ARIA'S POV
She'd been staring at the mirror for ten minutes.
Not at herself. Just....at the mirror. At the woman standing in it who had once stood in this same estate wearing a maid's uniform with a fake name and a plan that was already falling apart.
Same woman.
But with everything different now.
"Aria." Damien's voice from the doorway.
"I'm ready."
"You've been ready for twenty minutes."
"Then I'm still ready."
He came to stand behind her. Looked at her face in the mirror.
"What," he said.
"Nothing."
"Aria."
She looked at her reflection. The dress. The Foundation pin on her lapel.....small, simple, a design she'd approved three weeks ago, with her ring on her finger.
"I keep thinking about the first time I walked into that hospital," she said. "As a patient's daughter. Not a doctor. Just.....someone's child who was terrified." She paused. "And now I'm going back in there to stand at a podium and tell everyone why I broke into a billionaire's house."
