Ava POV
By the time I got to Derek's house, it was already dark. The party had ended and everyone had gone away. Derek and Annabel sat on my favourite couch watching Scandal, my favourite TV series. I remember asking Derek to watch this show with me and he told him no. According to him “He was the CEO of a company and had no time to waste on TV shows”. I always watched it alone.
Derek was there sitting on my favourite couch watching my favourite movie with his arms wrapped around my best friend. They were having the life I always dreamt of.
Clearing my throat, I moved their attention to me. Immediately Annabel's nostrils flared up as she stood up ready to attack me at any opportunity.
“What is she doing here? What are you doing here?” She asked with a curt voice.
“I came to sign the divorce letters and pick up my clothes” I replied calmly. If I was to answer her with the emotions I was feeling inside me I would end up doing worse than I imagined.
“Well do that and leave” Derek orders with a stern voice still sitting down, his attention on the TV.
“I will call Bailey to send down her clothes and the divorce papers. They are both on my desk” he says walking up to where Ann and I are standing opposite each other. He wraps his arms around her waist and places soft kisses on her neck.
“Sweetheart, come let's go. Leave barren Ava. Okay” he says as he dips his kiss, Ann tilts her head giving more access.
Sweetheart” he never called me sweetheart or any sweet name just Ava. I was the one who kept on calling him honey.
Up until now I thought he loved me, thought he cared about me but with what I was seeing. The way he pampered Annabel I knew I had settled for the bare minimum and called it love.
They walk back to the couch together, his arms still around her. She laughs at something he whispers to her.
Bailey brought my luggage down with the divorce papers. I signed it quickly. I can't stand here and watch them any longer.
I lift my luggage and put it down again. It feels light like there is nothing in it. I immediately opened my box. I stare at it in shock with tears standing in my eyes
“Annabel!” I scream. She turns around to me with an evil smile on her face.
“What is the meaning of this, where are clothes?”I ask her
“Your clothes? You mean the clothes my husband brought for you with his money?” She asks with a sneer.
“Those clothes are mine. It is the little reward I get from sticking my ass to this unfaithful man you call a husband. Not only did you take out my clothes, you put ten packets of condoms among my clothes. Why?”I ask
“These clothes are the clothes you had when you came here and that is what you will leave with. As for the condom, I thought you would need them since you whore around”
I curl my hands into a fist straining myself from slapping that fake face of hers.
“You might have gotten away with this but keep it at the back of your mind that you will regret it,” I warned her sternly.
I walked up to him, my hand folded around my chest.
“And as for you, you might think you have gotten everything. I helped you, saved you and you repay me by sleeping with my best friend. Not only did you sleep with her, you got her pregnant while I worked my ass off for your empire. You might have gotten away with it but you will remember me and just remember that I know everything about you and your business. If I want you to go down, you will go down” I tell him.
He stares at me in shock. Without wanting to waste any note time I close my luggage and walk away from the Lockwood mansion.
.
.
.
I roamed around the street without any direction. After a while, I started feeling dizzy. The only food in my tummy was breakfast on the plane.
I felt weak like I had no strength. I just roamed around the streets without any destination. Firstly I had no friends to run to. The only friends I had were friends with Ann and they were all there during their engagement smiling.
I don't blame them though, who does not want to be friends with a millionaire. I pulled out my phone from my purse. It was already seven o'clock in the evening, the streets were already dark. How did I survive? I didn't even know where to start with no money and no friends.
A bright light shone from the end of the streets, a car, a Ferrari. The car swayed in different directions as the driver tried to control the car. I was meant to move away from the road knowing fully well that the car was likely to have an accident but I stood there with my luggage by the sight. The driver honked, and the light shone directly in my direction.
It came closer, the light shining on my eyes but I stood there.
What was the point of living? I thought. I closed my eyes and prepared for my death an event I knew would be a relief to the people I loved.
Three seconds later, it came crashing into me. I fell flat on the hard floor. I opened my eyes and closed it again.
“Ma are you okay? open your eyes, stay with me” the masculine voice said but it sounded far, everything was becoming blurry.
I mustered enough strength and spoke my last wish.
