Chapter Eight
Ava’s POV
Five minutes later, I was back in my car, gripping the wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. My heart hammered in my chest, my breathing raged as I raced down the road toward Phoenix’s apartment.
They moved my things. They f*****g moved all my stuff into the guest room.
Not even a full week had passed. Two days. Two and a half days. And already, my things, every trace of me had been removed from our bedroom to the guestroom like I never belonged there. We hadn’t even signed the divorce papers yet, hadn’t even let the ink dry, and they had erased me. The only mercy was that the maids had neatly arranged everything as if that would soften the pain of betrayal.
I bit down on my lip hard enough to sting, but the pain was nothing compared to the storm inside me. Anger. Humiliation. A heartbreak so raw it made breathing feel like a battle. It took everything in me not to smash something before I left.
Five years.
Five f*****g years.
“g
Five f*****g years of my marriage to Kyle gone in an instant.
How did it get here? I never saw it coming. And the way Kyle acted, like this was just another transaction, something so easy for him, made me sick. It wasn’t just about the baby, was it? No, it felt like he had been waiting for this moment; like he had been planning to get rid of me.
Had there been signs?
My mind scrambled for answers, and suddenly, it hit me.
Wait. Maybe there was a sign. Yes! How had this not crossed my mind before?
He had been acting strange for months. If I calculated it correctly, it added up to eight freaking months. This month would make it the eighth month.
I remember now because that was the first time he slept outside. Not that he hadn’t before, since work trips often kept him away, but that night was different. He had gone to see his parents, and according to him, he was too tired to drive back home, so he stayed over. Back then, I had brushed it off as something
insignificant. I hadn’t thought twice about it.
Until now.
Now, I saw it.
It was after that night that he started acting distant. At first, I thought he was just busy, but as days turned into weeks and then months, the distance only grew. At one point, I even wondered if it was because of me and voiced my concerns, but he reassured me it was just work. I believed him. I pushed aside my doubts and focused on making him comfortable, never realizing that his coldness had nothing to do with work and everything to do with her. His baby mama.
A sharp pain squeezed my chest, and I clenched my eyes shut for a brief moment before forcing them open as the traffic light turned green. My heart was shattering into a thousand pieces, and there was nothing!
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could do to stop it.
For the first time in a long while, I felt truly alone.
Like I was losing a part of myself. Just like I had lost half of me years ago when my parents died.
Except this time, Kyle had unknowingly given me something. Something that made me feel less lonely.
My baby.
“Spill,” Phoenix demanded the moment I stepped into her apartment, dragging two of my bags behind me. I planned to hire a dispatch company to collect the rest of my stuff.
She was fuming, her frustration radiating off her in waves as I stepped further into the room, trying to ignore her. I expected this. But I couldn’t bring myself to speak, I feared that if I so much as made a sound, I would break down completely.
“Ava, why are you here with your bags?” Her voice grew sharper. “What are you not telling me? What the hell happened?”
I squeezed my eyes shut as an impending migraine pulsed in my head. The last thing I needed was this interrogation. I just wanted silence. I just want a moment to breathe before I crumble completely.
But Phoenix was relentless. She stood akimbo, her hard glare shuffling from my face to my suitcases and
back.
I swallowed and tried to push past her.
“Oh, don’t you dare move an inch, Aval” She suddenly blocked my path, her tall frame looming over me. “Don’t you dare scurry away without telling me what the hell is going on! What is happening with you and Kyle?”
“I should have persisted,” she muttered, pacing now, running a hand through her hair in frustration. “I should have waited this morning when I dropped you. I should have forced you to tell me what was wrong. Did he send you out of the house? Is that why you were alone?”
Her voice rose with every question, and I felt the dam inside me c***k
“What do you want to hear?” I snapped, my voice cutting through the air like a blade.
She froze, startled.
“That we’re getting divorced?” I spat, my chest rising and falling rapidly. “Is that what you want to hear? Then fine, Phoenix. We’re breaking up. Happy now?”
And just like that, the tears I had been holding back came pouring down, hot and filled with pain.
Phoenix’s expression was that of shock then softened instantly, the fight draining from her as she stepped
closer.
I wasn’t aware I was shaking until I felt her warm hands wrap around mine, guiding me toward a chair like she was afraid I’d collapse. The soft look she gave me, the gentle way her hands guided me to the chair, like any sudden sound or movement might shatter me broke me even more. I didn’t know why, but it just did.
By the time I finally choked out the full story, I was crying so hard that I had to blink repeatedly just to clear
my vision.
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Chapter Eight
Silence stretched between us, save for my muffled sobs and the occasional sniffle. My face was buried in Phoenix’s chest, her hand rubbing slow, soothing circles on my back.
Pouring out my heart was supposed to ease the pain, at least, that’s what they said. But it didn’t lighten the weight on my shoulders. Instead, it dragged me out of the shadows of denial and into the harsh light of acceptance. In the meantime, I would be signing papers to end my marriage, forced into a new life I had never prepared for.
“The baby.”
Phoenix’s voice was hoarse when she finally spoke.
I froze.
“What do you plan to do?” she asked carefully.
Something inside me tightened, an unfamiliar mix of anger and protectiveness. I pulled away from her hold,
sitting up straighter.
“I’m keeping it,” I said firmly, sniffling into the back of my hands as I wiped away some tears.
“Ava..”
“That’s what I want.” My tone was sharp, final
Phoenix sighed. “I know. I’m not telling you to do otherwise. I just want to make sure you understand the
risks.”
My stomach clenched at the reminder.
The doctor’s words echoed in my mind, but I shoved them aside.
“I don’t need to think about it,” I whispered. This baby is a gift I’ve wanted this for so long. I’m not going to throw it away just because I’m scared.”
Phoenix gave me a long, pitiful look, and I hated it.
I already knew the risks. I didn’t need her pity.
“What about him?” she asked. “Are you going to tell Kyle?”
I scoffed. “Would you?”
Phoenix stiffened.
She knew exactly what I meant.
For a woman who lost custody of her child to her ex–husband, she understood more than anyone what I was saying. If given a second chance, she would have run. She would have hidden her baby from him at all costs.
And I would do the same.
While I can’t be certain that Kyle would act that way, given his parents, I wouldn’t want to take the risk. If they had already decided to betray and abandon me for the sake of having an heir, then none of them deserved to know the truth. Not even Kyle.
Phoenix studied me for a long moment before nodding.
“Good,” she finally said. “Because I wouldn’t.”
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