Chapter 16
AVA
Ava shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her stomach still churning as she recalled the moment she’d awoken in Kyle’s car. When Sebastian had told her what she’d done, it had stunned her.
She had a tough side, the same one that had smashed a coffee table when Alex had been abducted, but it had been all for show. She’d really been there to tag Miranda’s car with a tracker and learn more about Alex’s location.
She’d never done anything like this. She’d never been reckless, driven by pure anger. What had happened to her when she’d had her blackout? Who had she become?
“Wait, wait…” Alex said with a shake of his head. “You did what?”
“She drove to Miranda’s, shot the lock off of her shed, grabbed two cans of gasoline, poured them all over the house, and dropped a lit match,” Sebastian said.
“What?” Alex waved a hand in that air. “No. That’s not…Ava...”
She shrugged. “I have no memory of doing it.”
Sierra tapped on her phone before she twisted it to face the others. “Well, someone did it. It’s all over the news. Former CFO of StoneCorp targeted in house fire.”
Ava sucked in a deep breath, pressing her lips together as she feared for the safety of those around her. Not only would Miranda and her people likely retaliate, but what would Ava do next when she blacked out?
Would she hurt someone she loved?
Alex covered his face with his hands. “Okay, whoa, wait…I’m not buying this.”
“Alex…” Ava shook her head, unsure what to say in the situation.
“No, Ava, I’m not. You suddenly turn into a completely different person and set someone’s house on fire? Maybe our good friend Shadow did it and is blaming it on you.”
Sebastian set his hands on his hips, shaking his head. “Seriously? You think I made her do all of this?”
“No,” Alex said, poking a finger at Sebastian as he lunged closer, “I think you did it, and then when she came to, you lied.”
“That’s crazy,” Sebastian shot back.
“Oh, is it?” Alex asked as Kyle pressed a hand against Alex’s chest. “Easy, Mav, let’s take this down a notch.”
Alex shoved Kyle’s hand away, his features taut. “Fine, but…I don’t believe this.”
“You want proof?” Sebastian dug his phone from his pocket and flipped it around to face the others. “Here’s proof.”
Ava stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as a video of her played on the screen. Sebastian’s voice warned her that this may not be the smartest move, but she continued to pour gasoline all over what appeared to be Miranda’s house as near as she could tell from the shaky cell phone video.
Her stomach turned over as she watched the video continue until she tossed the gas can aside and grabbed a box of matches.
She groaned, pressing a hand against her forehead as her on-screen persona lit the match and dropped it. How could she have behaved this way? She stared at the image of her frozen on the screen before she collapsed, and the video ended. Her eyes looked so dead. Where was the real Ava?
“That’s when she passed out. I dragged her out of the house to the car and drove far enough away that we wouldn’t be discovered to wait for her to wake up.” Sebastian toggled off his phone and slid it into his pocket. “Still think I’m lying?”
“Whoa, Ava. That was crazy,” Chris said, igniting a firestorm of guilt and worry inside her.
Ava’s jaw tightened as Alex wrapped an arm around her, her stomach still churning as she recalled the moment she’d awoken in Kyle’s car.
The horror she felt when Sebastian told her what she’d done was still fresh, like a wound that refused to heal.
In her mind’s eye, she replayed the scene: the cold metal of the gas can in her hand, the acrid smell of gasoline as it soaked the floors, the flicker of the match as it dropped from her fingers.
Who was that woman, moving with such deliberate fury, her eyes devoid of any emotion?
Ava shuddered. It wasn’t just the act itself that terrified her—it was the blank, dead look in her eyes as she watched the flames consume Miranda’s home. That wasn’t her. It couldn’t have been.
“What is happening to me?” she whispered.
“We’re going to find out, Ava,” Alex promised, though she barely heard him. “Doc, tell me you found something in her blood work.”
He raised a finger in the air as he dug his phone from his pocket. “Let me check.”
