CHAPTER 2 — The Door Left Open
CHAPTER 2 — The Door Left Open
Ava should have turned around.
She should have smiled at herself for almost ruining the surprise and walked back upstairs before anyone noticed she was gone.
Instead, she stayed exactly where she was.
Bare feet frozen against the hotel carpet.
Heart beating so loudly she was certain they would hear it through the half-open door.
Eric laughed.
"No," he said. "Not the wedding. The lie."
Silence.
Then Dylan answered so casually it sounded like they were discussing football scores.
"What lie?"
"The part where you keep pretending you're in love with her."
Ava's stomach tightened.
For one impossible second, she waited for Dylan to laugh and say, Don't be an idiot.
Instead...
He sighed.
"You make it sound worse than it is."
Eric gave a low whistle.
"So you're admitting it?"
"I never said I loved her the way she thinks."
The words landed like glass exploding inside Ava's chest.
Her fingers instinctively reached for the wall.
The marble beneath her palm felt icy.
Inside the lounge, someone poured whiskey into a glass.
Ice clinked.
Dylan took a slow sip before speaking again.
"Ava is... comfortable."
Comfortable.
Not beautiful.
Not brilliant.
Not the woman he'd begged to marry him.
Comfortable.
Eric snorted.
"That's one way to describe the woman spending half a million dollars on today's wedding."
Dylan laughed.
"It wasn't my money."
"No," Eric agreed. "Her family's."
Another laugh.
The sound carved through Ava's ribs.
She suddenly remembered every conversation with her father.
"Sweetheart, are you sure Dylan isn't uncomfortable letting us pay so much?"
"Dad, he insisted he didn't care about the money."
Now she understood.
He hadn't cared because none of it had been his.
Eric lowered his voice.
"So... after today?"
Dylan answered without hesitation.
"After today, everything changes."
"What about the Carter Development merger?"
"Exactly."
He sounded pleased.
Almost proud.
"Once we're married, the investors stop worrying. Reynolds Holdings becomes family. Her father's board can't block the expansion anymore."
Eric whistled again.
"So this whole marriage..."
"...is business."
Ava stopped breathing.
She waited.
She prayed there would be more.
Some explanation.
Some sentence that made everything before it disappear.
Instead Dylan continued.
"I've worked five years for this deal."
"And Ava?"
Another pause.
Then—
"She's collateral."
The hallway tilted.
Ava blinked rapidly, convinced she'd imagined the word.
Collateral.
Not wife.
Not partner.
Collateral.
Eric chuckled uneasily.
"Damn."
"What?"
"You really don't feel guilty?"
"For what?"
"For using her."
Dylan sounded irritated now.
"I didn't force her to fall in love with me."
Ava felt something crack inside herself.
Three years.
Three birthdays.
One proposal beneath Christmas lights.
Hundreds of promises.
Every "I love you."
Every kiss before work.
Every future they had planned together.
Had every single moment been calculated?
Eric wasn't finished.
"What about kids?"
Ava instinctively covered her stomach.
Inside her cosmetic bag upstairs...
The pregnancy test waited.
Two tiny pink lines.
Their baby.
She pressed both hands protectively against her abdomen.
Dylan laughed.
"Kids?"
"You know she wants them."
"I know."
"So?"
"If it happens, it happens."
"And if it doesn't?"
"I honestly don't care."
Ava's knees almost gave out.
The baby she'd discovered less than three hours ago...
...already mattered more to her than it ever would to him.
Eric lowered his voice again.
"You ever think she'll figure it out?"
"No."
"You're that confident?"
"Ava believes people are good."
Dylan laughed.
"That's always been her weakness."
A tear rolled silently down Ava's face.
He knew.
He had known exactly what kind of woman she was.
He hadn't fallen in love with her kindness.
He had weaponized it.
Eric suddenly asked the one question Ava hadn't known she feared.
"And Brooke?"
Everything inside Ava stopped.
Brooke?
There was a long silence.
Then Dylan sighed.
"We've been over this."
"No," Eric replied. "You've avoided it."
Another pause.
Finally—
"I'll deal with Brooke."
Ava's pulse thundered in her ears.
Eric sounded skeptical.
"You've been saying that for months."
"I know."
"So what exactly are you doing?"
"...Ending it."
"When?"
"After the honeymoon."
Ava felt every hair on her body stand upright.
Ending...
What?
Eric laughed bitterly.
"You've been sleeping with the maid of honor for almost a year."
The world shattered.
Not figuratively.
Not emotionally.
Literally.
The hallway seemed to split beneath Ava's feet.
She grabbed the wall before she collapsed.
No.
No.
No.
Brooke?
Her Brooke?
Her best friend?
The woman who had zipped her dresses.
Held her hand after her grandmother died.
Helped choose the engagement ring.
Planned the bridal shower.
Held her only minutes ago.
Dylan's voice came again.
"It wasn't supposed to last."
"But it did."
"Yes."
"And Brooke thinks you'll leave Ava."
Silence.
Then—
"She believes what she wants."
Eric cursed under his breath.
"Jesus, Dylan."
"What?"
"You're destroying both of them."
"No."
Dylan sounded almost bored.
"They'll survive."
Ava bit her fist to stop herself from making a sound.
Inside the lounge, Eric spoke again.
"You know what I don't understand?"
"What?"
"If Brooke means nothing...
Why keep seeing her?"
Dylan laughed quietly.
"You've met Brooke."
"So?"
"She's exciting."
Another pause.
"Ava is safe."
Safe.
Comfortable.
Collateral.
Three words.
Three knives.
Three years erased.
Eric asked one final question.
"So who do you actually love?"
The silence stretched so long Ava almost hoped Dylan had walked away.
Instead...
"I love winning."
Nothing moved.
Not the air.
Not the hallway.
Not Ava.
Only one thing remained alive inside her.
The tiny heartbeat that might already be growing beneath her own.
Without thinking, she placed one trembling hand over her stomach.
"I'm here," she whispered silently.
Not to Dylan.
To the baby.
"I'm here."
Just then...
A floorboard creaked beneath her foot.
Inside the lounge—
Silence.
Eric stopped talking.
Dylan's chair scraped sharply across the floor.
"Did you hear that?"
Footsteps.
Coming toward the door.
Ava's eyes widened.
She had seconds.
Maybe less.
If Dylan opened that door now—
He would see everything.
Her tears.
Her face.
The truth.
And the pregnancy test still hidden upstairs.
May you like
The doorknob began to turn.
Ava spun around and ran.
