ECSTASY | CRIME PRINCE SERIES | BOOK 0.5 FIRST EDITION

|𝟐𝟗.| 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐧

PAST

He watched her grow up but only from afar, always enticed in his work wanting to give her a better future but he knew nothing better than his job. In the end his job became his priority, his sole purpose in his life. His end goal. She would run into his office hoping at night, hoping for a bedtime story. She would give him coffee in the morning, wishing for a spin or car ride.

Yet everyday her hopes would deminish with each "I'm busy, mija" or "Maybe later kiddo". Eventually little Aria gave up, she didn't bother to say hi, she didn't bother making coffee, she didn't, she didn't bother asking for a bedtime story. After all, what is the use of fighting when no one fights for you.

Does he not love me? She thought to herself, was she not a good daughter? She did everything he wanted, Aria stay focused in school, trained with complaints, went to every event with a smile on her face, never disobeyed his orders. So what was she doing wrong?

Until a day Andreas was coming back from work, as late as always. Hearing quiet sobs, he find his daughter crying quietly to herself on the plush couch. He asks her whats the matter, but no answer is given, no amount of consolidation, of support could fix the coldness in his arms. The warmth of a father lost if not lost forever.

And so he told her story. The story of Daedulus and Icarus.

The story of Icarus is one of those legends of Greek mythology that fascinates audiences especially because of the character's desire to go beyond human boundaries as well as for the tragic consequences this brought about. In the same way, Aria was fascinated by the boys stupidity, his pure prideful way that eventually led to his inevitable death.

The myth tells the story of a father and a son who used wings to escape from the island of Crete. Icarus has become better-known as the flyer who fell from the sky when the wax that joined his wings was melt, he fell from the sky and drowned in the sea. The Icarian Sea, that was named byd, his father Daedulus.

He had flown too high, despite being warned. Aria did not understand why her father had told her such a tale, she did not understand what it would help her with. Alas, soon she would use as her life's most valuable asset. To win an inevitable war, that the future always knew would become of day.

And as the night fell into a deep slumber, Andreas left his daughter in a sleep so quiet that he knew, he realized what a big mistake he had committed. How far he had pushed his family away, how his daughters love would never be the same again.

Like Icarus, his pride had shunned him from realizing his own desires that would rift him from his daughter.

PRESENT

Aria

Not my papa. He can't leave me.

I could've stopped this, I know I could've but I didn't - because of my own fears, my father paid the price for my mistakes. He paid the hefty price of his life just so he could save me. How would I tell my mother that I am the reason for my father's death? How would I face her after seeing her weak as ever, knowing I am the reason behind her pain.

"He suffered a bullet to the head, right through his skull and one to the kidney, his liver and heart. The bullet missed his spine by a few inches but it was no use, Mr. Middleton died on the way to the hospital. He was in a state of shock in his time of death, paramedics said that he kept asking for his daughter. We tried our best but there was nothing we could do, I'm sorry."