CHAPTER ELEVEN
1531 Words
AUTHOR‘S POV
"Do you really think a piece of paper is enough to stop a girl who has spent years perfecting the art of the victim, Margaret?"
Sonia’s voice was sharp, cutting through the heavy silence of the west wing parlor like a jagged blade. She was standing by the window, the moonlight catching the tears she had refused to let fall in front of Lucas. Her grip on her wine glass was so tight her knuckles were white, matching the pale lace of her expensive dress.
Margaret Carter didn't look up from the folder on her desk. She turned a page slowly, her eyes tracking the police report of Ava’s arrest with a cold, predatory focus.
"The pre-nup was Lucas’s move to protect the assets, Sonia. My contact in his legal team confirmed it was signed less than an hour ago." Margaret murmured, her voice smooth as silk and just as dangerous. "He thinks he’s protected the money. He doesn't realize that a woman like Ava Hart isn't looking for a payout. She’s looking for a throne."
"Then why are we waiting?" Sonia spun around, her eyes flashing with a mix of grief and fury. "We have the files. We have the proof that her father was a thief. Let me show Lucas. Let me show him who he’s really bringing into this family."
"Patience is a virtue you never quite mastered, darling," Margaret said, finally looking up. A thin, chilling smile touched her lips. "If we give him the truth now, he’ll see it as an attack from us. He’ll defend her out of pure spite. No... we don't give him the truth. We make him discover it. We make him realize that his 'pure' bride is a liability that will drown the Carter name in scandal."
Margaret stood up, walking toward Sonia with the grace of a panther. "The wedding is in less than two days. Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner. Every major shareholder and socialite in this city will be under our roof. That is where we let the first drop of poison fall."
AVA‘S POV
The hallway felt miles long.
Every shadow seemed to stretch toward me, whispering the names of the clauses I had just signed that I should be waived, forfeited, excluded. I could still feel the phantom weight of the gold pen in my hand, the coldness of Lucas’s gaze burning into the back of my neck.
I reached my bedroom door and leaned my forehead against the cool wood. My heart was thumping a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
I am not for sale.
I had said the words to Lucas, but in this house, words felt like paper shields against a hurricane.
I entered my room, but I didn't turn on the light. I didn't want to see the luxury. I didn't want to see the silk sheets or the designer perfumes that Nicholas had filled this room with. To Lucas, these things were proof of my greed. To me, they were reminders of a life I didn't recognize.
I walked to the window and looked out at the estate. Somewhere out there was the road where I had almost lost my life few years ago. Sometimes, late at night, I wondered if I had actually died that day. If this whole life, the mansion, the billionaire savior, the looming marriage was just a long, vivid dream my brain had invented in its final seconds of consciousness.
A soft knock at the door made me jump.
"Ava? It’s Sonia. Can I come in?"
My blood ran cold. Sonia hadn't spoken a kind word to me since we met just days ago. Why now? Why at midnight, two days before I was supposed to marry the man she claimed was hers?
I straightened my robe and opened the door.
Sonia stood there, looking perfectly composed, though her eyes were a little too bright. She held two glasses of champagne, the bubbles rising like tiny, sparkling lies.
“I know everything has been a whirlwind for you since Lucas got back. It must be terrifying."
"I'm managing, thank you," I said, staying by the door.
"Are you?" Sonia sighed.
"I thought we could talk," she said, stepping past me without waiting for an invitation. She set the glasses on my nightstand and turned to look at me, her expression a mask of manufactured sympathy. "Woman to woman. Before things become... permanent."
"I don't think there’s much to say, Sonia," I said, staying by the door. "The decision was Nicholas’s."
"Oh, I know," Sonia sighed, sinking onto the edge of my bed. She ran a hand over the silk duvet, her touch possessive. "Nicholas always was a romantic. He thinks he’s rescuing you. He doesn't realize he’s putting you in a cage with a man who will never, ever love you."
She looked up at me, her gaze sharpening.
"Do you know why Lucas left the country, Ava? Why he stayed away for years, ignoring his grandfather’s calls?"
I stayed silent. I knew the public story, the business expansion, a desire for independence. But the way Sonia was smiling told me there was a darker truth.
"He left because of me," she whispered. "We were happy. We were everything, but Lucas... he has a darkness in him. He’s obsessive. He’s cold. He thinks everyone is a traitor because he doesn't know how to trust. He thinks I betrayed him because he saw me talking to his rival at a party. He didn't even give me a chance to explain. He just packed his bags and vanished."
She stood up and walked toward me, stopping just inches away. I could smell her expensive perfume, something floral and cloying that made it hard to breathe.
"He’s marrying you to hurt me, Ava. You aren't a wife to him. You’re a weapon. A tool he’s using to show me that he’s moved on. But look at him. Look at the way he treats you. He hates you because you remind him of the deal he had to make to get his inheritance."
"I know he doesn't love me," I said, my voice cracking slightly.
"It’s worse than that," Sonia hissed, her face contorting. "He’ll make your life a living hell. He’ll ignore you in private and parade you in public like a trophy he bought at a discount. Is that what you want? To spend fifty years as a ghost in this house?"
She reached out, grabbing my wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
"There’s still time, Ava. Leave tonight. I can help you. I have money, enough for you to start over, far away from here. Nicholas will be upset, but he’ll forgive you. And Lucas... Lucas will finally be free to come back to the woman he actually loves."
I looked down at her hand on my wrist. For a second, the temptation was a physical pull. To run. To leave the whispers, the cold stares of Margaret, and the icy judgment of Lucas Carter.
But then I thought of Nicholas’s face tonight. I thought of the way his hand had trembled in mine.
I pulled my arm back, breaking her grip.
"No," I said.
Sonia’s face went pale. "What did you say?"
"I said no. I made a promise to Nicholas. And unlike the people in this house, I don't break my promises when things get uncomfortable."
Sonia’s eyes narrowed into slits. The mask of sympathy shattered, revealing the venom underneath.
"You're a fool, Ava Hart. You think you’re being loyal? You’re just being a target. Margaret has things... she knows things about you. About your father. About the night Nicholas found you."
My heart stopped. "What do you mean?"
Sonia picked up her champagne glass and took a slow, deliberate sip. Over the rim of the crystal, her eyes were victorious.
"Enjoy your remaining days of being a princess, Ava. Because on the wedding day, the world is going to find out exactly what kind of blood runs through your veins. And when the scandal hits, not even Nicholas will be able to save you."
She walked to the door, pausing to look back at the champagne glass she had left for me.
"You should drink that," she smirked. "You're going to need the liquid courage for what’s coming."
The door slammed shut.
I stood in the center of the dark room, the silence now feeling like an enemy. She knows. Margaret knew about the bankruptcy. She knew about the police station.
I looked at the champagne glass on the nightstand. The bubbles had stopped rising. It looked dead and flat.
I walked over to the desk where I had left my copy of the pre-nup. I looked at my signature.
Lucas thought he had trapped me with money. Sonia and Margaret thought they could trap me with my past.
But as the first hint of dawn began to touch the sky, I realized they were all wrong. I wasn't the one trapped in this house.
I was the only one who had nothing left to lose. And that made me the most dangerous person in the Carter mansion.
- Writer
