Daughter of Defiance

Chapter three

Chapter three

Josh’s POV:

The monitor beeped rhythmically, too loud for a room this quiet. I stood over the patient, patient's file in my hand, eyes reading the same line twice. Pulse steady. No sign of post-op complications. Medications administered on schedule.

Still I lingered.

My reflection glinted in the stainless steel equipment cabinet, neatly ironed white coat, navy blue scrubs, expression unreadable. The same one I wore everyday. But today, my eyes didn't lie. They were rimmed red.

“Dr. Titan?”, Nurse Claire’s voice jolted me. “You've been staring at that file for almost five minutes.”

I blinked. “Was I?”

She offered a smile, brows raised in concern.

“Everything alright, sir?”

I nodded. Too fast. “Yes. Just running through post-op observations and thinking through the next shift rotation. Work’s been busy lately.”

I exited the ward before she could say more, retreating into the hallway. The hospital buzzed as usual, crying toddlers, muttering parents, distant intercoms, metallic trolleys squeaking past. Yet none of it reached me.

All I could see was her.

Ava Moore.

Standing in that elevator yesterday like the last seven years never passed. Same eyes. Same face. Except colder.

I hadn’t slept since.

A knock on the office door broke through my haze. Devon stepped in, grinning like he'd just won a lottery.

“Tell me you've got good news,” I said, pushing the file away.

He pulled me into a side hug. “The company’s yours. The papers are ready.”

“You don't say,” my lips curled into the first real smile I'd managed all day.

“Do I joke when it comes to the subject, money?”

I laughed, surprised at the sound of it. It felt foreign.

We handled the transfer quickly. My fingers tapped on keys as I made the payment. When the final confirmation came through, I sat back and let the wave of satisfaction roll over me.

I was finally CEO.

“And just like that, you owe me,” Devon said, pointing at me.

I gave a dramatic bow. “To what do I owe this historic favour?”

“You’re joining us tonight. No excuses. You've ghosted the hangout long enough.”

I groaned. “Dev…I have rounds–”

“I don't care. We're drinking. You're coming.”

“Alright, alright,” I said, raising my hands in surrender.

But as he walked out, I stared at the closed door, that laugh already fading. Even with the win …her face was still there. Quiet. Unmoved. Etched at the edge of my vision.

I'd seen Ava Moore yesterday.

And somehow…breathing in the same air as her still made my chest hurt.

It was almost sunset when I walked into Bar Grotto. It was a cozy rooftop lounge, overlooking the city. where my cousins always met on the weekends, three of them already gathered around their usual corner booth.

Devon had already ordered a round of drinks. The others were just settling in—Lucas, ever the loud one, was cracking jokes about his latest gym conquest, while Nathan was deep into a conversation about stock options that none of us asked for.

“Finally,” Nathan said, pouring champagne into a tumbler. “We thought you were ditching us again for a twelve-hour surgery.”

“Look who finally showed up!” Lucas smacked me on the back. “Doctor Titan in the flesh. Man, did we have to schedule a surgery to get you out tonight?”

I chuckled. “Don’t tempt me. I almost scheduled a root canal just to avoid showing up.”

“You’re not even a dentist,” Devon muttered into his glass.

“Exactly.”

They laughed. I didn’t.

I sipped from the drink in front of me and stared at the skyline like it could answer the question that had been burning in my chest since yesterday: Why now? Why her?

“Hey, man. What's wrong? You've been looking pale since I saw you earlier.” Devon nudged at me.

I sipped more of my champagne.

Lucas leaned forward. “Alright, spill. You only get this quiet when something’s seriously eating you up.”

Josh clenched his jaw. Swallowed. Then—

“I saw her.”

“Her?” Nathan repeated.

Josh looked up, voice low. “Ava. Moore.”

The name sucked the noise out of the table.

Devon blinked. “Your Ava?”

I gave a humorless chuckle.

Nathan sat up straighter. “Where?”

“Elevator at Silver Klein– her father’s company.

I didn’t tell them about the way her eyes had flickered when she saw me, like someone remembering a ghost. Or how my hands had trembled all through the rest of that afternoon.

“Man.” Nathan exhaled. “What are the odds?”

“Too high,” Josh muttered. “I couldn’t sleep last night. Just kept thinking... how can someone who left so cleanly still mess with my head like this?”

Devon shrugged. “Because you never got closure, bro. You waited for her. You loved her. She disappeared.”

She wasn’t just the girl I loved. She was the only one who saw who I was before I became anything at all .

Lucas frowned. “And now she’s back. And you’re still bleeding.”

I didn’t argue. Couldn’t. I hadn’t bled in years, not until yesterday. I thought time had done its job, stitched, scabbed, healed. But Ava’s face had reopened every wound without trying.

I leaned back against the wooden frame of the booth, fingers curled around the bottle. “She looked... fine. Peaceful. Like life hadn’t wrecked her.”

After a moment passed with none of us uttering a word, Devon broke the silence.

“So…” Devon leaned in. “You wanna tell them, or should I?”

I knew what he meant. The company.

I cleared my throat, tried to inject some humor into my voice. “I finally got it.”

Lucas looked confused. “Got what?”

“Nathan’s crypto passwords?” Devon quipped.

I gave a half smile. “Silver Klein.”

The table went quiet for a beat.

“No way,” Nathan said, almost choking on his drink.

“You bought Silver Klein?” Lucas blinked like he didn’t believe me.

I nodded. “Signed and sealed. Ownership transfers by next week.”

“Bro, that’s Moore’s company,” Devon said, eyes flickering with understanding.

And there it was—the shift. The weight of the name Moore settling between us.

Ava’s last name.

Derek Moore’s legacy.

I leaned back in my chair, eyes fixed on the edge of my glass. “You guys remember how the old man dealt with me?”

Devon frowned. “You mean the day Ava abandoned you?”

I nodded slowly. The memory hadn’t left me. Wouldn’t leave me.

“He had cursed me that day, saying all manner of things to me. He even said I should forget about college.”

Silence.

Lucas exhaled. “That was harsh.”

“Not just harsh,” I muttered. “He said people like me don’t rise. That I’d never amount to anything close to him.”

I looked up, meeting each of their eyes. “He looked me in the face and dismissed me like I was nothing. I swore that day I’d build something better. Be something more.”

Nathan leaned forward, elbows on the table. “And now you own his company?”

I smiled, finally. Not the polite one I wore for patients and nurses but a slow, cutting one that came from deep down.

“Now I own his legacy. Everything he built. And he doesn’t even know yet.”

Devon gave a low whistle. “That’s a comeback, man.”

Lucas raised his glass. “To full-circle wins.”

I clinked my glass against theirs, but inside, I wasn’t celebrating.

Not really.

Part of me wants to ruin Derek. But the other part…keeps wondering if she knew. If she had a choice.

Because behind the pride, behind the taste of victory, there was still her. Ava. His daughter.

The woman whose face I still saw every time I closed my eyes.

The elevator moment replayed in my mind like a cruel loop. Her glance. Cold. Calculated. But her eyes, they betrayed something else. Pain? Resentment?

I didn’t know.

But I knew one thing.

He made me feel small once. Invisible. Like I'd never touch anything that mattered.”

I leaned forward.

“This is just the beginning,” I said aloud, voice steady. “The beginning of Derek Moore’s end.”

The laughter died down.

They could feel it too.