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Todos los capítulos de Ava, My Heart: Capítulo 61 - Capítulo 70

76 Capítulos

60

Alexander Reed stood in the visitor room of the detention center, his hands gripping the edge of the table so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Across from him, Deirdre Reed sat in the standard-issue chair, her hands cuffed in front of her, the chain clinking softly as she shifted. She didn’t look scared. Not at first. Not yet.“Alex,” she said, her voice calm, almost sweet, like she was greeting a long-lost child. “I...”He cut her off with a laugh. Not a happy laugh. Not a relieved one. A short, sharp bark of disbelief and rage. “Alex?” he repeated, his eyes flashing, narrowing until they could have cut steel. “You think I’m here for pleasantries? That you can call me ‘Alex’ like we’re family?”Deirdre’s lips pressed together. She blinked slowly. She was trying to gauge him, but she was behind bars now. That shift in power… she hadn’t accounted for it.“You’re in here,” Alexander said, his voice low and dangerous. “Because of what you did. You tried to ruin my life. You tried

61

Alexander sat in his car for a long time before he stepped out. He didn’t check his phone. Didn’t turn on music. Didn’t rehearse what he would say. Because there was nothing left to rehearse. Everything he needed to say was already sitting in his chest, burning, heavy, ugly.He finally opened the door and stood there for a second, his hand resting on the roof like he needed balance. His face looked different now. Tired. Older. Like life had reached into him and rearranged things without asking.He walked toward Ava’s apartment slowly, not because he was unsure where he was going, but because each step felt like a reminder of how badly he had messed up.When he knocked, it wasn’t loud. Just enough.A few seconds passed. Then the door opened.Ava stood there.Her hair was pulled back carelessly, like she hadn’t thought about it. Her face looked thinner. Her eyes looked sharper. Not angry. Not soft. Guarded. Like someone who had learned the hard way that kindness could be used against he

62

Ava locked the door the moment Alexander left.The sound of the click felt too loud. Final. Like it sealed something she wasn’t ready to lose.She stood there with her back against the door, breathing hard, her chest rising too fast like her body didn’t understand that the danger was gone. Her hands were shaking. Not a little. Fully shaking.She slid down slowly until she was sitting on the floor.And then she broke.It didn’t come out pretty. It didn’t come out quiet. It tore out of her like something alive.Her mouth opened and a sound came out that surprised even her. Raw. Ugly. Painful. She covered her face with both hands but it didn’t stop anything. Her shoulders started jerking as sobs ripped through her, one after another, no space in between.“I miss you,” she cried out, voice cracking so badly it scared her. “I miss you so much.”She pressed her forehead to her knees, curling into herself like she could shrink the hurt.She missed him. God, she missed him.Not the man who be

63

Ava woke up because her throat hurt.Not sick-hurt. Crying-hurt. The kind that comes after hours of sobbing and swallowing it back and sobbing again until the body gives up.Her eyes burned the moment she opened them. Dry. Puffy. Heavy. Like someone had poured sand into them overnight. She blinked slowly, staring at the ceiling of her new apartment, waiting for the tight feeling in her chest to ease.It didn’t.Her breathing felt shallow, like her lungs were doing the bare minimum. In. Out. In. Out. She listened to it for a while, counting without meaning to. Three breaths. Five. Ten.Nothing loosened.She turned her head and saw the pillow beside her. Still damp. The fabric darker in places. She reached out and touched it with her fingers, slow, unsure, then pulled her hand back like it might sting.So it wasn’t a nightmare.The realization didn’t hit all at once. It settled instead. Quiet. Heavy. Final.She pushed herself up and sat on the edge of the bed. Her body felt sore in a wa

64

Alexander sat at the edge of the conference table, his tablet open in front of him, presentation slides queued and ready. Around him, the team murmured, checked their notes, made last-minute adjustments. Cameras were set. Reporters were here. A major reveal today: the new skyline project that would put his name on every billboard in the city.He smiled. Polished. Confident. Answered questions like he’d done it a thousand times. He laughed lightly when someone cracked a joke about how obsessive he was with measurements. Applause followed the mock complaint. Notes were taken. Names were exchanged. The world saw the architect at the top of his game.Inside, Alexander’s chest felt hollow.He kept blinking at his tablet, scrolling through messages he hadn’t sent. Short drafts of texts to Ava, deleted, rewritten, deleted again. Words felt insufficient. Too long, too short, wrong tone. Every time he tried, he realized the truth he couldn’t rewrite: Ava wasn’t answering. She wouldn’t answer.

