The Heiress' Revenge

Chapter 214: The Cruelest Kindness

Ariana’s POV

A month had passed since the gala, since I had looked into Dante’s eyes and broken him.

Thirty-one days of pretending, and I must say I had become very good at pretending.

Phillip and I had settled into something that looked real from the outside: dinners, public appearances. Quiet mornings when he brought coffee to my office and smiled like seeing me was the best part of his day. The press loved us; we are the talk of the town.

Everything was going as planned, which meant my children were still safe, and that was all that mattered.

Yet somehow Phillip had become dangerous in a completely different way, not because he was manipulative, but because he was kind.

Painfully kind.

He saw too much.

He noticed the way my smile slipped when I thought no one was watching. He noticed how I stared at my phone whenever an unknown number appeared. He noticed the tension in my shoulders, the way I flinched at sudden sounds, the exhaustion I buried under expensive clothes and perfect makeup, and instead of walking away, he stayed, and that was the problem.

I was currently in my office staring blankly at financial projections I hadn’t actually read when Phillip walked in without knocking, holding two cups of coffee.

"You’re still here."

I rubbed my eyes. "So are you."

"Yes, but I came prepared." He lifted one cup. "Bribery."

Despite myself, I smiled. "You think caffeine solves everything?"

"No." He walked closer and placed the cup beside me. "But I think it helps with stubborn women who refuse to rest."

"I’m working."

He glanced at my untouched screen.

"Ariana, you’ve been staring at the same spreadsheet for twenty minutes."

I froze.

He noticed that too, of course he did. Phillip moved around the desk and leaned against it, crossing his arms.

"You’re tired."

"I’m fine."

He gave me a look.

I almost laughed.

Dante used to give me that same look when I lied; the thought hit me so suddenly that my chest tightened.

Phillip’s expression softened.

"There he is."

I frowned. "Who?"

"The ghost."

I went still.

"You’re thinking about him again," he said quietly.

I looked away, the silence stretching between us, then Phillip sighed.

"I don’t want to be the rebound anymore."

My head snapped toward him.

"What?"

He held my gaze.

"I care about you, Ariana."

My pulse slowed, then raced.

No.

No, no, no.

Not this.

"I told myself I could be patient," he continued. "I told myself I could wait while you healed while you figured things out."

His voice grew quieter.

"But this stopped being casual for me a while ago."

My stomach twisted as Philp stepped closer.

"I know you’re hurting; I know there are things you won’t tell me." His jaw tightened slightly. "But somewhere along the way this became real for me."

My throat went dry.

"Ariana..." His voice softened. "I’m in love with you."

The words hit me harder than I expected, and for a second I couldn’t breathe.

Of course, he loves me, Philp Anderson, the patient, steady, impossibly good man standing in front of me, loved me.

I should have felt joy.

Warmth.

Something.

Instead, all I felt was panic because love made everything worse, because he deserved truth, but I couldn’t give it if I pushed Phillip away too hard; questions would come, and questions got people killed, people like my children.

Phillip searched my face.

"You don’t have to say it back," he said quietly.

That should have made it easier, but it didn’t because I saw hope in his eyes real hope, the terrifying kind and I hated what I was about to do.

I stood slowly with my legs feeling weak.

Phillip didn’t move, nor did I. Then I heard myself speak.

"Okay."

His brows drew together.

"Okay?"

I swallowed.

I forced the lie out.

"Yes."

My voice barely sounded like mine.

"I think... I’m developing feelings for you too."

The moment the words left my mouth, guilt ripped through me as Phillip stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

"Really?"

I nodded another lie and betrayal.

"Yes."

Something changed in his face; his hope became happiness or relief, and that look nearly made me break down because I hated that I had to lie to him.

God, he believed me.

Phillip stepped closer, moving slowly, giving me every chance to stop him.

"Ariana..."

His hand lifted, his fingers brushed my cheek gently and carefully like I was something precious, then his voice dropped. "Can I kiss you?"

My heart dropped as I tried to fight back the urge to say no, but I didn’t; instead, I smiled.

Another practiced expression.

"Yes."

And that is all he needed before he kissed me softly, and I didn’t feel anything, nothing.

No spark.

No heat.

No ache.

No trembling.

Nothing.

And that terrified me more than anything because I remembered what a kiss was supposed to feel like. Dante’s kisses had never been gentle things; they were consuming, ruining, and soul-deep.

One kiss from Dante used to rearrange my entire world, but this felt like kissing a wall —

Phillip deepened the kiss slightly as if testing whether I would respond. I kissed him back because I had to; the lie had to look real.

I hated myself so much for putting Philp in this kind of situation; he deserves way better.

When he pulled away, his forehead rested lightly against mine he smiled softly.

"I knew it," he whispered.

I closed my eyes.

"What?"

"That there was something between us."

There wasn’t.

There never would, but I didn’t say anything; I dare not.

Phillip brushed his thumb over my cheek.

"I can be the man you need, Ariana."

The words nearly broke me.

Because he could. In another life, he could, if Dante didn’t own my heart, because he is really a nice person.

He would have been everything a woman should want, but not me, and my heart was cruel because it still belonged to a man I could never stop loving.

A man I had destroyed with my own decisions.

Phillip smiled again, "Let me leave you to finish up"

I could only nod cause no words could come out of my mouth, and when he finally left, I sank back into my chair. The office felt suffocating.

My hand lifted to my lips.

What have I done?