Aria shoved the heavy, soundproof door shut behind her.
The freezing air conditioning of the hallway hit her bare shoulders, making her violently shiver. The thick door muffled the chaotic bass of the club, but Carter's furious roar still echoed in her ears.
She pressed her back against the wall, the textured floral wallpaper scraping against her skin. She gasped for air, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Suddenly, the agonizing pain in her head escalated. It felt as if a thick metal spike was being driven directly into her brain matter.
Aria let out a choked gasp. She clamped her hands over her ears, sliding down the wall until she hit the cold carpet.
The first massive memory fragment forced its way into her consciousness.
She saw herself standing in a lavish ballroom. She watched her own hand deliberately tilt a glass of red wine, pouring it straight down the front of a blonde girl's pale silk dress.
A second fragment slammed into her before she could process the first.
She was standing in the pouring rain. She held a heavy metal wrench, smashing it repeatedly against the windshield of Carter's sports car while screaming like a madwoman.
The memories hit her like physical blows. The dam broke. Two years of horrific, malicious actions flooded her mind.
She saw herself sneering at waitstaff. She heard herself screaming vicious, unforgivable insults at Maya, her best friend.
Then, the most terrifying image of all materialized.
She saw a crisp, white marriage certificate. Her signature was on it, right next to the name Julian Carlisle.
Aria's eyes snapped open. She dug her fingernails into her scalp, pulling her hair hard enough to hurt.
She couldn't accept this. The system that had hijacked her body had completely destroyed her life. It had turned her into a monster.
Her stomach violently convulsed. She rolled onto her side and dry-heaved onto the carpet. Her throat burned, but nothing came up.
Down the long corridor, the elevator doors chimed open. Heavy footsteps approached rapidly.
Three large security guards in dark suits marched toward her.
Aria tried to push herself up. She needed to tell them she needed a doctor. But her legs felt like they were filled with wet cement.
The lead guard pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt. He spoke into it, his voice dripping with annoyance.
He stopped a few feet away from her. He didn't reach out to help her up. He just stared down at her with cold eyes.
"Ma'am, are you alright? Do you need medical assistance?"
Aria opened her mouth to argue, but a wave of extreme dizziness washed over her. The edges of her vision turned black.
The guard's lips kept moving, but his voice sounded like he was underwater.
One final, massive memory struck her. She saw herself in a heavy, suffocating wedding dress, walking down an aisle with a dead, hollow expression on her face.
Aria let out a low, pained moan. The darkness swallowed her completely. Her body went limp, collapsing fully onto the floor.
The guard cursed loudly. He finally crouched down, shaking her shoulder.
He pulled his walkie-talkie back up. "We have a situation with Mrs. Carlisle in the west corridor. She appears unwell. Requesting immediate medical transport."
The quiet hallway erupted into chaos.
The blaring siren of an ambulance tore through the midnight streets of New York.
Aria lay strapped to a narrow stretcher. Her face was the color of ash. Her brows were tightly knitted together in pain.
Paramedics moved quickly around her, calling out her dropping blood pressure and erratic heart rate to the hospital over the radio.
The automatic doors of the emergency room slid open with a sharp hiss. The stretcher was shoved rapidly down the bright corridor.
Blinding surgical lights flashed past Aria's closed eyes in a rapid rhythm.
The sharp, urgent voices of doctors and nurses buzzed in her ears.
Through the haze of unconsciousness, Aria felt the sharp, icy prick of an IV needle piercing the back of her hand. Then, she sank back into the heavy, dreamless dark.
