ETHAN'S POV
I hadn't slept. Couldn't. Every second that passed without word from Ava carved another scar into my soul.
Her father was gone. Her number disconnected. Her room untouched.
My calls had gone from unanswered to blocked. And the look in Diana's eyes when I asked if she knew where Ava was, it told me everything.
Something was very wrong.
I stood in the hallway of the Kingsley estate, my fists clenched, ears ringing from the silence that had replaced her voice in my life.
Ava was not the type to run. Not from me.
Not without a reason. And I was done waiting. I reached for the drawer of my late father's study and unlocked the compartment only I knew existed.
The files inside were decades old, yellowing paper, faded photographs, handwritten ledgers.
Documents about company acquisitions, offshore transactions, and private family records.
Things my father thought he could bury forever.
