003 I’ll Make Them Pay This Time

(Ava)

My skin is damp with sweat, my pulse pounding in my ears.

The first thing I see is my bedroom ceiling, the bedroom I shared with Zach as a happily married woman.

I whip my head around, my gaze darting across the room in frantic disbelief.

I haven’t been in this room for so long.

The familiar four-poster bed, the pale pink walls, the scattered stuffed animals across the floor… Lila’s toys, as if time has stood still.

I clutch the sheets in my fists, my mind spiraling.

Was it all a dream? A hallucination? Did I imagine everything?

No.

The fire. The smoke. Holding Lila’s limp body in my arms. The searing pain in my lungs as the flames devoured everything.

I can almost still feel it. But… I’m here. I’m somehow back.

Or this is now my hell on repeat.

A soft whimper cuts through my thoughts. I listen hard and hear a noise I know well. Lila when she’s sleeping.

Slowly, almost afraid to move, I turn my head in the direction of the crib.

And there… curled up in her crib, her little chest rising and falling with soft, even breaths…

Lila.

Alive. Whole. Perfect.

A strangled sob wrenches from my throat.

My hands fly to my mouth, choking back the disbelief that threatens to consume me.

She’s here. We’re here!

I lurch out of bed, my legs nearly buckling beneath me.

But I push through, collapsing onto my knees beside her crib. My hands hover over her tiny

frame, afraid to touch, afraid she might vanish like a cruel illusion.

This isn’t possible. She was gone. I held her. I watched her slip away.

Yet, here she is. Looking exactly as I remember her before… before Sienna jabbed that

needle in my arm.

My fingers brush against her cheek, feeling the soft warmth of her skin. The little wisps of her dark curls damp from sleep.

Real. She’s real.

My vision blurs as tears pour down my face. I let out a shaky, broken breath, my entire body wracked with a silent sob.

How?

I get up and pick up my phone from the bedside table, hands trembling as I press the power button. My breath catches as the screen lights up.

The date. Six months back.

This is when Zach and I are the happiest. Or so I thought.

We are still blissfully married. Lila is eighteen months old.

Sienna is still a trusted family friend. My mentor. Someone I look up to.

And Kai… Kai is already sick.

They know it, even now.

They just hid it from me, smiling through their lies, while they waited until Lila was old enough.

A shiver races down my spine as I clutch the phone. What do I do?

I should run with Lila. Just get out of here.

I can’t live this lie. Why would I want to?

I can’t pretend I don’t know that Zach has a cruel and uncaring side. A side that lets Lila suffer alone while he plays the perfect father for another child.

I can’t pretend I trust Sienna, not after everything I know she did.

But how can I say anything to anyone? They will all think I’m crazy.

Who’s going to believe me? 

Caleb. Will he believe me? Even if he doesn’t believe me, he will come and get me. I know that.

I have to think fast. What day is it? What date was it that Sienna showed me her true colors?

I look at my phone again. Sunday. I know this day.

Usually, Sienna takes Kai and Lila out for the day. Zach and I spend Sunday’s together,

Tomorrow is the day I hear Zach and Sienna talking. The day I hear him say he never should have married me.

The next day he will come at me with faked paternity results.

She convinced Zach I was an addict and kept me under for six months while they carved into my daughter. 

All because I confronted her with what I’d overheard.

She know I was going to take Lila away and she couldn’t let that happen.

I decided. 

Lila can help save Kai if he needs her. But it will be on my terms. Not theirs.

I know what’s going to happen. I know what he’s going to say to her in that office.

But instead of making coffee, this time I’ll get the DNA. I’ll show him the truth.

I’ll make him admit how much he loves me in front of her and then I’ll sign his damn divorce papers. I’ll walk out on him, and he won’t even see it coming.

He can question her. He can ask her how the paternity test he has is wrong?

This time I will make sure Caleb or someone comes before she can stick a needle in me and start her sick game.

I’ll use every minute I have to flip the script on Sienna. 

Then I’ll go with my baby girl.

I walk back and kneel beside Lila again.

I press my forehead against the railing of her crib, forcing myself to breathe.

My mind is a storm, crashing waves of memories that don’t belong in this time.

But one thing is certain. I won’t let history repeat itself. I will make Sienna and Zach pay for what they did.

I just stare at how perfect Lila is. I trace my fingers over her soft curls, her warm cheek.

Then, her little lashes flutter. She stirs. Her big green eyes blink up at me, sleepy and confused. “Mama?”

A broken sob escapes me. I’ll never get over looking at a tiny carbon-copy of myself.

I scoop her up into my arms, crushing her to my chest, inhaling her baby-soft scent. Feeling her warmth, her breath, the solid weight of her little body against mine.

She squirms for a second before settling against me, nuzzling into my neck with a tiny sigh.

She’s real. She’s real.

I rock her, whispering into her hair, my tears soaking into her curls. “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you. I’m never leaving you.”

I don’t know if I’m saying it for her or for me. I press my lips to her forehead.

I won’t fail you this time.

Whatever it takes. Whoever I have to destroy. This time, I’ll keep us safe.

But I also know I can’t just run. No. 

I want proof of Sienna’s lies. I want time to get that proof. To dismantle the way the world sees Sienna bit by bit. Watch her squirm as she realizes she is losing everything.

I want to show them all what Sienna really is.

To make Zach choke on every lie he’s ever told me. To make him pay for not trusting me. For putting Sienna’s words over mine. For being a blind idiot.

All they wanted was the child who could save their son.

He celebrated Kai’s birthday while Lila died.

Even as I burned, even as I held Lila’s body in the flames, he still chose Sienna’s side.

That betrayal is carved into me deeper than any fire.

Suddenly, a shiver runs down my spine. 

We’re not alone.

His deep voice filled with warmth and love. “Here’re my best girls. The two I’ll love forever. I made breakfast.”

I turn and almost lose my breath.

Zach is here and his words are exactly the same.

He’s so handsome. He’s so sexy. But I cannot let any of that affect me. I can’t let that fool me ever again.

Zach draws me effortlessly up into his arms and my body responds as it always did.

I don’t want it to. I can never love him like I used to. 

But I know we’ll make love tonight.

I don’t care.

I’ll make him vulnerable to me.

Then I’ll bring it all crashing down on him.

“Hey, you know I got you. You know nothing can ever stop me loving you and our daughter, don’t you?” he says.

If only that were true.

Last time I was a fool. I love him blindly and I ate it all up. 

I forgave him every time he spent more time with Sienna and Kai than me and Lila.

I listened to his excuses and told myself it was okay because he loved me. I’ll never be that foolish again.

I follow Zach out to the breakfast room. I glance at the clock. 

She’ll be here soon. Sienna.

Lila squeals in delight as Zach boosts her up in the air and then down into her highchair.

“Your brother will be here soon, Lila. He’ll make you laugh, won’t he?”

I sit down. “How is Kai? Didn’t you say he was having some more tests?” I ask.

“Ah… he’s okay. They are going to do some allergy tests on him.”

“Poor Kai. It must be awful to feel so crap all the time. I hope they can work it out soon.”

I’m enjoying watching Zach try to convince me how Kai isn’t really that sick. He looks completely uncomfortable.

But I know what Kai has. Aplastic Anemia. And honestly, I still have no clue what that actually is. But I’m going to find out.

Because I want to protect my daughter, but I want to help Kai as well. On my terms not Sienna’s. I love Kai and Kai loves Lila.

If he thought saving him would hurt her, he would be traumatized for life.