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CHAPTER THREE

AVA

I woke to silence.

The room was white. White walls, white ceiling and white sheets beneath my fingers. Was this a hospital? No... This is too quiet and too private.

I turned my head and that was when I saw them.

Julian sat in a chair by the window, scrolling through his phone like he was waiting for a train. The concern and gentility was gone from his face. Just boredom.

Sienna stood near the door with crossed arms, tapping her manicured nails against her elbow.

Emma was there too, lurking in the corner like she wanted to be anywhere else.

"You're awake." Julian didn't look up from his phone. "Good. Saves time."

I tried to sit up, but my head swam and my limbs felt like they were made of stone.

"What did you give me?"

"Something to help you rest." He finally looked at me, and his eyes were empty. Completely empty. "We need to talk."

Marcus Vale's face appeared on a tablet propped on the bedside table, watching me like I was already dead.

Why would Marcus need to be present before he can talk to me?

"Mrs. Harrington." His voice was smooth and professional unlike the last time I heard it. "I have documents here that require your signature."

"I’m not signing anything." The words came out weak. Pathetic.

Julian’s cynical laughter weaved through the room.

"Ava, you're in no position to give orders." He stood, walked to the bed and dropped a stack of papers onto my lap. "Here's how this works. You sign these, agree to inpatient psychiatric treatment, and this all goes away quietly."

"And if I don't?"

Sienna snorted from the doorway, flicking her hair away from her face as she whispered “pathetic”.

"Then you face charges." Marcus's face didn't move on the screen as I turned to look at him at the sound of his voice. "Embezzlement, fraud, attempted theft from the Harrington estate. We have witnesses and documents to prove it. You'll go to prison for a very long time."

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

"I didn't do any of that."

"We know." Julian smiled and it was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen. "But try proving it."

I looked at the papers, staring at pages and pages of lies that were ready to tear my name. I was going to be signing documents for money that was laundered in my name too.

"Just sign them, Ava." Emma's voice sounded from the corner, holding a tone I didn't recognise. "That's the easiest way for you."

I turned to look at my sister, and for the first time, I saw her clearly. I didn't see the little girl I'd raised or the sister I'd protected. All I saw was a stranger who had sold me for reasons I'd never understand.

"How long?" I asked her with a tight throat. "How long have you hated me?"

She looked away.

"Sign the papers." Julian again. "Now."

I didn't need to look into his eyes because I know I'd never find the man I fell in love with.

I picked up the pen, flipped through the pages and signed my name and signature, handing over my life to the people I'd loved without a single doubt.

When the last page was signed, Julian gathered the papers and handed them to Sienna. She barely glanced at me.

"Why?" My voice cracked. "Just tell me why."

Sienna turned at the door and looked at me like I was something stuck to her shoe.

"You want to know why?" She stepped closer. "Because you've always had everything. Julian, this house, the name, the respect. You walked in and took it all without trying. And for what? So you could fail at the one thing wives are supposed to do?"

My chest tightened.

"You couldn't even give him a child." Her voice dripped with disdain. "Four years, Ava. Four years of watching you cry over negative tests while the rest of us waited for you to finally realize you weren't good enough."

"Get out."

"Gladly." She smiled. "Enjoy your new life, Ava. What's left of it."

They left, leaving me alone in the room. I say there for an hour, maybe too. Time moved strangely.

Finally, I moved, trying and failing to arrange my dishevelled hair. No one stopped me when I walked out. Why would they? I'd signed everything away. I was nothing.

The house was quiet, the familiar halls feeling foreign now like I was walking through someone else's memory. I reached my room, our room, the one Julian and I shared.

Everything was still there. My clothes, my books and the photographs of people who had never loved me. I grabbed one bag and stuffed it with whatever my hands found.

When I was done, I made my way out of the room. As I passed the study, their voices carried through the door, celebrating and laughing about my downfall.

I choked back tears.

By the time I stepped into the London night, the streets were dark and quiet. My feet carried me nowhere, just….. away. Away from that house, the lies and away from everything I'd believed was real.

I didn't hear the car until it was too late.

The headlights came out of nowhere, the horn screamed and the impact lifted me off my feet and threw me onto the pavement like I weighed nothing.

Pain crashed into me at once.

I grabbed my stomach, instantly feeling something was wrong. Blood spread beneath me, pooling the ground.

"Help." I called out, my voice barely a whisper. "Someone help me."

Thankfully, a cab stopped and a stranger's face appeared above me, saying words I couldn't hear.

I closed my eyes, gradually going numb. The last thing I saw was the London sky through blurry eyes. The last thing I felt was blood, still spreading around me and between my legs. And the last thing I thought was: my baby.

Then darkness.

Everything ended on a London street at 11:47 PM.