Thank you so much for all your kind reviews on the last chapter.

I'm glad that some of you haven't been hit too badly by Sandy even if I'm sure some others have.

Chapter twenty-five

Aria's POV

"You lied to me!" My father said once again, squeezing my arm harder. Anger was etched all over his face and, for a moment, I couldn't even recognize my own father. Never would I have thought that I could be afraid of my father but at this instant I was. I was totally scared of him.

"Dad, please, you're hurting me," I whined as he squeezed my arm tighter.

He didn't release his grip as though he hadn't even heard me, and instead, he grabbed my other arm, pulling me closer to his face whose features were deformed by the anger.

"I can't believe you lied to me like that! What were you going to do? Call the police?" He shouted at me.

"Dad…"

"I can't believe you tried to fool me. I thought I could trust you. You're my daughter for God's sake!" He snapped at me once again, still squeezing my arms.

"Dad, I'm sorry." I said, hoping he was going to calm down. I didn't know what to do but the only thing I knew was that I needed to calm him down before something bad happens.

"Why can't you understand that everything I did was for our family?" He kept yelling at me. "I couldn't let her destroy everything we had! I didn't pressure her into doing anything, she is the one who started and after that she acted as though I had used her, as though she was the victim!"

"But she was!" I snapped at him. I couldn't believe that he was acting as if it wasn't his fault, as if he hadn't done anything wrong.

"She was just a child; she didn't know what she was doing. She didn't deserve to die! You're a monster!"

"Stop saying that, Aria! STOP IT!" My father yelled, losing his temper. I should have listened to him, I should have shut up, I knew it was the smartest thing to do but I was so blind with anger that I just couldn't.

"Why? Does the truth bother you? Because it's what you are, a monster! You are a monster!" I yelled at him, looking at him straight in the eyes.

I immediately regretted my words as soon as I saw my father's eyes fill with anger but it was too late. In a second, and before I could do anything, his hands locked around my throat.

Ezra's POV

I took my eyes off the road for a second to look at Aria's best friend who was sitting beside me. "So, you are telling me that Byron might be involved in Alison's murder and that he might do something to Aria?" I asked Spencer in disbelief.

While I was dressing up for the dinner with Aria's parents, I had been astonished to find Spencer in front of my door. She was upset and was looking for Aria, telling me that she didn't pick up her phone and that her mother had told her that she wasn't home. When I had informed her that Aria was with her dad because her car had broken down my former student's eyes had widened in shock and I had watched her face getting really pale. When I had asked her what was going on, getting worried, she had told me that we needed to find Aria and that she would tell me everything on the road.

And there I was, in my car with my former teenage student, listening to her terrifying theory about my girlfriend's father.

"Yes," she replied.

It was hard to believe. How could Aria's dad even have something to do with Alison's murder?

"I know this is crazy and for now it's just a theory, but it's important that we find Aria," Spencer said.

"But…"

"Look, it's her car!" Spencer suddenly pointed out, gesturing toward a car parked along the sidewalk.

"It's not normal, if her car is still here she should be home now," Spencer said nervously.

" Spencer, calm down, we should go to her home, maybe she's there now," I told Spencer. She agreed and I drove up to the Montgomery' house.

A few seconds later I was standing on the entry porch of Aria's house.

"Ezra?" Ella said astonished as she spotted me in front of her door. "I wasn't expecting you before one hour!"

"I know but….Is Aria here?" I asked her hopefully.

Ella shook her head in negation. "Not yet! I don't know where she is, I thought she was with you but maybe she's with one of her friends."

"She's not." Spencer said behind me. "I called Emily and Hanna and none of them saw her!"

"Spencer?" Ella furrowed her brows in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Montgomery, can we please come in?" Spencer asked Aria's mother. Ella nodded and stepped to the side to allow us entry.

"So what's going on? Why are you two together?" Ella asked us, intrigued as soon as I closed the door behind me.

