Chapter 18
AVA
Ava leapt from her seat, pacing the floor. Her mind struggled to wrap around the latest development on top of the others. Between being threatened by The Board via Miranda was one thing, but the amount of information the woman had on them was another.
How had she known about her engagement to Chris?
She glanced sideways at Alex whose eyes followed her back and forth. His anxious behavior could be attributed to the stressful situation, but there was something more going on with him. What?
He’d tried to tell her something twice, but never made it.
There were too many loose threads.
She pressed a hand against her forehead, trying to steady her wild thoughts.
“Avs…” Alex said, his trembling voice just above a whisper.
She glanced at him as he grabbed her hand, something hovered in his eyes, but she couldn’t read what. When had she gotten so bad at reading him? “We need to answer. I’m just trying to think of what to say.”
He kept a tight hold of her hand. “Ava, I’m still worried about this threat. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
She collapsed onto the mattress next to him. “I don’t want anything to happen to me either.” She shot him a coy grin.
The unimpressed expression on his features told her he didn’t appreciate the joke.
“Sorry, bad joke. I don’t want anything to happen to you either, though. I’m not leaving you alone, so if that look you’re giving me is an ‘I’m going to send you on a long vacation’ you can just get that out of your mind right now.” She wagged a finger at him, her tone scolding.
“But, Ava–”
“Don’t but Ava me, Alex. I’m not leaving. You can’t make me leave. I’m staying here with you. So, don’t even go there.” She cocked her head, her eyebrows arching high.
His shoulders slumped a little. “I just want to protect you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Sparky.”
“I know,” she said, cupping his face in her hands. “I know you don’t. And I trust you to keep me safe, Alex.”
He offered her a tentative grin, still filled with worry.
“Listen to me. We are a team.” She laced her fingers through his. “United, remember? We fight together, not with me hiding somewhere.”
He bobbed his head, biting his lower lip as silence stretched between them.
“You okay?” she prodded.
“Uh, actually, Ava…” His shaky voice matched his pinched features.
She raised her eyebrows when a knock sounded at her door. With a sigh, she let go of his hand and crossed to the door. “What?”
“Ava, we need to talk.”
“Later, Chris. We have something going on.”
“Something I’m supposed to know about, remember? I’m in on this, too.”
Ava glared at the door, not wanting to deal with her fiancé at the moment. She twisted to glance at Alex, who offered her another worry-filled look. “I’m going to let him in unless you’d rather I didn’t.”
His features pinched a little more, though he nodded. “It’s fine.”
He looked anything but fine, but she tugged open the door.
Chris strode into the room, glancing between the two of them. “Just going to say it’s sort of annoying when your fiancé is locked in her bedroom with her husband.”
Ava crossed her arms, cocking a hip.
“Tough crowd,” Chris answered, tugging at his collar. “Look, Ava, in all seriousness, do you know how frustrating this is? You two are in a world I’m locked out of. No one will tell me a thing.”
“Won’t they?” She stared at her fiancé, her mind whirling as she studied him. “Well, I wasn’t certain if you’d want to talk about it while I’m wearing my track suit.”
He rolled his eyes, letting his head fall back between his shoulders. “Seriously? I’m not going to apologize for not wanting you to look like a bum.”
“She doesn’t look like a bum,” Alex countered, leaping from his seat, his fingers curled into fists.
“Says the guy who wears lobster print jammies. You aren’t exactly a paragon of style.”
“Ava is perfect the way she is,” Alex shot back. “The fact that you can’t see that–”
“Means nothing,” Chris answered. “She’s engaged to me.”
“And she’s married to me.”
“For now.”
Ava stepped between the two men as the battled blazed on. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. I didn’t open the door so you two could fight.”
“Good, because I’d like some answers.”
“So would I,” Ava said.
Chris scoffed, spreading his arms to the sides. “Answers on what? I don’t know anything here.”
Ava crossed her arms wondering how she possibly fell in love with him.
