The rain had stopped, but the silence it left behind was deafening.
Aurora sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers clasped tightly in her lap. The clock on the wall ticked softly, each second dragging her further into unease. Julian hadn't come home the previous night.
And this morning, her phone remained quiet.
The last time she'd seen him was at the Gala of Masks. His face, half-shadowed by the ornate mask, had been unreadable even as his words struck her like a blade: "There are things you don't understand, Aurora. And if you did... you'd walk away."
But she hadn't walked away. She couldn't—not now.
The pendant, the one she had worn since childhood, now lay on the table in front of her, cracked open to reveal the photograph hidden inside. A woman with Julian's eyes. A man she didn't recognize. And a date scribbled on the back—May 12th, nineteen years ago.
Her mother had died on May 12th.
Aurora's breath caught as the pieces began to align like a cruel jigsaw puzzle. The Gala. The pendant. Julian's distance. His mother's warning. And now—this maddening silence.
A knock startled her out of her spiral.
She rushed to the door, half-hoping to see Julian. But it wasn't him.
It was Marcus.
Wearing a storm-gray coat and an unreadable expression, Marcus stepped into the apartment without waiting for an invitation. He glanced once at the cracked pendant on the table and then looked at her, eyes shadowed.
"You found it," he said quietly.
"You knew?" Aurora asked, her voice sharper than she meant it to be. "You knew all this time what it was?"
Marcus sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I didn't know everything. Just enough to stay quiet. Julian… didn't want you to get hurt."
"Well, that's ironic," she snapped. "Because silence is hurting more than the truth ever could."
He hesitated before responding. "There's a reason Julian doesn't tell you everything. He's protecting you from things you shouldn't have to carry."
Aurora walked to the table and picked up the pendant again. "That woman in the picture. She's his mother, isn't she?"
Marcus nodded. "And the man?"
She turned the pendant over, revealing the faded handwriting again. "I think he's my father."
The weight of her words settled heavily between them.
Marcus didn't deny it.
"Julian found out not long after he returned from New York," Marcus said, his voice low. "He had the photo examined. The date, the identities. It all matched. Your mother and his father… they were involved. And not in secret. Our families—" he paused, "they were at war over it."
Aurora's knees buckled slightly, and she gripped the edge of the table for support.
"Why would anyone hide this from me?" she whispered.
"Because it complicates everything. Julian was already walking a tightrope when he married you. It wasn't just a contract, Aurora. It was a truce."
Her head snapped up. "A truce?"
Marcus stepped closer. "Your marriage to Julian—it wasn't just a solution to his family's business crisis. It was also a symbolic end to a feud. Your mother's death left deep scars on both sides. Julian's mother never forgave your family. And Julian… he thought he could fix it all."
Aurora stared at him, the truth sinking in like cold water.
All this time, she thought the marriage was a punishment. A strategic move. A mistake.
But it had been a sacrifice.
Suddenly, her heart ached not just for herself, but for Julian.
She remembered the weight he always carried. The way he spoke in half-truths. The haunted look in his eyes when she mentioned her mother.
All signs she had missed.
"Where is he?" she asked.
Marcus hesitated. "Probably at the cliffs."
Aurora didn't wait. She grabbed her coat and rushed outside, heart pounding.
—
The cliffs overlooked the shore that had once felt like her sanctuary. Today, it looked like a battlefield.
Julian stood near the edge, the wind tugging at his coat, his jaw tight as he stared out over the gray waves. Aurora approached slowly, unsure if she had the right to interrupt his solitude—but unable to stay away.
When he turned, their eyes locked.
"I shouldn't have let you find that photo," he said first, his voice hollow. "I should have burned it."
"I'm glad you didn't," she replied quietly.
He laughed bitterly. "It just proves what a fool I've been."
"No," she said firmly, walking closer. "It proves you've been trying to carry too much alone."
His eyes narrowed, his voice a whisper. "You weren't supposed to be involved in this. You were supposed to live your life, untouched by the sins of mine."
She shook her head. "We're married, Julian. That doesn't just mean sharing a name. It means sharing the weight."
His eyes softened then, but only for a moment.
"I never wanted you to see my mother for who she really is," he murmured. "I thought if I could keep the peace long enough, I could protect you. But my silence just… pushed you further away."
Aurora reached out, her fingers brushing his. "I don't care about our families' history, Julian. I care about us. But I need the truth. I need all of it."
He swallowed hard, the wind stealing his words before he could speak. But then he nodded slowly.
"She blackmailed your family," he confessed. "My mother. She threatened to destroy your father's name unless he left my father alone. The affair had already caused a scandal. But your mother refused to walk away."
Aurora listened, her hands trembling.
"So your mother ruined her," Julian finished. "She ruined your family, Aurora. And then she made me marry you to clean it all up."
A storm raged inside her. Pain, fury, sorrow—but strangely, no hatred for Julian. Only a deeper understanding.
"She used us," Aurora whispered.
Julian looked away. "And I let her."
They stood in silence, the ocean roaring below them like a warning.
But Aurora wasn't afraid.
She stepped closer and took Julian's hand. "We can't change what they did. But we can decide who we become."
His eyes searched hers, and for the first time in days, something unspoken passed between them. Trust, fragile but real.
"I want to be with you, Julian," she said, voice steady. "But only if we stop hiding."
He nodded. "No more secrets."
They stood together at the edge of the cliff, the storm behind them and a long road ahead. But this time, they would walk it side by side.
Even if the price of silence had been high, it had bought them one priceless thing: the truth.
And with the truth, came the chance to begin again.