Page 43 of Sinful Desires

“Dad? What is happening?” Aria asked. “I’m a grown woman. I can do what I want.”

“And this?” He thrust an arm her way, glaring at me. “Hacking me, I can forgive. Digging into my past? I have nothing to hide. If you had come to me as a man, we could have cleared things up. But you chose to go behind my back.”

His dark eyes were murderous by the time he concluded, “And you dragged my family into it. My daughter. I could break your neck.”

I almost wished he would when Aria’s choked sob cut through the icy silence. “What is he saying?” she asked me, tugging my arm. “What did you do? You hacked him?”

“It was only an attempt. He did much worse than that.” Magnus pulled her away from me, and I let her go without a fight. I had no defense. “It’s a good thing I warned your mother in advance not to trust him.”

When my eyes widened, he barked out a brutal laugh. I had underestimated the man. I’d been wrong about so many things. “I thought spending time with us would be enough to put an end to your bullshit,” he spat. “That was my mistake. Leila’s blood flows through you, and you’re as irredeemable as she was. Now, I want you out of here. Out of this hotel, out of our home, out of our lives. I’ll have your things sent to you.”

“Whatever he did, there must be an explanation.” Aria’s chin quivered when she looked up at him. “There has to be.”

Turning to me, she begged, “Tell him. Tell him it’s a mistake.”

“He created audio files using AI to make it sound like I left explicit messages for his mother.” Magnus growled. “He gave your mom a phone full of them, not to mention printouts of fake text conversations with Leila to make it look like we were having an affair for years. And he left it for her tonight of all nights, out there in the ballroom. All in hopes of destroying her, me, our family.”

Now her entire body shook. She leaned against her father, staring at me in horror as the truth sank in. “Say it isn’t true,” she pleaded in a thin whisper.

I couldn’t. Nor could I tell her how much I regretted what I’d done to her. Not in front of him. He would have laid me out on my ass before I managed three words.

All I could do was lift my chin and face the aftermath of what I’d brought about—the destruction not of Magnus Miller but my own.

And Aria’s.

Though I would rather have squeezed my balls in a vice than watch her crumble, I forced myself to witness her face falling before she covered it with her hands. I deserved it after what I’d done. Magnus shot one final look of complete disgust my way, wrapping her in his arms.

Taking that as my cue, I left the room and soon headed out of the hotel without another word to anyone who’d been kind enough to welcome me into their lives, knowing I’d never forgive myself for being such a fool.

And that I would be lucky if Magnus chose to leave things where they were.

19

ARIA

Until now, I’d only thought I knew what heartbreak was. I hadn’t gone twenty-eight years without ever falling in love or breaking up. I hadn’t had a ton of boyfriends but enough to toughen me up a little.

Or so I thought.

It wasn’t losing Miles, which would have hurt plenty on its own. The pain went so much deeper than that. Loss paired with betrayal. Looking back, going over every moment, conversation, and stolen glance, I asked myself what was really going through his head. How many times he’d laughed at me, and how easy it had been to make me fall for him and his lies.

Even that, I might have been able to stand. The way I imagined I would’ve been able to stand being cheated on. Sure, it would’ve hurt like hell for a long time, but I would’ve gotten over it.

Knowing he wanted to hurt my family? There was malice behind what he had done.ThatI couldn’t get over and doubted I ever would. Who could?

I had fallen for him when he was counting down the days until he could destroy us.

The worst part was I still didn’t understand why after a week of hiding in my childhood bedroom.

What was I supposed to do? Call him? Even if I had wanted to hear his voice again, which I didn’t, no matter how my weak heart told me otherwise, how could I believe a word he’d say?

Days went by without me keeping track of morning or night. I didn’t bother checking the time, and I sure as hell didn’t check my phone, which I had turned off completely by the end of that awful, ugly night. Somehow, Mom and Dad had managed to maintain the image. As far as I knew, everybody in our circle was now aware of what went down, but beyond that? Not a single guest had a clue. Miles’s big plan to humiliate my innocent parents had fizzled out.

I’d been humiliated enough for all of us.

Sleep was the only way to escape the pain of betrayal, hating myself for letting myself be betrayed. Every so often, I would open the bedroom door a crack after getting up to use the bathroom, and there would be a tray waiting for me on the floor in the hallway. Mom and Valentina had eventually given up on trying to get me to talk. I hadn’t bothered unlocking the door when they knocked. I ate the bare minimum and left the rest before crawling back into bed and wishing I could sleep until everything passed. How much time would that take? I didn’t have the faintest clue.

How could he do it? How could he live with us, lie to us, and allow himself to be accepted and even embraced when he knew all along what he planned to do? What kind of sociopath did that?

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