Chapter 311 Unexpected guest

Chapter 311: Chapter 311 Unexpected guest

Aria’s POV

Ever since Ethan had started showing up where he wasn’t wanted, Damian had quietly had a word with the property managers. My building was closed to outside visitors, full stop.

Anyone who wasn’t him, wasn’t family, or wasn’t someone I personally walked through the door myself, they didn’t get in. Nobody even needed to call up and ask.

If it hadn’t been an elderly woman, and if I hadn’t happened to be standing right there, the guards would have handled it the way they always did. Escorted her off the property and been done with it.

I turned to look, and there she was. Rose Holt.

Damian’s gaze flicked down toward the gate, cool and unreadable. "The Holts?"

"It’s Ethan’s grandmother." I drew a slow breath and kept my voice flat. "Just have her leave. I don’t want to see her."

"We already tried talking her down, Luna. The thing is, she’s stubborn as anything. Flat-out refuses to go, and she’s saying some pretty ugly things. Something about how this house belongs to her son." The guard shifted, uncomfortable. "I don’t want to cause a scene, but if we use force on a woman her age and something happens to her..."

He was covering himself, and I couldn’t even blame him.

They were only doing their jobs. "Then call the police—" I started, frowning. But before the words were even out of my mouth, Damian spoke, low and even.

"Bring her up."

"Damian?"

"I know what you’re worried about." His voice was cold and clear. "But not everyone earns kindness just by getting old."

The corner of his mouth curved, not quite a smile.

He tightened his hold on my hand, lifting my arm and tucking it against his chest as he squared his shoulders and turned to face the gate full on.

"She wants to see you this badly, we’ll do her the courtesy."

I knew Damian couldn’t stand to watch me swallow so much as a single insult. Rose had a vicious tongue on her, and there was no way he was going to let that slide.

But I’d started a whole new life now. The hatred I’d carried for the Holt family had worn down almost to nothing.

I’d wanted nothing more than a clean line drawn between us. His side of the river, mine. No more tangled threads.

And the truth was, Rose’s health was fragile. Part of me had always wanted to leave the old woman a shred of dignity.

When I didn’t say anything, the guard went straight off to bring her up.

The second Rose heard I’d agreed to see her, her whole bearing snapped back into place. She shoved off the people still trying to hem her in and strode across the courtyard until she was standing right in front of me.

The guards planted themselves between us, though, a wall of them, watching her hands.

"Whatever you’ve got to say, you can say it right here," the head of security said flatly.

"Aria, well, aren’t you something." Her voice climbed, sharp and carrying. "So this is what you traded him for? A pretty boy? This is why you turned so cold on my Ethan, isn’t it? Do you have any idea what you’ve done to him? He can’t eat, he can’t sleep, he’s made himself sick over you—"

She jabbed a finger toward my face like she wished she had a second mouth to curse me with.

"Pretty boy?" I let my voice go quiet. "You’ll want to watch how you talk about him. He’s my lawful husband. He’s also the last person your family can afford to cross."

She hadn’t even finished before I cut her off, gentle as anything.

Damian had my hand clamped in his, and the pull of it tipped me sideways into his chest without my meaning to. That closeness, right there in front of her, only threw fuel on the fire.

Rose’s face went purple. "Lawful husband?" she jeered, loud enough to turn heads. "You’ve been apart from Ethan a matter of months and you’ve already got a lawful husband? Aria, you cheap, faithless little thing. I misjudged you completely.

"Ha. And this one, this pretty boy, the Holts can’t afford to cross him? Aria, which club did you drag him out of? Which one of them has you this far out of your mind?"

"If you hadn’t sunk your claws into us with all those dirty tricks, what makes you think a man like that would ever stand next to you and play the part? You honestly believe the money you swindled off us is going to keep you living high with him for the rest of your life?"

She’d lost it completely now, and every word out of her came out dipped in poison.

"Are you finished?" My ears had gone hot. I finally couldn’t hold it back a second longer, and my voice came out hard.

"Ethan trapped me in a fake marriage. He’s lower than any man you’d find in a club, and a hundred times more disgusting. Don’t you dare put him in the same sentence as my husband."

"And another thing. My husband isn’t some kept boy. He’s my equal in every way. We chose each other. He’s brilliant, he’s got more money than your whole family will ever see, and he’s a good man. Every last one of you Holts couldn’t hold a candle to a single hair on his head—"

If she’d only been going after me, I might have kept my composure. But every syllable out of her mouth was aimed at Damian, and that lit something in me that went straight up.

I couldn’t stand there and let her tear him apart.