Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Then suddenly I hear Ava down the line, sounding small and unsure. “Jesse?”
“What the fuck is he doing there?” I ask, feeling Drew’s and Sam’s disappointed eyes on me. The fuck was really quite unnecessary, and the very reason Drew’s right. Keep me away. But the question? Totally necessary. I need to know if Steve’s hunch was right.
“He’s bought the company,” Ava says, all so matter of fact.
Lord, hold me back. “Get your bag,” I hiss, raging. “Get John, and leave.” I release my grip of the wheel, my hand sweating. “Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Do it now while I’m on the phone.”
“Okay.”
I hear Peterson’s questioning voice. Then Ava’s assertive one. She sounds so together. It’s more than I am.
“I’m sorry, Patrick,” she says, a rustling sound coming down the line. Packing her bags? “I can’t work for Rococo Union anymore.”
She’s right. She can’t. And I don’t have the capacity or sense to be happy about that right now. Yes, I wanted her to be a lady of leisure, to enjoy her life, not graft for someone else’s gain. Yes, I pushed it. But I never pushed her out. Van Der Haus has pushed her out.
Peterson starts a confused babble of words, pressing Ava for sense and reason. “Mikael has assured me that you’ll be made a profit-sharing director.”
My jaw goes lax, and I look at the boys. “The cunt’s trying to buy my wife.”
“Serious?” Sam asks.
“Fucking lowlife,” Drew mutters, as I get back to listening, hoping John’s ready to step in if necessary. Van Der Haus would be buried in the plaster of a wall if I were there. No doubt.
“Sal,” Ava says, her voice getting quieter by the second. I’m struggling to hear her. “He’s been using you to keep tabs on me. I’m sorry.”
And there goes my jaw again. The woman he was with? It was Sally? Ava’s work colleague? My God, is there anything he wouldn’t do?
“What now?” Sam asks.
“He was dating Ava’s work friend to keep track of Ava.”
Both boys mirror my disbelief.
“Are you so desperate that you’d destroy someone as sweet as Sally?” Ava asks, still quiet, but I detect the edge of disgust. “Are you so desperate to get revenge on—” I lose her, and I squint, listening harder, pushing the phone into my ear.
“Revenge on that womanizer is just an advantage.” Mikael’s distant, grainy voice takes me from disbelief to borderline psycho. “I’ve wanted you from day one.” I fucking knew it. Of course he’d want her. Who wouldn’t? “He doesn’t deserve you.”
I inhale, flinching at the reality of hearing someone else say what I’ve known all along. I don’t deserve Ava. I don’t deserve happiness. I don’t deserve another chance. Amalie’s words stamp all over my mind. It’s not your fault. So many people have said it to me. But for the first time today, I considered believing it.
“I’m sorry, Patrick,” Ava says, and I hear footsteps past the rustle of her mobile rubbing with her bag, her clothes. I don’t know. She’s leaving. I sink into the leather of my seat, swallowing.
“Ava?” Van Der Haus says, gentle.
Hearing him call her name hardens every muscle again. I stare at the steering wheel, waiting for what he might say next. It’s nothing Ava won’t know, but can I relax?
“He fucked other women when he was with you, Ava,” he says, and I cough. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
“He does deserve me!” Ava shouts, sounding deranged, the volume and sheer distress making me jump in my seat. I look at Sam and Drew, who are still standing by, waiting for updates or to stop me leaving. “No one gets to pass judgment on him,” she goes on, not letting up. “Except me. He’s mine!”
The words ring in my ear, reverberating and sinking deep. I’m hers. She owns me. Only her judgments matter. Only Ava’s feelings matter. How she cares for me, loves me, sees me—that’s all that matters.
“Did you drug me?” she asks.
“Ava, I would never hurt you.” Van Der Haus’s voice is so soft. So pacifying. It just reaffirms what I always feared. He truly wants her, not just for revenge, but because she’s beautiful, talented, spirited, and driven. “I’ve bought this company for you.”
“You’re consumed with the need for vengeance. You don’t even know me. We’ve shared no intimacy, connection, or special moments. What’s wrong with you?”
“I know a good thing when I see it, and I’m prepared to fight for it.”
Fight? Can’t he see it’s over? Is he going to hang around for me to fuck up again, hoping Ava sees the light and leaves me?
“You’ll be fighting in vain,” Ava says. “And even if you succeed in your attempts to break us, which you never will, you couldn’t have me afterward.”
“Why?”
“Because without him, I’m dead.”
I release the breath I’ve been holding and feel my heart thrash in my chest. Not anxiety. Not fear.