Chapter 6
The following days became Aria’s nightmare.
Madison made her wash windows in the freezing cold, deliberately spilled boiling water on her hands, and even faked midnight emergencies that sent Aria running across the city for medicine…
“I really don’t understand,” Madison said one night, watching Aria kneel on the floor applying ointment to her
bruises. “Lucas treats you like dirt, so why won’t you just leave?”
Aria’s hand paused, cream spreading across the dark bruise. “A promise isn’t finished yet.”
‘What promise?” Madison’s eyes narrowed.
Aria didn’t respond, just continued silently applying the medicine.
Madison suddenly kicked her away. “Stop acting mysterious! I’m warning you–everything you’ve suffered these
past few days is to show you exactly where you stand! Lucas will never love you, and you can’t compete with me!”
She grabbed Aria’s chin roughly. “Starting tomorrow, don’t bother coming. Remember this: if you try any more ricks, I’ll make you wish you were dead.”
Aria dragged her exhausted body home and collapsed on the sofa. Her phone immediately started buzzing rantically.
Aria, emergency! Madison gave Lucas his ninety–ninth task–climb Mount Denali to pick snow lotus flowers…”
There was an avalanche, and Lucas is trapped up there! We don’t know if he’s alive!”
When Aria reached the mountain base, the blizzard had been raging for a full day.
he moved toward the mountain, but the rescue team leader blocked her path, his face grim. “You can’t go up there! The avalanche just stopped–there could be secondary collapses any moment. It’s too dangerous. Even our
rofessional rescue teams won’t risk it!”
Aria stared at the white capped peak, her voice trembling. “If we wait any longer, he’ll die.”
‘But if you go up there alone, you’re committing suicide!”
“Then I’ll do it.”
She grabbed climbing gear and disappeared into the storm without looking back.
The wind cut like knives across her face, snow pellets drilling into her collar and melting into icy rivulets down her
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My Husband’s Guide to Losino a Perfectly Good Wife in Five Easy Steps
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Chapter 6
spine.
She climbed hand over hand, her fingers purple with cold, but never letting go of the rope.
Three hours later, she found Lucas unconscious at the edge of a cliff.
His leg was pinned under fallen rocks, his face white as the snow around him.
“Lucas!” Aria threw herself forward, frantically digging through the snow with her bare hands, her nails splitting
and bleeding,
“Wake up…” She slapped his face with shaking hands, wrapping him in thermal blankets. “I’m taking you home…”
Lucas was unconscious, his body cold as stone.
Aria gritted her teeth and used rescue rope to tie him to her back, then began the treacherous descent.
Going down was harder than climbing up. She fell countless times, finally crawling on hands and knees through the
snow.
When they reached base camp, her gear was shredded and her knees were bloody raw.
The moment medics took Lucas from her, Aria’s vision went black and she collapsed in the snow.
When she woke up, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled her nostrils. Aria sat up quickly, the movement making her jasp with pain.
Don’t move,” a nurse pressed her back down. “You lost a lot of blood and need rest.”
Where’s Lucas? How is he?”
Mr. Sinclair is out of danger, in the VIP wing.‘
Aria yanked out her IV and stumbled toward the VIP section. At the door, she heard voices inside.
You almost died for Madison! You’ve done ninety–nine things for her–is she really worth it?” Lucas’s friend
ounded furious. “Look at this security footage! If Aria hadn’t risked her life to carry you down that mountain, you’d be frozen solid right now!”
After a pause, sounds of a video playing filled the room-
On screen, Aria was covered in blood, carrying unconscious Lucas through the snow.
She fell repeatedly but always cushioned his body with her own, never letting him hit the ground.
‘She’s taken bullets for you, drank poison meant for you, spent so long in that frozen lake she can’t have children anymore… don’t you feel anything at all?”
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Chapter 6
Another long silence.
“Nothing.” Lucas’s voice was crystal clear and cold. “Even if she died a thousand times for me, I’d never love her.”
“Crash-”
Aria accidentally knocked over a flower vase.
The hospital room door flew open, and their eyes met. Lucas’s pupils contracted, but she was already turning away, her silhouette thin as paper.
“Lucas! Go explain!” his friends urged desperately. “She risked her life for you, and you say something that cruel? What if she really leaves this time?”
Lucas stared at the empty hallway, an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, but he just laughed coldly. “She won’t leave.”
‘How do you know?”
‘Because she loves me.” He turned back to his bed, voice utterly certain. “She loves me so much she has no dignity, no boundaries. Even if I grind her into the dirt, she’ll crawl back to me.”
His friends exchanged helpless looks and sighed.
Yeah, everyone knew Aria was obsessed with Lucas to the point of madness.
How could someone like her bear to leave him?
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