“What I would like to know is what’s got you two with your heads stuck together…again…and no one will tell me what’s going on.”
“We need to answer–” Alex began when Ava pressed a hand against his chest, signaling him to stop.
“What’s going on is that we have just been summoned by Miranda again who threatened to take me out.”
“What?” Chris’s eyes went wide, concern etching into his face. “Okay, this needs to stop.”
He flicked his gaze to Alex. “Surely you agree she should leave. Go home with me, right?”
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but Ava stopped him. “Don’t answer that.”
“No, I think he should answer it, Ava. Or is your good pal, Alex, selfish enough to put your life in danger just so he has you here to help him?”
“That’s not true!” Alex shouted.
Ava shook her head as she grabbed his hand. “Alex, we both know that’s not true.”
“No, we don’t,” Chris said with a shake of his head.
“Hey!” Ava yelled. “Don’t badger him.”
Chris’s shoulders slumped as he sighed. “Oh, come on, Ava. Please stop with this constant protection of Alex Stone. I’m sick of it, quite frankly. You just told me that you went to meet Miranda again, and this time she threatened your life. This needs to stop.”
“I agree,” Ava said with a nod. “And I plan on working with Alex to make sure it does. But there are a few things I’d like to ask you about.”
“Ask away, Ava, I’m an open book.” Chris thrust his arms out to the sides.
“Miranda seemed to know a lot of things about Alex and I.”
“No surprise there. Doesn’t she work for some shady organization that seems to be able to pull things off like murder someone in prison. I mean they’ve taken out how many people now? And yet the Geek Squad needs you to stay here even though you’re in the crossfire.”
Ava shook her head, the explanation falling short for her. “They may know a lot, but how would they know I was engaged?”
A half-laugh bubbled out of Chris’s lips as he furrowed his brow. “What?”
“How would The Board know I was engaged? We didn’t make an announcement. No social media posts. I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Well, I told some people,” Chris said with a shrug.
“And they happened to be part of The Board or told someone who was? That doesn’t make sense, Chris.”
He fluttered his eyelashes. “Okay, what does?”
She held his gaze, waiting for him to speak again. When he didn’t, she said, “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want from me, Ava?” he asked, his voice incredulous. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, so I’m still trying to wrap my head around this shadowy organization that’s after Alex.”
She snorted a laugh, shaking her head. “You want to know what I think?”
“I would love to,” he answered, his sarcasm obvious. “What is it that you think?”
“I think you told her.” Ava set her jaw, studying his reaction.
Alex shifted his gaze to her, shock on his face.
Chris huffed out a laugh before he furrowed his brow, his focus on her. “Oh, you’re serious.”
“Dead serious. There is no way she could have known that our marriage was fake or that I was engaged.”
“Maybe you’re just not as great of an actress as you think you are, Ava.”
“Bull, it has nothing to do with that. She heard this from somewhere. Did you tell her?”
Chris chewed the inside of his cheek, setting his hands on his hips.
“I want an answer, Chris. Did you tell Miranda Vale that my marriage to Alex is fake?”
“Yes, okay? Yes, I told her!” he shouted. “And I’d do it again.”
Her fingers curled into fists at the words as she pressed her lips together, her nostrils flaring. His actions were like a punch to the gut, and betrayal surged inside her.
The surprise on Alex’s features magnified. “What? You did what? Why would you do that? Now, Ava has a target on her back.”
“I was trying to take the target off her back,” Chris answered. “I want this to end. I want my life back. I want my fiancé back.”
Ava scrubbed her face before she paced the floor. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you would do this.”
“Are you kidding me? In the last week, I have gotten engaged to what I thought was a wonderful woman who I would spend the rest of my life with only to find out that she’s actually married to someone else.
And that person is the neediest person on the planet who just happens to be involved in a crisis of epic proportions.
