Chapter Sixty–One
Ava’s POV
I hadn’t even the seconds to tie up my boots before bolting out the door.
+25 Points
Phoenix was going to crash a party, her ex–husband’s after–wedding party, and knowing her as well as I do, I knew she wasn’t going there to spread happiness. Not after last night. Not
after what that bastard sent.
A custody document.
A neat, heartless piece of paper asking Phoenix to surrender any legal rights to her own child. I watched her stare at it like it was acid, burning into her hands, but she couldn’t put it down. And this morning, she had left before I woke up, leaving me no option but to tag after her before she does anything stupid.
The drive to the resort felt too long, making me drum my fingers on the steering wheel repeatedly. I hadn’t seen Phoenix like this in years, and it frightened me. The last time she had spiraled like this, she caused so much trouble and then disappeared for weeks.
When I pulled into the circular driveway of the villa, which was surrounded by big, luxurious cars parked upfront, I blinked. There was no security in sight. No guards stopped me as I walked down the hallway to the entrance. Just silence and wind threading through the palm trees that surrounded the resort, making them sway gently to its tune.
“Where the hell is everyone?” I murmured.
I didn’t have to search long. I heard voices. Loud ones.
“Let her go!” I heard a calm voice say before my sight fell on Phoenix.
Oh God!
Phoenix struggled against two guards, her arms thrashing and her hair wild, making her appear like a madwoman, but I knew she wasn’t. She was just a broken woman losing her
composure.
Across from her stood her ex–husband, William Dash, tall and radiant with wealth and power. He looked the same since I last saw him, maybe with a slight air of uneasiness, but I’m guessing that was because of what happened between him and Phoenix. Beside him stood an astonishing woman, pale, but beautiful enough to turn heads. She looked like the type who dressed solely to attract men’s attention. I’m guessing she’s the new bride, from how she clung onto William’s arm like a leech, eyes wide on Phoenix.
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“Let her go!” William repeated, his hard gaze fixed on Phoenix, full of both disbelief and displeasure, even though he was talking to the guards.
The guards released Phoenix instantly, and I moved forward to stop her, but she was faster. She stormed toward William with a ferocity I hadn’t wished to see in her again. Even the bride
took a tentative step back.
“You must be insane?!” she yelled. “To think you could send me this filthy document and expect me to just accept it?” She screamed, flailing a bunch of paper before flinging it.
The papers flew from her hand, slicing through the air before slapping across William’s cheek, one sharp edge nicking the skin just above his perfectly trimmed brow, drawing tiny beads of blood.
Gasps echoed from the few people in the room, people I had no business focusing on right
now.
I recognized the document instantly. It was the same one from last night. The insulting, well–written piece of paper dismissing her motherhood entirely with just a sign.
William blinked in confusion as he bent to pick it up, his brow furrowing deeper with every word he read.
“Wait… what is this?” he muttered, looking confused and almost shocked as he read through the document.
I wanted to scoff at his feigned innocence, but Phoenix beat me to it.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know what that was,” she growled. “Don’t stand there acting like this is all news to you.”
“But it is,” William countered, looking as if it took all his strength to tear his gaze from the paper, not even aware of the bimbo glued to his side, her neck elongated to see the contents of the document. “I didn’t authorize this,” he said, crumpling the paper.
“Bullshit!” Phoenix yelled, throwing her hands up before pointing at him. “That’s your signature. It was stamped and signed, so don’t you dare try to play dumb.”
“Phoenix, I…”
“You’re embarrassing yourself again.”
A smooth voice said, from behind the small crowd that had gathered behind the new couple. Then, an older man I recognized as William’s uncle, tall, slick–suited, with eyes cold as polished granite, stepped forward, hands buried in his pockets.
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“Just like you did before the divorce,” he finished.
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My stomach dropped as the room turned tense with silence. Phoenix’s burning gaze shifted to him. With a sneer, she said, “Screw you.”
The man scoffed. “That’s so like you. Local and foul–mouthed. That’s why you’re not fit to be a wife or a mother,” he said bitterly, and my tongue turned bad from the taste of his words.
“Uncle…” William called his name in warning, just as Phoenix parted her lips for a remark.
But the grey–headed man was just as stubborn as he’d been years ago.
“I authorized it,” He stated, his glare on Phoenix. I straightened where I stood just as Williams asked again.
“I’m sorry, authorized what?”
He met his gaze, “The document, obviously,”
Then he turned to Phoenix, who was shaking with anger. “She was never suitable to carry a child with our name. That mistake couldn’t be stopped, but her being around one of our own can be. I had to get rid of her completely before she messed up my granddaughter.”
The way he said those words, as if it were normal, was painful and familiar. It felt like the way Regina looked at me and berated me. However, mine was different. Regina was once nice, but suddenly changed; however, Phoenix was completely different.
Unlike me, Phoenix wasn’t born with a silver spoon, and as if that hadn’t set her aside in a
school filled with rich kids, Phoenix was known for her wild nature and
l–don’t–give–a–damn–vibes. It was a surprise that we became friends. It was her wildness that led her to William Dash, a popular playboy. Their relationship had started with a one–night stand, to a fling, and then to something I feared was love. It caught everyone by surprise because the two fit. It was like a war and love, water and fire kind of love story, but they fought through it all and stood by each other even when they knew they came from completely different backgrounds.
