Chapter 9
1091 Words
*Title: Chapter 9 - Survival*
*Word count: 1,721*
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The first thing Ava heard was the beeping.
Steady. Too steady.
The second thing she felt was pain. Sharp, hot, radiating from her side.
She forced her eyes open. White ceiling. Hospital lights. The smell of antiseptic.
“About time,” a voice said.
Elise sat in the chair beside her bed, arms crossed, eyes red from lack of sleep.
“How long?” Ava croaked. Her throat felt like sandpaper.
“Two days,” Elise said. “Bullet missed your lung by an inch. Doc said you’re stubborn as hell.”
Ava tried to sit up. Pain shot through her side.
“Don’t,” Elise said, pushing her back down. “You’re not dying today. Lucas would kill me.”
Ava stopped moving. “Where’s Lucas?”
“Outside. Arguing with your brother,” Elise said. “Miguel’s been here since you got in. Refuses to leave.”
Ava closed her eyes. “He’s safe?”
“Safe and pissed,” Elise said. “Kid’s got your temper.”
The door opened before Ava could reply.
Lucas came in first. Tired. Unshaven. Eyes sharp the second they landed on her.
Behind him was Miguel. He looked like hell, but he was walking.
“Ava,” Miguel said, voice breaking. He sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed her hand. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
Ava managed a weak smile. “No promises.”
Lucas didn’t say anything. He just stood at the foot of the bed, watching her like she might disappear if he blinked.
Elise took the hint and left. “I’ll check the perimeter. Don’t kill each other.”
The door clicked shut.
Silence.
“You i***t,” Lucas said finally.
Ava frowned. “Hi to you too.”
“You went in alone,” Lucas said. “After everything we talked about. You lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie,” Ava said. “I just didn’t tell you the whole plan.”
“That’s the same thing!”
Miguel looked between them and decided this was not his fight. “I’ll… get coffee.”
He left.
Now it was just them.
Ava sighed. “Lucas, I had to do it. If Viktor got that file—”
“If you died, it wouldn’t matter,” Lucas cut her off. “You think I care about the file more than you?”
Ava froze.
Lucas ran a hand through his hair. “Do you have any idea what it was like waiting outside that warehouse? Hearing gunshots and not knowing if you were alive?”
“I’m alive,” Ava said softly.
“Barely,” Lucas said. “And for what? So you could say ‘go to hell’ and get yourself shot?”
Ava looked away. “It worked, didn’t it? The files are gone. Viktor doesn’t have them.”
Lucas stepped closer, leaning over the bed. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to win if it means losing you.”
Ava’s breath caught.
That wasn’t part of the plan.
“Lucas—”
“No,” Lucas said. “You said it yourself in the car. You still need to divorce me. Fine. But not like this. Not with you bleeding out and me not even getting to say what I feel.”
Ava stared at him. “What do you feel?”
Lucas hesitated. Then he said it.
“I don’t want the divorce.”
Ava’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“I signed that contract to save my company,” Lucas said. “But somewhere along the way, it stopped being about the company. I don’t know when it happened. Maybe when you locked picks in Tagaytay. Maybe when you faced Viktor without flinching.
I don’t want a business deal, Ava. I want you.”
Ava didn’t know what to say.
So she didn’t say anything.
Lucas took that as his cue to back off. He straightened up, jaw tight.
“Forget I said anything,” he said. “Focus on getting better. We’ll talk about this later.”
He turned to leave.
“Lucas.”
He stopped.
Ava swallowed hard. “Don’t go.”
Lucas turned back.
Ava reached for his hand. Her fingers brushed his.
“I’m scared,” she admitted. “If I let myself want this… want you… and then Viktor comes back, I’ll lose everything again.”
Lucas sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to hurt her.
“Then we make sure he doesn’t come back,” he said. “Together.”
Ava nodded. She didn’t know if she believed it yet. But she wanted to.
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*2 hours later.*
Ava was asleep when Miguel came back.
Lucas was still there, sitting in the chair Elise had vacated.
Miguel set the coffee down and sat beside him.
“She okay?” Miguel asked quietly.
“She will be,” Lucas said.
Miguel nodded. Then he looked at Lucas dead in the eye.
“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you myself,” he said.
Lucas almost smiled. “Fair.”
Miguel sighed. “She’s been carrying all of us since Dad left. I thought I was protecting her by taking the fall. Turns out she’s been protecting me the whole time.”
Lucas glanced at Ava’s sleeping face. “She’s stronger than both of us.”
Miguel nodded. “Yeah. She is.”
They sat in silence for a while.
Then Miguel spoke again.
“So… are you actually in love with my sister?”
Lucas didn’t answer right away.
“Yes,” he said finally.
Miguel grinned. “Good. About time someone said it.”
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*12:47 AM. Outside the hospital.*
Viktor watched from across the street.
Ava was alive.
That was a problem.
His men had failed. Again.
He lit a cigarette, inhaling slowly.
The files were gone. The key was gone.
But Ava was still alive.
And as long as she was alive, she was a threat.
Viktor crushed the cigarette under his boot.
“Change of plans,” he said to the man beside him. “We don’t need the files. We just need her.”
The man nodded. “When?”
“Soon,” Viktor said. “Very soon.”
He turned and walked back to his car.
The hospital lights reflected in his eyes. Cold. Calculating.
Ava Reyes had survived the warehouse.
She wouldn’t survive him.
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*End of Chapter 9*
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- Writer
