Chapter 7
PART 7:
His mother looked at Ryan slowly.
“Tell me that isn’t true.”
Ryan’s jaw clenched.
“Ava doesn’t understand business.”
Ava gave a quiet, humorless laugh.
“I understood enough to call the bank before you could sign anything.”
His eyes snapped to hers.
“You called the bank?”
“And the trust officer. And the title company. And the police.”
His mother stepped back.
“The police?”
Ava lifted her chin.
“This isn’t a family argument anymore.”
Ryan took one step toward her.
One of the security men moved in front of him.
“Do not approach her,” the man said.
Ryan looked around the property.
The staff was still watching.
The neighbor across the road had stopped walking his dog.
A delivery driver slowed near the gate.
For once, Ryan was the one being seen.
Ava pulled back her sleeve.
The fading bruise on her arm was visible now.
His mother looked away.
Ava noticed.
That hurt more than she wanted it to.
“You saw them,” Ava said.
His mother’s lips trembled.
“I saw nothing.”
“Yes, you did.”
Ryan snapped, “Don’t talk to my mother like that.”
Ava turned to him.
“You mean the woman who told me to use better foundation so guests wouldn’t ask questions?”
His mother’s face drained.
The attorney looked at her.
“That statement was also recorded.”
The silence that followed was different.
Not shocked.
Condemning.
Ryan’s confidence finally started to collapse.
“You recorded us?”
Ava’s voice stayed calm.
“I protected myself.”
“You trapped me.”
“No. I believed you for too long.”
A police cruiser entered the drive.
Ryan cursed under his breath.
His mother gripped his arm.
“Ryan, fix this.”
But there was nothing to fix.
Not with charm.
Not with money.
May you like
Not with a raised voice.
👉 Then the housekeeper stepped forward with a notebook Ryan never knew existed.