“Let me die, please” I pleaded in a weak whisper
“What?” he asked surprised
Then I closed my eyes welcoming myself to the comfortable darkness of death
Ava POVI opened my eyes weakly, my eyelid still heavy. I shook my head trying to clear the grogginess. I stared at my environment for a while, white painted room. A beeping machine by the side. I tried to sit up, but my body shook with overwhelming pain.I closed my eyes back trying to remember where I was. Then the memories from earlier on came rushing in together with the tremendous pain.Derek's engagement, my family annulment, Annabel's pregnancy, the accident. The “let me die” came rushing back into my head.I was alive. It meant I did not die, the good Samaritan saved me when I pleaded with him to let me die. It seems people no longer listen to people's last wishes.Anger rushed through me as I felt my skin turn light red. This man would have just made me die.“You are awake,” a masculine voice said, disrupting me from my thoughts. He leaned by the side of the door, his hands tucked in his pocket enhancing his masculine structure. I took in his features; his tall height, broad
Ava's PovSeven Years LaterIt's been seven years since I left London to come to New York with Andrew.Seven years since Tristan was born.Five years since Andrew gifted me a multi-million dollar jewellery company named after me as my birthday gift.Four years since he confessed his feelings for me and even though I had told him I was not ready, he had promised to wait.To wait till I heal the scar Derek and Annabel left behind.These past years had been filled with love, laughter, bliss, and a few tears that flowed from time to time. Meeting Andrew was the best event in my life.He had taken both me and Tristan as his own long before he even told me he loved me. It gave me a glimpse of what it meant to be loved, to be away from toxic people.While I was at Derek's place I thought I had comfort, I mean my husband was a multi-millionaire but meeting Andrew made me realise how wealthy people can be.Andrew was a multi-billionaire, having every type of investment anyone could think of. H
Ava’s POV“I’m sorry” he replies“For someone who is trying to save his company, you sure have a lot of nerves showing up late. Some things just never change” I say to him, and give a sarcastic smile. “Be seated” I add, not giving him a chance to utter a replyI flip through the documents and read each label; financial records, profit-loss sheets, bank statements, just quite invested in watching Derek fail.“It seems like your company has very little chance of survival and putting my money into yours is going to seem futile. So why should I help you?” I ask, looking up from the documents and staring at Derek, waiting for a replyDerek exhales sharply, and I feel a tinge of satisfaction settle in my stomach “Well Ava……“Miss Ava” I interrupt“Miss Ava, I…. I have made some mistakes but this company has a solid foundation and I assure you that with some cash injection being put into my company, it would yield great fruits and can help me get back on the feet. It has a higher chance of s
Ava’s POVAndrew and I head out of the building, and the jet is already there, ready to pick us up. The engines soft hum fills the building, it makes a soothing white noise that made it easy for me to forget the distance that needed to be covered. I sit by the window, watching the clouds stretch beneath us, like a blanket of endless white and blue, Oh how I loved to admire nature. The world down below felt distant in every sense. Andrew sat across from me, flipping through a report on his tablet. His brow furrows lightly, as the project on his tablet caught his full attention.I studied Andrew for a moment, not caring if he catches me staring. His dark hair was falling over his forehead, his sharp jawline taut with concentration. There was something about the way that he could be so immersed in his work, so dedicated that I admired. I knew I liked him, but there was a part of me that had to stay cautious. I knew he cared about me, he always let me know that he did, his words and his
Ava’s POVThe sunlight streamed through the large windows, casting a warm glow across my room. I woke to the familiar sound of Tristan’s excited footsteps padding down the hallway. It was Saturday, and while I was scheduled to go into the office, I knew Tristan loved mornings like this, time spent lounging around before the day really started.I rolled over in bed and grabbed my phone. 7:45 a.m. A little earlier than I’d hoped, but Tristan never really let us sleep in on weekends. I smiled to myself as I heard his voice echo from the kitchen. “Andrew! Can we make pancakes?”His voice was muffled, but I could still hear the excitement in it. I sighed and pulled myself out of bed, slipping on a robe before heading toward the kitchen. As I neared, I could hear Andrew’s deep, easy laugh, followed by the clatter of bowls and utensils.“Alright, alright. But you’re helping,” Andrew said, his voice laced with amusement.I stepped into the kitchen to find Andrew standing at the counter, a bo
Ava’s POVI couldn’t concentrate at work with the messages still popping into my phone, I decide to call it a day and head back home, after all Andrew didn’t want me going to work.The afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky as I drove home, its warm light filtering through the car’s windows. But I barely noticed. My mind had been a whirlpool all day, pulled under by the weight of the text messages I’d received that morning. The words had played on a loop, making it impossible to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time."I still love you, Ava. I’ve never stopped."Whoever had sent them wasn’t just some random person. The messages had felt intimate, more personal. Too familiar. Derek? It had to be him. But if it was him, he would have brought up Annabel, wouldn’t he? But Who else would reach out like this, in such a creepy way? But why now? After all these years, why would he decide that he wanted back in my life? And why couldn’t he just say it directly, instead of hiding
Ava’s POVThe silence of the building was getting heavy, and it was in this moment I missed when the cooks and cleaners were around. I knew I would have to speak to Andrew, even if it’s concerning a different topic. I wanted to push the messages from Derek out of my mind, and I knew I couldn’t avoid Andrew forever.Just as I contemplated getting up and checking on him, I heard the creak of the door from his office. I turned my head, expecting him to walk in, but instead, he stood just outside the doorway, his body framed in the dim light of the hallway. His expression was carefully neutral, but I could see the concern in his features. It made my heart sink; I hated that I was the cause of that worry.“Ava?” he said softly, stepping into the living room. “Can we talk?”I took a deep breath, nodding even as my heart raced. “Yeah, of course.”He walked over to the couch and sat down across from me, his body angled slightly toward mine. There was an intensity in his gaze that made me bot
As I stood at the edge of Tristan’s bedroom door, watching him play with his collection of toy cars, a nervous flutter twisted in my stomach. How could I ask him this? It felt like such a big question for a boy so young, but I knew it was important. Tristan had always been at the center of my world, and any decision I made that affected him needed his voice, his blessing.Andrew and I had been dancing around this possibility for a while now, but ever since our late-night conversation where I admitted my feelings for him, the question of whether we could actually move forward had lingered. And now, here I was, about to ask my son for his opinion on the man who had become such a big part of our lives.I took a deep breath and knocked gently on the doorframe. Tristan looked up from his toys, his bright green eyes meeting mine with a curious expression. He grinned widely, waving one of his favorite cars in the air.“Mom! Look! I made a race track with my blocks!” he said, his excitement c