CHAPTER 003: AVA’S POV
1221 Words
I look straight ahead at our reflection. Two strangers in wedding rings,
“I ran out of places to go the second Eli got sick,” I say. My eyes fixed on the floor. He nods once.
The elevator drops. We don’t touch. We don’t speak.
But in the mirrored walls I see his hand twitch, like he wants to reach for mine, my heart flips,
He curls it into a fist instead.
The courthouse door swings open, documents duly signed, and white light explodes in my face.
A hundred flashes at once. My eyes burn. I throw my arm up too late, trying to shield my face, Voices slam into me like fists.
“Ava! How much did he pay you?”
“Smile for the cameras, w***e!”
“Lucien, is she pregnant already?”
I stumble on the marble steps.
Lucien’s hand clamps around my upper arm, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise.
He pulls me against his side, body shielding me from the worst of the lenses. Another flash.
I blink and see red spots.
Someone shoves a phone two inches from my nose.
A woman screams, “Show us the ring, gold-digger!”
I look down. The platinum band is still there, cold and new.
I didn’t even feel it slide on twenty minutes ago.
A cardboard sign shoots up over the crowd:
GOLD-DIGGER BAGS DEVIL, Red marker, dripping like blood.
My stomach drops through the pavement.
Lucien growls something I can’t hear.
He starts moving, dragging me down the steps fast.
Cameras follow like wolves.
A man in a cheap suit blocks our path, microphone first.
“How does it feel to sell yourself, Miss Harper ?”
I open my mouth. Nothing comes out.
Lucien steps forward, shoulder-checks the guy so hard the mic flies.
“Move.” The crowd parts just enough.
Black Maybach waits at the curb, driver holding the door.
More signs pop up.
WHORE IN WHITE
DEVIL’S NEW TOY
HOW MUCH FOR ONE NIGHT?
I trip on the last step. My mind fuzzy.
Lucien catches me before I hit concrete.
His grip is iron. Flash. Flash. Flash.
We dive into the car, Lucien pulling me, door slams.
Windows tinted, but I still hear them pounding on the glass. The car pulls away fast. Tires screech.
I sit shaking, white silk bunched in my fists. My ears ring. Lucien stares straight ahead. Jaw clenched so tight I see the muscle jump.
“How the hell did they know?” I finally croak. Heart thumping faster than usual.
He doesn’t answer right away. Pulls out his phone, thumbs flying. I watch the screen.
Top headline already:
RECLUSIVE BILLIONAIRE Lucien VOSS MARRIES BROKE WAITRESS IN SECRET CEREMONY
Photo: me blinking like a deer, him stone-faced, my hand in his.
Posted seventeen minutes ago.
I laugh. It hurts. “We literally just signed the paper. How does the world get to know immediately? This was supposed to be a secret.”
He keeps scrolling.
Twitter trending: #GoldDiggerAva
TikTok already has edits with devil horns on his head and dollar signs on my eyes. I cover my face with both hands. The ring bites into my cheek.
“I thought this part would be quiet,” I whisper. “Stupid of me to think that,” my heart banged against my ribs. Nonstop. Lucien finally looked at me.
His eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them.
“I didn’t leak it,” he says.
I scoffed, even funnier to think he thought I’d believe him.
“Then who the hell did? This whole thing was supposed to be a secret and last for just 365 days”
“And I'm supposed to pick my life up after this?”
He doesn’t answer. Just keeps staring like the question offends him. The car stops at a red light. A kid on the corner holds up his phone, phone filming us through the glass. I flip him off on instinct.
Lucien’s hand shot out, grabbed my wrist, forced it down.
“Don’t give them more. You’ll only make things worse… for you though.”
I yanked free, massaging the spot that had turned red. “They already think I’m trash. Let them.” I avoided his eyes, somehow, they did something to me, something I hated.
He leans in close, voice deadly, quiet.
“They can think what they want. You breathe wrong and it’s a week of headlines. Control it.” His mouth a sharp line, jaw that could cut glass.
“I didn’t sign up for this circus! I just wanted to save my brother!” I shove his chest, hard.
“You signed up for five million, welcome to my world,” he fires back, hand dragged on the lapels of his tuxedo, I could punch his face real hard.
“Welcome to his world?” I questioned myself.
The words hit like a slap. I wanted a freaking explanation, I flinched, the silence was deafening.
I looked at him, his face had grown pale, eyes fallen back into his forehead. For the very first time, I imagined how hard this would be for him too.
The vehicle sped past the city in a rush, I looked down at what the dress had become, White silk now streaked with alley grime and courthouse dust. One strap torn from the crush. I start laughing again, heavy-hearted laugh, whatever happens, my Eli would be safe.
Lucien watches me like I’m losing it. Maybe I am. His face held no expression like he knew who leaked it or maybe he was just used to this chaos already,
The car pulled into the underground garage. Doors opened to silence, no cameras here. I stepped out on shaky legs.
Lucien stared at me, something in my heart flickered, then he moved past me, I followed of course I had nowhere else to go, Elevator doors closed.
Just us and the smell of courthouse sweat and chaos.
I caught our reflection in the mirrored walls, his perfect suit, zero expression and my mascara streaks, hair wild, dress ruined, eyes red.
I looked exactly like what they called me, the chaos I had only seen online around Lucien Voss, I had finally come to be a part of.
Lucien’s gaze flicks to me, then away, I saw same thing I can't explain, fear, pity, or maybe regret? Maybe he's rethinking choosing me? But I wouldn't choose to be with him either, I only have a brother to save, and I'm willing to take all that in, for him.
His knuckles turned white on the railing.
“Next time,” he says, “we take the back exit.”
I lean my head against the cool metal wall.
“There won’t be a next time, Mr Voss. This was the only wedding I ever planned to have.” I swallowed, tilting my head backward.
He doesn’t reply. My new life, served raw. His short words hurt me even more, his eyes said more than his mouth.
Just as I stepped in and threw myself on the bed, my phone rang, my heart flew, I remembered I just made headlines, I ransacked my purse for the loud phone, my fingers vibrating with the fear my new life had instilled in me.
- Writer