On top of that, my fiancé suddenly has regressed to her college days, acts nothing like she did when we dated, and seems oddly attached to the husband she doesn’t love. ”
“At least he didn’t sell me out to the enemy,” she growled through clenched teeth.
“I didn’t sell you out. I thought if Miranda knew your marriage wasn’t real, she’d leave you alone and maybe, just maybe, she would then help you out because she wouldn’t see Ava as a threat.”
“Yeah, well, that didn’t happen,” Ava answered, settling her arms across her chest.
“What exactly did she say?”
“That they’d finish what they started with the car accident.”
“What? That’s it? No demand in return.”
Alex licked his lips. “That I should…let Ava go.”
Chris stood with his jaw hanging open. “Are-are you serious? She’s only in danger if she stays here and you’re still clinging to her? How selfish are you?”
“Alex is not selfish,” Ava said with a slice of her finger through the air.
“Uh, yeah, he is. Ava, you’re not in danger if you leave. You heard him.”
“I’m not leaving. That is out of the question.” Ava stood firm, her voice steady and resolute, her mind clear on her next move. "We handle this together.”
Chris clapped his hands onto the top of his head. “Oh, I can’t believe this.”
“Neither can I. I cannot believe you went to the enemy and blabbed everything.”
“I didn’t…oh, come on, Ava. I’m trying to save you and us.”
Her nostrils flared as she silently fumed until a chime of her phone cut through the silence. She glanced at the screen, her gaze flicking to Alex. “We need a minute.”
“You’re not serious,” Chris answered.
“I am,” she answered. “Given that you can’t be trusted, there is something I’d rather discuss with Alex alone.”
“Unbelievable,” Chris groaned. “Fine. Fine, have your private time. But when you actually stop and think about this, Ava, I think you’ll see that it was me who acted in your best interest here, not Game Boy.” He thrust an angry finger at Alex.
Ava stared at the floor, waiting for him to leave in silence.
“Whatever,” Chris said as he waved his arms in the air. “I’ll be downstairs when you come to your senses.”
He crossed to the door, slamming it behind him. Ava startled before sliding her eyes closed and shaking her head.
“I can’t believe he told Miranda everything.” Alex collapsed on the edge of the bed.
“Me either, but we need to deal with that later. Raven wants an answer.” She twisted her phone toward him to showcase the message she’d just received. Time’s running out. Are you in or not?
Alex’s features pinched. “What should we answer?”
“Well, first,” Ava said, twisting the phone back to her as she typed, “I want some confirmation that this is Raven. I’m sending a message that asks for a show of good faith on their end.”
With the message sent, she collapsed on the bed next to him.
“Ava, I’m so sorry about what happened with Chris. I–”
“Don’t be. I don’t even want to talk about it right now. Let’s just focus on this crisis.”
He slid an arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
She patted his thigh. “I’m glad we’re in this together.”
With a shared smile, their eyes lingered on each other longer than they should have before the phone chimed. You figured out my message about the falcon, left me a message in a raven photo, and I responded in kind. Don’t trust Miranda Vale. The CFO is not your friend.
Ava scoffed as she typed back. Tell us something we don’t know. And why text me? This affects Alex’s company.
This time the return message came quickly. And you are his wife…and just as deeply involved. Now, are you in or not? Last chance.
Ava flicked her gaze to him. “What do you want to do?”
Alex hesitated, sucking in a sharp breath. “We have to take the chance, right?”
“I agree,” she answered as she typed her response. We’re in. What do you need us to do?
The answer came back in seconds. You are about to engage with one of the most powerful organizations in the world.
I need to know you have what it takes. Retrieve a set of blueprints housed in a safe deposit box belonging to Miranda Vale.
Drop them off in locker 167 at the bus station.
Bank location to follow. Fail and you are at the mercy of The Board.
A second text arrived with a lone address.
Ava’s heart skipped a beat at the seemingly impossible task. She twisted to stare at Alex. How in the world would they pull this off?