for my car. "That baby is part of her. That makes him mine too."
Marcus shook his head but smiled. "You really are obsessed."
"Completely. Now let's go home. We have a wedding to plan."
The drive back was quiet. I stared out the window, thinking about tomorrow. About Aria becoming my wife. About finally having her in my life after five years of watching from the shadows.
My phone buzzed. A text from my security chief.
Found something on Celeste Hartley. You're going to want to see this immediately. Calling now.
The phone rang. I answered.
"What did you find?"
"Sir, Celeste Hartley isn't dying. She's been faking her illness for three years."
My blood ran cold. "Are you certain?"
"Positive. She's been paying off a doctor to forge medical records. The whole terminal illness thing is a complete lie."
Rage exploded through me. That woman had manipulated everyone. Stolen Aria's fiancé with fake sympathy. Made Aria pay for fake medical bills.
"Get me proof. Medical records, bank transfers, everything."
"Already compiling it. But sir, there's more."
"What?"
"Celeste Hartley and Victoria Montgomery planned this together. They've been systematically stealing from Aria for years—taking credit for her work, draining money from accounts Aria built, forging signatures. They were planning to take over the whole company once Aria married Julian and was legally tied up."
My hands clenched around the phone. "They were going to trap her?"
"Worse. Once Aria was Julian's wife, they were going to have her declared mentally incompetent. Force her into a facility. Take everything while she was locked away."
Horror washed over me. If Aria had married Julian tomorrow, they would have destroyed her completely. Legally. Permanently.
"Send me everything. Now."
"Yes sir. But there's one more thing. Something big."
"What could be bigger than attempted fraud and false imprisonment?"
My security chief paused. "Sir, I found Aria's real birth records. The sealed ones."
"And?"
"She's not just Montgomery's daughter. Her mother was Elizabeth Montgomery. As in, Montgomery Technologies Elizabeth Montgomery."
My breath caught. "The tech heiress?"
"The same. Elizabeth died in a suspicious car accident right after she married Aria's father. Her entire fortune was supposed to go to Aria when she turned twenty-five. That's next month, sir."
"Does Aria know?"
"No. The inheritance was sealed by her maternal grandfather. He's been waiting to contact her safely." Another pause. "Sir, when Aria turns twenty-five next month, she'll inherit five billion dollars. The family trying to destroy her has no idea they're about to lose everything to the woman they threw away."
I started laughing. Cold, dark, victorious laughter.
"This just got so much better," I said.
"Sir?"
"Tomorrow, I'm not just marrying Aria to help her get revenge. I'm marrying the secret heiress to one of the biggest fortunes in the country." My smile turned predatory. "And in thirty days, we're going to walk into Julian's wedding reception and destroy them all."
"What do you need from me?"
"Contact the grandfather. Set up a meeting. Tomorrow afternoon, after Aria and I are married." I looked out at the city lights. "It's time to bring the lost heiress home."
As I hung up, only one thought filled my mind:
Tomorrow, Aria would become my wife.
In thirty days, she'd become the most powerful woman in the city.
And Julian Cross would realize he'd just thrown away a queen to marry a fake, dying thief.