Chapter 1
ALEX
Atangled knot of frustration and helplessness tightened in Alex’s chest as Chris ambled into the kitchen, the morning light casting an all-too-cheerful glow around him.
Chris, with a wide yawn, made his way to the coffee machine. The man was a casual intruder in what had once been Alex’s personal sanctuary.
“Morning,” Chris murmured, his voice groggy, after a sip of the rich, dark coffee.
The casual greeting echoed like a discordant note in the symphony of his life, disrupting the harmony he’d once shared with Ava in this room.
“Hey,” Alex replied, his voice tight, struggling to mask the surge of frustration.
How was this man still standing in his kitchen?
The answer was painfully clear yet obnoxiously complex. Chris wasn’t just the houseguest from Hell, he was steadfastly linked to Ava. Despite being Alex’s wife, she was also engaged to Chris.
Their marriage, a delicate tapestry of convenience and unspoken emotions, was unraveling at the seams, threatened by the very presence that now casually sipped coffee in his kitchen.
In a desperate attempt to win her over and keep her married to him, he’d drawn her to his Hamptons homes for the weekend–sans Chris.
With a penny-skimming scheme brewing at his tech company, StoneCorp, he’d lured Ava to him with the promise of solving a mystery. She’d accepted, eager to help out her “old friend.”
The weekend, designed to shower her with gifts, remind her of their past, and effectively make her forget Chris, had fallen flat.
And now, Alex was desperate to rewrite the ending and sway the narrative in his favor. But he still stood on the brink of losing her forever.
Chris’s arrival on his doorstep had been an unwelcome twist in the plot of his life, thrusting him into a maelstrom of doubt and uncertainty. And then the man had accused him of concocting the entire financial issue to hang onto Ava.
The statement had struck a nerve, not because it was true, but because it wasn’t entirely false. He hadn’t orchestrated the crisis, but he did seize the opportunity like a lifeline thrown in turbulent waters as a chance to draw Ava back into his orbit.
But his efforts had been too little so far. Chris’s resolve to remain at Ava’s side seemed unshakeable, matched only by Ava’s determination to balance precariously between them, one foot in the past and one in the present.
With each silent moment, Alex’s heart waged a war against his pride, his fists clenching in a futile attempt to grasp the slipping threads of a future he yearned to rewrite.
The battle lines had been drawn, not just around the corporate intrigue and the threats from the shadowy organization they’d just began to uncover, but around the remnants of a marriage that still pulsed in his hopeful heart.
The challenge loomed larger than anything he’d ever faced before. That combined with the lack of information on the organization that had launched a decade-long attack against his company left him in a sour mood.
It all changed a second later. Ava, in her Scooby Doo pajamas, shuffled into the kitchen, her blonde hair tugged up into a messy bun.
“Good morning,” she said to them collectively as she headed for the coffee pot, pouring a steaming cup into the mug marked Sparky.
“Good morning, Avs,” he said, using her other nickname.
She twisted to offer him a smile as she wrapped her hands around her mug.
“Morning, hon,” Chris said, kissing her cheek.
Any pleasant expression slid from his face at the action as she puckered her lips to return the smooch.
His mind couldn’t help but tell him that he should be him kissing her. If only he’d been brave enough to say the words when she hadn’t been asleep. Or during any point in their seventeen-year marriage.
He kicked himself for not telling her how perfect she was, how much he loved her, and how much he wanted their marriage to be real before she’d accepted a ring from the annoying architect.
He returned his gaze to the computer screen, taking his frustrations out on the keyboard. What annoyed him more was that Chris, who seemed not to know the real Ava, was now discovering her in all her exceptional glory.
It made him want to cry. He’d loved Ava for everything she was first. Chris had obviously been unaware of many of the traits he’d admired for so long, but now…Now the man had the chance to learn everything about her, accept her for who she was and convince her to stay with him.
A warm hand slid across his back. “Hey, you. You look tired.”
“Yeah, I didn’t sleep much,” he admitted.
It wasn’t a lie. He’d stared at the ceiling for most the night, the problems he faced tearing him and his heart to pieces.
In addition to the warning they’d received, suggesting the financial problems they’d tackled at his company were just the tip of the iceberg, he’d also been bothered by his pending divorce.
Twice, he’d climbed from his bed, intent on waking Ava and pouring out his heart.
