Five Years Of Lies: The Wife's Awakening

Ariana POV

I didn't go home. Instead, I drove straight to Ivan's office, my knuckles white on the steering wheel.

I stormed past his secretary, ignoring her sputtered protests, and threw the heavy double doors open.

Ivan was on the phone, his back to the entrance. He looked up, his expression tight with annoyance, until he registered who was standing there.

He hung up immediately.

"Ariana? What is it?"

I didn't have the energy for games anymore. I didn't have the patience for his polished veneer.

I slammed my phone onto his mahogany desk, the screen displaying the photo of the tuition bill I had captured earlier.

"Who is Leo?" I asked.

The silence in the room was suffocating.

Ivan looked at the phone. His expression didn't crumble. It hardened into something cold and unrecognizable.

"You went through my desk?" he asked. His voice was dangerously quiet.

"Who is Leo?" I repeated, my voice trembling with suppressed rage.

"He is the son of a former employee," Ivan said smoothly, leaning back in his chair as if this were a business negotiation. "She was in trouble. We helped her. It's charity, Ariana."

"Your parents called him a bastard child," I said. "I heard them."

Ivan stood up abruptly.

He walked around the desk and loomed over me, using his height to intimidate.

"You were spying on my parents?"

He was flipping the script. He was twisting the narrative to make me the villain.

"Don't do that," I said. "Don't make this about me. You have a son, Ivan. A five-year-old son with Kayla Reese."

"Kayla was a mistake," he snapped, a crack finally appearing in his composure. "It was a fling. It meant nothing."

"It meant a child!" I yelled.

"A child I support financially," he said, regaining his cool. "But my life is with you. My future is with you."

He reached for my hands.

I pulled away as if burned.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would react like this," he said, his tone dripping with condescension. "You're emotional. You overthink things."

The gaslighting was so potent I could almost taste it.

"I am not overthinking a secret family," I said, my voice rising.

The door opened behind me.

Eleanor and Richard marched in. They had obviously been alerted by the secretary.

"Ariana," Eleanor said, her voice laced with that specific brand of disappointment only a Donovan matriarch could wield. "We are very disappointed in you."

"In me?" I laughed. It was a hysterical, broken sound that scraped against my throat.

"Snooping. Accusations. This is not how a Donovan wife behaves," Richard said sternly.

"Ivan made a mistake years ago," Eleanor said, stepping between me and Ivan like a shield. "He has taken responsibility. He is a good man. We protected you from this burden because we love you."

"You protected the merger," I spat out.

Eleanor's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "The wedding is in two weeks. The invitations are sent. The press is ready. You will not make a scene. You will not humiliate this family."

"Or what?" I challenged.

"Or you will find that a resident physician with no family and massive student loans can find life very difficult in this city," Richard said.

It was a threat. Cold. Calculated. Plain and simple.

I looked at Ivan.

He didn't defend me. He looked at his shoes, then at me, his eyes pleading for silence.

"Ari, please," he said. "Just let it go. I love you. Kayla is the past."

I looked at the three of them. A united front of lies and money.

If I screamed now, they would crush me. If I left now, they would destroy my career before I even had a chance to start it.

I needed to be smarter.

I forced my shoulders to drop. I forced a single, treacherous tear to roll down my cheek.

"I just..." I choked out a sob. "I just wanted honesty."

Eleanor's face softened instantly. She thought she had won.

"We know, darling," she cooed, touching my arm with feigned affection. "We were just trying to protect our happiness."

"I need time," I whispered, keeping my head bowed.

"Take tonight," Ivan said, looking relieved. "I'll stay at the penthouse. You stay at the house. We can talk tomorrow."

I walked out of that office without looking back.

I felt their eyes on my back. They thought I was broken. They thought I was a scared little girl who would fall back in line.

I got into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby.

As the doors closed, sealing me in the quiet steel box, I wiped the tear from my cheek.

My eyes were dry. My hands were steady.

I wasn't going to marry Ivan.

I was going to burn his entire world to the ground.