The Maid's Deception-Chapter 42 - 41: Devastation

ARIA’S POV

The taxi ride to Mount Sinai Hospital felt endless. Aria sat in the back seat, her hands trembling in her lap, staring out the window without seeing anything.

Patient moved to ICU. Condition critical. Family should come immediately.

The text from the hospital had been clinical, professional, but Aria knew what it really meant: Come say goodbye.

Her phone buzzed again. Marcus.

Just visited your mom. She’s asking for you. Aria, it’s bad. Really bad.

She typed back with shaking fingers: I’m on my way.

The guilt was suffocating. While she’d been hiking with Damien, while she’d been standing in that greenhouse staring at the plants that could save her mother’s life, while she’d been falling deeper in love with a man she was planning to betray. her mother had been dying alone in a hospital bed.

What kind of daughter was she?

The taxi pulled up to the hospital entrance at 2:47 PM. Aria paid quickly and rushed inside, her heart hammering so hard she thought it might break through her ribs.

The ICU was on the fourth floor. She’d been here before..too many times....but it never got easier. The antiseptic smell. The hushed voices. The atmosphere of barely controlled grief.

She signed in at the nurses’ station, and the nurse looked at her with that expression Aria had come to hate: pity mixed with sympathy. The look that said I’m so sorry for what you’re about to face.

"Room 347," the nurse said gently. "Your friend Marcus is still in there with her."

Aria nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.

The walk to room 347 felt like walking to an execution. Each step brought her closer to a reality she wasn’t ready to face.

She paused outside the door, her hand on the handle, and tried to compose herself.

Be strong. Mama needs you to be strong.

She pushed the door open.

The first thing she saw was Marcus....her friend from medical school, one of the few people who knew why she’d really taken the job at Blackwood Estate. He stood by the window, and when he turned to look at her, his expression was grave.

The second thing she saw was her mother.

Mei Chen looked so small in that hospital bed. She’d always been petite, but now she looked like she might disappear entirely into the white sheets. Her skin had a grayish pallor, and the machines surrounding her beeped with ominous irregularity.

"Mama?" Aria’s voice cracked.

Mei’s eyes fluttered open....still bright despite everything, still sharp. "Aria. My baby girl."

Aria crossed the room quickly and took her mother’s hand. It felt so fragile, like bird bones wrapped in tissue paper. "I’m here. I’m here now."

"Marcus told me you were coming." Mei’s smile was weak. "He’s been keeping me company. Such a good boy."

"You look different," Mei said, her voice soft but observant. "Something’s changed. Tell me about this new job of yours."

Aria forced a smile. "It’s good. The estate is beautiful. Very grand. Old money, you know."

"And the work? You’re happy?"

"Yes. It’s....it’s fine." The lies tasted like ash on her tongue.

Mei was quiet for a moment, just studying her daughter’s face. Then, softly: "You’re lying to me."

"Mama...."

"I know my daughter, Aria. I can see it in your eyes. Something’s wrong. Are you in trouble?"

Yes, Aria wanted to scream. I’m in trouble. I’m falling in love with a man I’m planning to betray. I’m about to commit a crime. I’m becoming someone you wouldn’t recognize. Someone I don’t recognize.

But she couldn’t say any of that. Couldn’t burden her dying mother with the truth.

"I’m fine," she said instead. "Just tired. It’s been a long few weeks."

Mei’s grip tightened on her hand with surprising strength. "Aria Chen, don’t you dare lie to me. Not now. Not when...." Her voice broke. "Not when we might not have much time left."

The words hung in the air between them, terrible and true.

"How are you feeling?" Aria asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Like I’m dying." Mei’s laugh was bitter. "Because I am. The doctors don’t say it outright, but I can see it in their faces. The way they look at me like I’m already a ghost."

"Don’t talk like that. You’re going to get better. The treatments..."

"The treatments aren’t working, baby. We both know that." Mei’s eyes filled with tears. "And that’s okay. I’ve made peace with it."

"Well, I haven’t!" Aria’s voice rose, sharp with desperation. "I’m not ready to lose you. I can’t....Mama, you’re all I have. You’re everything. Without you, I’m...."

"You’re strong," Mei interrupted firmly. "You’re brilliant and capable and you have so much life ahead of you. You don’t need me anymore."

"That’s not true. I’ll always need you."

They sat in silence for a moment, both crying now, holding onto each other like they could stop time through sheer force of will.

"Tell me about him," Mei said suddenly.

Aria blinked. "What?"