"We're looking for Aria, it's very important, we need to find her!" Spencer explained.

"Why? Is something going on?" Ella asked, getting worried.

Spencer and I shared a glance, not sure what to say. How could we explain to her that we worried that her own husband could do something to her own daughter?

"Ella, it could be nothing but… Have you heard from Byron lately?" I asked her.

"No, he must be still working, why?" Ella said, confusion all over her face.

"I think Aria is with him right now, she called me to tell me that her car had broken down and that her dad was coming to bring her home,"

"Okay, so they should be home soon," Ella replied.

"But it was one hour earlier, they should already be home," Spencer objected.

"Well maybe they went to a garage for her car," Ella said.

"No, we saw her car, it's still in the street," I told Ella.

Ella looked at us, astonished and confused. "Okay, well, I don't get it, what is the problem?"

"We're worried about Aria, we just want to make sure that she's okay," I replied.

Ella scowled at me, astonished. "What are you worried about? You have just told me that she is with her father, so there is nothing to worry about!"

Once again, Spencer and I shared a worried glance. "Ella, it's complicated and it could be nothing but…." I stopped, unable to finish my sentence. Was there a good way to tell such thing to a woman? And if Spencer was wrong, I would just make a total fool of myself. I looked at Aria's friend, begging her for help.

The young girl pointed at the cell phone on the table. "Mrs. Montgomery, can you please ring your husband so we will make sure that everything is alright?"

"Well okay," Ella accepted. She took her cell phone and dialed her husband's number.

I waited with anxiety, hoping that he would pick up and tell Ella that he and Aria were on their way home. A part of me hoped that Spencer was wrong and that Aria and her dad were going to pass the door.

"It goes straight to voice mail!" Ella told us a few minutes later as she hung up. "It's weird he never turned his phone off, his phone is probably dead."

Spencer and I glanced at each other anxiously as our fears were confirmed.

"Okay, so what is really going on? Why do you guys seem so worried?" Ella asked, looking at Spencer and me.

Spencer was the first to speak. "Mrs. Montgomery, we might be wrong but…." She began hesitantly. "I don't know how to explain that… A few weeks ago we found a book which belongs to Alison and today we learnt that this book was your husband's."

I saw the confusion spread across Ella's face. "And?"

"We think that he has given it to Alison, as a gift I mean," Spencer said.

Once again Aria's mother seemed really confused, as if she hadn't even had a clue what we were talking about. "Okay, but I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Mrs. Montgomery…." Spencer began hesitantly.

"Can you please be clear and tell me what is really going on?" Ella said, losing patience.

I suddenly realized that we were losing time. Aria could be in danger while we were talking quietly. I needed to tell Ella the truth even if it was going to hurt.

I took a deep breath and I then let out the sentence which, I knew, was going to destroy my girlfriend's mother's life.

"We think that Byron might be involved in Alison's murder!"

I watched as Ella opened one's eyes wide in shock and surprise. "What are you talking about? Are you insane?"

"Ella…"

Ella didn't let me say anything and snapped at me. "Are you seriously telling me that my husband is the one who killed Alison Dilaurentis? How dare you?"

"Mrs. Montgomery," Spencer tried to help me, "I know this is difficult to hear and like Ezra said, we're not sure at all but the only thing that matters is to find Aria!"

Ella listened to Spencer before looking daggers at me. "Ezra, I was starting to appreciate you and to accept the relationship that you have with my daughter, but then you're coming to my house to accuse my husband of being a murderer who can even hurt his own daughter! And worse you're dragging Spencer into your delirium!" Ella shouted at me.

"Ella, the only thing I want is to find Aria and make sure she's okay, I'm worried about her!" I insisted.

"I will ask you to leave, Ezra!" She snapped once again. "I won't tolerate such a thing! My husband is not a murderer; he has nothing to do with Alison's death!"

"Ella, please …" I tried to argue.

"Ezra, this is enough, you better leave now," she said sternly.