However, the end of their love relationship came when Phoenix got pregnant. William, a hard boy turned soft, was ready to wed Phoenix, but his family, which consisted of his uncle, turned father, as William had no parents, was against it, as predicted. However, with the agreement to wed and keep their marriage private, the family agreed.
At that time, I had little access to Phoenix, and I was going through my drama of fate, so I didn’t know much about how her life was, but one thing I knew was that William didn’t hide his married status from the world. He was loyal, and everyone knew he was married, but no one knew who his wife was, no matter how far they dug.
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However, behind the curtains, Phoenix was facing fire. She couldn’t make her husband’s family love her no matter how hard she tried to be lovable, but that broke the day they almost made her lose her child. The flame bird she had hidden just to make them love her let loose, and she gave them back everything they gave her. I guess that was when the war truly started.
“Why would you…”
Phoenix’s bitter laugh brought me back to the present, cutting William short. I know I should stop her as planned, but with what the man just said, I think she deserves this stage.
“How convenient for you to say. You know, I’ve kept quiet for years. I’ve played your little game hierarchy by being the obedient hidden wife, the cheap toy you all so love to toss around like garbage. I let you shame me out of your world for the sake of my daughter and the love of my man. I even left without my child, just so she could live a life of privilege….”
“Then why are you here ruining it?” The uncle snapped, cutting her words. “Why come back when you promised to stay away for your daughter’s sake?”
“Because I’ll be damned if I let any of you take her away from me!” Phoenix yelled.
The uncle scoffed. “Then start getting used to being damned because….”
“Uncle,” William said in a harsh whisper, “Let’s talk about this later.”
Then he turned back to Phoenix, who had her gaze locked on the uncle.
“Let’s talk about this somewhere else.”
“No,” she snapped, bringing her gaze back to William. “We’re doing it here. In front of the same people who had shamed me. In front of your little wedding…..bride.”
“Phoenix….”
“Oh, right, it’s too shameful to talk about here, in front of your family? Is that it? Because I’m…
”
“You left!” William yelled, taking everyone by surprise. “Because you left just when your daughter was three months old. I had been lenient about you seeing her after that stunt, so why are you acting up now when asked to permanently drop the name tag?”
Phoenix opened her mouth, but nothing came out. The uncle and the rest of the entertained family watched with interest, constantly whispering into one another’s ears. And well, the bride pulled on Williams‘ shirt, sweetly calling his name to get his attention, but the man was long gone.
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“Or are you just scared someone else might actually be the mother she needs?”
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William was boiling, fists clenched, but it was Phoenix who broke me. She wasn’t fighting anymore. Just standing there, small, like a cornered cat with nowhere to run.
I can’t say what she did was right, but I’m not her. I can’t judge her decisions. She is a mother and must have thought her decision was the best. She had left her child at three months old. She hadn’t left, per se; she had asked for a divorce when Sheila was three months old. According to Phoenix, she had been fed up and had had enough of the hatred. Even William had changed towards her. He was still caring, but it felt like he was exhausted too. So before she and her in–laws ended up killing one another, she decided to leave, but with her child, of
course.
However, as it has always been, the rich won. But William had been kind enough to allow her some restricted moments with her child.
“I… I…” Phoenix was trying to speak when a woman dressed in a black–and–white uniform, formally for maids, approached the staring and obviously irritated bride.
I’d had enough. I stepped out and approached a dumbfounded and broken Phoenix, ignoring the eyes on me.
“Phoenix,” I whispered. She turned her eyes to me, allowing me to see the tears shining in them. My heart tightened at the broken woman in front of me.
“Let’s get you out of here for now.”
She started to shake her head when the bride gasped, “What?” snapping our attention to her.
“What do you mean by she’s missing?” the bride hissed, and the maid visibly shrank back.
“Who is missing?” William asked.
“Sheila. She said she can’t find her.”
The room went dead silent, and my heart seized.
“What?” Phoenix croaked, just as William whispered the same word.
“I can’t find her,” the nanny sobbed. “She had a tantrum earlier. She didn’t want to come out, so I stepped out to get her a snack. When I came back… she was gone.”
I saw Phoenix’s entire body stiffen, her face drained of color, before she broke into a run, calling Sheila’s name at the top of her lungs before anyone could blink. William followed, then the bride and the guards. However, just as Phoenix turned toward the steps, the guards stepped in front of her, blocking her access,
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I glanced at the uncle to see his eyes locked on the scene. The bastard had the time to stay bitter even in a situation like this?
Angry but not ready to indulge, I marched toward a yelling Phoenix, who was demanding that they step aside.
“Phoenix,” I called. “Let’s check outside.”
She turned to me. “No, she’s in there. She has to be there. All I need to do is find her.”
“I get you, but don’t you think they’re more capable of finding her if she’s in the house? Why don’t you leave that to them and focus on searching outside the house?”
She thought about it for a few seconds before agreeing.
“I’ll take the tree’s path!”
I turned toward the trees, the dense path of the villa.
“Sheila!” I shouted. “Sheila, it’s Aunt Ava!”
No response.
Then, rustling.
A shadow stepped out from behind a large tree trunk, so fast and unexpected that I gasped and stumbled, landing on my back.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
