All Chapters of Married To The Devil Who Bought My Revenge : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

49 Chapters

011: Cracks in the Armor

~Ava's POV~"Excuse me," I said, pushing my chair back quickly as it scraped against the floor. "I'll be back in two minutes.”I didn't wait for a response.I made it to the bathroom down the hall, shut the door quietly, I leaned over the sink, holding on tight till I felt okay again. I splashed cold water on my wrists and breathed slowly stuff I'd done a lot over the past week.Three weeks at Adams Tower. I'd been carrying this secret around for three weeks, holding it tight like something precious I couldn't let slip.I washed my mouth out, stood up straight, and checked myself out in the mirror.You're fine, I told my reflection. Get back in there.When I returned to the war room, I said it was a headache. Dominic didn't respond. He just looked at me once, then went back to the document in front of him.But he looked at me again fifteen minutes later. And again after that. Not warm. Not concerned exactly. More like he was running a quiet calculation I wasn't supposed to notice.I n

012: The First Strike

~Ava's POV~"She walked into a law firm this morning," Colt said. "Not the family one. Independent. Downtown."I set my coffee cup down slowly. "Which firm?""Hargrove and Associates. They handle contract disputes. Mostly private settlements."I didn't say anything for a second. Lily wasn't just cracking. She was quietly building a way out before the whole thing collapsed on her."Keep watching her," I said. "And Colt? Don't tell Dominic yet. It should be between both of us and no third party.”I hung up and sat back.*****That morning had started quietly enough.I woke up before seven, made coffee, and sat at the kitchen island with my notepad, doing what I'd been doing every morning for the past week. Running names. Old contacts from my Hale Industries days. People who liked me more than they liked the family, because those people existed. More of them than my father probably knew.Dana Park was near the top of that list.She'd been my assistant for two years. She was sharp, quiet,

013: Handle With Care

~Ava's POV~"She's not who you think she is."That line came later. But for now, I just had to get through the night.*****“Handled.”I was lying in bed, wide awake, going over what my dad said. It was bothering me, like it had sharp points that kept poking me. What was he talking about? Was it something to do with work, something for the public, or something personal?By 3 AM I'd stopped pretending I was going to sleep. I grabbed my notepad, moved to the kitchen, and started writing out every possibility I could think of.I was still there when Dominic walked in at six-thirty, already dressed, jacket over one arm.He stopped when he saw me. Took one look at my face and said, "You didn't sleep.""Neither did you.""I was working.""So was I," I said. "Just horizontally."He almost cracked a smile. I was starting to count those tiny moments like they were something special to me, and I wasn't sure if I was being clever or just plain silly.He got himself a cup of coffee, settled into

014: Someone's Watching

~Ava's POV~"They know about the baby."That line hit me later. But right then, standing over that photograph, we had a different problem.*****Dominic was still standing there, he held the photo for a very long moment without saying anything.I watched his jaw tighten. The way he looked at it didn't panic. It was the look of someone cataloguing a threat."You've seen something like this before," I said. It wasn't really a question."No," he said, still looking at the picture. "This is new."We both spread it flat on the table between us. Someone had taken it from across the street, slightly elevated, a good lens and enough patience to wait. The angle was clean. Professional, almost."Someone must have taken his time to plan this," I said."Yes.""They followed us to Walsh's dinner specifically." I looked at him. "Which means they knew about our plan. They knew where we were going before we got there."He didn't answer, but I could see him working through it. He pulled out his phone

015: Exposed

~Ava's POV~"I'm pregnant."I'd thought about saying that a bunch of times before. Never like this, though.*****The phone was still in my hand when I felt my face go pale. I felt it happen this cold feeling like my blood was draining away, like my body knew something before I didDominic saw it immediately.He set his glass down and said, "What's wrong?"I held up one finger and kept my voice steady. "Dana, how do they know about all this?""I don't know," she whispered. "I really don't. He called me to his office today, mentioned you... and said something about using a pregnancy as leverage." She paused. "Then I heard Lily. She was crying, behind a door. Ava, I'm scared."You're going to be okay," I assured her, even though I wasn't sure that was true. "Don't say anything else to anyone. Just go home tonight and wait for me to call you."I hung up and just sat there, frozenThen I slowly turned to Dominic, my heart racing."I need to tell you something," I whispered to him. " It's

