Evening, six o’clock.
Outside the Lumis Architects building.
Ava had barely stepped through the revolving glass doors when a figure blocked her path.
She looked up.
Victor.
He was wearing a tailored charcoal suit, his hair slicked back perfectly, but his tie hung loosely around his collar.
His jaw was tight, and there was something restless flickering behind his eyes.
“Ava.” He reached for her arm.
She sidestepped him smoothly.
“What do you want?”
“You got married?” His voice came out clipped, almost disbelieving.
He stared at her face like he was searching for some sign that this was a joke, some hint that she was only trying to get back at him.
But there was nothing.
Ava raised an eyebrow.
“I did.”
“Stella told me, and I didn’t believe her.” Victor’s tone sharpened.
“Ava, do you even know what you’re doing?”
“I do,” Ava said calmly.
“It’s just a marriage, Alpha Victor.
Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”
“Just a marriage?” His voice rose, drawing glances from passersby on the sidewalk.
Ava frowned slightly.
Victor took a breath and lowered his voice.
“Ava, come with me.
We need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” She moved to walk past him.
His hand shot out and caught her wrist.
Hard.
“Ava.”
“Let go,” she said sharply.
But Victor didn’t let go.
Instead, his gaze dropped to her neck, and his expression shifted.
He saw it—the faint bruise just below her jaw, half-hidden by her hair.
A mark.
“Who is he?” Victor’s grip tightened.
“Tell me who this man is.
What’s his background?
Do you even know him?
It’s only been a few days since we broke up, and you just—what, threw yourself at the first guy who showed interest?”
Ava tried to pull her arm free, but he held on.
“Victor, you got engaged a few days after we broke up too.
Who I marry and why I marry him have nothing to do with you.”
The marriage contract had a clause requiring Damon’s identity to remain private for the first year.
Ava didn’t know whether Damon wanted to keep it from Victor specifically, so she kept her answer vague.
“How does it have nothing to do with me?” Victor’s voice cracked slightly.
He steadied himself.
“Ava, I know I hurt you.
But you don’t have to destroy yourself just to get back at me.
You’re twenty-five.
You have your whole life ahead of you.
Why would you marry some random man just to spite me?”
The more he talked, the more convinced he became that this was the truth.
“Listen to me.
Leave him.
Even if we can’t be together anymore, I’m not going to stand by and watch you ruin your life.”
Ava stared at him.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Victor, do you really think I can’t survive without you?
That I got married just to make you jealous?”
“Didn’t you?” he shot back.
She had never seen him like this.
The polished, composed Victor Sterling she used to know was gone.
In his place stood someone desperate and unraveling.
She kept her voice level.
“I didn’t marry him to get back at you.
You’re not that important.
My husband and I are fine.
I don’t need your concern.
Now let go.
I’m going home.”
Victor didn’t release her.
Instead, he stepped closer, his eyes red-rimmed.
“Ava, listen.
What if—what if you divorced him?
I’ll take care of you.
I’ll explain things to Stella.
We can go back to how we used to be—”
Ava felt something cold settle in her chest.
She looked at this man who had once meant everything to her, and he felt like a stranger.
Her voice came out low and shaking.
“Go back to how we used to be?
Victor, you’re about to marry Stella.
If I stayed with you while you were engaged to someone else, that would be cheating.
That would make me your mistress.”
His face went pale.
“Ava, that’s not what I meant—”
“Then what did you mean?” Her voice turned sharp.
“That I should divorce my husband so you can keep me on the side?
Hide me away somewhere until you get bored and pay me off?”
“Ava, you know that’s not—”
“Victor.” She cut him off.
Her wrist was throbbing where he gripped it, and she felt the sting of tears at the corners of her eyes.
She had loved this man for years.
Her heart wasn’t made of stone.
It still hurt.
But she had started a new life now.
Why was he doing this?
“You were the one who rejected me.
If you have any decency left, don’t come looking for me again.”
Victor’s expression shifted.
The desperation drained away, replaced by something colder.
He hadn’t expected her to be this stubborn.
He had come here thinking she would be grateful.
That she would see reason.
“Fine,” he said quietly.
“But let me ask you something, Ava.
Without me, what are your parents going to do?”
Before Ava could respond, two voices cut through the evening air.
“Ava!”
She turned her head.
Her heart sank.
Gerald and Marnie Bennett were walking toward them, Gerald’s face already twisted in anger, Marnie clutching her purse.
“Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” Marnie snapped.
Gerald jabbed a finger at her.
“Ava!
Now that your eyes are fixed, you just throw Victor away?
How can you be so heartless?”
Marnie’s voice broke into a wail.
“You ungrateful child!
Your brother’s wedding is coming up, and he still doesn’t have a house, and you just turn your back on us like we’re nothing!”
Ava stood frozen in the middle of the sidewalk.
Her face had gone pale.
A small crowd was beginning to gather, phones out, whispering.
Victor seized the opportunity.
“You see?
Come with me, Ava.
Let’s sit down and talk this through properly.
I can help your parents.
I can fix this.”
A sweet, sugary voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
“Victor!”
He turned.
Stella was walking toward them, designer handbag swinging from her arm, a bright smile on her face.
“Victor, did you come to pick me up from work?” She looped her arm through his, completely ignoring the fact that he was still gripping Ava’s wrist.
Her tone was dripping with affection.
Victor pulled his arm away from her.
“Stella, not now.
Go home.
Ava and I need to finish talking.”
Stella’s smile faltered, but she didn’t leave.
Gerald stepped forward.
“Ava, stop being difficult.
Go with Victor.
He’s trying to help you.”
Marnie nodded furiously.
“You owe this family, Ava.
Don’t you dare walk away.”
Ava stood there, surrounded.
Her parents on one side, Victor on the other, Stella watching with barely concealed satisfaction.
The crowd was getting larger.
She could feel their eyes on her, judging, whispering.
Her legs felt weak.
She wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.
Victor stepped closer.
“Ava, just come with me.
We’ll figure this out.”
She shook her head, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out.
And then—
A voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Low.
Cold.
Laced with authority.
“She has nothing to discuss with any of you.”
Victor turned his head.
The color drained from his face.
Ava followed his gaze.
Damon was walking toward them.
He wore a dark suit, his presence darker than the tailoring, cold enough to chill the air around him.
His expression was unreadable, but the sheer pressure radiating from him made people instinctively lower their heads.
His eyes locked onto Victor’s hand.
The one still gripping Ava’s wrist.
“Let go,” Damon said, his voice low and cold.
“That’s an order.
From your Alpha King.
And your father.”