Chapter 42

Eros opened his eyes and watched Aria keenly. He had decided to connect to Jake instead of her, he had to see things from the perspective of the person who hurt her in order to understand her pain better and he now did.

“It wasn’t your fault, you know?” Eros began. “You had no idea he was set out to hurt your family through you.”

“The signs were there, and I didn’t see them; I chose to believe in something else,” Aria replied, her eyes becoming cloudy from the tears.

“None of that matters anymore,” Eros replied. “The past has happened, and nothing is going to change that no matter what, I can’t even tamper with it myself. All you can do is to look forward and make the best of what you’ve got right now.”

“What if I don’t want to do that?” Aria sighed. “What if I can’t find myself anymore? What if this is the real Aria Jasper? Forever broken and awkward?”

“You believe this is the real you because you’ve not attempted to break out of the shackles holding y