Chapter 5

Ava POV

I woke up in a safe house that smelled of damp earth, mold, and the stale scent of old dust. It was one of the emergency bunkers I had stocked years ago, a place so obscure Ethan had forgotten it existed.

Ben was sitting in a rusted metal chair by the bed, his head buried in his hands.

"You're awake," he said, jumping up the moment I stirred.

I tried to sit up, but my body screamed in protest. My hip throbbed-a deep, bone-bruising ache-and my hands were heavily bandaged.

"How long?" I rasped, my throat feeling like sandpaper.

"Two days," Ben said, his voice tight with exhaustion. "I brought you here. Ethan... he hasn't called."

"Of course he hasn't."

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, gritting my teeth against the pain. The dizziness was gone, replaced by a cold, crystalline clarity that felt less like healing and more like hardening.

"Ava, we need to leave the state," Ben said urgently, pacing the small room. "Chloe is consolidating power. She's fired half the household staff. She's bringing in her own people."

"No," I said, my voice steady. "I'm not running."

"You can't fight them, Ava. They have an army."

"And I have a brain." I stood up, ignoring the sharp flare of agony in my side. "I'm done being the canary in the coal mine, Ben. It's time to be the one holding the match."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to divorce him," I said, walking toward the stack of files in the corner. "In the only way the Mafia understands."

I spent the next three days buried in that bunker.

I didn't sleep. I barely ate. I existed on adrenaline and stale coffee as I consumed the Reed family ledgers.

I highlighted inconsistencies with forensic precision. I mapped out the money laundering trails that wove through shell companies like a cancer. I found every weak point in their armor.

I drafted a document. It wasn't a legal divorce paper filed in a city court. It was a separation of assets under the Commission's laws.

I demanded my patents, my lab equipment, and a payout of ten million dollars.

If he refused, I would release the evidence of his illegal arms deals to the Feds.

I sent the request to the Commission-the governing body of the Five Families. They granted a mediation hearing. Under their code, Ethan couldn't refuse.

The meeting was held in the back room of an Italian restaurant in Queens. Neutral ground. The air smelled of garlic, wine, and impending violence.

I walked in wearing a white suit. Sharp. Clean. Untouchable.

Ethan was already there, sitting at the head of the table. He looked tired, lines of stress etched around his eyes, but when he saw me, he put on that arrogant mask I knew so well.

"Ava," he said, leaning back with feigned casualness. "You look... better. Done with your tantrum?"

I took the seat opposite him. I didn't smile. I didn't blink.

"This is the agreement," I said, sliding the folder across the mahogany table. "Sign it, and I disappear."

Ethan laughed. He actually laughed-a dry, dismissive sound.

"You think you can make demands?" He shook his head, pity in his eyes. "You have nothing, Ava. You are nothing without me."

He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, intended to hurt. "Besides, I have good news. Chloe is pregnant. We're going to have an heir. A real family."

The words hit me like a physical slap. Pregnant. So soon. While my baby was nothing but medical waste in a cold dumpster.

The rage didn't explode. It froze into ice.

"Is she?" I asked calmly.

I reached into my briefcase and pulled out a second file. I tossed it onto the table. It fanned out, revealing photos, receipts, and the toxicology report.

"That is the record of her abortion three months ago at a clinic in the Bronx," I said, my voice cutting through the silence. "And the receipt for the poison she used to kill my child last week."

The room went dead silent. The Commission mediator, an old man named Don Sal, stopped stirring his espresso and raised a sharp eyebrow.

Ethan stared at the papers. His face went pale, then flushed a violent red.

"This is fake," he sputtered, his composure cracking. "You forged this!"

"Check the dates, Ethan. Check the signatures. She's been playing you. She's not pregnant. She's barren from years of drug abuse. That's in the medical file too."

Ethan looked at the papers, his hands shaking as he turned a page. He was reading them. He was seeing the truth written in clinical black and white.

"And this," I said, tapping the ledger I had placed on the table, "is a record of every illegal shipment you've made in the last five years. Locations, dates, buyers."

Ethan looked up. The arrogance was incinerated. Fear had taken its place.

"You wouldn't," he whispered. "That's a death sentence. For both of us."

"I'm already dead, Ethan," I said. "You killed me the night you pushed me."

"You're betraying the family," he hissed, venom mixing with panic. "You're breaking Omertà. I will hunt you down."

"Sign the papers," I said, my voice steady as a heartbeat. "Or I email this to the FBI right now."

He looked at the ledger. He looked at me. He saw the stranger in my eyes-the woman who had risen from the ashes of his cruelty.

He grabbed the pen. He signed the asset release with a violent slash of ink that nearly tore the paper.

"Get out," he snarled. "Take your money. Take your patents. But if I ever see you again, Ava, I will kill you."

"You can try," I said.

I stood up and walked out of the restaurant without looking back.

The night air was cool against my flushed skin.

I had won. I had my freedom. I had my money.

But as I looked up at the moon, hanging pale and heavy in the sky, I felt a phantom pain in my stomach.

I touched my abdomen, where life used to be.

"This isn't over," I whispered to the night. "This is just the beginning."

I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I had found in the depths of the dark web. A rival. A man who hated the Reeds as much as I did.

"Noah Hayes?" I asked when the line connected.

"Speaking."

"I have a proposition for you," I said, my grip tightening on the phone. "And I have the Reed family ledgers."

The line was silent for a moment, heavy with calculation. Then, a deep, amused voice answered.

"I'm listening."