After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's Aunt-in-Law-Chapter 166: Thirst Edits are Forever

Before Zoe could launch into her tirade...

Damien’s phone began vibrating violently in his pocket. He pulled it out, glancing at the caller ID with a sharp frown.

"I have to take this," Damien muttered, his jaw tight. He looked at Zoe. "Don’t stress her out."

Zoe scoffed loudly as Damien stepped out into the hallway, the heavy door sliding shut behind him.

She handed Aria the iPad.

"Exhibit A," Zoe announced, tapping the screen.

A TikTok video began to play. It was shaky, night-vision drone footage shot from high above the East River. It showed the black van. It showed the side door sliding open. And then, it showed Aria—blindfolded and bound—plummeting backward into the dark water.

But the video cut off exactly one second before the French woman’s hands shoved her.

"They clipped it," Aria noted, her eyes narrowing.

"Exactly!" Zoe shouted, pacing the room. "To the untrained, chronically online eye, it looks like you threw yourself out of a moving vehicle to escape Damien’s motorcade! You have a million teenagers ready to storm this hospital and ’liberate’ you from your marriage. And the worst part? Bella and Lucas are on the press tour right now, doing interviews, claiming they’re ’praying for your escape’."

Aria simply blinked, leaning back against her pillows. She looked incredibly unimpressed.

"Of course they are," Aria sighed. "They are parasites, Zoe. If I died, they’d be maggots feeding on my corpse. It’s what maggots do. You can’t be mad at a bug for acting like a bug."

Zoe paused her pacing, staring at Aria. "Well...okay." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"But did you know Damien has a very active and unhinged fanbase?" Zoe asked, reaching over to swipe the iPad screen.

Aria let out a dry, breathy laugh. "Yes, I found out recently. He is a walking thirst trap though, so you can’t really blame them."

"Why’d you scroll pass the edit?" Aria frowned. "I want to see it."

Zoe scrolled back up. The audio was a slowed-down, heavy bass-boosted remix of a Weeknd song. The visual was a montage of Damien Sinclair looking exhausted and lethal right outside the ICU doors, giving a subtle nod just before his guards body-slammed Lucas into the drywall.

The text overlay in bright pink neon font read: When he’s a walking red flag but he protects his wife’s peace.

Aria watched the video, thoroughly amused. "Okay, the beat drop when the camera breaks is actually brilliant. I need to save that."

"Aria!" Zoe groaned, dragging a hand down her face. "You are not taking this seriously!"

"I am perfectly serious," Aria said, locking the iPad. "So how did we fix it?"

"After a lot of begging on my knees, I convinced him do a sit-down exclusive with Vanity Fair today," Zoe said, crossing her arms. "And Aria... he delivered the most beautiful performance of a lifetime."

Zoe’s expression softened into genuine, heartfelt relief.

"He told them the truth about what really happened," Zoe continued. "The crazy fanboys are still at large though."

Aria froze.

Her heart skipped a beat.

’Crazy fanboys.’

The puzzle pieces slammed together in her brain. Damien hadn’t told Zoe about the French cartel.

Damien had lied to the entire world, taking the heat of a massive PR scandal on his own shoulders, specifically to build an impenetrable wall of ignorance around the people Aria loved.

"And there’s one more thing," Zoe continued, her tone dropping into a disgusted sneer. "Lydia Laurent. Her IRS investigation was miraculously dropped two days ago. Lack of evidence. Her accounts are unfrozen, and she officially announced her divorce from Raymond to ’focus on her growth’."

Aria’s emerald eyes darkened.

’The French woman,’ Aria thought instantly. ’The cartel bailed Lydia out. They paid off the feds and cleared her name.’

"Aria?" Zoe asked, her voice cracking as she stared at her best friend.

Aria was sitting perfectly still, her face a mask of cool, calculating calm.

Zoe suddenly grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled, letting out a frustrated scream.

"Why am I the only one freaking out?!" Zoe shrieked. "Your reputation is in the toilet! Why are you just sitting there looking like you’re deciding what to order for lunch?!"

The door opened before Aria could answer.

A young, bright-eyed nurse walked in, carrying a small tray. "Excuse me, ladies. Just here to detach the hardware. Doctor Thorne cleared her to come off the fluids."

Zoe clamped her mouth shut, pacing aggressively near the window while the nurse expertly removed the nasal cannula from Aria’s face and carefully peeled the medical tape off her hand to slide the IV needle out.

"There you go," the nurse smiled. "All done."

"Thank you," Aria said politely.

The moment the nurse slipped out of the room, Aria let out a long, satisfied groan. She stretched her arms high above her head, relishing the feeling of not being tethered to a machine.

She lowered her arms, looking at her hyperventilating best friend. A serene smile spread across Aria’s face.

"Why would I freak out when the pieces moved exactly as I predicted they would?" Aria asked, her voice smooth as glass.

Zoe stopped pacing.

"They are all so predictable," Aria sighed, leaning back and inspecting her fingernails. "Bella and Lucas want attention. Lydia wants money. They don’t have original thoughts. I’m almost bored by it."

"Bored?!" Zoe panicked, rushing back to the side of the bed. "Aria, your reputation is in a hole right now! You are currently the punchline of a global conspiracy theory!"

"I like being in the hole, Zoe," Aria purred, her eyes glinting with a dangerous, calculating light. "Crawling out of it and dragging my enemies down to take my place is going to be very, very satisfying."

Zoe eyed her best friend, the panic slowly subsiding into a familiar, thrilling sense of awe. She knew that look.

"You’re plotting something, aren’t you?" Zoe asked, narrowing her eyes.

Damien stepped back into the room. He tucked his phone into his pocket, his golden eyes immediately seeking Aria out, softening the moment they landed on her face without the tubes.

"Everything alright?" Damien asked.

"Everything is perfect," Aria smiled sweetly. She turned to her best friend. "Zoe, go home."

"What? No, I need to stay and help you plot—"

"Go home and sleep," Aria ordered gently, but firmly. "I can see the dark circles under your eyes through your concealer."

Zoe touched her under-eye area self-consciously. She looked at Aria, then at Damien, who was standing there radiating a silent, overwhelming ’please leave us alone’ energy.

"Fine," Zoe huffed, grabbing her purse. "But call me the second you have a plan."

"You’ll be the first to know," Aria promised.