Chapter 9

Ava never expected that the moment she reached the hospital entrance, a sharp chemical scent would clamp over her nose and mouth. When she opened her eyes again, she was tied to a chair inside an abandoned factory. Lia was bound beside her. The men surrounding them were unmistakably the same group who had kidnapped Rowan three years earlier. Rowan arrived with his men in a rush, fury carved into every line of his face. "Let them go. Whatever you want, I'll pay." "Mr. Sinclair," the leader said, idly turning a knife in his hand. "Three years ago you wiped out our base and got many of my comrades killed. Today, I'll let you taste what it feels like to lose someone, too." He pointed his blade toward Ava and Lia. "Pick one. You walk away with her. The other one—" Then, he dragged the knife across his throat. Rowan's gaze moved between the two women. Ava met his eyes steadily. The wind lifted her tangled hair, exposing the raw lash marks still healing along her neck. Lia had already dissolved into sobs. "Rowan, save me. Please… I'm so scared." Rowan's gaze stopped on Ava's flat belly beneath the fabric. That nonexistent child had wedged itself into his mind like a thorn. He remembered the two red lines on the pregnancy test, the strange men's handkerchief, her defiance, her refusal to bend. "I choose Lia," he heard himself say. Ava looked at him and suddenly laughed. Three years ago, she had given up her life to save him. Three years later, Rowan was giving up her life for another woman. What a specular dream she had been trapped in. The man for whom she had once died would never again have anything to do with her life or death. The leader let out a low whistle. "Clean and decisive." Lia stumbled into Rowan's arms, crying prettily against his chest. In that instant, Ava surged to her feet. She slammed her shoulder into the man beside her, broke free, and bolted toward the open factory doors. "After her!" the leader roared. Ava ran with everything she had left. Wind roared in her ears, mingling with the chaotic footsteps closing in behind her. Salted sea air blasted her face. She skidded to a stop at the cliff's edge, loose gravel scattering into the waves below. "Ava!" Rowan reached the cliff with his men, and the moment he saw the familiar terrain, his face drained of color. Three years ago, she had stood in this exact place and plunged into the sea to save him. "Come back!" Rowan reached out toward her, his voice shaking without his awareness. "I swear, you can keep the baby. We can start over. I'll treat it as my own—" Ava turned slowly. The wind lifted her bloodstained white dress. Her gaze swept over Rowan, over the trembling Lia clinging to him, over the kidnappers watching like predators. Then, she smiled. A single tear slid down her cheek. "Rowan," she said softly, yet every word carried across the cliff, "I truly regret ever meeting you. And I regret even more coming back to you." Rowan's face blanched in disbelief. He had never imagined Ava regret knowing him, regret returning to him. She was discarding their entire past as if it meant nothing. "From now on, your life and mine have nothing to do with each other." She stepped back. Before Rowan could reach her, Ava leaned into the empty air. Her white dress flared in one final arc before the waves swallowed her whole.