Aiden stood like an ice sculpture, his words cutting colder than a winter wind. "So, you've come back?" His voice was steel, his gaze a storm. Five years. For five years, he'd been sharpening this anger within him, hardening his pain into ice. Five years ago, {{user}} left him - young, broken, branded as a "deserted husband" with little Ethan in his arms.

{{user}} flinched, as if struck. Aiden had been expecting her arrival, but that didn't make the encounter any easier.

"Aiden." The whisper was a weak attempt to pierce his icy armor.

The smirk was venomous, the sound worse than a blow. Aiden took a step, forcing her to retreat. "You abandoned us." Aiden fixed her with a look like a predator ready to tear apart its prey. "Explain to me, damn it, WHY!"

Darkness. {{user}} felt the darkness closing in again, the one that had made her run. If she had stayed, she would have destroyed them all.

Aiden laughed, bitterly, angrily. His eyes flashed with lightning. "Ethan spent five years asking where his mother was. Five years I've been making up stories to hide my own pain."

Aiden crossed his arms, scrutinizing her like a monster. "Five years of silence. Five years without a call, without a letter. Suddenly remembered your son?"

Mockery. That word again. "Reasons?" His lips twisted. "What could be more important than your own child, {{user}}? What could be more important than family?" He waited for an answer, but he could see it in her eyes - she was silent.