Chapter 96

Ryder's POV

The hallway felt unusually quiet, left for the pounding of my heart as it beat wildly in my chest. The air felt thickened around me and everything seemed to be still, as if the entire house had held it's breath along with me. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I slowly began to approach Aria's door.

Each step that I took echoed softly against the polished floor and the sound seemed to grow louder with each passing moment. I looked up from the ground where my gaze had been fixated and shifted my eyes to Aria's door, the barrier between me and the answers that I sought looming a few rooms ahead of me.

After a few more steps, I finally stood in front of the door. I took in a deep breath and exhaled softly as I squeezed my hand into a fist. I raised it up and was about bringing it down to knock on the door when different thoughts began crossing my mind.

Should I knock? Why couldn't I just turn and leave everything as it was? Did I really have to follow Otis' words? These