When the fear of isolation pulls Ashton and Ria together, nothing can prepare them for the collision. An anomaly shatters the repetitive fabric of their lives, sending them on a journey of discovering themselves and one another.
Beneath Ashton's gen...
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"YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS VERY UNDERSTANDING." Vivian clears her raspy throat and rises on unsteady legs. "Her friend is nice as well. You've surrounded yourself with nice p-"
"Cut the shit," Ashton spits. "This was your plan, wasn't it? Play victim and make everyone feel bad for you?"
She narrows her eyes. Eyes that Ashton once fell for. Eyes that once convinced him to do anything in the world for her. Rusty chains wrap around his heart and his body stiffens with fury. Pain. He's hated her for the past five years and now she stands before him, the embodiment of his suffering.
"You think I would do this on purpose?" She presses a slender hand, covered in faint bruises, to her breasts and inches towards him. "Ashton, I came back because I finally got away from Vincent."
Ashton loses focus for a moment. His pulse roars beneath his skin. Continuous guilt floods his lungs, making it nearly impossible to speak. "Got away?" he inquires softly. "Got away how? He said your payments stopped coming through and now I have to pay him the rest of it. He came to my hotel room threatening me and Ria because of you."
Vivian shakes her head, puzzled eyes continuing to narrow. "Payments? Ashton, I stopped paying him years ago. H-he locked me away." Her voice cracks and she claws at the fabric of her sweater. "Kept me in his mansion for years. That's why I disappeared. He told me that if I left you, he would let you live."
Anguish drowns him and suddenly it's too hard to breathe with her looking at him like this, sounding like this. "You're lying," he whispers.
"I'm not." She reaches over and grabs his wrists, soft hands on his skin, setting it ablaze. This is the first time he's touched her in years. Desperation floods her wide eyes as she begs him to understand. "Why would I leave you for no reason?"
"B-because you lied to me to keep us together. When I figured out that I was sterile, you ran away from me."
"We made a promise. You said you would wait for me to come back."
"I did wait!" he insists. Ashton waited months for Vivian to come back to him all those years ago, and she never did. He was so alone without her, broken, sure that she had left him behind for good.
"You weren't supposed to run away. You weren't supposed to meet someone else." She's crying again, tears falling out of the storms resting in her grey eyes. She squeezes his wrists and steps so close their bodies are almost touching. "I didn't lie about the baby, Ashton." Her voice thickens under her Russian tongue.
"I can't have kids!" he snaps harsher than intended. Memories of that time he was so hopeful still haunts him to this day.
She flinches and stumbles back, releasing her hold on him. "I-I don't understand. That can't be possible."
