All Chapters of Till Bodies Do Us Part : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Ava's pov.“Sweetheart, you're white as a sheet.” Diane said, closing the distance between us before I could even think of an escape route. “Are you feeling alright?”“I'm perfect,” I said but my voice came out an octave too high for a man, so I cleared my throat and tried sounding masculine. “Just a bit of a headache, but it's not serious .”“Well, that won't do at all.” She looped her arm through mine before I could protest, steering me toward the hotel restaurant with the kind of grip that told me resistance was not an option. “The Whitmores flew in all the way from Boston, the least you can do is sit through one meal.”I had hit the volume down button by the side of my phone, when she caught up with me. But somehow, I could still hear Gerald's voice, faint and tiny from the phone.“Mom, I actually have somewhere urgent I need to be,” I gave one last futile try.“More urgent than family?” She raised a brow at me, the exact expression Ivan made whenever he thought someone was lying

Ivan's pov.“She did what?” my voice under Ava's control came through the phone the second I explained the situation after she called.It was so loud that I had to hold it away from my ear. God, I never imagined my voice could sound so annoying.“My mother called your mother,” I repeated what I had sent in the text. “For a very flimsy reason and I quote, ‘to discuss wedding gift logistics,’ but I know my mother, and she doesn't call people about gift logistics.”“What else did she say to her?” Ava made my voice sound impatient.“I don't know, I wasn't on the call,” I rubbed my temple. “But your mother texted you, or rather texted me, since I'm the one answering your messages now.”“Can you read out what the text says?”I pulled up the message againand read it out for her “We need to talk about your husband, something feels off.”The silence on the other end of the line stretched long enough that I thought the call had dropped.“Are you still on, Ava?”“I'm here,” she made my voice com

Ivan's pov.Uncle Victor never visited without an agenda and the sight of his car in the driveway set my nerves on edge before I had even stepped foot inside the house.“Talk to me.” Ava said as she led our way to the front door. “What's his deal?”“He's my father's younger brother, he's spent the last decade convinced he should have inherited the company instead of me,” I kept my voice low, wary of the staff that were near the entrance. “He's charming in the way snakes are charming, right up until they bite.”“That is not very comforting.”“Just try not to give in to whatever he says.”We stepped inside to find him seated in the living room, a glass of what was my most expensive scotch in hand, chatting with my mother like he owned the place.Victor rose the moment he saw us, arms spread wide in a gesture of warmth I knew better than to trust.“There they are.” He said, his voice was as smooth as always. “The newlyweds, I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”“Uncle Victor.”

Ivan's pov.“We don't want any visitors,” I said the second Gerald mentioned it was Olivia. “Tell her to leave.”“I tried, Ma'am. She says she won't, not until she speaks with the both of you.”Ava turned to me, with an expression that made it clear she had questions I did not have the patience to answer. “Who is Olivia? You never gave me the full story, just the two year old mistake summary.”“It's not relevant right now.”“It's relevant, considering she's standing at your gate demanding an audience.”I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “She's someone I dated for a short time before everything with our families got arranged. It ended in a bad way and she has a habit of resurfacing at inconvenient moments ever since.”“Don't play with my nose like that!!” Ava whispered. “Moments like weddings, huh?”“Yes.” I admitted.“Gerald,” Ava said, leaning toward the intercom. “Let her in, we'll handle it in the front room.”“Ava?”“We can't just leave her standing at the gate making a sce

Ava's pov.Ivan waited until we were in the car, before asking but I could tell he was concerned.What do you mean by tampered?” He whispered, when I was still on call with Elena.He sat forward, straining to hear Elena's voice through the phone, but due to how delicate the matter was I had dropped it out of loudspeaker mode.“Put it on speaker.”he mouthed to me, as I shit him a look but complied, tapping the screen. Elena's voice filled the car, she was trying to sound professional but I could still feel the panic in her voice.“Sir, there's an additional clause in section twelve that wasn't there this morning. It changes the equity split in the merger by nearly four percent, in favor of the other party.”“That's not possible.” I said. “The file was locked after signing, you told me that.”“Yes sir, that's what worries me. Someone with backend access modified it after the signing.”“Could it be my Uncle Victor? He was just here, throwing around plenty of insider information he shoul