Sweet Hatred-Chapter 473: THE WAITING
ARIA
Time stopped behaving like time once fear settled in.
Some minutes stretched until they felt grotesque, bloated things. Each second dragged its body across the floor while I sat there bound, breath shallow, mind running through a catalog of endings I did not want to imagine.
Then whole stretches vanished. I would blink and realize I had no idea how long I had been staring at the same stain on the concrete. Ten minutes. An hour. My sense of sequence slipped loose, untethered.
I tried to steady myself.
In through my nose. Out through my mouth.
Count. Hold. Release. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
The routine felt flimsy now, a fragile structure built for a life that no longer existed. Back when anxiety meant exams and waiting rooms and watching my mother sleep through another afternoon. Back when fear stayed within reasonable borders.
I clung to Kael instead.
I let my mind form his face, solid and familiar. The quiet way his expression changed when he looked at me. How his arms wrapped around me on my birthday, careful and protective, like he understood how easily the world could bruise things it loved.
He was looking for me.
I knew that with a certainty that cut through everything else.
Kael Roman did not lose what was his. Not quietly. Not ever. He would turn every favor, lean on every contact, make enough noise that the city itself felt it.
He would find me.
I just had to stay alive long enough.
And the baby...
My body reacted before my mind did. An instinctive pull inward. A useless urge to cover my stomach that went nowhere because my wrists were still trapped, my arms still useless.
So I did the only thing left to me.
I begged the dark.
Please be okay. Please be safe. Please let the shock not have reached you. Please let me live long enough to hold you.
...
Sarah could not stay still.
She crossed the room over and over, her steps uneven, energy with nowhere to land. She checked the window again, barely parting the curtain, then snapped it closed and returned to her laptop. Her shoulders curled forward as she leaned into the screen, fingers moving too fast.
News. Cameras. Alerts.
Whatever was unfolding out there, she was tracking it obsessively.
Her face was tight with strain. Every line looked pulled too far, like she was holding herself together through sheer force.
Sometimes she muttered under her breath. I could not catch the words, but the sound carried sharpness. Fear dressed up as anger.
She was unraveling.
I did not know if that made her more dangerous or less.
Then she stopped.
She stared at the laptop for a long moment and smiled.
It was not warmth. It was not relief.
It was sharp and mean and brittle.
She looked at me.
"Your husband seems to be working overtime to find you."
The words came wrapped in contempt. As if Kael’s panic amused her. As if his desperation was a private joke.
I said nothing.
Any response felt like a gamble I could not afford.
If I showed comfort, would she punish me for it. If I showed indifference, would she accuse me of lying.
So I kept my gaze lowered.
Let my pulse thunder. Let the silence do the talking.
"You really love him, don’t you."
This time her voice dropped.
Not a challenge. Not bait.
Acceptance.
Like something heavy had finally settled into place.
I stayed quiet.
Yes would hurt her. No would insult her. Either way felt wrong.
The quiet stretched, thick and uneasy.
I could feel her attention on me, sharp and searching, waiting for something I could not give.
I focused on breathing.
On the floor beneath me.
On not shaking.
She shut the laptop.
The sound cracked through the room and my body reacted before I could stop it.
She rose, unhurried, and crossed the space between us. Then she lowered herself until we were level.
Close.
I could see exhaustion etched into her face. Sleeplessness. Desperation. A kind of grief she did not know how to name.
"I really wanted us to be happy together. Forever."
Her voice barely carried.
"I don’t understand how we ended up here."
Neither did I.
The distance between freshman orientation and this room felt impossible to measure. Somewhere along the way, something had gone wrong and kept going wrong until it became this.
"All I wanted was to be with you."
Her gaze dropped to her hands.
"And it feels like I’m never going to get what I want."
There was something final in the way she said it. Like she had already accepted an ending she did not like.
It sounded like giving up.
That frightened me more than her anger ever had.
Because hope was dangerous when twisted, but hopelessness was worse.
"Sarah," I said carefully. My throat burned. "You can still turn yourself in."
Her eyes snapped back to mine.
"They can help you. You don’t have to do this. It isn’t too late."
"Stop."
The word cut clean.
"Stop talking like I’m a broken doll."
"I didn’t mean it that way."
"Stop treating me like something that needs to be fixed."
Her voice climbed, tension snapping back into place.
"I know exactly what I’m doing, Aria."
I retreated immediately.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you."
Careful. Slow. Survival instinct guiding every syllable.
"I still care about you."
"Do you."
The disbelief in her voice stung.
"I don’t think you care about me at all."
She stood and stepped away, space snapping back into place between us.
"You care about Kael. About your baby. About the life you’re building."
She turned back toward me.
"And I’m just the antagonist now."
"That isn’t true."
The words escaped before I could stop them.
Despite everything, they were real.
Despite fear and betrayal and the restraints biting into my skin, some part of me still held her. Still remembered late nights and shared jokes and a version of us that had once been safe.
"Of course I still care about you."
Something crossed her face. Too quick to name.
Then she looked away.
"You shouldn’t."
The words were soft.
Decisive.
Like she was trying to convince herself as much as me.