"The man. There’s a man. I can tell. You have that look." A small smile played at Mei’s lips despite her tears. "Like you’re falling in love but fighting it."

How did she always know? How could she read Aria so perfectly even while dying?

"His name is Damien," Aria whispered. "He’s.....complicated."

"All good men are complicated." Mei’s thumb rubbed gentle circles on Aria’s hand. "Tell me about him."

"He’s intense. Brilliant. Successful. He makes me feel...." She paused, searching for words. "He makes me feel seen. Like he looks past all my walls and sees who I really am underneath. It’s terrifying and exhilarating at the same time."

"Do you love him?"

The question pierced straight through her.

Did she love him? She’d been so focused on the mission, on maintaining her lies, on getting what she needed....she hadn’t let herself examine what she actually felt.

But thinking about Damien now.....his hands, his voice, the way he’d looked at her in the greenhouse, the vulnerability he’d shown when talking about his mother, the way he’d held her last night while she slept...

"Yes," she admitted quietly. "I think I do."

"Then why do you look so sad about it?"

"Because it can’t work. Because I....." She stopped herself. She couldn’t tell her mother about the plan. About what she was going to do. "Because we’re from different worlds. He’s a billionaire and I’m....."

"You’re my daughter," Mei said fiercely. "You’re brilliant and strong and worthy of any man, no matter how much money he has. If he can’t see that...."

"He does see it. That’s the problem." Aria’s voice broke. "He sees too much. And I’m afraid....I’m afraid when he really knows me, knows everything about me, he won’t want me anymore."

"Baby, if he loves you, he’ll love all of you. The good and the bad. The strengths and the weaknesses. That’s what real love is."

Aria wanted to believe that. Wanted to think that Damien would understand why she was doing what she was about to do. That he’d forgive her deception if she explained about her mother.

But she couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t gamble her mother’s life on a hope.

They talked for another hour.....about small things, big things, memories from Aria’s childhood. Mei was getting weaker, her words coming slower, but she fought to stay awake, to soak up every moment with her daughter.

Finally, a nurse came in. "I’m sorry, but she needs to rest now. The medication needs time to work."

Aria nodded, her vision blurry with tears. She leaned down and kissed her mother’s forehead. "I love you, Mama. So much."

"I love you too, baby. More than anything in this world." Mei’s eyes were already drifting closed. "Be good. Be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you."

"I will," Aria lied, because how could she tell her dying mother the truth?

*******

After Mei falls asleep, Aria forces herself to leave. She makes it to the parking lot before her legs give out.

She sits in her taxi, still parked, and just breaks down completely. Sobbing. Shaking. Unable to process the reality that her mother is dying and there’s nothing.....

No. There IS something. The greenhouse. The Vitalis Radix. So close.

But how? When? She still doesn’t have a concrete plan. Just desperate hope.

Her phone buzzes. Marcus (her friend from med school who’s been checking on her mom):

She’s getting weaker. I’m sorry, Aria. I wish there was more I could do.

She types back through tears: Thank you for being there for her.

The taxi driver clears his throat. "Miss? Are you ready to go?"

She nods, wiping her face. "Yes. Back to the Blackwood Estate, please."

The drive back is a blur. She stares out the window, numb, trying to figure out her next move.

What she doesn’t know is that in a sleek black car several vehicles behind, Damien’s driver James has been following since she left the estate. Reporting back to his boss about where she went, how long she stayed, the state she was in when she left.

[Text to Damien: "She was at Mount Sinai Hospital. ICU floor. Stayed approximately 90 minutes. Left extremely distressed. Currently returning to estate. ETA 45 minutes."]

When the taxi drops her at the estate’s staff entrance around 7 PM, she’s emotionally and physically exhausted. She pays the driver and drags herself inside, hoping to make it to her room without anyone seeing her like this.

She almost makes it.

Lucy catches her in the hallway. "Sarah? Oh my god, what happened? You look....."

"I’m fine," Aria manages. "Just...I need to lie down."

"Let me help....."

"Please. I just need to be alone."

Lucy looks worried but nods. "Okay. But if you need anything....."

"I know. Thank you."

Aria makes it to her room, closes the door, and collapses on her bed fully clothed.

She should shower. Should eat. Should do something productive.

Instead, she just curls into a ball and cries until she has nothing left.

She doesn’t hear the soft knock on her door thirty minutes later.

Doesn’t hear it open quietly.

Doesn’t realize someone is there until a hand gently touches her shoulder.