The name hit her like a quiet jolt.
Her lips parted slightly, but no words came.
Cross?
Her eyes flicked instinctively toward the entrance, half expecting Damian or clara to appear.
Scott’s smile didn’t waver.
“It’s good to finally meet you, Ava.”
She managed a stiff nod, trying to steady her breath.
“Likewise,” she murmured, though her voice barely sounded like her own.
He tilted his head slightly, studying her as though measuring her reaction.
“You look surprised.”
“I just didn’t know there were more Crosses,” she said quietly and didn’t add the part where she was expecting or was prepared to meet any more Crosses.
His eyes glinted with something she couldn’t name.
“There’s a lot you don’t know.”
Before she could reply, Clara’s voice echoed faintly down the hall, calling her name.
Scott smiled again, it was polite, charming, and just a little too calm.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said softly, his gaze lingering for a fraction longer than it should.
“Enjoy the rest of your day, Mrs. Almost-Cross.”
______
Maxwell’s voice came low but urgent through Damian’s earpiece.
“Sir, we’ve got a situation.”
Damian had just finished answering a final question from the press when his assistant’s tone cut through the polite noise around him.
His expression didn’t change, but his body stiffened.
“What is it?” he asked quietly, stepping away from the cameras.
“It’s your cousin,” Maxwell said.
“Scott’s here.”
For a split second, Damian froze.
His jaw tightened, the easy composure on his face fading into something colder and sharper.
“Where?” he asked.
“By the west corridor,” Maxwell replied.
“With Miss Sinclair.”
Damian didn’t wait for another word.
He turned, leaving the reporters mid-sentence, his long strides cutting through the hall.
Clara’s head lifted from her phone as he passed.
She saw his face and didn’t dare stop him.
Ava was still trying to collect herself when she saw Damian appear from the far end of the corridor.
Even from a distance, she could tell something had shifted in him.
His calm presence now carried a silent storm.
His eyes locked onto Scott before they even reached her.
Scott who was about to walk away stopped in his tracks, his smile didn’t fade when he noticed Damian approaching “cousin,” he said evenly, almost casually like they were close.
Damian stopped a few feet away, his expression unreadable.
“What are you doing here?”
The words were quiet, but they carried an edge sharp enough to cut glass.
Ava blinked, confused by the sudden tension.
She took a small step back, instinctively sensing she shouldn’t be there.
Scott’s brows lifted slightly, pretending like he was innocent.
“I was curious to meet my soon-to-be sister-in-law,” he said, his tone smooth but layered with something heavier.
“Surely I’m allowed to congratulate the bride-to-be?”
Damian’s jaw flexed.
“You were told to stay away from my affairs.”
Scott chuckled softly.
Ava glanced between them, her pulse quickening.
Whatever this was, it wasn’t a normal family reunion.
The air between them felt charged and dangerous.
She didn’t understand why, but the look Damian gave Scott sent a chill through her.
Clara appeared beside her then, her voice hushed.
“Miss Sinclair, come with me.”
Ava hesitated.
“What’s going on?”
“Now,” Clara said firmly, already guiding her toward the exit.
Damian’s gaze flicked to Clara, a silent order passing between them.
Take her away.
Ava looked back once before turning the corner.
Damian was still standing there, his shoulders tense, his entire focus on Scott.
When she was gone, Damian’s composure cracked just slightly.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said.
“Not now. Not ever.”
Scott’s polite mask wavered.
“Relax, Damian. I came here as family, nothing more.”
“Family?” Damian scoffed.
” You lost the right tha day you…”
He stopped himself, his jaw clenching hard enough to ache.
Scott tilted his head.
“Go on,” he said softly.
“The day I what?”
The silence between them stretched.
For a moment, the noise from the main hall faded, all Damian could hear was his own pulse pounding in his ears.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Damian said finally, his voice low and controlled.
“You show up here, smiling, pretending this is about family? You’re playing a dangerous game.”
Scott’s smirk barely faltered.
