Part 3Don, I Stopped Loving You

The next day, Aiden showed up with all my favorite things.

He pulled me into his arms, but the faint scent clinging to him wasn't his—it was jasmine. Juniper's perfume.

I shoved him away, my face twisting with disgust. "Go shower. You reek."

He sniffed his own collar, caught the scent, and let me go with an awkward grimace. "Sorry. About yesterday—you got the short end of it. Whatever you want, name it. It's yours."

I didn't answer.

"Baby, we talked about this, remember?" He reached for my hand. "Juniper's got nobody now. We can't just stand by and watch her fall apart. "

I couldn't help it—the words came out sharp. "And after the baby's born? How are you going to explain it to her? Tell her the man holding her hand through her pregnancy wasn't really her husband? Have you even thought about what you did yesterday—what that's going to cost? "

Aiden paused, caught off guard. Then he shook his head. "We don't need to worry about that right now. The priority is getting the baby here safely. After that, I'll give you the ending you deserve."

I watched him walk into the bathroom without another word.

One lie takes a thousand more to cover it up. And I was done being part of this one.

I got up and started packing.

When Aiden came out of the shower, he saw my suitcase and frowned. "Going somewhere?"

I paused, then said flatly, "Yeah. Need a break. Some time away."

He crossed the room and lifted me into his arms, his voice turning serious. "Just hold on a little longer, okay? Once the baby's born, I swear—I'll tell Juniper everything. Clean break."

I looked into those green eyes, and for a second, something in me wavered.

Then his phone rang.

"Mason… I miss you. Can I come see you?" Juniper's voice on the other end was soft and fragile, and just like that, it swallowed every ounce of his attention.

Aiden's brow tightened. He glanced at me, lowered his voice. "We said Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. Today's Wednesday. I have work—"

"Mason, I don't care. I'm already at the villa gate."

His whole body tensed. He ended the call in a hurry, then turned to me, panic flickering behind his eyes, his voice rushed and pleading:

"Aurora, please—just hide in the closet for a minute. Don't let Juniper see you. She can't handle any stress right now."

My fists clenched so hard my nails nearly broke through my palms. The ache in my chest spread like cracks in glass.

"You know I have claustrophobia." My voice was barely a whisper. "When my parents used to fight, I'd hide in the dark closet. It stayed with me. All these years, I can't do closed spaces—"

I thought—I really thought—that even if he favored Juniper and her baby, the old feelings would count for something. That he'd remember what that fear did to me.

The hesitation on his face lasted maybe a second. Then his eyes went cold. "Sorry. No choice. "

His hand came down hard on the back of my neck. I didn't even have time to react before my legs gave out and everything went black.

When I came to, I was locked inside the closet. Pitch black. The walls closing in—the old terror flooding back like a tidal wave.

Then I heard voices outside.

I eased the door open just a crack.

Juniper was kissing Aiden.

He glanced toward the closet—hesitated, just for a moment.

Then he kissed her back.

What followed was the kind of sound that peels your skin off from the inside. Every moan, every whisper, every breath—each one tore through me like a blade.

My heart splintered into a thousand pieces. I curled into myself, barely breathing.

All the sweetness we'd shared—every memory I'd held on to—burned to ash in that one moment. Aiden's lies had never been clearer.

And in that darkness, my resolve hardened like steel.

Three days. I was done counting down. I just had to survive until then.