Chapter 1
PART 1:
“Have you lost your mind?”
Ryan Hayes shouted so loudly that the birds scattered from the lake behind the mansion.
His designer suits were spread across the front lawn.
His shoes lay beside the stone driveway.
Two leather suitcases sat open in the grass, half-filled, as if someone had packed them in a hurry and stopped caring halfway through.
A silk tie hung from the iron gate.
And Ava stood in front of it all.
Calm.
Straight-backed.
Her pale blouse covered most of the fading bruise near her collarbone, but not all of it.
Ryan saw it.
So did his mother.
Neither of them asked if it hurt.
His mother stood behind him with one hand pressed against her chest, staring at the clothes like Ava had thrown a crown into the mud.
“Throwing his clothes out?” she snapped. “You’ll regret this.”
Ava looked at her, then at Ryan.
Her face was tired.
Not weak.
Tired of pretending.
Ryan stepped closer, pointing at the mansion behind her.
The lake glittered in the late afternoon sun.
The white columns.
The balcony.
The long windows.
The marble steps where he had posed for photos and called himself self-made.
“This is my house,” he said.
Ava did not move.
“No, Ryan,” she said softly. “I’m done covering for you.”
His face changed.
Just a flicker.
His mother noticed it.
May you like
So did Ava.
👉 But when Ryan saw what was inside the suitcase, his confidence finally began to crack.
