LOGINAva's pov.I had discovered that there were two kinds of boredom, the first one was harmless. Maybe because it was all about lying in bed and watching Ivan work on my foundation issues.He had been unusually quiet after what I showed him last night, and I took it as his way of dealing with it.“I need to check out some things at the foundation in person, I'll be back as soon as I can.” He said as he slipped into the same flats he wore yesterday and picked up the car keys.“You know sooner or later, you'll have to give up those flats for heels,” I teased him. “Are you sure about driving?”“Yeah, I'm fine,” the brat said, ignoring my first concern.He walked out the door before I could say anything else, his fashion sense was improving although it was no where close to mine. I sighed as I turned to look around the empty house. The second kind of boredom was dangerous, it involved having nothing to do when something was clearly wrong. “Why is he so calm about this?” I asked myself. “If
Ivan's pov.I had negotiated billion dollar acquisitions with people who had spent their entire careers trying to intimidate me. None of that prepared me for pretending to be Ava Sinclair, in front of one of her biggest donors.“You're going to ruin everything.”I looked up from my coffee, Ava stood in front of me like a child she was supervising for an important exam.“How are you so sure? I haven't even left yet.”She made my face look smug. “That's why I'm warning you.”“I thought we were supposed to be encouraging each other,” I said as I broke my gaze on her.“Yes.”I nodded twice, then responded in pure sarcasm. “Thank you, this feels very encouraging.”“I understand this is a very big problem, but there's a solution for that,” she smiled. “Talk like me.”“I'll never be able to meet up with your delulu tone and all, it's almost impo—”She rolled her eyes as she cut me off. “You're meeting Mr. Harrington. He has supported the foundation for years and cares about the people behi
Ivan's pov.After the funny incident with the photographer, no one needed to tell us to head back in.It felt a bit safe because my mother was not at home, because she would have definitely given us an earful before going on about how she was suspicious about us.I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the bed, because Ava had drained every bit of energy. The sound of my phone vibrating on the nightstand woke me up, it had been going on long enough to become part of my dream.Maybe that was why I avoided it until Ava threw a pillow at my head. “Your phone has been screaming for hours, husband.”Even with sleepy eyes, I could still detect the sarcasm that was oozing from her when she said the word ‘husband’ in my deep morning voice.I caught the pillow against my chest and opened one eye. The view in front of me was breathtaking, but I had to force myself back to reality. There was no way I could envision something romantic with this woman.Because there she was standing by the bed, wear
Ava's POVI knew the moment Ivan walked away from the balcony that I had ruined everything, because he did not say a word.He just stared at me, when his eyes got back from Olivia on the screen and then walked back into the room.“Goodnight,” I muttered.Olivia had a smirk that made me upset. “Goodnight Ivan.”I ended the call and rushed inside, to find Ivan packing. “Ivan?”He did not say as much as let out a tiny breath in response to me.“Listen, it's not what you think. Can we talk? I can explain,” my heart was beating fast.Ivan placed a shirt inside his suitcase. “I did not ask you to.”“You are angry, let's talk about this.”He picked up another shirt and started folding it. “There's nothing to talk about, you don't trust me.”Damn! I knew I had messed things up.“I was only trying to get her to back down with the threat, nothing more.”“Did you succeed?”My voice came out small. “No.”“I thought as much.”“Ivan? Please—”He sighed loud enough to tell me he was hurting. “I don'
Ava's POVOlivia's question was not difficult, it was the way she asked it, like she already knew the answer.I could not blame her, a woman's intuition was always right. It almost felt like she was sitting somewhere laughing at the wife Ivan had married. Laughing at me.Trying not to lose in this women's game, I straightened my back as my grip on the phone tightened. "My wife doesn't have to put me up to anything."The next sound I heard from the phone was that of her laughter, in a way I found annoying even though ignoring it was a choice I had.“The last time I checked, no one made a joke you might find funny.”“Forgive me,” a chuckle followed as she paused for a second. “You sound very defensive.’“Believe whatever you want to.” I said, rolling my eyes and wishing she was here in person, to see me doing it.“You know what, I think I'd rather have you continue.” She let out a whistle. “I have a feeling you have much more than just that to say to me.”There was a teasing note in her
Ava's POVI felt like I was losing the argument, the moment he asked that question.“Yes, I have. But I trust your team will handle it very well.” It was a lie I made up without thinking, out of fear of being the bad one in front of him. Ivan made a look on my face, which told me he was not convinced. “That's right, but you haven't mentioned me once."My mouth opened, but I closed it because he had a point. The entire conversation had been about the foundation, my reputation and not him or at most, us."I know it affects you too.""Do you?"The question wasn't hostile, he sounded disappointed and I didn't know what to do with that. “Ivan—”“Don't say anything out of pity or fake concern, tell me what you think from your heart. If Olivia does something, it'll affect both of us but the whole night had been about the foundation and I understand that, but I also want to know.”My heart's strings started pulling at each other, when he said that. It was funny that I didn't even think abou
“I'm here.” Ivan called out in the darkness.I tried moving in the direction of his voice but just then, the backup generator kicked in and light flooded the penthouse again.Everything looked normal apart from the weird pounding in my head, and the slight pain my leg was feeling.“Great!” Ivan rub
Ava’s pov.“Absolutely not!” I slammed the champagne flute I was holding on the marble counter, the sound was hard enough to make the silence in the penthouse crack.My fiance Ivan Cross, did not even blink at that, which made me even angrier. He stood across the room staring at me, as his hands lo
“She just wanted to know if I was getting cold feet about the wedding.” I told him bluntly. “Ignore her.” “I already did.” I studied his face for a while and saw how worried he made my face look. “You'll go through a lot with the makeup and everything, do you think you can handle it?” “How
The first thing I did, once I stopped screaming was sit down on the floor.It was the only alternative I had now, because there was every possibility that I could faint and get a concussion.I sat on the cold marble of the master bedroom floor in Ivan Cross's body and stared at the wall and breathe







