The sun hadn't risen yet.
But Aria was already out of bed.
The entire estate was still asleep when she moved through the halls, barefoot and quiet, wearing an old hoodie that once belonged to her mother and the steel of someone who'd finally stopped waiting for permission.
She slipped through the back corridor and out onto the private terrace. The air was sharp against her skin, the sky a dull gray bruise above the city. Somewhere below, the Langford guards were likely shifting in their posts, tracking movement. But she didn't care.
Aria had read the contract three more times before finally sleeping.
She hadn't dreamed.
And now, as the cold seeped into her bones, all she could think about was how many years had passed under someone else's rules. And how she'd let it happen.
That ended now.
She pulled out her phone and typed a single message to Lin:
> Bring someone you trust. We're rewriting everything.
***
Jaxon watched the sunrise from behind the wheel of his car, parked on the edge of a street two blocks from the Langford estate.
He hadn't slept either.
The fake headline still looped in his head. So did the image. The look on her face. The thought that someone wanted to humiliate her, punish her for something she hadn't even done.
It wasn't a warning.
It was a threat.
A quiet one.
And it worked.
Because Jaxon hadn't been this angry in years.
He tapped the side of his steering wheel, breathing like a soldier who'd just been dropped into hostile territory.
He didn't want to be her shadow anymore.
He wanted to be her equal.
Her friend.
Whatever version of himself she might choose, if she ever did. But he had to know her first. All of her. Not just the heiress or the fighter. The one beneath it. The one who would burn the world before letting anyone cage her again.
He started the car.
Not toward the estate.
Toward her university. Her favorite café. The little places she mentioned in passing when she thought he wasn't listening.
He was going to find her. Not to protect her.
To finally see her.
***
But Aria wasn't in any of those places.
She was still at the estate, in her father's private library now—the one only opened for special guests or personal deals. The room smelled of old money and older ambition.
Lin stood at the desk, reading.
Aria paced.
"You're sure this is enforceable?" she asked.
Lin looked up, eyes sharp behind gold-rimmed glasses. "It was enforceable. Past tense."
Aria stopped. "Meaning?"
"Meaning he tied the contract to your trust, not to your person. That's a loophole. And if we play it right, you can break the terms without losing everything. But..."
"But?"
"He's got leverage. That PR clause? The gag order? If you speak out about the marriage before we nullify it legally, he can sue you for defamation. Or worse—leak something to make it look like you breached first."
Aria crossed her arms. "He'd really go that far?"
"You know he would."
Her jaw tightened.
"Then we go further."
***
By the time Jaxon returned to the estate, Aria was already waiting in the garden.
She was leaning against the marble railing, wind in her hair, no pretense on her face. Just tired truth.
He stepped onto the path.
Paused.
She didn't turn around. "You saw the headline."
"Yeah."
"It wasn't me."
"I know."
She exhaled. A small breath. But one that let her shoulders drop slightly.
"Someone wants my image off the table," she said. "And they're not above public execution to make it happen."
Jaxon moved closer. "You think it's your father?"
"I think..." She turned, finally meeting his eyes. "...he'd rather see me humiliated than disobedient."
He didn't flinch.
"You know about the contract," he said.
She nodded slowly.
"And I'm guessing you knew about it before me."
"I did."
A pause. Not tense. Just real.
"I should hate you," she whispered.
"Then hate me."
She stepped toward him. "Do you think I should want it? The contract? To Marry a stranger?"
He didn't move.
"I want you to have a choice. That's the only part of this that matters to me now."
Her throat bobbed. "Then stop protecting me. And start standing next to me."
He nodded.
And just like that—no kiss, no fireworks, no grand gesture—the air between them shifted.
Not softer.
Stronger.
Aligned.
***
Inside, Lin emailed the first draft of a new legal plan.
Outside, Aria and Jaxon stood side by side.
And above them, somewhere in the clouds where power had always played its games, the balance began to tilt.
Toward fire.
Toward freedom.
Toward war.
***
The knock at Aria's bedroom door came just after 3 a.m.
She didn't answer it.
She was still in the same clothes, legs tucked beneath her on the window bench, papers spread around her like broken glass. Her eyes were bloodshot, but she hadn't cried. Not one tear. Not after what she'd read. Not after what she now knew.
The knock came again.
Soft.
Deliberate.
"Aria," Jaxon's voice. Low. Measured. "We need to talk."
She didn't move.
He waited. She could hear the weight of him on the other side of the door, could imagine the tension in his jaw, the way his hands probably curled into fists when he was trying to stay calm.
Finally, she stood.
She didn't open the door. Just leaned against it, voice cool through the wood. "Are you here as my bodyguard, or as something else?"
A pause.
Then: "I'm here as Jaxon."
She opened it.
Just enough to look him in the face.
He looked… worn. Not in the tired sense, but in the stripped-down way someone looks when they've been holding too much in for too long.
"You look like you're about to tell me a big secret," she said.
"I'm not really who you think I am."
"I know."
That surprised him. She saw it in the flicker behind his eyes.
She stepped back. "Come in. But not too far."
He did.
Carefully.
His gaze flicked over the papers on her desk, her floor, her arms folded tightly across her chest. He didn't ask. Not yet.
"I have to talk to my father about tearing this contract down," Aria said. "And not because I care about you. Because I'm leverage to both the person I'm tied to and my father."
Jaxon nodded once. "Agreed."
She studied him. "You came here to be my protector. But you're part of the same world that signed my life away. What exactly are you here to protect, Jaxon?"
His silence was an answer.
She stepped closer, daring him to flinch. "You said you wanted to know me. To see who I really was. But did you ever plan to let me see you? Or was I always just a mission?"
"You were never a mission. Not to me."
That was the most honest thing he'd said since they met.
He sat down slowly on the edge of her couch. "Aria, everything I didn't tell you—it wasn't to hurt you. It was because I didn't know how. And I still don't. Not when there was so much I was still trying to understand."
"You mean feelings? Or motives?"
"Both."
Outside the window, the city was beginning to grey. The hour between night and dawn. The hour things shift.
Aria finally moved to sit across from him. Not beside. Not close.
"There's something else," she said. "The contract. It wasn't just about money. Or reputation. My mother fought it. And they erased her."
Jaxon's head lifted sharply.
She handed him the document.
He read it once, jaw tightening with every line.
"I'm going to bring this down," she said. "Piece by piece. Not just the contract—but the idea that people like my father get to own people like me."
"You won't have to do it alone."
She looked at him. "And what will become of us, Jaxon? When this contract burns?"
"Someone worth choosing. If you'll let me."
She didn't answer.
Not yet.
But her silence didn't feel like rejection.
It felt like waiting.
A beat passed.
Then her phone buzzed.
She checked it. Blinked.
Then handed it to him.
> URGENT: Langford Foundation funds flagged in offshore leak. Potential embezzlement under investigation.
Jaxon read it. "This is going to escalate fast."
She stood. "I think this is where i make my move. Whatever you want to say, will have to wait."
He rose beside her.
And this time, when they left the room, they left together.