All Chapters of With You : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

LUKELuke leaned back on the couch, the soft hum of the city outside his window barely registering. The apartment was quiet but his thoughts weren’t. Something in him had shifted.He had spent months trying to prove himself. Clean slate. New name. Ordinary job. All for one man’s approval. Graham had raised him after the death of his parents, despite Luke's wild streak. Then the crash which almost caused his life occurred. Luke had tried to live up to all of it like it might fix everything. But lately the weight of redemption felt heavier than the mistake he was trying to make up for.Being with Ava made him realize he wanted something he wasn't even searching for. Peace. Not the empty kind he tried to chase through late nights or reckless decisions, but the quiet and steady kind.Yes he had messed up before. But he had changed. That had to count for something. He exhaled slowly, the decision settling into place. He needed to act quickly, especially with Jake around the corner. He wou

AVAThe first three days felt like nothing. Ava barely left her room. She had sent in a formal leave of absence to HR, citing “personal reasons,” but that was a tame way to describe the storm inside her. Truth was, the break was long overdue. She had never taken time off since she started working, and now that everything came crashing down, her body and soul demanded the pause she had been denying them.The silence was heavy. At first, Christine brought her tea and snacks, gave her space to cry, and occasionally offered comforting words like “It’s okay to be angry,” or “You don’t owe anyone anything.” But by the fifth day, Christine’s tone shifted.“You need to talk to him,” Christine said gently but firmly. “Luke.”Ava said nothing. She lay on her bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.“I’m not saying you have to forgive him. I’m not even saying you need to like him again. But don’t you think it’s weird that you never let him speak?”“I didn’t need t

AVAIt had been three weeks. Three long, dragging weeks since Luke left.Ava had tried everything, texts, calls and emails. All bounced back. The number she had for him no longer existed. She had gone to his apartment twice, but it was clear he was never coming back. He was gone.Ava barely functioned. Work became a prison. Her body went to meetings, but her mind drifted. Sleep abandoned her. Her appetite? Nonexistent. Her heart pounded every time she heard the elevator ding, every time her phone buzzed hoping, praying it was him. It never was.To make it worse, Ken had made it his personal mission to break her. And she knew exactly why. She’d stood up to him. Once. One time. And his fragile ego couldn’t handle it. But he couldn’t fire her. She hadn’t broken any rules. So he did the next best thing—tried to make her quit.At first, it was subtle, snide comments and disapproving glares. Then, it turned blatant. He’d started giving her back-to-back tasks with impossible deadlines, inten

AVATwo days had passed, and the shock hadn’t faded. If anything, it had deepened, turning into a dense fog of confusion and guilt.Luke Reed. Lucian Wright. CEO. Billionaire. The man she had once shared special moments with. And yet, he’d stood on that stage with calm assurance, speaking with grace and command. There was no arrogance, no smug reveal. Just quiet power. And she'd been sitting there, breath shallow, heart racing, feeling like a fool.She had to talk to him. Not just because she misjudged him but because she needed to say the words that had been lodged in her throat since Ken pulled her aside after the event and told her what had really happened that day, how Luke had taken the fall to protect her. She’d been so wrong. About everything.It was Jake, oddly enough, who’d encouraged her at work. Even after she’d turned him down, he’d been kind. Supportive. Christine had given her an earful too, reminding her that running from things never solved anything.So now, standin

AVAKen had been on edge all morning, and Ava knew it. Everyone in the department could feel the heavy, suffocating weight of his misplaced rage. He snapped at everyone, especially her when they asked clarifying questions. He kept sending her on errands they weren't in her job description, belittling her. She did everything he asked. Still, he rejected every effort, dismissed every solution. And each time she returned to her desk, more work had piled up, none of it hers. Some of it was even Ken's work which he dumped on her without so much as a sentence of instruction. The walls were closing in.The others in the office saw it too. Mark, Nelson, even the interns. It was obvious. But no one said anything. They had already reported to the HR without any effect. The day became worse.Ken had sent her to compile a report with barely any guidance. She did it anyway. As best as she could. She even stayed late working on it. And this morning, when she presented it, Ken grabbed the file, sca