"Mom, I think they might be right!" A voice interrupted our argument. We all turned over to see Mike at the bottom of the stairs. I didn't know how long he had been here but I had the feeling that he had heard the whole conversation we had had.

"Mike? What are you talking about?" Ella asked her son.

Aria's brother took a step toward us and stood in front of his mother. "I heard what they said about Dad and Alison…"

"Don't worry about that, Mike," Ella interrupted him. "Ezra has lost his mind, he is leaving." She added looking daggers at me.

"Mom, there something you need to know." Mike started.

As we all looked at the young teenage boy, Mike started to speak.

"The night Alison disappeared, I saw Dad coming back home! It was late, and you were already sleeping, I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs to take something to drink. Dad was in the kitchen, sitting at the table, he seemed really agitated, he had his head in his hands and was shaking, I had never seen him like this before. I didn't know what to do, I wanted to talk to him but something stopped me, he was very weird, so I came back to my room without him seeing me," Mike confessed.

I swallowed hard as Spencer spoke. "This confirms what we thought."

"There's more," Mike added. We all looked at him, waiting for him to talk.

"He kept whispered the same thing over and over again," Aria's little brother confessed.

"What was it?" I asked him.

Mike seemed to hesitate before speaking. "It's not my fault!"

"Oh my God!" Spencer said, shocked.

"But… Why haven't you ever said anything?" Ella asked her son.

"Because, it's Dad we're talking about!" Mike replied. "The day after, when Aria came back home, crying because Alison had disappeared, I thought of what I had seen in the kitchen, of course, but I couldn't bring myself to believe that Dad had been able to do something to Alison! I mean he is my dad, and we didn't even know if something had happened to her anyway. But then when they found her body, everything came back to me. I tried not to think about it, but this tiny doubt was haunting me, it's why I started acting strangely and did all the things I did."

"Oh, Mike…" Ella said, her eyes filled with tears.

"Then they arrested Garrett Reynolds for Alison's murder and I thought that everything was over, that what I had seen that night had nothing to do with Alison, you can't even imagine how relieved I was. But now, Mom, I'm not so sure, and I can't keep this for me anymore especially if my sister is in danger," Mike explained.

"That's not possible, not my husband!" Ella said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"We need to find Aria and now!" I sternly said. Until this moment, it was just a theory but now everything was becoming real. If Byron had been able to kill Alison so God knows what he could do to Aria. We needed to find her, I needed to hold her in my arms, I couldn't let something happen to her.

"But she's his daughter, he can't hurt her!" Ella said but I saw in her eyes that she wasn't convinced at all.

"Maybe not, but we need to find her!" Spencer told her.

"Ella, do you have any idea where Byron could have taken Aria?" I asked Aria's mother. She was sitting on her couch, looking vacantly into space and I knew she was probably broken.

She looked at me with desperation and shook her head in negation. "No, I don't!"

"Ella, please try!" I insisted.

"I'm trying, what do you think? It's my daughter we're talking about! Do you think I'm not worried?" She shouted at me, visibly upset as more tears fell down her cheeks.

"Ella, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" I apologized seeing how devastated she was.

She sighed; wiping some tears away from her cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt and suddenly looked up at us. "The Strauss's cabin!"

"Holden Strauss?" Spencer asked. I remembered that Aria had talked to me about her childhood friend who had come back from Portugal a few months ago. He was the one who she pretended to get out with to be able to see me.

"Yes, they have a little cabin near Rosewood; Byron used to take the kids to fish when they were little and before the Strauss moved to Portugal!" Ella explained.

"Yes, I remember, Dad likes this place," Mike said.

"I'm calling the police!" I said already dialing the 911.

Aria's POV

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" He yelled at me as his strong hands squeezed my neck preventing me from breathing.

Was he going to kill me? Was my own father going to take my life like he had taken Alison's?

Was it really my father who was currently squeezing his hands around my throat trying to strangle me?

Did he remember that he used to tell my brother and me that we were the best things which had happened to him when he kissed us goodnight?

