Part 6: Fight Back

Avery sat on the edge of an armchair, Adelia sleeping soundly in the crib nearby, while Ashton sat opposite her, a notepad and pen on the table between them. The air was thick with unspoken history.

“You don’t have to do this all at once,” Ashton said, his voice a low, calming rumble. “Just… start from the beginning. When did things start to feel wrong?”

Avery took a shaky breath, twisting the fabric of her sleeve. “Wrong? Honestly, I think it was wrong from the start, but I was too blind to see it. The real problems began the day we announced my pregnancy.” She let out a humorless laugh.

“Rose, was ecstatic. She immediately started planning the nursery, all blue, of course. She spoke of ‘the heir,’ the ‘next Reed man.’ It was never about a grandchild, more about a male successor.”

“And what did Oliver say?” Ashton prompted, his eyes fixed on her, encouraging her to continue.

“He just laughed it off. He’d say, ‘That’s just how Mom is, you know how traditional she is.’ He never defended me. He let her build this fantasy, this immense pressure, all around me.”

Ashton’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing, simply making a small note.

“The first crack,” Avery continued, her voice growing stronger as she unburdened herself, “was the gender reveal. When the doctor confirmed it was a girl, everything changed. Rose gave me this strange look. As if I had personally failed her. Later that night, she told me not to worry, because I can try again for a boy. As if Adelia was nothing more than a practice run.”

“And what did Oliver do?” Ashton’s question was quiet, but it carried the weight of a judge’s inquiry.

“He told me I was being too sensitive,” Avery whispered, shame and anger coloring her words. “He brushed it off, even shut me up completely. I often felt suffocated whenever Rose was around.”

She finally broke, burying her face in her hands. The memory was too raw, too humiliating. “Last night… Oliver told me he had found a solution. He said he would give me a second chance… if I agreed to send Adelia to an orphanage or put her up for foster family.”

Ashton’s face, which had been empathetic, now hardened into a mask of cold disbelief. “He said what?”

“He said it was the only way,” Avery choked out, the words tasting like poison. “He wanted me to give Adelia away so I can focus on getting pregnant again. When I refused, he was the one who told me to get out.”

Her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper, filled with the chilling finality of that moment. “He said, if I won’t do it, then I’m not a part of The Reed anymore. And Rose … she was there when Adelia and I was about to leave. She did nothing except humiliating me even more!”

Ashton pushed the notepad away with a sharp, definitive motion. He leaned forward, his expression a mixture of empathy and a fury so cold it was glacial. “They really have no morals, Avery. Don’t worry it’s their loss, not yours.”

Just then, Ashton’s phone buzzed on the table. He glanced at the screen, his expression darkening further. “It’s from Eleanor Vance, my head of PR,” he said grimly. “Oliver has booked an exclusive interview on the National Morning Show for tomorrow. The narrative they’re pushing is ‘a husband’s desperate plea for his unwell wife to come home.’”

Avery’s head snapped up, her eyes blazing with a fire Ashton hadn’t seen before. “Unwell? He’s going to sit on national television and call me crazy? After what he did? No. Absolutely not. I can’t just sit in this beautiful room and let him lie to the entire world.”

A slow, deliberate smile touched Ashton’s lips. This was the spark he had been waiting for. “I agree,” he said. “My original plan was a quiet, brutal legal assault. But he’s made this a public war. So, we’ll give him one. We’re not going to wait for tomorrow. We’re going to anticipate.”

“What do you mean?” Avery asked, her heart beginning to pound with a new kind of energy. Adrenaline.

“I mean we’re holding a press conference. Here. In two hours.”

Panic warred with determination on Avery’s face. “W-what? Two hours? Ashton, I can’t! What will I say? Look at me, I’m an effin’ mess.”

Ashton stood up and walked over to her, looking her in the eyes. “You don't have to be perfect, Avery. You just have to tell the truth. The same truth you just told me. Eleanor will help you with a statement, and I will be standing right behind you the entire time. You will not be alone for a second of it.”

*

Two hours later, Avery stood before a podium in one of the Knight residence’s formal drawing rooms. The space was packed with reporters, the air electric with the flash of cameras and the low murmur of anticipation.

She wore a simple, elegant cream-colored dress Sarah had insisted on, her hair pulled back neatly. She looked composed, but her hands, hidden by the podium, were trembling. Behind her and to the side, Ashton stood like a statue, his presence a silent declaration of his support.

She cleared her throat, and a hush fell over the room.

“Good morning,” she began, her voice shaking slightly at first. “My name is Avery Reed. I am here today because a statement was released by my husband, Oliver Reed, that contains damaging and deeply untrue allegations about my mental state.”

She paused, taking a breath and finding her strength as she met the sea of faces. “My husband’s statement claims I am suffering from psychological distress following the birth of my daughter. BUT, the only distress I suffer from is the pain of being told, repeatedly, that my daughter was a disappointment to the Reed family simply because she was not born a son.”

A collective gasp rippled through the room. The reporters scribbled furiously.

“I did not run away,” Avery continued, her voice growing steadier and stronger with every word. “Last night, I was forced to leave in the middle of a storm, with my newborn child in my arms, because my husband and his mother made it clear that a daughter was not the heir they wanted, and that we were no longer welcome.”

She looked directly into the main camera, as if speaking to the world. “I want to be very clear. I am NOT unwell, as any mental hospital can test me to prove it. I am only a mother who will protect her daughter from a family that discriminates gender. Their words were cruel accusation so they can try and separate me and my daughter. I will not let that happen.”

The room erupted. Questions were being shouted from every direction. Before the chaos could overwhelm her, Ashton stepped forward to the microphone.

“There will be no further questions at this time,” he announced, his voice cutting through the noise with absolute authority. “All future communication regarding this matter will be handled by Mrs. Reed’s legal counsel.”

He placed a firm, protective hand on Avery’s back and guided her away from the podium, leaving a firestorm in their wake.

*

In the living room of the Reed mansion, a crystal glass shattered against the marble fireplace.

“That ungrateful little bitch!” Rose Reed shrieked, her face contorted with fury as she stared at the television screen. “She has ruined us! She aired our private family matters for the entire world to see!”

Oliver stood frozen, his face pale with shock and rage. “She wasn’t supposed to fight back,” he stammered. “She was supposed to crumble. Knight… this has Ashton Knight’s fingerprints all over it. Why is he involved? What do we do now, Mom? My interview tomorrow is useless!”

Rose turned to him, her eyes glittering with cold, calculating venom. The initial hysteria was gone, replaced by something far more dangerous.

“She thinks she has won a battle with a few pathetic words” Rose said, her voice dropping to a menacing hiss. “But we are the ones who will win the war. You will call our lawyers. You will tell them to use every dirty trick they know. We do what our family has always done, Oliver.”

She stepped closer to her son, her expression chillingly resolute.

“We crush her.”

***