The CEO's Midnight Remedy novel Chapter 410

Chapter 410

Aria’s POV

Scarlett looked small in the orange jumpsuit. Smaller than I’d ever seen her, even accounting for the weight she’d lost. Her blonde hair– always perfectly styled, always gleaming–hung limp around her face. She had dark circles under her eyes and a bruise on her cheekbone that made my stomach turn.

‘What happened to your face?” I asked, sliding into the chair across from her in the visiting room.

She touched the bruise self–consciously. “Inmate politics. Turns out being a rich girl from the Upper East Side doesn’t make you popular in Rikers.”

“Scarlett-

“Why are you here, Aria?” Her voice was flat. Defeated. “Come to gloat? Tell me how I got exactly what I deserved?”

“Your mother’s dead.”

The words hung in the air between us. Scarlett’s face went blank, processing, then crumpled.

“What?”

“She poisoned herself this morning. Same arsenic she used on my mother. She left a note.” I pulled out my phone, showing her a photo of Victoria’s letter. “She wanted me to tell you she’s sorry. That you deserved better.”

Scarlett read the screen through streaming tears, her hands shaking so badly I had to hold the phone stea she looked up at me with something like desperation.

hen she finished,

“I didn’t know,” she said hoarsely. “Aria, I swear to God, I didn’t know what she did to your mom. I didn’t-”

“I know.” And surprisingly, I meant it. “I believe you.”

“Then why- She gestured helplessly at the room, the jumpsuit, the situation. “Why didn’t you say something? Why let me get charged with conspiracy?”

“Because you’re not charged with conspiracy to commit murder,” I said calmly. “I made sure of that. David talked to the DA. You’re only

facing the trafficking charges and obstruction. You won’t do more than five years if you behave.”

Scarlett stared at me like I’d spoken in a foreign language. “You… you helped me?”

“I made sure you were charged with what you actually did. Not with what your mother did.” I stood, suddenly exhausted. “That’s not help,

Scarlett. That’s just fairness.”

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18:08 Wed, Jan 21

Chapter 410

“I don’t understand.” She wiped her face with her sleeve. “After everything I did to you–Ethan, the house, all of

about fair?”

Du care

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I thought about it. Really thought. “Because my mother was poisoned for four months while everyone pretended not to notice. Because justice matters, even when it’s complicated. And because…” I paused at the door, looking back at this broken girl who’d spent so long

trying to destroy me. “Because you’re going to spend the next five years living with the consequences of your choices. That’s punishment

enough. You don’t need to pay for Victoria’s sins on top of your own.”

I left her crying in the visiting room, and I didn’t look back.

Devon was waiting in the parking lot, leaning against the car with his arms crossed. He straightened when he saw me, his eyes searching my face for… something. Permission to ask how I was, maybe. Or reassurance that I hadn’t completely lost it.

“I’m okay,” I said before he could speak.

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