Chapter 15 #2
Alex’s jaw dropped open as his heart hammered and his chest constricted. “What?”
His voice came out breathy and panicked. Raven’s romantic interest was one thing, but Chris’s was another. Ava had willingly dated the man, even asked for a divorce to marry him. And she’d been in tears when they’d broken up.
What had she decided?
His head swam as panic choked him, forming a lump in his throat and tensing his muscles.
“Yeah, he actually thought I’d be open to that,” she said with a disgusted huff. “I don’t know what he was thinking. I mean, seriously?”
Alex tried to parse through her words. Had she really rejected the annoying architect. “S-s-so, you said no?”
“What kind of question is that?” she asked, her voice edged with a tiny bit of annoyance. “Of course, I said no. We’re together now, Alex.”
He huffed out a relieved laugh, still unsure.
“You can’t be serious. Did you actually think I would even think about it?”
“Uhhh, well…”
“Alex,” she said, her tone scolding.
“Well, Avs, you liked him…like a lot. Like you were wearing his ring the first time I saw you again liked him. You cried when he left.”
“And then you said you loved me and changed everything. No, I did not take Chris back. No, I am not considering taking Chris back. I sent him packing.”
“Okay, good. That’s good. That’s…so good.”
“I think you’ve been spending too much time with those Harrington kids, your brain is fried.”
“It is not,” he said. “But I am getting tired.”
“Me too. Should we get some sleep.”
“I guess. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too. Maybe see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll see how things go with Julia after that fire.”
“Yeah, that was crazy,” Ava answered. “Good luck.”
They spoke for a few more moments before Alex signed off in favor of sleep.
When he awoke the next morning, it was already evening. He’d slept most of the day away after going to bed at almost sunrise. He rubbed his eyes before he grabbed his cell phone to message Ava. Good morning, Sparky. I still miss you.
He waited for a response, but didn’t receive one. His nose crinkled at the detail, and he climbed from his bed, shuffling to his laptop and toggling on her cell phone locator.
It showed Ava’s phone at the house. He narrowed his eyes at the dot, wondering if it had been manipulated. Before he could run any diagnostics, his phone chimed, indicating an urgent news update.
He glanced at the screen before his heart skipped a beat. The headline announced the death of Lydia Harrington.
His eyes went wide before he returned his gaze to his screen, prepared to do a little digital digging.
Within minutes, he’d found her address and hacked the security cameras outside of her apartment. He ran the footage back to several hours before the death announcement was made.
His eyes went wide as he spotted multiple members of the Harrington household visiting the victim before her plummet from her balcony to her dramatic death.
His throat parched. He couldn’t abandon Julia now. In fact, he had to let her know what he found. The video he’d viewed likely showed the killer–the last person to leave Lydia Harrington’s apartment prior to her death.
After removing the footage from the server, he sought out Julia, hoping a conversation with Julia would help, but after showing her the video with the parade of Harringtons into the Countess of Carnage’s apartment, she insisted on heading for the police station to make a voluntary statement indicating that she had seen Lydia alive after Grant who was currently the police’s prime suspect in what they considered a murder.
As Alex worked to modify the video footage in a desperate attempt to protect Julia and her new family, his phone finally chimed. I miss you, too. Tell me you’re on your way home.
His heart sank as he read the message from Ava. He grabbed his phone, toggling on the speakerphone as he called Ava.
“Hey, babe,” she answered, her voice sounding sour.
“Hey, Sparky. I’m sorry, I’m not coming home yet. We have a sitch at Camp Harrington.”
“What now?” Ava asked.
“The Duchess of Destruction has taken a header off her balcony and the cops suspect foul play. Team Harrington is collectively their primary suspect. I’m working OT here to try to clear them.”
“Ugh,” Ava murmured. “Sounds like you have your hands full.”
He heard the ruefulness in her voice, stopping his video editing to stare at his screen. “Avs, if you need me to come home…”
“No, no, I’m fine. I just…” She heaved a sigh. “Just do what you need to do there and make sure Julia and fam are okay.”
“I will but…you are my top priority. You know that, right?”
“I know. It’s fine. Go save the Harringtons.”
He couldn’t help but detect a note of upset in her voice. “Babe, wait, what happened?”
“Nothing, everything’s okay. I just miss you.”
“Right,” he said as something flashed on his screen. He froze the video, rolling it back a few seconds before he played it again, his brow furrowing. “I miss you, too.”
“On to something?” She likely recognized the thoughtfulness behind his slow speech.
“Maybe,” he answered.
“Go follow up on it. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yep. Hey, Avs, I love you.”
They ended the call, and he leaned closer to his screen, advancing the video frame by frame until he spotted what he had been searching for. He may have just caught a break and it would bust the case wide open so he could return to whatever chaos was wrapping itself around his wife.