After a few taps on his phone, he pressed his lips together. “Everything looks normal.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think we can chalk this up to a vitamin deficiency,” Ava said with a shake of her head. “Something is really wrong with me. And it’s only a matter of time before I blow again and do something completely stupid.”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Julia said as she crossed to Ava and slid an arm around her shoulders. “We’re all here with you. We’ll make sure you don’t do anything else that you aren’t comfortable with.”
Ava forced a fleeting smile onto her lips. “Thanks, Sunshine…and everyone. Can I maybe have a minute with Alex and Doc?”
“Sure,” Julia said with a nod as she patted Ava’s shoulder before she ushered the others into the living room.
“Ava,” Kyle began, “I will get to the bottom of this, I promise. We’re going to have to do some more tests–”
“Yeah, I get that,” Ava interrupted, “but what do we do until then?”
“Keep an eye on you, keep tabs on this–”
“Doc, I’m more than a little bit worried that I may hurt someone I love.”
“I don’t think you’ll do that. You didn’t really go that crazy,” Kyle answered, crossing his arms.
Alex rubbed her back. “Yeah, Doc’s kind of right. I mean, we’ve all wanted to burn Miranda’s house down at one point or another. We just, you know, didn’t actually do it.”
“But I did. I went completely berserk and burned the woman’s house down.”
Kyle wrinkled his nose. “Really not seeing a problem here. She kind of deserved it. I mean, she’s not crazy that we know of and in her sane mind, she’s kidnapped Alex, tried to kill you multiple times, and also tried to kill Shadow. So, I mean…who’s the crazy one.”
Ava blew out a shaky breath. “I appreciate the support here, really, I do, but I’m worried. Should I be locked up somewhere until we figure out what’s causing this?”
“Now that’s crazy, Ava,” Kyle said. “You’re not a danger to yourself or those around you–except maybe the bad guys who deserve it. And until I’ve seen evidence to the contrary, no, I would not recommend that we lock you up for your own good.”
Ava wrapped an arm around Alex’s waist, leaning closer to him.
“He’s right, Avs. We need you here with us. And we’ll watch out for you.”
She slowly nodded, trying to rein in her emotions. “All right. For now, we’ll keep monitoring this. But if I get worse…”
“We’ll tackle it head on,” Kyle said. “I promise. Ava, I understand how uncomfortable this makes you–”
“Do you?” she interrupted. “Do you really get how uncomfortable it is to watch yourself on camera and not even recognize yourself?”
Alex tightened his grip on Ava, pulling her closer. “Ava…”
“No, Alex, no. You can’t explain this away. You saw the video. That wasn’t me—my behavior, my eyes. They were dead. It’s like this version of Ava didn’t even exist. What happens when I look at you with those dead eyes, huh? What happens when I don’t recognize you?”
She licked her lips, tears forming in her eyes.
“That’s not going to happen, Avs.”
“You don’t know that,” she said, holding back a sob.
He twisted her to face him. “Yes, I do. Because I know you, Ava. You would never hurt me. You would never hurt Doc, or Julia or anyone we care about. Heck, you probably wouldn’t even hurt Chris.”
She scoffed, wiping away a tear that had fallen.
“Avs, please, can you trust me on this?”
She slid her eyes closed, her mind a maelstrom of worry. But she nodded. “All right. I trust you, Alex.”
Kyle cleared his throat. “You know…just saying you should trust me, too.”
Ava shook her head, unable to stop the smile from tugging up the corners of her mouth. “All right, I trust you both. Happy?”
“Very,” Alex answered. “Now, let’s go strategize our next moves. Because after what we just went through, we need to get Miranda out of the way for good.”
He tightened his arm around her shoulders and led her to the living room where the others waited. The slider across the room opened, and Sebastian strolled in as Ava plopped onto the sofa.
He waved his phone in the air. “I may have some good news.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what that means,” Chris said as he drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.
“No, this is a good thing. After what just happened, I managed to convince The Board to remove Miranda and her followers from the equation. It should be taken care of within the next forty-eight hours.”
Ava flicked her eyebrows up, the words almost too good to be true. “Really? So…what does that mean?”
