Chapter 6

Ethan and Vivienne had spent the whole day looking and finally settled on a Pack Sanatorium outside the territory.

The price was steep, but the conditions were decent.

"This one," Vivienne said, squeezing his arm. Her smile was warm and careful. "Mrs. Thorne deserves somewhere nice."

Ethan glanced around the facility. A strange feeling settled in his chest.

Aria was his mate. His wife. Actually putting her in a place like this didn't sit right.

Vivienne seemed to read him. She let go of his arm and put on a hurt look. "I know you can't bring yourself to do it. Fine — I'll go. I won't come between you and Aria anymore."

She turned to walk away. Ethan reached out and stopped her.

"You're being ridiculous. I'm not hesitating because of that. I'm just thinking."

"It's just —" Vivienne added, voice soft, "I really do worry about Aria. She's not stable. What if she hurts your son one day?"

That was enough. The thought of his son settled it.

"You're right. I'm doing this for her own good."

He paid for six months and hoped that in that time, Aria would improve enough for him to bring her home.

"Oh — the pup. The one in the infirmary with jaundice. When can he come home?"

Vivienne's body went still. The staged kidnapping had been her own doing. The one who died hadn't been her son. It had been Aria's. She needed time — time to handle Aria, and then to maneuver Ethan into marrying her. Once she was Luna, it wouldn't matter what Ethan found out.

Something cold moved through her eyes. She arranged her face into a soft expression.

"Jaundice takes time. He's got a nurse watching him. Aren't you confident in her?"

"Besides —" her voice dropped — "our son just died. If you bring your son with Aria home so soon, that would hurt me."

"You're right. We'll give it some time."

Ethan pulled her close, his mind filling with images of Aria.

He wondered how she was doing. He wondered if she'd agree to go to the Sanatorium.

To keep him from thinking too much, Vivienne brought him to a hotel and they stayed for several days.

Those days, Ethan was generous to the point of recklessness. If she looked at something in a store, he paid for it. He took her to a high-end auction house and bought things without flinching.

When she'd had enough and said so — "You've spent so much on me already, I don't need this necklace" — he shook his head.

"That one's not for you. It's for Aria. She loves emeralds. I think she'd like it."

Vivienne watched him. The fondness in his face was impossible to miss.

"You love her that much."

"Of course," he said. "She's my mate."

Vivienne kept her face neutral. But inside, the envy was eating through her.

She thought: Your mate, Ethan? Your mate is only going to be me. If Aria tries to stand in the way of me becoming Luna, I'll remove her myself.

Ethan and Vivienne stayed at the hotel for a week.

That week, Ethan spent fifty million on her.

By the seventh day, Ethan couldn't hold back anymore. He had to go home and find Aria.

Vivienne didn't like it. But she followed him back anyway.

The moment he walked through the Manor doors, he started looking for Aria.

"Where's Aria?"

He searched every room. She was nowhere.

Ethan panicked. He grabbed the nearest servant by the wrist. "Where is she? Where did Aria go?"

"We don't know, sir. She left a week ago and hasn't come back. We assumed she was with you — you've both been gone for seven days."

"What?"

He went cold. "She's been gone for seven days?"

"Yes. The morning after you and Miss Vivienne left, we went to call Mrs. Thorne down for breakfast. Her room was empty. Her things were gone."

Ethan ran upstairs.

It was true. Every trace of Aria had vanished.

"She wouldn't leave. She can't have just left."

He grabbed his phone to call her. Dead number. He tried to message her. The account was gone.

Ethan sat down on the floor. His mind went blank.

"Why? Why would she cancel her number? Delete everything? Did she not want me to find her?"

Vivienne watched him fall apart. She kept her expression concerned.

"Ethan — do you think she found out you were planning to put her in the Sanatorium and ran? She's not exactly stable. What if she hurts someone? Maybe we should go to the Pack enforcers."

"She didn't leave," Ethan said. "She wouldn't. We still have a son. She'd never abandon him."

He stood up. "My son is at the infirmary. I need to go there now."

"Sir." A servant spoke. "Who do you mean? Your son is right here. Miss Vivienne had him brought home from the infirmary three days ago."

"What?" Ethan froze. "Which son? Which one?"

The servant's voice dropped. "Yours and Miss Vivienne's. He recovered from the lung infection. I informed Miss Vivienne."

Ethan turned very slowly toward Vivienne.

"Vivienne. Didn't you tell me he was dead?"

Vivienne reached for the boy and squeezed out tears. "Ethan, I'm sorry. When I was taken, I couldn't see anything. I only heard a baby crying. Then there was crying and silence. I thought it was him. But I just found out three days ago that it wasn't him who died."

She looked up at Ethan, her voice cracking. "It was yours. Yours and Aria's."