And twice he’d spun on his heel and climbed right back between the sheets.
Visions of her pitying look, the gentle touch of his hand she’d give him, and the soft apology as she told him she appreciated his feelings but loved Chris stopped him every time.
He knew Ava. He knew her well. He couldn’t do this now no matter how much he wanted to say the words. They were burning a hole through his heart, but he couldn’t do it now. Not if he wanted to maximize his chances that she accepted him.
Each gentle stroke of her hand across his back was a bittersweet reminder of what he stood to lose; a torment wrapped in the guise of comfort. And it wasn’t helping him hold everything inside. “We’ll solve this, Ace. I promise.”
He forced a smile onto his face, pretending that was what was bothering him, as he bobbed his head.
Across the counter from him, Chris scoffed, the sound setting his nerves even further on edge. “I don’t think you can be that certain, hon.”
The negative comment grated on his last nerve. His jaw clenched as he lifted his eyes in a glare.
The only consolation he had was noticing Ava’s equally icy stare at her fiancé.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s not helpful, Chris,” she answered.
“Well, I don’t think it’s helpful to blow smoke, Ava. I mean, yes, it’s a lovely sentiment to tell your friend that you’ll solve this.” Chris pumped a fist in the air, mockingly. “But there’s no way we can know that.”
Ava heaved a sigh, her hand sliding away from Alex’s back as she took another sip of her coffee. Alex detested the man even more for robbing him of the simple pleasure of physical contact with Ava.
“I do know it,” Ava shot back. “Because I will keep digging until I find the answers.”
“Oh, right,” Chris said with a bob of his head. “I’m glad you have unlimited time and resources to track down this organization that seems pretty good at hiding.”
“We don’t know that,” Alex shot back.
“Oh, you’re right. They spent ten years robbing you of millions, but, yes, they don’t know how to hide.”
“If you’re just going to be negative, we don’t need that kind of energy,” Ava lectured.
Alex’s muscles tightened as he glanced at her. Was she asking him to leave?
“All right, fine. Let’s change the subject. I have a mystery that I think we should solve sooner rather than later.”
“Okay,” Ava said, her voice restrained.
“When do we call this?”
Ava crinkled her eyebrows. “What?”
“When do we call this, Ava? I mean, you’re sticking around until you track down whatever is happening, but let’s be realistic. That may not happen. Are we supposed to go a week? A month? Two? Seventeen years?”
Alex tugged his lips back in a wince, shooting a glance at Ava to gauge her reaction to the simple barb, aimed at the length of their marriage.
From his vantage point, it hadn’t gone over well. She slammed her coffee cup down on the counter as she rose, her jaw set and her eyes never leaving Chris. “Alex, will you excuse us for a moment?”
“Sure,” he said, though he preferred to hear the smackdown that was about to happen. At least, he hoped that was what was about to happen. He could add it to the list of cons against Chris in case he needed to convince her he was wrong for her.
Chris, coffee cup in hand, followed Ava out of the room.
Alex twisted to follow their departure, wondering if he could creep behind them and listen in on the conversation. He drummed his fingers against the countertop as he considered it before shaking his head at himself.
When had he become so willing to cross lines and violate her privacy? The simple answer was when he’d gone into full-blown panic mode after finding out she wanted a divorce to marry someone else.
He’d created a need for her to be here at his side, almost deleted a text from Chris, and now he was considering spying on her.
With a sigh, he twisted back to his laptop, intent on trying to make progress on some front.
So far, he’d found nothing of interest. His CFO, Miranda Vale, a woman Ava suspected of not being who she said she was, had turned up clean from anything he could find.
He dug back into her records, following her history from high school to her employment with StoneCorp. She’d begun in project management, moving to finance after completing a finance degree.
The woman seemed like a go-getter, willing to do what it took to advance, but nothing sinister. Maybe a little opportunistic, but he couldn’t fault her for that. Unless she messed up his relationship with Ava. Then he would.
He tapped around on the screen, switching gears to search for information on the enigmatic entity who had sent the warning message about the mysterious The Board.
He hadn’t found anything on Raven, either. The person had taken great care to cover their tracks, leaving no trace of who they were.
With a slam of his hands against the keyboard, he shoved the laptop away from him, a disgusted sigh escaping his lips.
The only positive side of this situation was Ava’s unwavering support. So far.