Was it possible that he wanted me to die? That he wanted his own daughter to die?

"Daddy, please…" I managed to whisper, begging my father with my eyes.

He kept squeezing my neck as I felt the life leaving me little bit by little bit.

When the police had found Alison's body, I had started questioning myself about death; I had started thinking about the way I would die. I had imagined many different ways but never, even in the worst scenarios, would I have thought that my one father would be responsible for my death.

He kept squeezing my neck, I couldn't breathe anymore and I knew I was going to die but instead of shutting my eyes I did all I could possibly do to keep them open, I wanted my father to see who he was strangling, I wanted him to see what he was doing to his own child.

As I was probably living the last seconds of my life a flash of my past came back to me and during a short second I saw my six-year-old younger self running toward my father in a park as he picked me up in his arms before kissing my cheek as the child I was wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

Did this man still exist or had he been replaced by this monster?

My father, whose hands were still locked tightly around my throat, met my gaze and all of a sudden, something changed. The anger which had been filling his eyes a second earlier seemed suddenly replaced by something different. Regrets maybe or shame.

That was when, as I was about to pass out, that he finally removed his hands from my neck.

I fell on my knees, coughing violently by trying to catch my breath. I had never thought that it could be so great to breath, to feel the air filling my lungs.

My father looked at me, horrified. "Oh my God, I-I have never wanted that," my father said, taking his head in his hands as I was still on the ground, taking deep breaths after deep breaths.

"I have never wanted that, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said again.

All of a sudden, we heard the police's sirens resound into the woods, there was no doubt that they were coming here; someone had probably called them. My father looked around him panicked and then he looked at me a last time before taking off in a sprint into the woods.

A second later the police was here. I pointed toward the wood and they immediately went after my father with their dogs who were barking loudly.

"Aria!" I suddenly heard a voice calling out my name. I turned over to see Ezra getting out of his car as the relief of seeing me spread across his face.

"Aria, oh my God, are you alright? What happened?" He asked me when he reached me, letting his fingers running along my bruised neck. I opened my mouth to say something but instead broke down in tears.

He immediately pulled me into a tight embrace, kissing the top of my head.

"Your mom is on her way with your brother and Spencer," he whispered in my ear as I hold on to him.

"It's my father, Ezra…" I sobbed against him, soaking his shirt. "He killed Alison, he killed her! He killed her," I repeated as more sobs escaped my lips.

Ezra hugged me tighter against his chest, rubbing my back in small circles. He didn't tell me that everything was fine, that everything was going to be alright but he just held me in his arms, giving me as much comfort as he could, and I was so grateful for that. My own father was the one who had killed my best friend and who had even tried to kill me so, of course, nothing could ever be alright again. Ever.

"We got him!" A policeman's voice resounded into the woods. All of a sudden, four policemen got out of the woods, holding my father who was wearing handcuffs around his wrists.

Ezra pulled away a bit to see what was going on, keeping a protective arm around my shoulders. I looked at my father as he policemen took him to their car. I met his gaze; for a few minutes we stared at each other and then he whispered something to me. I was too far away from him to hear distinctly what he was saying but I saw the words forming on his lips. These words which wouldn't change anything, but which gave me the proof, which could be a tiny comfort in the nightmare I was going through, that a tiny part of the monster that my father had begun and that he would always be, still belonged to the man who had raised me.

"I'm sorry".

What do you think?

What lies beneath the surface: No I'm not related to Marlene King, not at all lol. I was very surprised, in the Halloween episode when I saw that Byron was involved. I didn't think it would happen in the show, but I'm glad though. Actually I got this idea of Byron having an affair with Alison because of this Lolita book which has appeared many times in the show. Also I don't know if I will write a sequel to this story, I'm not saying no but as I have already started to write another story I will focus on it for a while, but maybe later, we will see, if I get some juicy ideas^^.

Please review and stay tuned for the last chapter.

xoxo