Chapter 3

The next morning, Ethan had the audacity to show up at her office at Riley Innovations. He was holding two cups of coffee, a peace offering, and wearing the charming smile that had once made her heart flutter. Now, it just looked predatory.

"I thought you could use this," he said, setting a cup on her desk. The smell of the expensive brew filled the air, a scent she used to associate with happy weekend mornings.

"I' ve already had coffee," she said, not looking up from the blueprints spread across her desk.

"Ava, come on," he sighed, pulling up a chair. "Don' t shut me out. We need to be a team right now."

She finally looked at him, her eyes cold. "A team? Is that what you call it when one player decides to switch sides mid-game?"

He ignored her jab. "I came to talk about the wedding. Our wedding."

"There' s nothing to talk about," she said, her voice clipped.

His smile faded, replaced by a look of strained patience. He was trying to be the reasonable one, the mature adult handling a childish partner. "Look, I know this is hard. But Chloe' s wedding is just a formality. It' s a small, private affair. After that, everything goes back to normal."

Ava refused to take the bait. She simply stared at him, her silence more powerful than any angry outburst.

Then, he showed his hand. The real reason for his visit.

"Actually," he said, leaning forward conspiratorially, "since your family has already paid the deposit for the waterfront estate... and since it' s such a beautiful venue... I was thinking, maybe Chloe and I could use it for our ceremony on Friday."

Ava stared at him, speechless. The sheer, unmitigated gall of his request was breathtaking. He wanted to marry his ex-girlfriend at the very venue where he was supposed to marry her.

"It would be a shame to let the deposit go to waste, don' t you think?" he added, a hopeful glint in his eye. "And it would mean so much to Chloe' s mother."

The anger that had been simmering inside her finally boiled over. It was a cold, sharp rage.

"No," she said, the word cutting through the air.

"No?" He looked genuinely surprised, as if he couldn' t fathom her refusing such a sensible, practical suggestion.

"No, you cannot use my wedding venue to marry another woman. Are you insane?"

His face darkened. The charm vanished completely, revealing the ugly greed and entitlement beneath. "Don' t be so selfish, Ava! It' s just a location! You' re making this so much harder than it needs to be. It' s like you want to punish me."

"Get out of my office, Ethan."

"I' m not leaving until you see reason," he snapped, his voice rising. "You owe me this! After all I' ve done for the AI project, for your family' s company!"

"You owe me?" she repeated, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "You have destroyed everything we built, and you think I owe you something? Get out. Now."

He stood up, his face contorted with anger. He looked like he wanted to say more, to yell, to break something. But the cold fury in her eyes must have stopped him. He grabbed his coffee cup and stormed out of her office, slamming the door behind him.

Ava sank into her chair, her body trembling. The confrontation had drained her. She felt hollowed out, the last remnants of her love for him replaced by a profound sense of disgust.

Her phone buzzed on the desk. An unknown number.

She almost ignored it, but on a strange impulse, she answered.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end was deep, calm, and unapologetically direct. There was no greeting, no small talk.

"Liam Riley said you need a groom."

Ava froze. It was Lucas Thorne.

She didn' t know what to say. Her mind was still reeling from her fight with Ethan.

"Is that a service you provide?" she managed to ask, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

She heard a low chuckle on the other end. It wasn' t a warm sound, but it wasn't unkind either. It was amused.

"Only for special cases," the voice replied. "Here' s my offer, Ms. Riley. We get married on Saturday, as you planned. We merge our companies. We destroy Ethan Hayes. In return, I get 51% of the new combined entity, and you get a partner who will never, ever ask to use your wedding venue to marry his ex-girlfriend."

Ava was stunned into silence. His bluntness was both shocking and strangely refreshing. He wasn' t pretending this was about anything other than business and revenge.

"The wedding is at noon," he continued, as if her acceptance was a foregone conclusion. "My lawyer will send over the prenuptial agreement and the merger contract within the hour. Read it. Sign it. I' ll see you at the altar."

Before she could form a response, he hung up.

Ava stared at her phone, her heart pounding. Lucas Thorne didn't just accept her proposal. He had countered with a full-blown corporate takeover disguised as a marriage of convenience. He was just as ruthless as Liam had said.

And for the first time in days, Ava felt a flicker of something other than pain or anger. It was a dangerous, thrilling sense of possibility.