Chapter 56
NICHOLAS’S POV
My phone rang on the desk as I was shutting a file. Ava’s name popped up on my screen, and I couldn’t help but smile. I answered on the first ring.
Her voice was tense, almost trembling. “Nicholas… your mother is here.”
For a moment, I froze, her words cutting through me.
Fuck. Not now. Not like this. That’s so fast.
“I’m coming home,” I muttered, already grabbing my keys.
My heart raced, not from joy, not from longing, but from unease. That woman was no one I could trust with my family. Not Ava, and certainly not my children.
I drove as fast as possible like someone under the influence of alcohol.
When I burst through the front doors, my chest felt like it was on fire. And there she was.
She sat on the couch like she owned the place, tea in hand, leg
