THE BRIDE'S REVENGE

The Meeting

The man didn't show up as Ava checked the time again, 7:17pm the café was nearly empty.

Outside it poured heavily, blurring the lights of passing vehicles and inside a soft melody drifted from hidden speakers while waiters stacked chairs as the closing time was approaching. Still no sign of the stranger, Ava tightened her grip around her coffee cup, the drink had gone cold nearly forty minutes ago, so had her patience; her phone remained silent with no calls, no messages, no explanation, she looked toward the entrance again as questions flooded her mind…the type that has haunted her for years. The unknown call had promised answers, instead she got an empty chair.

Just when she was in doubt, thinking it was a prank, the café door opened. Ava looked up, a man entered, late forties with a dark coat and a low baseball cap. He scanned the room once before walking directly toward her table, without her permission…he sat.

Ava's pulse accelerated, “ You came alone” he said, not a greeting or even an introduction. She replied almost immediately “ You called me”, Ava leaned forward asking “ Who are you?”. The man studied her carefully, nodded and instantly said “ I didn't come here to discuss myself”. Ava was already tired of secrets.

The stranger reached into his coat and placed a thin brown envelope on the table. Her eyes dropped on it, then returned to him” What is this?”.

“ Open it”, he said ; Ava hesitated, then slid the envelope towards herself. Inside were copies of documents, financial reports, transaction records, company correspondence, at first glance it all looked ordinary then she saw a familiar name, her father Thomas Voss.

With a heavy expression, air left her lungs slowly and painfully as she flipped through the papers, her heart raced, every page raised more questions than answers, hinting at something hidden beneath the surface - she asked “ What is this?”. The stranger lowered his voice “ The beginning”, Ava looked up sharply, “ the beginning of what?”. He leaned closer “ The truth, your father wasn't investigating one company. He was following money, money powerful people didn't want to be found”.

The café suddenly felt too warm, too small as Ava glanced at the documents, the numbers, names, the transfers and hidden accounts. In all of them stood one detail, Hart Global. She turned another page, then another as her eyes narrowed and a second company appeared repeatedly, something unfamiliar “ Harrington Capital” .

“Keep that name in mind”- the stranger nodded.

Ava frowned “I've never heard of them”.

“Most people haven't “ - a humourless smile touched his lips.

“What does that have to do with my father?”, Ava asked anxiously. The stranger leaned back, for the first time he flickered as though he wasn't sure how much to reveal, then he said “ Your father found evidence of financial crimes, involving some of the most influential people in Europe “.

Ava stared at him, the words sounded absurd, just impossible yet something deep inside her believed him because it explained the fear she remembered, the secrecy and the tension that consumed her father during his final months.

“ What kind of crimes?”. The stranger glanced towards the windows and back to her when he spoke whispering” the kind people kill to protect “.

Silence crashed over the table, Ava heard her heart beat loudly enough to pop out, for a second she couldn't move, think and breathe.

The stranger stood, Ava blinked “ What are you doing” . “Leaving……I've told you enough “- the man reached into his pockets, pulled out a business card and placed it beside the envelope.

As he stepped away, he said “ If you want the rest of the truth…..Stop looking backward, Look at who's fighting right now” with fear in his eyes he walked away.

Ava stood for some minutes trying to wrap her head around all she heard , then she ran after him hoping to get answers but he was already long gone in the rain. She returned, picked up her bag, the document, the business card and left for her apartment .

____

Ava got home drenched from the rain, she sank into her couch with her mind in a mess from all she had heard. Not long ago was her phone buzzing in her bag - her mother. Grace had called several times but Ava barely knew and then another call came in - it was Grace.

Ava reached for her phone , looked at it surprisingly seeing who called and the number of times she called. Ava quickly answered the call before it would drop, “Hello mum”

Ava and her mum spoke at length with neither of them not knowing how long they had been talking but Ava never mentioned the unknown call she received, then meeting with a stranger nor about the things he said and of course the business card. She didn't want to get her mother all worried.

So the call ended on a lovely note, Ava exhaled deeply like someone who didn't want to be caught.

Ava brought out the document from her bag, scattered it all over the dining table trying to unravel everything.

She barely slept as the documents covered her dining table, page after page, name after name, connection after connection.

She spent hours studying everything, searching databases, digging through the public archives, questioning everything that needed to be questioned. And there slept with things unravelled, scattered thoughts that couldn't link up.

By sunrise her eyes burned, her head ached while clearing the documents, one thing became painfully clear - the stranger was right, the answers she sought for weren't buried in the past, they were unfolding now in the present.

Then her gaze landed on the business card, no name, no phone number but only an address.

She didn't think much of it. So she continued clearing the table and prepared for work.

7:47am, Ava was already running late, she hurried off , while at work something struck hard - the business card. She brought it out and glanced through it confusion mixed with suspicion, questions came flooding, then it suddenly clicked; the address that boldly wrote “ HART TOWER, Thirty-eighth floor”. “But what's on the thirty-eighth floor?What does it have to do with my father?”Ava questioned herself.

She opened her laptop, searched and moments later it appeared - Executive offices, Board members, Private conference suites, The Heart of Hart Global.