INICIAR SESIÓNAva’s POV Monday arrived whether I was ready for it or not. I must have woken up four different times during the night. Every time I managed to fall back asleep, my mind carried me to the exact same place. The Blackwood Estate. The long dining table. Aunt Margaret laughing so hard she nearly spilled her wine while Adrian sat there looking like he regretted ever introducing me to his family. Despite everything, a smile tugged at my lips. Rebecca. Whoever she was, she’d managed to embarrass Adrian Blackwood so thoroughly that his family was still talking about it years later. The memory warmed me. Then, almost instantly, it disappeared. Replaced by another. “You don’t spend years tracking someone you don’t care about.” Ethan’s voice. Followed by Adrian’s. “You weren’t invited because of Victoria.” Then the one sentence that refused to leave me alone. “I can’t answer that.” I groaned quietly into my pillow. “This has to stop.” I said but talking to myself wasn’t helping and pr
Ava’s POV For several seconds after Ethan walked away, I remained, pacing back and forth. It shouldn’t bother me but unfortunately it did. The hallway suddenly felt too quiet. Only echos of laughter and hushed conversation from the dinner room filled it. I hated that he had gotten into my head, EBY as I knew that was exactly what he wanted. But another part of me couldn’t stop replaying everything he had said. Victoria. Adrian tracking her and destroying the life of the man she was with? The questions stayed with me all the way back to the dining room. The moment I stepped inside, I noticed the conversation had long moved on. Nobody had stopped talking or stared as I walked in. They had simply moved on without me and I wasn’t sure if that made me feel relieved or invisible. My eyes found Adrian instantly, I wasn’t surprised to find he was already looking at me. Waiting. As though he had been tracking the doorway since I left. The realization should have comforted me. Instead,
Ava’s POV The room seemed to shift around Evelyn Blackwood. People talked in low voices with pure admiration, she smiles brightly greeting everyone warmly. She didn’t need to ask for attention, it was drawn to her naturally. I realized power didn’t need to announce itself. Evelyn descended the staircase with effortless grace, dressed in black and pearls that somehow made everyone else look underdressed. She greeted several guests on her way down. When her eyes landed on Ethan and I could see the change immediately. “Ethan.” For the first time all evening, I saw genuine affection on her face. Ethan smiled. I rolled my eyes, clearly irritated by him. “Sorry I’m late.” “You always are.” Her voice carried a softness, and couldn’t help but wonder if he was like that with Adrian too. She reached up and adjusted his tie. The gesture was so familiar it made something uncomfortable settle in my chest. Because it was clear she loved him, probably because she had helped raise him
Ava’s POV The drive to the Blackwood Estate felt shorter than it should have. Maybe because my mind refused to stay in one place long enough to measure time. Every few minutes I found myself staring out the window only to realize I didn’t actually see any of the scenery passing by. The city lights slowly disappeared behind us. Buildings gave way to trees, traffic disappeared, and the closer we got to the estate, the quieter everything became. My stomach twisted tighter with every passing mile. I looked down at my hands. They were clasped so tightly together my knuckles had turned white. By the time the car pulled to a stop, my nerves were all over the place. The driver stepped out and walked around the vehicle. A second later my door opened. Cool evening air rushed in. I took a slow breath. Gathering whatever courage I had left. I stepped out of the car. My heels touched the stone driveway. I smoothed my dress once. Looked up—and completely forgot whatever I had been
Ava’s POV I woke up before my alarm. Not because I was well rested—because my body didn’t know how to stay still anymore. For a few seconds, I just lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the quiet of my apartment like it might tell me something useful. It didn’t. It never did. Then it hit me. The Blackwood family dinner was tonight. My stomach tightened instantly. I sat up too fast, my hand going to my forehead like that could physically push the memory back into yesterday where it belonged. It didn’t belong in today. It didn’t belong in my real life. But the fact that it was real, was the worst part. I don’t know how fast the days had run that it was already weekend. The conversation happened so fast, by the time I’d realized what I had agreed to, it was already done and there was no clean way to take it back without making it something heavier than it already was. I swung my legs off the bed slowly, pressing my feet into the floor. Desperate to feel something
Ethan’s POV The restaurant was too polished for what I needed it to be. Soft lighting. Expensive silence. The kind of place people chose when they wanted to believe they were still in control of their lives. I didn’t feel like I was. I sat at the back corner table, where the mirror-like glass wall reflected everything but revealed nothing useful. My fingers tapped lightly against the table even though I wasn’t paying attention to the rhythm. I haven’t been paying attention to much lately. Especially not work, not anything that didn’t somehow circle back to Ava. I exhaled slowly through my nose and forced my eyes away from the entrance. The chair across from me finally pulled back. Serena Hayes sat down like she owned the space around her before she even touched the table. She didn’t greet me, never really did. Her bag was placed beside her, precise, controlled. Her expression, however, was not. “You’re getting sloppy,” she said, clearly irritated. I leaned back sligh
Ava’s POVIt’s been one week working for him. One week pretending I don’t remember the night we shared. One week of acting like nothing happened when everything changed. And the truth is, pretending is getting harder.Adrian Blackwood doesn’t miss a thing. Not the way my focus slips, not the way I
Adrian’s POVI see her the second she looks up, I recognize her instantly. The woman from the club. Same eyes. Same composure. But this time, there’s no alcohol to soften the edges. No dim lights to blur the details.I don’t break stride as I walk into the room. I can feel the shift around me—conve
Ava's PovMia didn’t say anything at first. She just stared at me from across the kitchen, her fingers wrapped tightly around a mug of coffee that had long gone cold, like she’d forgotten it existed. Her eyes were locked on me—searching, calculating, waiting for me to say something that would make
Ava’s POVThe door closes behind me, soft and almost weightless against the storm building inside my chest. I keep walking, one step after another, my heels striking the floor in a steady rhythm that doesn’t match the chaos in my pulse. I don’t stop in the hallway, not when the receptionist glances







