ARIA'S POV
I wake up in darkness.
My head pounds. My neck burns where Victoria stuck me with the needle. I try to move, but my hands are tied behind my back. My feet are bound too.
Panic explodes in my chest. Where am I?
My eyes adjust slowly. I'm in a basement. Concrete walls. One small window near the ceiling showing night sky. And across from me, tied to a chair just like mine, is Damien.
"Damien!" I try to yell, but my voice comes out as a whisper. My throat is so dry.
His head lifts. His face is bruised, one eye swollen shut. But he's alive.
"Aria," he croaks. "Thank God you're awake."
"What happened? Where are we?"
"Victoria's parents' old house. It's been abandoned for years. No neighbors. No one can hear us scream." Damien's voice is rough, desperate. "How long have you been here?"
"I don't know. She drugged me outside the dorm. I tried to call 911—"
"She took your phone. Took mine too." Damien struggles against his ropes. "She brought you here two hours ago. You've been unconscious the whole time."
"Where is she now?"
"Upstairs. Preparing something. She keeps talking about how we'll all be together forever." Damien's voice cracks. "Aria, I'm so sorry. I tried to warn you. I sent that video to you before she drugged me. I thought if something happened to me, at least you'd have evidence."
"I got it. I saw everything." My wrists burn as I pull against the ropes. "We have to get out of here."
"I've been trying for hours. These knots are too tight." Damien looks at me with his one good eye, and I see real fear there. "She's going to kill us both. Tonight. She told me her whole plan while you were unconscious."
My heart stops. "What plan?"
"Murder-suicide. She's going to poison us both, then take the same poison herself. She says if we can't be together in life, we'll be together in death." Damien's voice shakes. "She's completely lost her mind, Aria. She thinks this is romantic."
I want to scream. I want to cry. But I force myself to think.
"The video you sent—did anyone else get it?"
"No. Just you. I set it to send automatically if I didn't cancel it within six hours. But Victoria took our phones. No one knows we're here."
We sit in desperate silence. Then I remember something.
"Maya," I whisper. "I was on the phone with 911 when Victoria attacked me. The call might have stayed connected. Maya knows I track my location on my laptop for safety. She can find us."
"Would she go to the police?"
"Maya doesn't trust cops. But she's smart. She'll figure something out." I pray I'm right. "We just have to stay alive until help comes."
Footsteps on the stairs. We both freeze.
Victoria appears, and my blood turns to ice. She's changed clothes—now wearing a white dress like a bride. Her hair is perfect. Her makeup is done. She looks beautiful and completely insane.
"You're awake!" She claps her hands together happily. "Perfect timing. I wanted you both conscious for this."
She's carrying a tray with three wine glasses. The liquid inside is dark red.
"What is that?" Damien demands.
"Our forever drink," Victoria says dreamily. "It's wine mixed with something special. We'll all drink together, and then we'll fall asleep. When we wake up, we'll be in a better place. A place where nobody can separate us."
"Victoria, please." Damien's voice is gentle, like he's talking to a scared animal. "You don't want to do this. Think about what you're saying."
"I've thought about nothing else!" Victoria's voice turns sharp. "You tried to leave me, Damien. You lied to me. You worked with her behind my back." She points at me with shaking hands. "You chose her over me."
"That's not true—"
"Don't lie!" Victoria screams. "I saw the video footage from your apartment. I saw you faking drinking the wine I gave you. You've been pretending for months!" Tears stream down her face. "Everyone leaves me. Marcus left me. Daniel left me. Even you want to leave me."
"Because you killed them!" I shout. "You murdered Marcus and Daniel. You're a killer!"
Victoria turns to me slowly. "I loved them. I loved them so much. But they didn't understand. They wanted to leave, and I couldn't let them. If I couldn't have them, nobody could."
"That's not love," I say, fighting tears. "That's obsession. That's sickness."
"You don't understand anything." Victoria picks up one of the wine glasses. "But that's okay. After tonight, none of this will matter."
She walks toward Damien first. "Open your mouth, baby. Drink this and all the pain stops."
"No." Damien keeps his mouth shut tight.
Victoria grabs his jaw, trying to force it open. Damien thrashes in the chair, fighting her.
"Stop!" I scream. "Victoria, stop!"
She drops the glass. It shatters on the concrete floor, red wine spreading like blood.
Victoria spins toward me, her face twisted with rage. "This is your fault! If you hadn't come here, if you hadn't poisoned Damien against me, we'd be happy!"
She grabs another glass and stalks toward me. "You'll go first then. You'll drink, and Damien will watch you die. Then he'll understand what happens when people try to take what's mine."
She's almost to me when a loud crash comes from upstairs.
We all freeze.
"Police! Victoria Ashford, we know you're in there!"
Victoria's face goes white. "No. No, no, no!" She runs to the stairs, looking up. "How did they find us?"
The answer comes as the basement door crashes open. Detective Park charges down the stairs, gun drawn, three officers behind him.
"Drop the glass! Hands up!"
Victoria looks at the glass in her hand. Looks at Damien. Then looks at me.
"If I can't have forever with you," she whispers to Damien, "then I'll take forever alone."
And before anyone can stop her, Victoria drinks the poisoned wine herself. The whole glass. She drains it in seconds.
"No!" Detective Park lunges forward, but it's too late.
Victoria smiles at Damien one last time. "I'll wait for you," she says. Then she collapses.
Officers rush to her, calling for paramedics. Detective Park cuts our ropes quickly.
"Are you both okay? Did she make you drink anything?"
"No," Damien gasps, rubbing his wrists. "We're okay. How did you find us?"
"Your friend Maya." Detective Park helps me stand. "She tracked Aria's phone, saw the 911 call, and contacted us immediately. We've been searching for an hour."
Paramedics swarm the basement. They work on Victoria, but I can see from their faces it's bad. Really bad.
Damien pulls me into his arms, and I start shaking. We're alive. We actually survived.
"I thought I lost you," Damien whispers into my hair. "When she dragged you down here unconscious, I thought—"
"I'm okay. We're okay."
An officer wraps blankets around us. Detective Park talks to his team. Paramedics load Victoria onto a stretcher.
As they carry her past us, Victoria's eyes flutter open. She looks directly at Damien.
"Check... my apartment," she whispers, blood on her lips. "Under the bed. I left you... a present. For when... you finally understand... we were meant to be."
Then her eyes close.
The paramedics rush her up the stairs. Detective Park follows, shouting orders.
Damien and I look at each other.
"What does she mean?" I ask. "What present?"
"I don't know. But knowing Victoria..." Damien's face goes pale. "It can't be anything good."
Two hours later, we're at the police station giving statements when Detective Park bursts into the room. His face is gray.
"We searched Victoria's apartment like she said." He puts an evidence bag on the table.
Inside is a timer. A phone. And wires connected to something that makes my heart stop.
"It's a bomb," Detective Park says. "Set to go off at midnight tonight. In your apartment, Damien. She planted it weeks ago."
I look at the clock on the wall. 11:47 PM.
Thirteen minutes until Damien's entire apartment building explodes.
"How many people live there?" I whisper.
"Forty-three units," Detective Park says. "At least a hundred people."
Damien's face drains of all color. "We have to evacuate—"
"We're trying. But the bomb squad says there's not enough time. The device is sophisticated. If they try to disarm it and make one wrong move..." Detective Park doesn't finish the sentence.
"So what do we do?" I ask.
Detective Park looks at us with hollow eyes. "We pray that a hundred innocent people don't die because of Victoria's obsession."
The clock ticks.
11:48 PM.
Twelve minutes until everything explodes.
And there's nothing we can do but watch.