016: The Ghost Uncle

~Ava's POV~"I've been waiting for you to be ready."That message came later. But first, I had to figure out who Victor Hale even was anymore.*****"Ava, I need you to tell me everything you know about him," Dominic demanded.We were at the kitchen table this time, Colt's map pulled up on the tablet between us, little markers showing Victor's known locations around the city over the past three weeks. He'd been busy. And quiet. Two things that, together, meant something.I grabbed my coffee and thought, where do I even begin?"He disappeared when I was around twelve," I began. "There was a massive falling-out with my father over the company. Doors slamming, voices through walls, the kind of fight that blows over, but leaves a mark. After that, Victor was gone."What was the official reason?""My father said he was volatile. Unstable. Impossible to work with." I paused. "Which, coming from Silas Hale, could mean anything from actually unstable to simply refusing to go along with someth

017: The Victor Problem

~Ava's POV~"Meet me tomorrow. Alone."That message came later. But first, I had to deal with the fact that Victor Hale had found a phone that didn't exist.*****I stared at the screen for a long time before I moved.The number I'd never given anyone. The prepaid phone I'd ordered cash, no account, no name. And somehow Victor Hale had found it and sent a single line like he'd been waiting to.That one thing said it all: he wasn't just a puppet. He had connections, resources, and the patience to wait for the right time.He'd been watching longer than I'd been playing.I got up, went straight to Dominic's side of the penthouse, and knocked once, twice before pushing the door open. He was at his desk, jacket off, reading something.I held out the phone without saying anything. I don't need to say anything cause he needed to see it himself.He took it. Read the message. Set his coffee cup down very carefully, the way he did when something had caught him off guard and he didn't want to sh

018: What She Carries

~Ava's POV~"Are you scared of anything?" I didn't mean to ask him that. *****I didn't sleep.Not really. I was kinda half-asleep, and every time I woke up a bit, Victor's message was the first thing on my mind.‘I have proof your father didn't just destroy Dominic's father. He destroyed mine too and yours.’I lay there in the dark, hand on my stomach. Not on purpose, it just ended up there like it'd developed a habit or something.There was a baby in there. A real one. Growing quietly underneath everything else, underneath the contracts and the photographs and the war I was in the middle of fighting.I was going to be a mother.I was going to bring a child into all of this.I stared at the ceiling for a long time and let that be true without trying to solve it. No strategy, no next steps. Just the weight of it, sitting right on my chest, warm and terrifying in equal measure.At some point around four in the morning, I stopped fighting the sleeplessness and just lay there. Quiet.

019: Blood on Paper

~Ava's POV~“You really need to be careful Ava.” My mother's name was typed at the bottom of the page.I stared at it for ages. Margaret Hale. Typed out neat on a line like it was no big deal. Like she was signing some boring paperwork, not a nasty document meant to trash the guy I lived with.Six days from today.I turned the page back to the beginning and read the whole thing from the top, slowly, with the kind of focus that meant I wasn't letting myself feel it yet. Not here. Not in front of Victor.The complaint looked legit. Detailed. Whoever made it knew their stuff it looked just like a real SEC filing. Dominic's name was all over it, linked to accounts, dates, and docs that looked like they'd check out.If this landed on the right desk, it would buy my father time. Probably a lot of it.I closed the folder."How do you have this?" I needed to know how he got it.Victor folded his hands on the table. "I've had eyes inside Hale Industries since your father pushed me out.""How

020: Trust Issues

~Ava's POV~"He's had eyes on the penthouse for weeks."That happened at midnight. But before it did, Dominic and I had to survive being around each other.*****"Say it," I told him. "Don't just look at me like that.""Like what?""Like I disappointed you."He didn't reply straight away. He took the folder back and flipped through some pages, reading, taking it in. That's just how he rolls no drama, no shouting. He just keeps going, processing stuff internally.It made it worse, honestly. Anger I could push back against. This quiet, careful processing felt like something I had to just stand in and wait out."You went alone to meet an unknown player with an unknown agenda," he said finally, still looking at the pages. "After I specifically said don't. And you didn't tell me.""I made a call.""It was the wrong call.""And yet I came back with something we didn't have before.""That's not the point.""Then what is the point, Dominic?"He put the folder down and looked at me. Really loo

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