“Don’t ask,” Sebastian said with a shake of his head. “Suffice it to say, she won’t be a problem anymore.”
Ava fidgeted in her seat, uncertain how she felt about the woman who had been a thorn in their sides–a woman who had nearly taken Alex from her–being eliminated in what seemed like a permanent way.
“Ava,” Sebastian said, “seriously, it’s nothing to worry about. Miranda will have a choice. If she doesn’t leave willingly, that’s up to her.”
She bobbed her head. “All right, well, hopefully this works out, and we don’t have to worry about her anymore. Now, for the rest of The Board.”
Sebastian waved a finger in the air. “We need to get that decryption software again and work on those files you have.”
“Where?” Ava asked. “Your locations are all compromised, right?”
“Yes. We’ll need to get it from a Board location. But I have a way.”
“Don’t you always?” Alex murmured.
Ava elbowed him with a shake of her head. The last thing she needed right now was in-fighting amongst her team.
“Please don’t say I have to do to it,” Chris whined.
Sebastian shook his head, his eyes falling on Ava. “No, I think Ava is the best one to do this.”
“Whoa,” Alex said, holding his hands in the air. “That’s not true at all. Why is it always Ava? I’m capable of doing things.”
“Because I really don’t want you on my arm in Monaco,” Sebastian answered.
“Monaco?” Ava questioned.
Sebastian eased into an armchair with a nod. “There’s a benefit being held there. Lots of Board people. And one of them will have a laptop with this software on it. All we need is access to that laptop for a few minutes to copy it.”
Sebastian’s voice took on a steely edge.
“This isn’t just any software, Ava. It’s the key to unraveling the Board’s entire network.
With it, we can decrypt their communications, expose their operations, and finally take them down from the inside.
But it won’t be easy. The Board’s security is airtight, and if they suspect anything, they’ll bury that software so deep we’ll never see it again.
This is our one shot to turn the tide in our favor, and if we miss it, we might not get another chance. ”
“Uhhh, no,” Alex said with a shake of his head. “That sounds like Ava needs to use her feminine wiles to get into someone’s hotel room. And don’t even say that’s not the plan because you sent her on one of these things before, and she nearly got killed.”
Sebastian sighed. “It is our best chance to get this from people who will not suspect a thing.”
Alex leapt from his seat, shaking his head.
Ava pressed her fingers against her temples, a dull throb pulsing beneath them. It wasn’t much—barely more than a headache—but it was enough to make her pause. She took a deep breath, pushing the unease down. This was no time to be paranoid.
“Alex has a point,” she answered. “I’m in the best shape right now. But what if I have another episode?” The words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of what they didn’t know.
“Let’s hope you don’t. We may not get another chance like this. It took me a while to get that software, and I had to use my connections. Plus, The Board here will be distracted by our little problem with Miranda. We need to move now.”
“I’ll go with you. We’ll monitor your health the entire time,” Kyle said.
“That’s a good idea. We’ll also need some tech support. Especially if we’re not going to let Ava charm her way into the hotel room.”
“No, we are not,” Alex said with a definitive shake of his head. “We are definitely not.”
Ava bit her lip, the unease gnawing at her. “Okay, I’ll do it,” she said, but her voice lacked its usual confidence.
Alex tightened his grip on her hand, his eyes searching hers. “Are you sure, Avs? We can find another way. This doesn’t have to fall on you.”
Ava looked between them, the pressure mounting.
The weight of their expectations was almost unbearable, but so was the fear of what she might become if she blacked out again.
“I can do this,” she repeated, more to herself than to them.
She had to. There was too much at stake to let her fears control her now.
But as Sebastian nodded and pulled out his phone, arranging their departure, the knot in her stomach tightened. What if she wasn’t ready?
“Good. I’ll get the jet fueled up. We leave tonight.” Sebastian pulled his phone from his pocket, already toggling it on.
Alex plopped onto the cushion next to Ava with a deep sigh. She understood his frustration. There were too many factors involved here that they couldn’t trust, her being one of the biggest.
What if she went crazy again in the middle of this mission?