“You always did assume the worst of me.”
“Because you always gave me reasons to.”
Scott stepped closer, his expression cooling.
“You think I don’t see what this is really about? You’ve always been desperate to control everything, the company, the image, the people. Even her.”
“Leave her out of this.”
Scott’s eyes flickered, amused.
“I can’t. Not when she reminds me so much of someone else.”
That hit its mark.
Damian’s fists clenched at his sides, a flicker of emotion breaking through the mask.
“Don’t,” he said sharply.
“Don’t you dare bring her into this.”
Scott held up his hands slightly.
“I’m just saying, it’s interesting. You, getting married, Especially to an unknown woman. you always have a reason for everything you do, i know that much about you.”
Damian’s stare turned to steel.
“Get out.”
Scott’s smirk faded this time.
For a moment, the facade of calm slipped, revealing something rawer underneath.
“You can pretend all you want,” he said quietly.
“But you and I both know this is all a facade.”
Damian’s eyes darkened.
“Watch your words.”
Scott stepped back, his voice lowering.
“I didn’t come here to fight. But you should know some ghosts don’t stay buried forever.”
He turned and walked away, leaving tension hanging in the air. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Maxwell appeared seconds later, looking uneasy.
“Sir?”
“Have him followed,” Damian said flatly.
“I want to know where he’s staying and who he talks to. He must think we got a wind of what he’s been up to”
“Yes, sir. do you think he knows about the footage?”
“of course, he wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t.”
Damian didn’t move for a moment.
His hands were still clenched at his sides, the muscles in his jaw tightening.
Scott’s words echoed in his head, pulling at something,
Ava’s sister.
was Scott really involved.
why was he acting out of character by coming here and did he know Ava was Lily’s sister.
By the time Damian joined Ava and Clara at the car, the press team had already started dispersing.
Ava looked up as he approached, sensing the weight in his expression but not daring to ask.
He opened the door for her without a word.
The drive home was painfully silent.
Clara sat in the front, speaking in low tones with Maxwell about logistics, but the words barely reached the backseat.
The car’s interior felt colder somehow.
Ava glanced at Damian beside her.
His gaze was fixed out the window, his profile unreadable, the faint reflection of passing lights flickering across his face.
His hand rested loosely on his knee, but she noticed the tension in his fingers, a small tell that betrayed whatever storm was brewing inside him.
She wanted to ask.
Who was Scott?
Why did his presence shake him so much?
But something told her not to.
It wasn’t fear, exactly it was instinct.
Whatever that conversation had been, it wasn’t meant for her.
it was his family business and even though they were getting married she couldn’t involve herself in it.
all yer business should be about was Lily and nothing else.
So she sat back quietly, watching the city blur past the window.
Halfway through the drive, Clara spoke softly.
“That was well-handled today, Mr. Cross. The press will love the photos.”
Damian’s response was short.
“Good.”
Ava glanced down at her hands, realizing they were still trembling.
She tried to steady them, but the image of Scott’s calm smile wouldn’t leave her mind.
There’s a lot you don’t know, he’d said.
And she didn’t.
She didn’t know why Damian’s expression had turned so cold when he saw him.
She didn’t know why Clara had looked so uneasy or why she wouldn’t meet her eyes when she asked who that man was.
All she knew was that something about the name Cross felt heavier now, like it carried more than just wealth or power.
It carried secrets.
When they finally reached the mansion, Charles opened the door for them.
Damian stepped out first, his silence stretching like a wall between them.
“Thank you,” Ava murmured, though she wasn’t sure who she was thanking.
Damian paused at the foot of the stairs, glancing back at her for a moment.
His gaze softened just slightly, almost like he wanted to say something but then he turned away.
“Get some rest,” he said quietly, not looking back as he walked up the steps.
Ava watched him disappear into the house, her chest tightening with something she couldn’t name.
She stood there for a while, the cool air brushing her skin, before finally following inside.
There was really a lot that she didn’t know