Chapter 9: The Woman from His Past
575 Words
Chapter 9: The Woman from His Past
The drive home was suffocatingly quiet.
Ava stared out the window, her thoughts racing.
“Say something,” she finally snapped.
Lucas kept his eyes on the road.
“There’s nothing to say.”
Ava laughed bitterly.
“Nothing? That woman clearly meant something to you.”
Silence.
“That was her, wasn’t it?” Ava pressed. “The one who betrayed you.”
Lucas’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.
“Yes.”
The single word felt like a punch.
Ava swallowed.
“She didn’t look like someone you hate.”
Lucas didn’t respond.
That hurt more than anything.
---
Later that night, Ava couldn’t shake the feeling.
So she did something she wasn’t supposed to.
She searched.
And what she found made her stomach drop.
Photos.
Articles.
Lucas Herrera and Isabella Cruz—once engaged.
Once inseparable.
A power couple.
Until—
“She disappeared before the wedding,” Ava whispered, reading.
No explanation.
No closure.
Just gone.
Ava sat back, her chest tight.
And now—
She was back.
---
Meanwhile, Lucas stood alone in his office.
His mind replayed Isabella’s voice.
Her face.
Her presence.
And then—
Ava.
The way Ava looked at him.
The way she kissed him.
Lucas ran a hand through his hair.
Everything was getting out of control.
And he didn’t know which part scared him more—
Isabella’s return…
Or the fact that Ava mattered more than she should.
---
The next day, Ava found Isabella in Lucas’s office.
Alone.
Comfortable.
As if she belonged there.
Ava froze at the door.
Isabella smiled slightly.
“I was wondering when we’d meet again.”
Ava stepped inside.
“What are you doing here?”
“Business,” Isabella replied smoothly. “Lucas and I have unfinished matters.”
Lucas entered moments later—and the tension exploded.
“Ava,” he said, clearly caught off guard.
“Care to explain?” she asked.
Lucas hesitated.
That hesitation said everything.
---
Later, Ava overheard something she wasn’t meant to hear.
“…it was never supposed to be real,” Lucas said.
Ava’s heart stopped.
“She’s just part of the arrangement,” he continued.
Arrangement.
That word shattered something inside her.
Isabella’s voice followed.
“And yet you kissed her.”
Silence.
Then Lucas said—
“That changes nothing.”
Ava stepped back, her chest tightening as tears blurred her vision.
So that’s all she was.
A contract.
A role.
A mistake.
---
That night, Ava packed her things.
Every movement felt heavy.
Painful.
Final.
Lucas entered the room just as she zipped her bag.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Ava didn’t look at him.
“I’m leaving.”
“No.”
That single word stopped her.
She turned slowly.
“You don’t get to say that.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“This isn’t how this ends.”
Ava laughed through her tears.
“Ends? Lucas, it never even began.”
“That’s not true.”
“Then what is?” she demanded. “Because I heard you. I heard everything.”
Silence.
Lucas didn’t deny it.
Didn’t explain.
Didn’t fight.
And that was the worst part.
Ava nodded slowly.
“Exactly.”
She picked up her bag.
“This contract?” she said softly. “You can keep it.”
Then she walked past him.
And for the first time—
Lucas didn’t stop her.
- Writer
