Chapter 5
Aurora's POV
I paused in shock. For a second, I thought I'd misheard him.
"You want me to... what?" My voice came out shaky, thin as glass.
On the other end of the line, Jace's reply was slow, deliberate. "Come back to me. As my wife. With your son."
The breath hitched in my chest, sharp and unsteady. My grip on the phone tightened until my knuckles burned. For one absurd heartbeat, hope dared to flare in me, did this mean he believed me at last? That he had accepted Alex?
"Jace..." My throat constricted. "Does that mean you're saying... he's yours?"
Silence stretched, weighted and suffocating. Then his voice slid through, calm and lethal.
"I don't give a damn if the boy is mine or not. That isn't the point."
My heart cracked all over again. Of course. Stupid me. For a second, I thought maybe he'd changed. That maybe the man who once swore I was his entire world still lived somewhere behind that steel façade. But this wasn't about Alex. It was never about Alex.
"You don't care?" I whispered, heat prickling my eyes. "My son...our son's life is hanging by a thread, and you're..."
"I care about you," he cut in. His tone sharpened, firm as a blade. "The only way I'm lifting a finger, Aurora, is if you come back. To me. To my house. To the life you walked away from."
I staggered a step back, colliding with the edge of the hotel desk. He wants me? I laughed quietly. Perhaps if this had happened the first few days after I'd left years ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity but this was different. This was just a means to capture me, hold me in his stupid cage but it wasn't going to work. Not now, not ever.
"You can't be serious," I told him.
"You know I don't play games." His voice was maddeningly even, the sound of a man used to control, used to obedience. "You want me to help your boy? Fine. Pack your things and bring him home. Otherwise..." He let the pause drag. "Don't waste my time again."
Anger surged in me so hot, so fierce, it threatened to spill over. But beneath it was terror. Especially because of how little time Alex had left, terror that Jace might be his only chance.
"You think you can hold a child's life hostage just to get your way?" My voice trembled, but with fury.
"This isn't about the boy." His tone dropped, rougher now. "It's about you and me. You know it. I know it. I've given you one condition. Agree to it, and Alex will have everything money and medicine can buy. Refuse..." He let the word dangle, poisonous.
I clenched my jaw so hard it ached. "You're unbelievable."
"And yet," he said, dark amusement curling around his words, "you're still on the line."
The sheer arrogance in his voice made my stomach twist. He thought he had me cornered. He thought he could snap his fingers and I'd crawl back into his world, like the desperate, lovesick girl I once was.
Not anymore.
"Have you forgotten, Jace?" I said tightly, searching for the one weapon I had left even if it was fake. "I'm married."
That landed. I could almost hear the way his breath hardened, the sharp scrape of his teeth grinding together.
"You expect me to believe that?" His voice was low, dangerous now.
"You saw the ring in your office, do you think I'm lying?," I asked him calmly.
"Aurora..." he began but I interrupted him.
"I have a husband, Jace. One who would likely do everything in his power to take care of me, one who never neglects me and our son, Alex has a family as do I. I'm not yours to claim anymore."
There was a sound on the other end, not quite a laugh, not quite a growl. Something darker. "Then divorce him."
My heart lurched. He said it so simply, like tearing a life apart was just another deal to close. Like my choices, my dignity meant nothing.
"Go to hell," I snapped.
"Already there," he shot back without hesitation.
"Then stay there," I spat, my voice shaking with rage. "Because I'm not going back to you. Not ever. If you want to help Alex, then do it without your damn strings. If it's a test you want to take then take the fucking test to know if he's yours. If not..." My voice broke, but I forced the words out anyway. "Then fuck off, Jace."
For a second, silence. Then I heard it, the rough exhale of his breath, the faint scrape of his hand against glass. He was angry. More than angry.
"You're still the same stubborn little fool," he said finally, his tone low and guttural. "You think you can walk away from me, build a life, lie to my face, and I'll just stand by? You're wrong, Aurora. Dead wrong."
"Good," I bit out. "Then stay wrong. Because I'm not yours to own, not yours to command. Not anymore. And besides I already did it. What are you going to do about it?"
The fury rolling off him was almost tangible through the phone. "You'll regret this."
"Maybe," I whispered. "But at least the regret will be mine. Not yours."
And with that, I hung up.
The moment the call ended, I collapsed against the wall, phone still clutched in my shaking hand. My lungs fought for air, my chest heaving like I'd just run a marathon.
My eyes stung, but I refused to let tears fall. Not for him. Not again.
But the weight of what just happened pressed down on me. He wasn't bluffing. If Jace said he wouldn't help unless I came back, then he meant it. Which meant Alex's chances...
I shook my head violently. No. I wouldn't let myself spiral. Not yet.
I had to think. I had to find another way.
I tried to sleep that night but the accursed sleep never came. I tossed and turned through the night, replaying every word, every pause, every hint of threat in Jace's voice. The room felt colder, emptier, with his shadow still lingering over me.
By dawn, I was as hollow-eyed as a ghost staring at her own reflection.
He doesn't care if Alex is his.
He just wants me.
The words dug into me like claws, carving out every shred of hope I had left.
Still, I made myself a promise as the first light of morning crept through the curtains: If Jace Carter thought he could buy my soul with my son's life, he was wrong.
I would fight. For Alex. For myself. For the freedom I'd clawed my way into, piece by piece, after he shattered me.
And if I had to go through hell to find another way to save my boy... then so be it.
