Jason’s POV
The silence was louder than anything I had ever known. It pressed into the corners of my office, seeped into the edges of my nights, and followed me even when I closed my eyes. Seven days.
That’s how long it had been since Ava had stood in front of me in this very room, her hands trembling around a stack of papers that never should have left their folders. Seven days since her voice had cracked with disbelief as she asked me questions that cut sharper than any knife: about ledgers, contracts, signatures, and intentions she had no business reading. Seven days since her eyes, usually soft, usually easy to disarm, had locked onto mine with accusation and hurt.
I remembered how I had forced myself to stay calm that night. I couldn’t lose my temper, not with her. She had come in
