AVA’S POVPain exploded behind my eyelids. Dull, deep, everywhere. Then there was the smell—antiseptic, sharp and clean, cutting through the fog in my head.My eyelids fluttered open. Harsh white light seared my vision, and the steady beep of a machine echoed beside me. I blinked until the blur sharpened into a ceiling I didn’t recognize, then walls, then—“Ava.”My heart lurched. Ethan’s voice. The voice pulled me like a thread. “Ethan?” My voice was weak, hoarse. My chest rose and fell too quickly. “What are you… how—”I turned my head weakly, my throat raw. My brother sat in a chair pulled close to the bed, his tall frame tense, his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might snap. His eyes, dark and stormy, locked on mine.“You’re awake,” he breathed, a mix of relief and fury in his tone.I pushed against the bed, trying to sit up, trying to anchor myself to something real, but a lightning bolt of pain tore through my stomach. I gasped, clutching at myself, the world spinning.“Stop
MARGARET’S POV“Well, she’s heavier than I thought.”Marissa’s voice trembled as she struggled to grip the ends of the sheet, Ava’s limp, bloodied form sagging in the middle. My daughter’s face was pale as the moon, sweat dripping down her temples.“Shut your mouth and keep moving,” I snapped, hoisting my end higher. My back screamed with the effort, but I refused to falter. “If anyone sees this—”“Mama,” Marissa whined, stumbling as the sheet slipped from her hands, “I think she’s… she’s still breathing.”“Good,” I hissed. “That means we have less time to waste.”We shuffled toward the back door, every second stretching into eternity. My heart pounded, not with guilt—never that—but with fear of being caught. The last thing I needed was some nosy neighbor sniffing around.I shoved the sheet-covered mess onto the tiles and hissed, “Stay here. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. And if she stirs, you know what to do.”Marissa gasped. “Mama, I can’t—”“Then sit on her if you must!” I snapped.I s
AVA’S POV“Well, what are you waiting for?” Margaret Voss’s voice cracked through the silence like a whip. Her eyes narrowed on me, her lips curling into the kind of smirk that made my skin crawl. “Sign the papers and stop wasting everyone’s time.”I stared down at the divorce documents in my hands, my chest tightening until it was hard to breathe. My hand shook as I clutched the pen, but I couldn’t bring myself to move it. “Divorce Agreement”. The word blurred on the page. My throat ached.“I won’t sign.” My voice shook, but it came out steadier than I expected.Her smirk vanished, replaced with a sneer. “Ungrateful little—”“I-If Adrian wants me gone…” I swallowed hard, my voice unsteady but firm, “…then let him tell me himself.”I should have known better than to defy Margaret Voss. But when she shoved those divorce papers at me, my hands trembled and my chest tightened, and something inside me screamed—”don’t sign”.My heart twisted, but I held my ground. “No.”Her hand slammed th
AVA’S POVI woke the next morning to an empty bed. The sheets beside me were cold, already smoothed out from hours of absence. For a moment, I thought Adrian was in the shower, or maybe in the kitchen grabbing coffee before work. But the house was silent.Too silent.I glanced at the nightstand. No note. My heart stuttered. Adrian always left a note when he had to leave early. Just a small thing—a kiss to my cheek, a scribbled Don’t wait up or Have breakfast, don’t skip it. A routine that had been ours since the first month of marriage.But today, nothing.A hollow ache spread through my chest. He hadn’t even checked on me.I pressed my palm against my stomach. “It’s okay,” I whispered to the life growing inside me. “He’s just busy.”But deep down, doubt gnawed at me. I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in my gut.***The voices hit me the moment I descended the stairs.“You’re finally awake,” Margaret Voss snapped from the living room, her disapproval sharp enough to cut glass. Her g
ADRIAN’S POVI should have known the day would unravel the moment she walked into my lobby.Ava.Her hair was loose around her shoulders, her beautiful wide eyes fixed on me as though she had every right to stand there, every right to be here.I felt the whispers before I heard them—the rustle of employees shifting in their seats, the smirks exchanged, the unspoken question in their eyes: Who is this scarred woman claiming to be Adrian Voss’s wife?I couldn’t let them think it was true.Not with the Sinclairs seconds away from stepping into my tower.So I said the words I knew would cut her. Words that made me colder than the man she thought she married.“Who are you?”The silence that followed was electric. I forced my expression to remain calm, measured, in control as I watched her hopeful face get replaced with a crestfallen expression. The guards did their job, dragging her out. But my pulse raced and my heart thundered in my chest as her voice echoed after me—Adrian, it’s me. I’m
AVA’S POVBy the time Ethan dropped me off at the Voss family estate, my tears had dried into a dull ache behind my eyes. I promised him again that I’d be fine, that there was no need to tell Father. Adrian didn’t mean what he’d said. Ethan didn’t believe me. I could see it in the way his jaw clenched, in the way his hands tightened around the steering wheel before he drove away.But what choice did I have? If Father found out, Adrian’s deal with Sinclair Global would vanish overnight—and with it, the only dream I had left of Adrian achieving his dreams and someday being proud of me.I pushed open the front door, stepping into the cold, cavernous entryway. The scent of polish and lemon cleaner lingered in the air, but it did nothing to soften the voices that greeted me.“There you are,” my mother-in-law, Margaret Voss, snapped from the sitting room. “Where have you been, Ava? Running off first thing in the morning while the house looks like a pigsty? I suppose you expect us to make ou