Chapter 12
Knox stared in disbelief at the body covered with a white sheet.
Seeing that his son wouldn’t believe without proof, Dominic had driven Knox to this location half an hour ago.
“I received a call from Aria early this morning. She said she’d fallen into a trap set by the Callahan family and asked me to bring reinforcements immediately. I suspect it was because of that last shipment–the Callahans were desperate and resorted to these underhanded tactics.”
“But I was too late. By the time I arrived, she had been… tortured beyond recognition.”
Knox’s mind roared with static. He barely registered his father’s words, just staring vacantly at the sheet–covered form, completely shell–shocked.
Though it was only a few steps away, he couldn’t summon the courage to approach.
His history with Aria played like a movie in his mind.
Their first meeting had been on a college campus.
Back then, he’d just learned that Mila was engaged to someone else. Furious and devastated, he’d been in a toxic
spiral.
After breaking up with Mila, he’d begun sleeping around, using a playboy facade to protect his wounded pride.
But the sudden, devastating news had shattered his mask completely. His pain was unbearable, his rage nearly
murderous.
It was at that moment he spotted Aria emerging from the library. Dressed in white, with a hint of a smile on her lips, she was breathtaking.
Inexplicably, Knox froze in his tracks.
He remembered how his heart had raced.
He couldn’t understand why he reacted so strongly until someone remarked: Aria looked exactly like Mila.
Whether through psychological suggestion or not, after hearing that comment, he began unconsciously connecting
the two women.
Gradually, a voice in his mind insisted: he liked Aria because she resembled Mila, the love he couldn’t have.
Knox accepted this explanation.
But now, with Aria’s body lying before him, he finally realized how catastrophically wrong he’d been all these years.
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Bad Boy Mob Heir: I Was His Clone… Now He’s My Puppet!
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Chapter 12
Knox stood frozen for what seemed like eternity, until his legs began to tingle with numbness. Only then did he
force himself to approach.
He never knew a simple white sheet could feel so impossibly heavy.
With all his strength, he couldn’t lift it.
“Knox, don’t look,” Dominic said, his voice tinged with reluctance.
But Knox took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and finally found the courage once more.
As the white sheet fell away, the body was fully exposed before him–wounds crisscrossed the corpse, even more severe than Mila’s injuries. Even the face had been completely disfigured.
Only the diamond ring on the right ring finger still glimmered faintly–it matched his own.
Seeing that ring, Knox suddenly felt as if all strength had been drained from his body. He instantly collapsed to the floor.
His last hope shattered. Tears flooded down his face.
He wept like a child, remembering everything he’d done to her. Overwhelming guilt threatened to consume him.
Never had he felt such despair as in this moment–the world, from this point forward, seemed stripped of all color.
In that moment, his heart told him with absolute certainty: Aria was Aria. She was not a substitute for anyone.
That racing heartbeat at first sight was all the proof he needed–he loved her!
Knox embraced the mutilated body as if holding the world’s most precious treasure.
He held her, lost to all sense of time and place.
As the minutes ticked by, just when Dominic thought his son had finally accepted reality, Knox’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
The next second, he unceremoniously dropped the body to the floor.
“Dad, you didn’t seriously think I’d believe this is Aria, did you?”
Knox wiped away his tears and stood up deliberately, facing Dominic.
“So, where is she really?”
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