After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law-Chapter 43: A Ghost in the Garden
When Aria finally peeled her eyes open, the first thing she noticed was that the sterile, antiseptic smell of the clinic had been replaced by the rich, savory aroma of roasted coffee and... was that bacon? ππππ¦ππππππ·ππ.πΈπ°π
She sat up, wincing as her stiff muscles protested the movement. The events of the last twenty-four hours felt like a fever dream. But the heavy warmth of the duvet tucked securely around her shoulders was real, and so was the empty space beside her where Damien had been lying.
"Youβre awake," a deep voice rumbled from the corner of the suite.
Aria turned to see Damien sitting in a plush armchair by the window, bathed in the soft morning light. He was fully dressed in fresh clothesβa charcoal turtleneck and dark trousers that made him look less like a patient and more like a minimalist villain relaxing in his lair. He held a tablet in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, and looking at him, it was hard to believe he had been seizing on a gurney just hours ago.
"Youβre up," Aria croaked, her voice rusty with sleep. She cleared her throat, pushing her messy rose-gold hair out of her face. "And youβre dressed. Are we escaping?"
Damien smirked, tapping the screen of his tablet. "Elias discharged me ten minutes ago. Apparently, my recovery rate is βmedically suspicious,β and he wants me out of his clinic before I scare the nurses."
He stood up and walked over to the bed, placing the coffee on the nightstand. His movements were fluid, the tremors gone. He looked down at her with golden eyes that were clear, sharp, and lingeringly warm from the night before.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his hand coming up to brush a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His fingers were cool, but they sent a familiar jolt of heat straight to her toes.
"Like I went ten rounds with a boxing champion," Aria admitted, leaning into his touch instinctively. "But alive."
"Good," Damien murmured. "Because we have work to do. And breakfast."
He gestured to a rolling cart near the door piled high with pastries, fruit, and more bacon than two people could reasonably consume. "I ordered everything. The neurotoxin burned through my metabolic reserves. I feel like I could eat the table."
Aria laughed, swinging her legs out of bed. "Please donβt. The mahogany is probably vintage."
They ate in a comfortable silence, the kind that only exists between two people who have seen each other at their worst and decided to stay. Aria watched Damien demolish a croissant with a predatory efficiency that was strangely attractive. It wasnβt just hunger; it was a vitality she hadnβt seen in him before. The shadow of chronic pain that usually haunted his features had retreated, pushed back by her treatment.
"Kai sent the drone footage," Damien said, wiping a crumb from his lip and instantly shifting back into business mode. He slid the tablet across the small dining table. "From the guest cottage at the Vale Estate."
Aria pulled the device closer, her heart rate picking up. On the screen was a thermal imaging feed. The cottage, usually a dark, abandoned blot on the estate grounds, was glowing.
"Heat signatures," Aria noted, pointing to two distinct red blobs moving inside the structure. "Two of them. One static, sitting near what looks like a computer bank. The other moving aroundβpacing."
"The static one is likely our Ghost," Damien theorized, leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen. "The hacker. The pacer? That could be a bodyguard. Or maybe Lydia paid him a visit."
"Lydia wouldnβt get her hands dirty," Aria shook her head. "Sheβs in the main house, pretending to be the grieving mother. She wouldnβt risk being seen walking to the gardenerβs cottage."
She zoomed in on the feed. The cottage was isolated, surrounded by dense hedges that Aria remembered playing hide-and-seek in as a child. It was the perfect blind spot.
"If theyβre still there," Aria said, looking up at Damien, "it means they donβt know Iron Tooth talked. They think theyβre safe."
"Then we have the element of surprise," Damien said, his voice dropping to that lethal register that meant violence was imminent. "Kai is assembling a team. We hit them in an hour."
Aria stood up, her emerald eyes hardening. "Iβm coming."
Damien opened his mouth to argue, likely to cite Clause 2 or his general desire to keep her out of the line of fire, but Aria cut him off with a look.
"That cottage is where my mother used to paint," she said softly. "If someone is using it to hurt us, I want to be the one to kick them out."
Damien studied her face for a long moment. He saw the grief layered under the steel, the memory of a mother lost too soon driving her forward. He reached out, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips, kissing her knuckles with a solemn reverence.