65

Ava woke before her alarm.Not because of a dream. Not because of fear.Her body just… decided it was done resting.She lay there for a long moment, staring at nothing, one hand resting on her stomach without thinking about it. That was happening more often now. The hand moved there automatically, like her body knew before her mind caught up.Her stomach rolled. Not sharp. Just enough to remind her she wasn’t alone in herself anymore.She sighed and pushed herself up slowly.Her apartment was quiet in that early way that didn’t feel lonely. It felt neutral. Safe. No footsteps she had to anticipate. No mood she had to read. No voice she had to prepare for.She padded into the bathroom, brushing her teeth carefully. She paused when the taste hit her tongue wrong again, leaned forward, breathed through it.“Easy,” she muttered. “We’re fine.”She rinsed her mouth, wiped her face, studied herself in the mirror.She looked tired. Not dramatic-tired. Just… worn. The kind that came from carry

66

Alexander read the email three times.The first time, he didn’t understand it. Not really. The words were there, clear enough, but his brain refused to line them up into something final.The second time, his chest tightened so hard he had to sit down.The third time, something inside him went quiet.Not calm. Not acceptance.Just quiet.I’ve met with a lawyer.I’m filing for divorce.He stared at the screen like it might change if he waited long enough.It didn’t.His phone slipped from his hand and landed face-down on the desk. He leaned back in his chair, one arm covering his face, the other hanging uselessly at his side.So this was it.Not a threat. Not a pause. Not space.An ending.He stayed like that for a long time, breathing through his nose, jaw locked so tight it hurt. He didn’t cry. He didn’t yell. He didn’t throw anything.That almost made it worse.A knock came at the door.“Alex?” his assistant said carefully. “The client from Zurich is on the line. They’re asking if yo

67

Ava sat with the papers on her lap for a long time before touching them.They weren’t thick. That surprised her. She’d expected something heavier. Something that looked like the end of a marriage. Instead, it was a slim folder her lawyer had handed her with a careful face and a softer voice than usual.“These aren’t the final documents,” the lawyer said. “This just starts the process.”Starts. Like it was a button. Like it wasn’t already tearing her life into before and after.Ava nodded slowly. Her mouth felt dry. She pressed her lips together and looked down again.Her own name stared back at her. Married name. Still legally tied to Alexander. Still carrying his child. Still standing in the middle of something she never planned.The lawyer shifted in her seat. “You don’t have to do everything today.”“I know,” Ava said. Her voice came out steady. That surprised her too.She didn’t feel steady. She felt stretched thin. Like if one more person asked her if she was okay, she’d snap.Sh

68

Alexander saw her before he meant to.He was stepping out of a black SUV, one hand already reaching for his phone, mind half on the meeting he’d just left and half on the list of things he still needed to pretend he cared about. Someone called his name from behind. A camera flashed somewhere. He didn’t turn.Then his body stopped on its own.Across the street, near a small café he’d passed a hundred times without noticing, Ava stood by the curb.She wasn’t looking around. She wasn’t searching for anyone. She was just there. Waiting for the light to change.She wore a loose cream sweater and dark leggings. Flat shoes. Hair pulled back in a simple tie that sat low at her neck. No makeup, or very little. She looked tired. Not broken. Just tired in a way that felt earned.And her hand rested on her stomach.Not protectively dramatic. Not like an announcement.Just there. Familiar. Instinctive.Alexander forgot to breathe.For a second, his brain refused to connect what his eyes were seein

69

“Mrs. Reed, are you ready to proceed?”Ava didn’t answer right away.She sat there with her hands folded in her lap, fingers twisting into each other like they were trying to hold something together. Her lawyer’s voice had been calm, practiced, gentle in that professional way. The kind that assumed this was just another ending.Across the table, Alexander stood.Not sitting. Standing.Like he wasn’t sure he deserved the chair.Ava lifted her eyes slowly.And everything hit her at once.Not in a rush. Not like a wave. More like a flood that had been waiting behind a door she’d kept locked for weeks.He looked thinner. Tired in the eyes. His jaw was tight, lips pressed together like he was holding back words he didn’t trust himself to say. The suit fit him perfectly, of course. It always did. City’s most admired architect. Magazine covers. Awards. Applause.But the man in front of her wasn’t the one people clapped for.This was the man who used to sit on the edge of the bed and ask if s

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