CHAPTER THREE
Ava did not hear the city outside. She did not hear the muffled sounds of the valet or the hum of traffic. All she could feel was the icy weight of Serena's words. Pregnant too.
Her knees buckled, and she fell onto the plush carpet of the suite, hands clutching at her stomach as if the very act could steady her shaking body. Daniel knelt beside her, his hands hovering in the air, unsure where to place them without seeming guilty.
"Ava…" he began, his voice low and tense, but she cut him off with a laugh that was anything but humorous.
"Do not," she said sharply, standing abruptly, "do not come near me. Not after this."
Serena, standing perfectly still by the window, crossed her arms, her expression soft but unreadable. "Ava, you need to hear everything."
"I do not need to hear anything!" Ava snapped, her chest heaving, "I saw everything. I don't need your explanations to know what kind of man he is."
Daniel ran a hand through his hair, frustration flashing in his eyes. "Ava, it is not what you think!"
"It is exactly what I think!" she shot back, "And it's worse than I thought!"
Serena sighed. "You think this is about me. It's not. He made choices long before I returned. I'm just… the catalyst."
Ava's laughter broke again, bitter and hollow. "The catalyst? You call yourself a catalyst after destroying three years of my life? After taking what was mine before I even had a chance to fight for it?"
Daniel's jaw tightened. "Ava, stop. Please, just listen. I never stopped"
"Never stopped what?" she demanded, her voice trembling. "Never stopped loving her? Never stopped betraying me? Never stopped lying to me while I was building a life with you?"
Serena's eyes softened slightly. "You have to understand, Ava. He thought he could control it. He thought he could… compartmentalize his feelings."
Ava's hands shook. Her vision blurred. She felt dizzy, trapped in a room that had become a cage. "You compartmentalize? You lied to me while I carried our child? You"
Daniel stepped forward. "Ava, please."
"Do not!" she screamed. "Do not speak to me! I do not want to hear it. Not from you. Not from anyone!"
Serena's lips pressed into a thin line. "Ava, I am not your enemy. He is. You deserve the truth, even if it hurts."
Ava swallowed hard, trying to force herself to breathe. Her mind was racing. Every memory of the past three years twisted in her head. The quiet dinners Daniel never attended, the canceled dates, the sudden business trips. She had blamed herself. She had convinced herself she was imagining his coldness.
And now she realized she had been right all along.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out with trembling fingers. A message flashed across the screen:
Meet me. Now. If you want to know everything.
The number was unknown.
Ava stared at it, heart hammering. She turned toward Daniel, who froze when he saw the message. Serena's brow lifted slightly.
"Who?" Ava demanded.
Daniel shook his head. "I don't know. Don't answer it."
Ava ignored him. "I will."
Her stomach churned as she stepped toward the door. She grabbed her coat, feeling more like a soldier preparing for battle than a wife betrayed.
Serena watched silently, Daniel's shoulders sagging with helplessness.
As Ava stepped out into the cold night, the streets were alive with neon lights and traffic, but her mind was elsewhere. She could not think about the cars or the people. She could not think about the city. She only thought about the man she married, the child growing inside her, and the other woman who had claimed everything she had ever loved.
The message instructed her to go to a small café on the edge of the city, the kind that promised privacy. Ava followed, each step heavier than the last, the chill of the night biting into her skin.
Inside the café, a single figure waited. A woman, mid-thirties, sharp eyes, a presence that demanded attention. She gestured Ava over.
"You are Ava Lucas," the woman said, her tone neither friendly nor hostile, "I have information about Daniel Lucas that you are not supposed to know."
Ava froze. "Who are you?"
The woman leaned forward, her gaze piercing. "Call me Maren. I know everything. Everything he has hidden, every secret, every lie."
Ava's hands clenched into fists. "Why now? Why tell me now?"
Maren's eyes softened slightly, almost imperceptibly. "Because he cannot hide it anymore. And because you deserve the choice."
Ava's mind spun. "Choice? Choice for what?"
Maren reached into her bag and pulled out a folder. Thick, leather-bound. She placed it on the table. "Everything about Daniel's double life. Every time he lied to you. Every decision that put him with her instead of you. And something else… something you are not prepared for."
Ava's hands shook as she opened the folder. Papers, photographs, hotel receipts, messages,all meticulously documented. Every betrayal laid bare. Every lie, timestamped, undeniable.
And then she saw it.
A photo of Daniel in a hospital. His arm around Serena, both of them smiling at a newborn baby. Not a pregnancy announcement, a baby.
Ava's stomach dropped. She clutched at the table, her vision swimming. The world tilted. She could not breathe.
"You knew," she whispered, looking up at Maren.
"I did," Maren said simply. "And I had to warn you before you confronted him. You are not imagining it. He has been hiding a second family from you."
Ava's hands shook so violently she almost dropped the folder. "Why… why would he do this?"
Maren shook her head. "You would have to ask him. But I promise you… what you think you know about him is only the surface."
Ava sat back, her heart hammering, and tried to process it. Every plan, every dream she had made for herself and her child shattered into fragments around her. The betrayal cut so deep it felt like fire.
And then her phone buzzed again. Another message. From the same unknown number:
He is coming for you tonight. Be ready.
Ava's breath caught. Her head snapped up. "What do you mean?"
Maren's gaze was steady. "You will find out soon enough. But you need to prepare. You are not safe if you go back home."
Ava's eyes darted to the clock on the wall. Midnight was approaching. Daniel, her husband, the father of her unborn child, was out there somewhere, and Maren's warning made it impossible to know if he was friend or enemy.
She clenched her fists, forcing herself to focus. Tears blurred her vision, but determination hardened inside her. She could not stay passive. She could not let him control the narrative of her life any longer.
The café door opened behind her. A shadow fell across the table.
A voice, low and familiar, whispered, "Ava Lucas. We need to move. Now."
She turned.
And froze.
The face staring at her… was someone she never expected.