Ava's POV“Just listen, please."I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair. "I don't think there is anything that you will tell me that can change my mind, Fernando. Stop this madness."I hoped my words would do the trick but he was persistent."I have something I have to show you, and after you see it, whatever you decide is your choice. Just please,” he pleaded, and as much as I wanted to say no and tell him to go to hell. I didn't have a choice.After I listened, I would leave. The thought of that was reassuring enough. After this, I could go back to Miguel. I could already imagine him going berserk once he realized that I had gone missing just a week to our wedding. I needed to go back to him before he lost it and did something crazy because of me or, rather, because of Fernando's foolish decision. If Miguel found out it was him, I was sure he'd kill him.If I wanted to save him, I needed to be out of here as fast as I could but first I had to do what he wanted. “I jus
Ava's POVIt felt like someone had suddenly yanked the band-aid off an old wound, and now the bruise was new. Bleeding, stinging, festering, doing all the things it had once done, and the worst part —the pain was twice as bad as the first time.I was younger then. A little alienated from the concept of the loss. Everything I felt back then was merely the tip of the iceberg compared to how I felt at this moment. The loss was big, like an ocean, and I fell straight into it.The pain was raw and intense, cutting its way through every tendon in me. It was unbearable. My heart felt like it was being sliced open over and over again.I heard the clock tick from where I sat on the rug. Time was going by, but I couldn't move. My ass felt glued to the earth, and my feet, as far as I knew, were liquid. I doubt I could support myself enough to stand, much less leave this place. I was feeble. My chest was hurting so badly I could hardly breathe. Everything was painful. Every fucking bit of me
Miguel's POVMy world, my entire life, everything vanished in that simple sentence, 'I don't know'. My head did a thousand spins around the corridor. Confusion took form on my face. I had lost it, my mind, and everything I was capable of losing at the moment.“What do you mean you don't know? You went in there with her!” I snapped, stepping closer to Sophia and clenching my jaw tightly.“Yes, I did… but she went into the dressing room and never came out. I searched, but I didn't find her,” her voice shook as she spoke hastily, trembling before me.“What are you talking about? She couldn't have just vanished. She's in there! She has to be,” I brushed past them and barged into the bridal store, ignoring the attendants.“Ava!” I called. Perez and Sophia followed after me, watching me destroy everything in my path as I ransacked the place for her—my Bella. Perez intercepted any attendant who tried to stop me from thrashing the place.Lucky for them because if they tried to lay a hand on
Miguel's POVI returned to the mansion first and ordered every man in the house to search for her before retrieving Killer from the safe and returning to the road. I drove around the city for hours like a crazy person, searching everywhere I could, but there was only so much one man could do. I put the police on the job, as well as every other ally in the city, before heading over to Mason’s.I knocked twice, and he popped up at the door, “Come in,” he opened the door, and I walked into the room, “Perez told me what happened today. I've been on it since. Do you want some liquor?” “I'll pass. Did you find anything yet? Any leads?”Mason shook his head, “No, I'm sorry. There's no lead yet.”I smirked and muttered under my breath, “Inutile.”“I'm doing all I can, Don Miguel—”“Then try harder! Your best is clearly not enough,” I stepped close to him, “Find whoever took her, Mason, and look into Indira's stupid brother and Nando, maybe they did it. Check all the cameras around the area!
Miguel's POV"It's over, Miguel. I am calling off the wedding.”My eyes widened with shock, and I sucked in a sharp breath. The word sent a thousand thunderbolts through my head. My heart was thrashing aggressively against my ribcage, threatening to tear its way out of my body.It echoed in my head, wrecking my mind and heart. My hands dropped from her face to my side, suddenly becoming heavy. My legs wobbled beneath the invisible weight of her words, which was devouring me from the inside. “What?” I blurted, swallowing hard and trying to find my bearing again. I was lost. My lungs suddenly ran dry. My lips quivered. I couldn't make sense of anything. I was completely disoriented, and I couldn't believe my ears.She wanted to call off the wedding? Her words echoed again, in my head and heart. No. She wouldn't. We both wanted this marriage. She loved me and… It didn't make sense that she'd want the wedding off. She wouldn't want that.I was dazed. I was pretty sure I must have he
Ava's POVMiguel recoiled, and his eyes broadened as he took in my words. Pain flashed across his face, then confusion. He furrowed his brows as he stared blankly at me for a minute before lowering his gaze to the floor.When he finally looked at me again, a few minutes passed, and his eyes were red like hot coals. He shook his head like he could read my mind or knew what I was thinking. There was pain etched in his gaze, “Ava—” he began, taking one step towards me, but that was as much as I could allow.“Don’t!” I exclaimed, pressing my back against the wall like I could slip through it to the other side.“Don’t take another step. Whatever you want to say to me. I don't want to hear it,” I clenched my jaw, and my body trembled as the rage coursed through my veins. “Please, Ava,” another step was met by my glare.I yelled at the top of my lungs, “I know what you did, Miguel. Don't you get it? You're the last person I want to see or even be around right now!”My words were laced wit
Ava's POVWe got on the road about thirty minutes later so I wouldn't miss my flight back. The entire ride, I felt a little sick and tired —very tired, but I guessed that was what happened when you skipped your night's sleep.I couldn't get any sleep last night. Things were far too complicated and stressful. I yawned and rested my head on the window, dozing off for a minute.I felt a light tap on my shoulder a few minutes later.“Are you okay?” Perez asked. I nodded slowly, lifting my head from the window and turning to him.“We are here,” he announced.We stepped out of the car, and Perez grabbed my bag from the trunk, walking me inside the airport. Perez walked me to the gate, and then we stopped there, facing each other. Perez dropped my bag on the floor and dug into his back pocket.“Here,” he handed me my flight ticket, “Do you have your passport?” he asked, and I nodded, digging into my handbag to retrieve it.I slipped my ticket inside my passport and watched Perez retrieve s
Ava's POVMy heart stopped. A momentary pause, and then I gasped. My eyes broadened as I stared at the doctor, unsure if I heard him right. Well, I heard him, but —I wasn't sure, or it was simply not that simple. My head became jumbled and nothing made sense anymore.Minutes passed with nothing but silence, and the news echoed in my head. The doctor looked at me like I was supposed to say something, and I looked at him, utterly perplexed by the words I thought I heard. I swallowed hard, trying to digest it—whatever it was that I just heard him say to me. It couldn't be. My heart was thudding faster now, betraying my doubts.“Did you just say… Pregnant?” I mouthed the words like the meaning was alienated from me. I was displaced. It felt like I had suddenly lost understanding of what the word meant or what it should mean.Pregnant. I was pregnant. “Yes,” the doctor grinned broadly. Being pregnant was happy news, at least to him but not for me. For me this changed everything.“Yo