Page 44 of Capturing Ava
“Ava is safe, if that’s what you mean.” She shakes her head. “I promise, Ava is safe.”
“Ava isn’t safe. She won’t be safe again.” She speaks.
“I promise, she is safe.”
“Do you know why Ava stole from you?” I want to nod, but I still don’t know the real reason behind her deception. All I knew was it wasn’t by choice and I had never pushed her to tell me anything more. “Chase, do you know why?”
“Ava told me it wasn’t what she wanted to do, but no, I don’t know the real reason she did what she did. None of that matters now.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Audrey repeats my words and a laugh squeezes from her throat. “It doesn’t matter, she repeats once more.”
“What’s going on?”
“Do you remember ten years ago I asked for your help?” I nod because I had thought about that night and that girl many times. “Do you still not know who that girl was?”
“You wanted to keep her identity secret, and I never questioned your motives,” I answer with confusion.
“Yes, I would have kept it that way, but things have changed.” Her head bows and she stares into that mug that she still hasn’t touched. “That girl who you saved all those years ago.” I hear her take a breath. “That girl was Ava.” she whispers.
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. No, that couldn’t be true. That girl couldn’t be Ava, it just couldn’t. She hadn’t escaped because I had found her and now—well, that meant. Shit. Why couldn’t I just leave her alone?
“No,” are the only words I dare utter as I look down at my feet.
“He will find her, Chase. He won’t stop until he has her back.”
“She doesn’t belong to him.” I grit out.
“Try telling him that. He found Ava when she was a homeless child on the streets and—.” Her voice breaks. “This was a mistake, this was all a mistake. I should have said no to you when you asked me to help you get closer to her. I should have said no.”
“Something has happened,” I utter. “What do you know Audrey?”
“He’s close, Chase. It is just a matter of time before he finds her. Then she will have to relive the nightmare she almost didn’t escape when she was younger and this time—.” She looks at me with nothing but sadness in her eyes. “I’m not even sure if you could save her.” She whispers.
Pain hits my body. All this time, I had viewed her as the enemy, and she was just trying to survive. She wasn’t what I had thought she was. Even when I viewed her as my enemy, my feelings had never changed for her. I never wanted to feel anything for the little beast, but she had crawled into my dead-beating heart the moment our eyes had met.
All these years, it wasn’t Ava who lied to me. It was I who had lied to myself. So many years wasted on anger, so many years wasted without her because I couldn’t admit to myself that she had crawled under my skin that night and while I was busy letting the anger consume me, I ignored the fact that under it all. I didn’t hate Ava. Not even a bit, not at all.
“I won’t let him have her.” I spit back at her.
“I believe that, Chase.” She smiles. “I believe you will do everything you can to keep him away from her.” She reaches her hand over and taps my hand. “I’m just not sure if your best is going to be good enough—this time.”
“You think I can’t handle your father?” I smirk.
“I think you’ve angered the beast and he will raise fucking hell to get back what he believes belongs to him.” She pulls her hand away and sighs. “You underestimate how far he will go to get what he wants. He may be my father, Chase, but he is the epitome of evil and I think you—I think you are all in way over your head.”
“I won’t risk her safety. He won’t have her.”
“I think you believe that. Maybe not today, but one day he will take her back, and then Ava will be lost to all of us. He won’t stop until he gets her. She will always be running and you will be always looking over your shoulder. When you play with the devil, Chase, you get burnt.”
Her words sting me. My skin feels like it is crawling. I have never feared anything, but her words bite into my flesh, eating at my soul. I didn’t know who he was, but Audrey did and as she sat there, warning me. She was talking like I had already lost, and that chilled me to the very bone.
She gets up from the table and taps me on the shoulder. “Where are you going?” She stands there, never once giving me eye contact.
“Back home. Ava will be back at some point and as much as she hates me now, when or if she ends up back there. She will need me—again.” She sighs. She walks away and never says another word. I hear the bell from the open door and she disappears into the crowd as if she was never here.
The darkness swallows me. I hadn’t felt the darkness for many years, but her lasting words plummeted my body into a swirling vortex of darkness. The sadness turns to anger as I sit there. Audrey may not believe that I could protect Ava, but I would die for her, walk through fire before I let anything bad happen to her.
I made a promise that nobody would hurt her and that nobody would ever touch her again and I aimed to keep on that promise I made to her. She was mine. He couldn’t fucking have her.
