**Gavin’s POV**
"What did you do to Natalie?"
The question didn't just escape me; it tore from my throat like broken glass, loaded with a desperate anger I couldn't fully suppress. It hung in the oppressive quiet of the living room, sharp enough to sever whatever fragile illusion had been holding us together for the past few weeks.
Ava’s reaction was instantaneous. The soft, rehearsed smile she had been wearing melted into nothing. The color drained from her face so fast it was sickening, leaving her skin an eerie, ghost-like white.
"Gavin..." she whispered. The sound barely cleared her trembling lips. She took a swift, involuntary step back, clutching her cardigan to her chest as if my words had physically struck her in the ribs. Her eyes—usually so calculated, so warm whenever she tr
