All Chapters of Scent of my mistress : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The silence that lingered after Samuel’s final words in the lounge felt heavier than the velvet drapes that framed the tall windows. Ava held his gaze with the stillness of a woman who had learned long ago that silence could wound sharper than words. She rose from her seat first, her movements composed, deliberate, as if the photograph he’d just shown her hadn’t cracked the ground beneath her carefully constructed world.“If this is all you wanted me to see,” she said coolly, smoothing her dress with a casual grace, “then my time here has been wasted.”Samuel rose too, his shadow lengthening against the lamplight. He moved closer, not aggressively but with an unmistakable claim of space, his body filling the gap between her and the door. He had grown broader since university, more commanding in posture, but his eyes betrayed him. They dragged over her face, watching her reactions and then to her curved body. There was calculation there, yes, but it was woven with something raw,desire,

The knock came like thunder against the quiet of Ava’s apartment. Three sharp bangs, heavy and deliberate, meant to command attention rather than request entry. Ava froze mid-step, her glass of wine halfway to her lips.Her eyes slid toward the security console on the wall. She touched the screen, and the grainy feed brightened into clarity.Damian.His tall frame stood rigid at the entrance, his jaw locked, his eyes shadowed under the pale wash of the streetlight. Even through the camera’s distortion, his presence was unmistakable. His shoulders carried tension that had nothing to do with late meetings or boardroom wars. This was personal.Ava inhaled slowly, forcing her chest to rise and fall in steady rhythm. She placed the wineglass back on the counter without sound and pressed the intercom.“Let him in.”The gate buzzed open. Within moments, she could hear the measured crunch of his footsteps on the marble path outside. Her pulse quickened. Damian was not a man who came unannounc

The morning broke without ceremony. No soft sunlight warming the curtains, no breeze that whispered of peace. Instead, the gray light of an unsettled sky pressed against the blinds of Ava’s bedroom, dull and heavy, like the weight in her chest. She opened her eyes slowly, her face expressionless, the trace of yesterday’s battles still written in the tightness of her jaw.Today was not a day for charm. It was a day for endurance.For a while she remained still, staring at the ceiling as though answers might be etched in the plaster. Then, with a deliberate slowness, she pushed the covers aside and swung her legs to the floor. Her bare feet met the cold tiles, grounding her. She rose, moving with the composure of someone training herself not to tremble.The bathroom mirror offered her no kindness. Her eyes were rimmed with shadows, her lips drawn thin, but she leaned closer anyway, as if daring her reflection to betray weakness. She turned the faucet, splashed her face with water that b

Ava's perspectiveThe air in Damian’s office clung to her skin long after she left it, heavy with his frustration, his restraint, his denial of what they both knew to be true. He had tried to draw the line, but Ava had seen the hesitation in his eyes, the hand that almost touched her before he pulled it away. That sliver of weakness was enough. Enough to remind her that, even cut down, she still had power.The hallway outside seemed colder, brighter, the fluorescent lights exposing the whispers that followed her footsteps. They all knew. They had all watched her fall. Demoted, diminished, stripped of the authority she once wielded like a blade.But Ava smiled faintly as she walked. Let them believe she was finished. Survival was not always about winning in the open. Sometimes it was about sinking low enough that no one saw you sharpening your knives.Back in her office , still hers for the moment , she closed the door behind her and leaned against it, eyes sweeping the space. Every in

Ava stepped into the hotel room that day, her heels sinking slightly into the plush carpet as the door clicked shut behind her. She had given Samuel the directions herself, even answered his call with a steady voice, though every fiber of her body had screamed at her to turn away. She shouldn’t be here, not after everything.Her chest tightened at the thought of Damian. As much as she loathed his arrogance, he had defended her in the boardroom. Without his weight, the verdict might have crushed her completely. For a fleeting moment that afternoon, lying on her bed after the exhausting session, she had thought about canceling. About keeping Samuel at a distance, at least for now. But it was too late. He was already here, waiting. And Ava knew better than to risk offending a man who held so much knowledge about her past. Not now.Samuel was leaning against the edge of the table when she entered, casual in his posture, deliberate in his gaze. He wore no smile, only the faintest curve of