New car

​AVA's POV 

​I was thirty minutes late.

​I stood on the shoulder of the PCH, staring at the hood of my Honda as it hissed like a dying snake. The engine hadn’t just failed; it had surrendered. "Not today," I whispered, kicking the tire. "I have a penthouse I can't afford and parents moving in next week. You cannot do this today."

​By the time I hitched a ride with a delivery truck and sprinted up the King driveway, I was a mess. My scrubs were dampened with sweat, and a smudge of grease decorated my cheek.

​I burst into the study, bracing for the execution. "I know. I'm late. My car finally gave up the ghost three miles back. You can deduct it from my pay, or fire me, or whatever your 'desire' is today."

​Nathaniel didn't look up from his monitors. He looked immaculate in a charcoal sweater, his jaw shadowed by a morning’s worth of stubble. "The Honda is dead?"

​"May it rest in pieces," I huffed, dropping my bag.

​"Good. It was an eyesore," he said, finally turning his chair. He didn't look angry; he looked bored. He reached into his desk drawer and tossed something through the air.

​I caught it by instinct. A heavy, leather-bound key fob with a silver crest.

​"The keys to the garage are in the foyer," Nathan said. "The white Continental is yours. It’s armored, it’s reliable, and more importantly, it won't embarrass my driveway."

​"I can't take your car, Nathan. That’s a hundred-thousand-dollar vehicle."

​"It’s a tool for my employee to get to work," he countered, his eyes flashing with that familiar 'don't-argue-with-me' glint. "If you’re late again, the car goes. Consider it a loaner for as long as you can tolerate me."

​I stared at the keys. He was doing it again—masking a gesture of incredible kindness with the coldness of a business transaction.

​"Thank you," I said softly.

​"Don't thank me. It has a tracker. If you take it to Vegas, I’ll know."

​NATHANIEL's POV 

​I liked seeing the grease on her face. It made her look real a stark contrast to the sterile, calculated world I’d built around myself. I was about to tell her to go clean up when the heavy double doors of the study swung open without a knock.

​Only one person in the world had that much audacity.

​"Nathaniel! why is it so dark in here? You’ll turn into a mushroom."

​My mother, Margaret King, swept into the room like a gale force wind. She was draped in silk and smelled of Chanel No. 5 and expensive gin. She stopped dead when she saw Ava standing by my desk, keys in hand.

​"Oh!" Magaret blinked, her eyes scanning Ava from her messy bun down to her stained sneakers. "You must be the one."

​"Mom, this is Ava Bennett. My nurse," I said, my voice tight. "Ava, this is my mom The woman who refused to give up on me and kept sending different nurses"

​I expected my mother to be condescending. Instead, she marched over to Ava and took her hands. "The one who stayed! I heard you told Nathaniel he was acting like a spoiled child on your first day. I almost sent you flowers, dear. I’ve been trying to tell him that since he had his accident."

​Ava looked stunned, a rare blush creeping up her neck. "I... I was just being honest, Mrs. King."

​"Magaret, please," my mother insisted, beaming. She turned to me. "She’s marvelous, Nathan. She has fire in her eyes. Not like that milk-toast Elena. Honestly, I never understood what you saw in that girl. She had the personality of a damp napkin."

​"Mom," I warned, the mention of Elena’s name sending a jolt of ice through my chest.

​"I'm just saying! You look better, Nathan. Your color is returning. Ava, whatever you’re doing, double the dose." She leaned in and whispered loudly, "He’s a nightmare, but he’s a handsome one, isn't he?"

​Ava caught my eye, a playful smirk dancing on her lips. "He has his moments, Beatrice."

​AVA's POV 

​After Magaret left promising to bring 'proper' tea next time the room fell into a heavy, thoughtful quiet. The encounter had humanized Nathan in a way I wasn't prepared for.

​We moved to the terrace for his afternoon stretching. The sun was dipping toward the horizon, painting the ocean in shades of bruised purple and gold.

​"Your mother is... lovely," I said, bracing his leg.

​"She’s a hurricane," Nathan muttered, looking out at the water. "She saw through Elena from the start. I was the one who was blind. I thought... I thought we had the perfect life. High school sweethearts, the racing circuit, the empire. I didn't realize I was just a ladder for her to climb."

​"It’s easy to miss the cracks when the sun is in your eyes," I said quietly.

​Nathan looked at me, his gaze intense. "And you? You mentioned a fiancé. Daniel, was it? How does a man walk away from someone like you?"

​I felt a familiar sting. "Daniel was... complicated. He liked the idea of a nurse who took care of everyone, until it was time to take care of me.

When Lily got sick, I wasn't 'fun' anymore. I was a liability. He said he needed to 'find himself.' Apparently, he found himself in the arms of someone with a much larger bank account."

​"He’s a fool," Nathan said, his voice dropping an octave. "What was his last name?"

​"Does it matter?"

​"I like to know the names of the people I should avoid in business," he said, though I could see the curiosity was deeper than that.

​"King," I said. "Daniel King."

​The world seemed to stop.

​The leg I was holding went rigid. Nathan’s face didn't just go pale; it went white. His hands gripped the armrests of his chair so hard I heard the carbon fiber groan.

​"King?" he whispered. "Daniel king? Tall, blond, works in private equity? Spent his summers in the Hamptons?"

​I felt a cold dread pool in my stomach. "Yes. How do you know that?"

​Nathan let out a laugh, but it was the most harrowing sound I’d ever heard. It was the sound of a man discovering a new level of hell.

​"Daniel King is my cousin, Ava," he rasped, turning his chair to face me fully. "He’s the one who introduced me to Elena. He was my 'best man' at the wedding that never happened."

​I staggered back, the keys to the Continental feeling like lead in my pocket. "You’re... you’re family?"

​"No," Nathan said, his eyes burning with a terrifying, vengeful light. "We’re enemies. And if Daniel is the one who broke you, he has everything, why couldn't he support you, he even took the one you had...  he’s about to find out that the King family doesn't just forget. We settle the bill."

​I sat down on the stone bench, my head spinning. The man I was working for was the cousin of the man who destroyed my life.

​The "accident" wasn't just a business move. It was a family execution.

​