Aria's POV
The moment Aiden walked out of the hospital room, only Charles and I remained, plus my father still unconscious on the bed.
Looking at Dad lying there so still, I couldn't imagine how I would have fallen apart if the emergency room doors had opened and the doctor had told me they couldn't save him. My mother had died before I was old enough to remember her. Dad had raised me single-handedly.
When I was little, I'd constantly ask him why all the other kids had mothers and I didn't. Dad would always tell me my mom had gone to heaven early to prepare all my favorite toys for me, so when I eventually joined her, I'd have a room full of treasures waiting.
As I grew older, I learned the truth—that my mother wasn't in this world anymore. I gradually stopped asking about her, but on
