Chapter 4-Has she lost her damn mind?

Ava’s Perspective

Luck was not on my side. Bill was already home.

My feet had barely crossed the threshold when his shouting exploded through the room, sharp and unbridled. I didn’t even need to guess why. Alexander’s suit jacket, the one I’d wrapped around myself in a daze and forgotten to hide, lay crumpled on the marble floor, stomped on like a filthy rag, its expensive fabric creased under his boot.

Bill’s face twisted with rage as he jabbed a finger at me, his eyes bloodshot. “You bitch! Bringing men into this house like a common whore—do you think I’m blind?”

My chest tightened until it hurt. The room went deathly quiet, save for the thunderous pounding of my own heart. Every word he spat was a blade, and I knew he wasn’t entirely wrong. Alexander had been here. He had touched me. He had known my deepest, deadliest secret. And I had let it happen—not out of desire, not out of recklessness, but out of pure, suffocating desperation.

I was a Holy Maiden of the Church of Light. My chastity was not a virtue; it was a death sentence. Any man other than my betrothed laying a hand on me meant execution. If the Church learned what had happened, I would be put to death before sunrise. And if Bill found out? He would cut off every penny for my brother Jasper’s treatment, leaving my only family to wither away in a hospital bed.

That was the chains I wore. That was the cage I lived in.

Julian, who had lingered in the corner like a vulture, slid closer to Bill and faked a soft, comforting tone, her fingers brushing his arm in a gesture that made my skin crawl. “Bill, don’t be angry. Maybe it’s just a guest’s coat, left behind by accident. Ava wouldn’t dare do anything to shame you.”

Her voice was honeyed, but her eyes sliced into me, sharp and triumphant. She knew. She might not have all the details, but she knew I was trapped, that I had no way to defend myself. She loved every second of my humiliation.

I forced a smile, my voice steady even as my bones trembled. “It’s fine. You two have always been close. How could I blame you for needing each other?”

The words burned on my tongue, but I held them down. For years, I had swallowed every insult, endured every neglect, smiled through every betrayal. I had obeyed the Church, bowed to the Morgan family, and submitted to Bill—all to keep Jasper alive. I had been quiet, obedient, invisible.

But tonight was different.

Bill snatched the coat off the floor and hurled it straight at me. The heavy fabric hit my shoulder and slid to the ground, the faint, cold scent of Alexander’s cologne wrapping around me like a reminder. This was not a mistake. This was not a misunderstanding. This was the consequence of a life spent letting others break me.

“You will give me an explanation right now!” Bill roared.

Something inside me snapped.

The fear melted away. The trembling stopped. The endless, mindless obedience shattered into pieces. For the first time in my life, I did not cower. I did not apologize. I did not beg.

I bent down slowly, picked up the jacket, and placed it neatly on the nearby chair, my movements calm, deliberate, unshakable.

Then I lifted my head and looked straight into Bill’s eyes.

“Bill,” I said, my voice clear and cold, “I’m not doing this anymore. We’re done.”

The room went completely silent.

Bill froze, as if he could not believe his ears. His brows furrowed, his mouth hanging open in pure shock. “What did you say? You’re breaking up with me? You actually dare?”

“I dare,” I said, without a single flicker of hesitation. “And I mean it.”

I took a step forward, standing taller than I ever had. “Tonight was our engagement night. Under the Church’s rules, we were bound to stay together, honor our agreement, and face our families as a promised couple. You abandoned me. You left me alone in our engagement chamber to run to your cousin. You called me cheap. You treated me like dirt.”

My voice did not shake. It did not break. It was steady, strong, and full of the truth I had buried for far too long.

“You broke the engagement first. You broke the oath. You broke every promise you ever made to me—and to the Church.”

Julian opened her mouth to interrupt, but I cut her off before she could speak. “Don’t. You know exactly what you did. You don’t get to play the innocent victim now.”

Bill’s face turned red with rage. “You’re insane! I left because Julian needed me!”

“That is not the point,” I said calmly. “The point is that you never saw me as your fiancée. You saw me as a tool. A body for breeding. A trophy to show off until you got bored. I’ve endured it for Jasper. I’ve endured it for the Church. But I won’t endure it anymore.”

For years, he had taken my silence for weakness. He had mistaken my obedience for stupidity. He had believed I would stay forever, quiet and broken, just to survive.

But survival was not living.

“I am a Holy Maiden, but I am also a person,” I said, my voice soft but unyielding. “My life is not a debt to be repaid with my body. My chastity is not a chain you can use to drag me into hell. I will not let you kill me slowly. I will not let you kill Jasper by neglect. I will not let anyone control me anymore.”

Bill stared at me, speechless, as if he was seeing a stranger.

“You think you can walk away?” he snarled, finally finding his voice. “The Morgan family? The Church? They’ll destroy you.”

“I know the risk,” I said. “But I’d rather fight and lose than spend the rest of my life on my knees, begging for scraps of kindness from a man who doesn’t even have a single drop of respect for me.”

I lifted my chin, my eyes clear and unafraid.

“This isn’t a mistake. It isn’t impulse. It’s awakening. I’m done being your doll. I’m done being your prisoner. I’m done being nothing.”

Bill stood there, frozen, as the weight of my words crashed into him. For the first time, he realized I was not going to back down.

I was free.

And nothing—not him, not the Church, not the mafia, not the whole world—was going to chain me again.