Ava Returns
299 Words
Chapter 28: Ava Returns
Jay’s phone buzzed. One look at the name on the screen made the blood in his veins run cold.
Ava.
He stared at it for a full ten seconds before answering.
“Why are you calling me?”
Her voice slithered through the speaker—smooth, sultry, and laced with mockery. “You know why, Jay. They’re back. And they want what you’ve been hiding.”
Jay’s grip on the phone tightened. “I told you—I don’t have it anymore.”
A pause. Then, a chuckle. “Then you better start praying. Because they think she does now.”
Jay’s heart thudded, loud and threatening. “Stay out of this, Ava.”
“I’m not in it, darling. But they’re coming. And this time, you won’t be able to protect her.”
Click.
The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating. Jay closed his eyes and breathed through the rising panic.
He needed to act fast.
That evening, Lena sensed the shift in him. He didn’t say much at dinner. He barely looked her in the eyes. But the phone call lingered in his every movement.
When he went to shower, she wandered into his office, drawn by instinct.
On the desk sat an envelope. Curiosity won.
Inside was a photo—slightly creased but unmistakable. A red-haired woman, her green eyes fierce, pressed close to Jay in what looked like an intimate moment.
Lena’s stomach dropped.
She stared at it for a long time.
Who was this woman? Why hadn’t he told her?
And why… did the sight of her make Lena feel like a shadow in someone else’s story?
She slipped the photo back just as Jay’s footsteps approached.
She didn’t speak of what she’d seen.
But her thoughts wouldn't be quiet.
- Writer
