Chapter 3

"Get her out of my sight!" Ethan yelled, his face red.

"Put her in the wine cellar until Sterling's men arrive, she needs to cool off."

The wine cellar, dark, windowless, my prison, my claustrophobia, a raw, gaping wound from a past kidnapping he' d failed to prevent, he knew it. Maria cried out, "No, Mr. Hayes, she can't be in there! Her condition!" Ethan ignored her, dragging me towards the cellar door.

Chloe, still on the floor but peeking through her fingers, whimpered, "Ethan, darling, don't be too harsh, but Maria... she always takes Ava's side, maybe she shouldn't be around when Mr. Sterling's people come, she might say the wrong thing."

Her words, soft and poisonous, dripped into Ethan's ear, isolating me further.

The heavy door slammed shut, plunging me into darkness, the familiar panic clawed at my throat, the walls pressing in. I sank to the cold stone floor, wrapping my arms around my belly, trying to breathe, hours passed, the air grew stale. My baby, I had to be strong for my baby, I focused on that, a tiny point of light in the suffocating black.

The door finally creaked open, Ethan stood silhouetted against the light from the hallway, I was slumped against a wine rack, my face pale, my dress still damp and stained. For a split second, I saw something flicker in his eyes, something that might have been guilt, a memory of the terror I'd endured years ago in that other dark space.

"Sterling's men are here," he said, his voice flat.

Chloe appeared behind him, her arm linked through his.

"Oh, Ava, still putting on a show?" she murmured, loud enough for me to hear.

"You look a fright, don't worry, Ethan, she's just trying to get sympathy before she leaves."

Ethan's face hardened again, the brief flicker of humanity gone, Chloe's power over him was absolute.

"Get up," Ethan ordered, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"They're waiting."

He gestured to two large men in dark suits standing discreetly in the foyer, he didn't offer a hand, didn't even look at me as I struggled to my feet, my legs stiff and trembling, he was washing his hands of me.

As one of the men gently took my arm to escort me out, Chloe stepped forward, a small, sealed bottle of water in her hand.

"You must be thirsty after all that... drama," she said, her smile tight.

"Here."

She pressed the bottle into my hand, her fingers briefly, almost imperceptibly, squeezing the cap tighter before releasing it.

"Don't worry about Ethan, I'll take very good care of him."

Her eyes gleamed with triumph.

"And don't worry about your little... accident, I'm sure Mr. Sterling has excellent doctors for that sort of thing."

Then, with a flourish, Chloe pulled a folded document from her pocket.

"Oh, and Ethan asked me to give you this."

She unfolded it, the divorce papers, signed by him.

"He said to tell you he wishes you all the best in your... new arrangement."

She smirked, clearly believing she had won, that I was utterly broken and discarded.

I took the signed papers, my hand closed around them, instead of despair, a strange sense of lightness filled me. This was it, the final tie cut, she thought she was delivering a final blow, but she was handing me my freedom. My mind raced, a plan forming, a desperate, dangerous plan.

I nodded to the security men, clutching the divorce papers, as they led me to a black sedan waiting outside, I glanced back. Chloe stood in the doorway, Ethan's arm around her, a picture of triumphant domesticity, she couldn't see the cold resolve in my eyes, or the tiny, desperate hope that now flickered within me, she couldn't know about Liam.