The Devil's Contractual Bride-Chapter 16: A Game Of Sides

Aria’s POV

"Admit on social media that Lucian abused you or watch him rot."

Lucian was in a cell right now.Cuffed and alone because he’d protected me.

I opened my phone.Twitter was a war zone.

#VossArrested was trending number one in London.

#AriaCurse was climbing fast.

Memes of me kneeling outside Voss Enterprises weeks ago had resurfaced with new captions:

"From begging for mercy to sending her husband to jail "

"She ruined two billionaires in one year—queen of destruction"

"Gold-digger finally took down the big one. Karma."

I scrolled faster, tears blurring the screen.

More photos.

More videos.

The hotel hallway clip of Lucian storming in, beating up Ethan and dragging me out resurfaced.

Comments split in half.

"Husband goals .Protect her at all costs"

"Lucian Voss is terrifying but I’m here for it"

"Ethan deserved every punch"

"Aria still looks like she’s in shock. Hope she’s okay."

Then the hate.

"She’s toxic."

"She set him up."

"Poor Voss—married a curse."

"That reaper is nothing but bad luck."

I dropped the phone, stood up, paced around and picked up the phone again.

I called the first person that came to my mind.Andre.

He answered on the first ring.

"Aria? Jesus Christ, are you okay? The media is having a field day with what happened. I’m on my way to your place—"

"No," I cut in, voice shaking. "Don’t come here. I’m fine."

"You’re not fine. I can hear it. You’re shaking. Let me come Aria"

"I said no, Andre." My voice cracked. "I’m going to fix this." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Silence.

"What does that mean?" he asked slowly.

"Ethan called. He wants me to post online that Lucian abused me. If I do, he drops the charges. If I don’t..."

Andre swore under his breath. "Don’t do it. He’s bluffing. I heard there might be proof to win him in court. But if you post that, Lucian’s reputation is ruined forever. The board will turn on him and you know the media will definitely bury him."

"And if I don’t post," I whispered, "he stays in jail. They could keep him for weeks or even months."

Andre was quiet for a long moment. "Then let me help. I’m outside, please open the door."

I walked to the front door. Looked through the peephole.

Andre stood there, I didn’t even hear his car drive in .He was holding two cups of coffee,a weak smile settling on his face.

I opened the door.

He stepped inside, pulled me into a hug.

"You look like hell," he said softly.

"I feel like hell."

He pulled back, eyes serious. "Show me what Ethan sent."

I replayed the call recording.

Andre listened, face darkening.

"He’s desperate," he said when it ended. "He knows the charges won’t stick long-term. He’s trying to force your hand before Lucian’s lawyers move."

"What do I do?" I whispered.

Andre handed me a USB. "I had a tech guy hack into his cloud last night.I haven’t gone through it. I wanted you to do so yourself.There must be something there that could help us or even Lucian.."

I stared at the drive.

"If I do that Ethan will release whatever he has. He’ll twist it and make it look like I set Lucian up."

Andre nodded. "He might. But if you accuse Lucian of abuse you’ll be in more trouble than whatever Ethan is planning.Don’t forget the millions you still owe him."

"I’m going live," I said.

Andre’s eyes widened. "Now?"

"Now."

I walked to the living room. Set up my phone on the coffee table. Hit record.

The red light blinked.

I took a breath.

"Hi. This is Aria Thorne... Voss." My voice shook. "I know what everyone’s saying. I heard the rumors and saw the hashtags. You all probably think I’m a curse, a gold-digger and a liar. But I’m going to tell you the truth."

I looked straight into the camera.

"Lucian Voss did not abuse me. He never hit me nor hurt me. The only person who ever hurt me was Ethan Caldwell. He stole my company, cheated on me and left me with debt and loan sharks. The video circulating online was a video of him trying to force himself on me in a hotel room."

I paused. Tears slipped down my cheeks.

"Lucian came to stop him. He protected me and fought for me. And now he’s in jail because he wouldn’t let Ethan touch me."

I held up the USB Andre had given me.

"I’ll have proof soon,you all should just be patient with me and show your support for Lucian."

I ended the live.

Within seconds, notifications exploded.

Likes. Shares. Comments.

"Queen Aria fighting back!"

"Finally the truth!"

"She’s lying to protect her abuser."

"Ethan’s done for."

"Voss is innocent. Protect them both."

I dropped the phone. Hands shaking.

Andre hugged me. "You did the right thing." he reassured me but I wasn’t sure I did the right thing.

My phone rang. It was Ethan’s number.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Aria."

The line went dead.

Then my phone lit up with breaking news.

**"Ethan Caldwell releases emergency statement: ’Aria Thorne is lying. I have video proof she planned the attack on me with Voss. There’ll be a live stream in 5 minutes.’"**

I looked at Andre.His face was pale.

When the life stream Ethan appeared bandaged and bruised, sitting in a hospital bed while looking straight into the camera.

"Aria," he said, voice calm, almost sad. "You think you can destroy me with fake evidence? You think the world will believe you?"

He held up his phone.

The video played.

Grainy footage. Me entering the hotel room alone. Me looking back down the hallway almost like I was waiting for someone. Then Ethan stepping in.

The video cut.

Ethan looked back at the camera.

"She lured me there. She wanted Voss to catch us to make him look like the hero. She wanted him to beat me so she could play victim again."

My blood ran cold.

"That’s not what happened," I whispered.

Andre grabbed my phone. "He edited it. The timestamps are off. Just calm down for a moment"

But the comments were already flooding.

"She’s a liar."

"Voss is going down."

"Poor Ethan. She set him up."

I dropped to my knees.

My phone rang again.

Ethan’s voice spoke over the phone when I answered.

"You should have taken the deal, Aria."he said as he disconnected the line