"Then go get dressed, Mrs. Sinclair," he said. "We have a ghost to exorcise."
The drive to the Vale Estate was tense, the air inside the SUV thick with anticipation. This time, they didnβt take the main gate. Kai had found an old service road that wound behind the property, concealed by the overgrown forest that bordered the estate.
When they parked, the silence of the woods was heavy. Kai was waiting for them by the fence line, dressed in tactical gear that looked far too professional for a nightclub owner. He tossed Damien a heavy earpiece.
"Thermal confirms theyβre still inside," Kai whispered, his usual playful demeanor replaced by cold efficiency. "My boys have the perimeter secured. No way out."
Aria adjusted her own jacket, the cool morning air biting at her skin. She wasnβt wearing couture today; she was back in black jeans and boots, ready for whatever lay ahead.
They moved through the woods like shadows, the leaves damp underfoot. The cottage loomed ahead, its windows covered with heavy blackout curtains. It looked innocent enoughβa quaint little house covered in ivyβbut the hum of a high-powered generator around the back betrayed its new purpose.
Damien signaled to Kai.
On the count of three, the front door exploded inward.
It wasnβt a subtle entry. Kaiβs team breached the room with flashbangs, filling the small space with blinding light and deafening noise.
"Hands! Let me see your hands!"
Aria followed Damien inside, blinking against the smoke. The room, which used to smell of turpentine and oil paints, now smelled of ozone and hot electronics. Servers were stacked against the walls, their lights blinking frantically.
In the center of the room, a man in a grey hoodie was scrambled on the floor, trying to reach for a handgun that had skittered away from him.
Damien stepped on the manβs hand, applying just enough pressure to elicit a sharp cry of pain.
"Donβt," Damien advised calmly.
He kicked the gun away and grabbed the man by the hood, hauling him up. The hood fell back, revealing a pale, panicked face. He looked painfully ordinaryβlike an IT guy you wouldnβt look twice at in a coffee shop.
"So," Damien said, his voice smooth and terrifying. "Youβre the Ghost."
The man glared at him, spitting on the floor. "I donβt know who you are. Iβm just a squatter."
"A squatter with military-grade encryption servers?" Aria asked, stepping forward to inspect the monitors. Code was cascading down the screensβhe had been trying to wipe the drives when they breached.
She walked over to the main terminal and yanked the power cord from the wall. The screens went black.
"Youβre not wiping anything today," she said.
She turned to the man, her eyes cold.
"Who hired you? Was it Lydia?"
The Ghost laughed, a nervous, jittery sound. "You think Lydia runs this? Lydia is a piggy bank. You have no idea what youβve walked into, little girl."
Damien slammed him against the wall, the impact shaking the cottage. "Educate us."
"The Vipers," the man wheezed, grinning through bloody teeth. "You didnβt just kick a hornetβs nest. You walked into the snake pit. And they donβt leave loose ends."
Aria felt a chill run down her spine. The Vipers. The name resonated with a danger she hadnβt anticipated.
"Whatever theyβre paying you," Damien said, leaning in close, "Iβll double it for a name. Who is the head of the snake?"
The Ghost looked at Damien, then at Aria. His expression shifted from arrogance to genuine fear.
"I canβt tell you," he whispered. "Because if I say his name... Iβm dead before the sun sets."
Suddenly, the phone in The Ghostβs pocket buzzed.
Aria reached into his pocket and pulled it out. It was a burner phone, displaying a single text message.
[Run. They found you.]
Aria looked at the screen, then at the window.
"Damien, get down!"
She didnβt wait. She tackled Damien, driving them both to the floor just as the window shattered.
A single, silent bullet tore through the space where Damienβs head had been a second ago, embedding itself in the wall with a dull thud.
The Ghost wasnβt so lucky.
A second shot followed instantly, catching him in the chest. He slumped to the floor, the secret dying on his lips.
"Sniper!" Kai shouted, diving for cover. "North ridge! Six hundred yards!"
Damien covered Aria with his body, shielding her from the glass and the chaos. His heart hammered against hers, strong and furious.
"Theyβre cleaning house," he growled in her ear. "Again."
Aria looked at the dead man on the floor. They had been seconds away from a name. But now, all they had was a corpse and a text message.
The war hadnβt just escalated. It had gone nuclear.
