تسجيل الدخول~Ava's POV~The way Dominic's eyes drank me in, hot, ravenous, unapologetically full of lust made my skin feel like it was on fire. There was a shy flutter deep inside me, but beneath it was something darker, heavier, a molten heat pooling between my thighs.I could feel my arousal seeping out of me, warm and slick with need, my love juice, as I called it in my head. The sensation made my legs tremble, my core throbbing with anticipation.Dominic seemed to sense it instantly.He leaned in close, his breath fanning over my skin. Then he inhaled softly, eyes fluttering shut as he took in my scent, letting it sink into him.Without warning, he dipped his head between my parted thighs, and I gasped.His tongue made contact, one long, slow lick along my sensitive folds and the sensation shot straight up my spine. My back arched on instinct as I moaned his name.“Dominic…”It came out breathy. Desperate.He didn’t pause.His lips kissed, his tongue explored me thoroughly, lavishing attentio
~Ava’s POV~Say it, Ava,” Dominic growled, his eyes locked onto mine. “Tell me what you really want from me right now”“I want you, Dominic. Just fuck me already.”There. I said it.I had no intention of waiting any longer. I wanted this for so long, needed it and my patience was gone. The last real time I had this was with Damien. We did it at a birthday party. Then, I didn't really want it. But right now, I need it. And also Dominic wants the same.Dominic, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy my plea. A wider, more intense smirk spread across his face as he shook his head slowly.“My lady, don’t be in a hurry. Let me…”Whatever he was about to say vanished when a sharp gasp tore from my throat, followed by a deep moan.He wasn’t surprised. He’d shifted my panties aside while he spoke, sliding two fingers into me, hot, slow, deliberate.“Dominic…remember.”My body shuddered in a way words couldn’t explain. Everything felt good. Too good. And I wanted more.“Yh…I remember. But it seems
~Ava's POV~Jonathan Reed is the thread connecting everything, Dominic's father, Damien's money, the fake estate injunction, and now what looks like a threat to Dominic's safety.I, Dominic, and Colt spend the night building a consolidated case map. Lily is moved to a private suite in the tower, not out of affection but because she's safer inside and useful as a witness. Dominic makes the logistics call without involving me because they've reached that point of wordless efficiency.The room feels charged. Tired and sharp at the same time. Empty coffee cups and marker-covered whiteboards.At some point around 2am, I looked at the board and said, "We're close."“Yes." Dominic replied not looking up."Like actually close. Not just-making-progress close. This-could-end close."He looks over. "How do you feel about that?"I honestly thought about it honestly. "Terrified.""Because?""Because revenge was the shape of everything for a while. When it's done, what's the shape after?"He puts
~Ava's POV~"What if she was sent here?” I stood there, asking myself.I took the phone from her hand without saying anything.Lily watched me, not speaking either. That alone was different. The Lily I knew filled silences. She performed into them, shaped them, used them. This version just stood there and let me read.The messages were between Damien and someone unnamed. They seemed random, like they were meant to look harmless if someone saw them. Short sentences, no names, nothing suspicious at a glance.But I'd spent weeks learning to read the language underneath, and I read it clearly.‘Needs to be removed. Permanent. Before the acquisition.’I read it twice. Then I scrolled up and down, building the full shape of the conversation. The timing. The urgency that had been building over the past two weeks. The specific phrase before the acquisition was used three times in three different messages.This was about money. Damien was broke and desperate, and whatever remained of his finan
~Ava's POV~"He's been talking to someone about hurting Dominic. Like actually hurting him."That was Lily. But first, Dominic and I had to sit with a name that connected fourteen years of damage into a single straight line.*****He stared at the page for a while."Jonathan Reed." Just the name. Quiet, the way he spoke, it hit me hard, but he barely made a sound."You know him?" I asked."I knew of him." He dropped the file down slowly. "When my father was charged, he needed a criminal defense attorney immediately. Someone in his network recommended Reed. Told him he was the best in the city." A pause. "My father trusted the referral, and also he trusted Reed.""And?""Reed took the case. Worked it for three months. Then withdrew three days before trial." His jaw shifted. "He cited a conflict of interest.""Three days before trial," I said."My father didn't have time to find someone else. The public defender they assigned him had the file for seventy-two hours." He looked at the ci
~Ava's POV~"Who could the fourth player be?” I closed my eyes.Three hundred people. The cathedral. White flowers on every pew, the smell of them still somewhere in my memory, mixed with the sound of the organ and the specific echo that old stone buildings had.I walked through it slowly. The front rows were family. My dad's people, Damien's crew, the ones I'd met a million times but never really knew. Middle rows were business folks, people you had to invite, the ones who show up and sign the book and are gone by the party.The back rows. The ones I hadn't looked at at all, because by the time I'd reached the altar my whole world was already tilting on its axis.Someone had been there. Someone who appeared at the edges of Hale transactions and left no clean trace in the paperwork. Someone Victor had been tracking for four years without getting a name.Someone who had been in the room when my life fell apart, watching."Victor," I called him. "I need names.""I don't have a name." Hi
~Ava's POV~"Excuse me," I said, pushing my chair back quickly as it scraped against the floor. "I'll be back in two minutes.”I didn't wait for a response.I made it to the bathroom down the hall, shut the door quietly, I leaned over the sink, holding on tight till I felt okay again. I splashed co
~Ava's POV~"You should sleep."I didn't look up from my laptop. "I found something."Dominic quietly put a glass of water next to me and sat down across from me. I turned the screen so he could see it."This supplier. Renmark Logistics. They're on your watchlist as a Hale contractor. But they also
~Ava's POV~"Walk away before it's too late."I read it three times, just to make sure it wasn't a dream.I wasn't.Someone knew. Someone knew this marriage was fake. Something knew about the contract, about Dominic, about everything I had signed in less than forty-eight. My chest tightened. The st
~Ava's POV~"We need to talk."My mother's voice always had that specific tone she reserved for boardroom disasters and public embarrassments. Right now, I qualify for both.I turned to face them fully. My father stood a bit far away from me. With his arms crossed, eyes scanning the room like he wa







