Ariana’s POV

He turned to face me. His eyes were serious. "About what happened... the papers.—"

"I can’t." I stepped back, and my hand was still holding Dante’s. I didn’t let go. "Not now. Not here."

"Ariana, we need to figure out what’s going on. Ricardo has the shares. He’s already started moving money. If we don’t do something—"

"I don’t care about the shares." My voice came out sharper than I intended. "I don’t care about the company. I don’t care about any of it. I just want him to wake up."

Marcus’s face softened. "I know. I want that too. But Dante would want us to fight. He would want us to protect what he built. He would want—"

"You don’t know what he would want." I was crying again. I couldn’t stop. "You don’t know anything. He’s in a coma because of me, because of what I did, because I was stupid and scared and I trusted the wrong person, and now he’s here, and he might never wake up, and it’s my fault."

Marcus stepped toward me. His hands reached for me. "Ariana, I know there’s more to it, just tell me—"

"Don’t." I pulled away. "Don’t make excuses for me, I made a very bad choice. I should have told Dante the truth. I should have trusted him, and now he’s paying for my mistake. He’s paying with his life."

Marcus’s face was full of pain. "Ariana, listen."

"I need to go." I grabbed my purse, and my hands were shaking.

"Ariana—"

"I’ll come back tonight."

"Ariana, listen to me—"

I stopped.

"He loves you," Marcus said. "He loves you more than anything. He told me before the accident. He told me he was going to tell you everything. About Alan, about the twins, because he wanted to do the right thing."

I turned around and looked at Marcus. "What are you talking about? What twins? Who is Alan?"

Marcus’s face went pale. He realized what he had said. "Ariana, I—"

"What twins?" I walked back toward him. My heart was pounding. "Marcus, what are you talking about?"

He looked at Dante.

"Asher’s twin didn’t die after birth; Dante took him and replaced him with a dead one."

The words didn’t make sense cause my brain refused to process what he had just said.

"What?" My voice came out strange.

High.

Shaky. "What did you say?"

Marcus’s face was pale. He looked at Dante, then back at me. "Ariana, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell you like this, I wasn’t supposed to—"

"Marcus." I stepped closer to him, and my legs were weak. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. "What did you say about Asher? About a twin?"

He took a deep breath. His eyes were full of pain. "When you gave birth to the twins, there were complications. You almost died, and you were unconscious for two days. During that time, Dante wanted a part of what you two have made, so he made a terrible choice, but he thought he was doing the right thing."

I felt like I was going to be sick. "What choice?"

Marcus looked at Dante, then he looked back at me. "Asher’s twin isn’t dead; his name is Alan. Dante took him and took Alan, and he left you with Asher. He told the hospital that one of the twins didn’t survive. He had a replacement baby. A stillborn. He switched them."

The room was spinning as I grabbed the back of the chair to steady myself. "No. No, that’s not possible, they told me my baby didn’t make it. I held my dead baby in my arms."

Marcus shook his head. "Ariana, please. Let me explain."

"Don’t touch me!" I backed away from him. My back hit the wall as my whole body was shaking. "You’re lying, you have to be lying. Dante wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t take my baby. He wouldn’t let me believe my son was dead for fourteen years. He wouldn’t—"

"He did." Marcus’s voice was soft. Broken. "He did Ariana, and he was going to tell you. The day of the accident. That’s why he called you. He was going to tell you everything."

I slid down the wall.

My legs wouldn’t hold me anymore. I sat on the floor, my back against the cold tile, my hands covering my face.

The tears were coming.

I couldn’t stop them.

"He kept tabs on you," Marcus continued. His voice was quiet. "After your one-night stand, Dante couldn’t forget you. He will never forget you. He was never like that with anyone. He would have a woman, move on, forget her name by morning, but you were different. He thought about you all the time. He had someone watch you. He just wanted something more between the two of you, but——."

I looked up at him, my face was wet. "He was watching me for all these years?"

"When he found out you were pregnant, he was so happy and wanted to be there. He wanted to be a father, but you didn’t want him at that time, when you were with Angelo, so he stayed away and respected your choice, but he wanted to make sure you and the baby were okay. So he kept watching. When he found out you were having twins, he was overjoyed. Two children. Two babies that were half him and half the woman he loved."

I shook my head. "I—"

Marcus knelt down in front of me. His eyes were level with mine. "Dante was in the waiting room, terrified out of his mind. He thought he was going to lose you. He thought you were going to die."

I was crying so hard I could barely see. "No, no, no, this can’t be possible."

Marcus swallowed. "He took Alan and told the hospital that one of the babies didn’t make it. He arranged for a stillborn to be put in his place. He took Alan home with him, and he let you believe you had lost a son."

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t think.

My son.

My baby.

He wasn’t dead, he was alive. Somewhere out there, my son was alive, and Dante knew he had known for fourteen years.

"He left you with Asher," Marcus continued. "He thought that was fair. You have two children. He got one. You didn’t have to deal with him. He got to be a father, and everyone got what they wanted."

"Everyone got what they wanted?" My voice was a whisper. "I thought my baby died. I mourned him for fourteen years, I mourned a child who, I cried for a son who was alive somewhere, and I didn’t even know."

Marcus nodded slowly. "I know I know, Ariana and Dante know too, he carried that guilt every day... every single day for fourteen years."

I looked at Dante, who had taken my son.

"How could he?" I whispered. "How could he do this to me? To Alan? To Asher? They’re twins. They should have grown up together. They should know each other. They should have been brothers."

Marcus wiped his eyes. "There’s more."