Chapter 1 A Knock in the Rain
(Aurelia’s POV)
The building's glass doors sighed closed behind me as I stepped out into the cool dusk, London’s moody sky already threatening rain. The air smelt like ambition and exhaust fumes. Another long day of interning, another set of spreadsheets and marketing briefs that barely scratched the surface of what I wanted to create.
I had come a long way from Montreal—from crisp winters, poutine-filled study nights, and my father’s towering hotels gleaming across Canadian skylines. Oxford had been a dream I chased and caught, but London? London was the real test. My internship here was everything I had worked for—and more exhausting than anyone warned.
I adjusted my coat collar with one hand and unlocked my car with the other. Just as I slid into the driver’s seat, something tugged at the edges of my awareness. A sleek black car sat parked across the street. Windows tinted. Still. Almost too still.
But this was London. People had drivers. Or worse—paparazzi. I wasn’t famous, just famously related.
I’m reading too much into it, I told myself.
I drove off, weaving through the wet city streets, letting the hum of traffic drown out my unease. I stopped by a local boutique, browsed mindlessly through their fall collection, picked up some macarons at my favorite patisserie, and finally headed home. But the car never lost me. Every turn I made, every red light I stopped at, it was there—patient and unhurried.
By the time I parked outside my townhouse, the drizzle had begun. London rain—soft, cold, creeping like an old friend who had bad news to deliver.
I took the groceries inside, kicked off my shoes, and collapsed onto the couch. The silence wrapped around me. Safe. Familiar.
Or so I thought.
Knock. Knock.
My heart did something funny.
Two firm knocks echoed through the quiet hallway. I froze. For one breath. Then two.
I wasn’t expecting anyone.
I opened the door slowly, cautiously. And there he was.
Tall. Rain-slicked. Dressed like he belonged to the night itself—dark coat, steady eyes, and that car still waiting behind him, headlights low and humming. I scanned his face quickly. Nothing familiar. But the moment stretched like an unanswered question.
I didn’t speak at first. I rarely do.
“I’m sorry for showing up unannounced,” he said, voice smooth but holding something urgent beneath. “I’m... Arthur. Arthur Miller. Ria’s brother.”
Ria. My godmother.
I blinked, still unsure whether to invite him in or call the police.
“My mother’s been trying to reach me,” I said, filling in my own blanks. “And when she couldn’t... they sent you.”
He nodded once. “She was worried. They all were. So was Ria. They asked me to check on you—quietly.”
Something inside me crumpled, just a little. I hadn’t meant to worry them. It was just a few days. Work had been exhausting. It's kind of exhausting that you don’t have the energy to explain.
But now there was this man. This stranger. Sent by my people. Standing in the rain.
And suddenly, the quiet I had wrapped around myself didn’t feel like comfort anymore—it felt like armor. Heavy. Cold.
“Alright,” I said, stepping aside. “You might as well come in.”
He crossed the threshold like he belonged to some untold past.
And that’s where it begins—
A tale of two people who didn’t know they were destined.
Where her hasty spark meets his patient storm.
But with a knock.
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