Chapter 174 Joshua and Ryan Started Fighting
"Joshua." Ava's face lit up, and she was about to walk toward Joshua when Ryan grabbed her back and pulled her into his arms.
Joshua's face was as cold as the bottom of an icy glacier.
"Ava, will you come with me?" Ryan suddenly asked.
Ava frowned at him.
"Come with me. I'll take you away. Have you forgotten how he abandoned you and your child back then? And now he can't even protect you properly, letting you get hurt like this. Do you still want to go back to his side and continue..." suffering?
Before Ryan could finish, Ava already felt waves of coldness sweeping over from the doorway.
Ava turned her head toward the door in alarm to look at Joshua, then bit her teeth and looked back at Ryan. "Stop talking."
"Am I not telling the truth?"
"What happened before is all in the past." Joshua had been trying his best to make things right. These past days, Ava could see it, she could see that Joshua was trying his best to make amends, both to her and to the children.
"This incident wasn't his fault." Will and Mia's kidnapping was premeditated and prepared. Anyone would have been caught off guard.
Ava struggled to break free from Ryan's hold. "Let me go."
Ryan's lips curved into a smile. His long arm hooked around Ava's shoulder, holding her even tighter. "Joshua, Ava won't go back with you, because she's mine.
I've known her since five years ago. I can take a knife or bullet for her—can you? I can give up everything and come to Silverlight City for her, but back then you didn't chase after her to Astoria.
When she gave birth to Finn and Cleo, I was by her side. I was the first man to hold her children. Joshua, you were so heartless back then, so what kind of devoted act are you putting on now?"
Ryan laughed mockingly.
"Why are you looking at me like that? What, are you jealous?" Ryan continued fearlessly. "You should be jealous. I've experienced far more with her than you have."
Ava really felt like she was going crazy, suffocated by the intense tension between these two men.
With his arm still hooked around her shoulder, just as she was about to struggle free, the man beside her leaned slightly and whispered in her ear in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Be good, okay? Since I've chased you all the way to Silverlight City and confessed my feelings, I won't give up easily. If you keep moving, I'll kiss you right in front of him. You know me—I'm completely shameless."
Ava's brow twitched uncontrollably.
Ryan was satisfied that Ava stopped struggling. She glared at him fiercely, and a faint smile crossed Ryan's eyes as he lifted his chin and looked at Joshua provocatively.
Joshua clenched his jaw, using all his strength to suppress the urge to rush over and punch Ryan. His narrow eyes were filled with icy coldness.
"You're asking for it."
"I'm asking for it? Am I not telling the truth? Do you dare say you didn't abandon her back then, didn't bully her?"
"Ryan, enough! Stop bringing up the past." Ava was really afraid these two men would suddenly start fighting.
"Why not bring it up? Which part of what I said was wrong?" Ryan's eyes were full of anger. "Joshua, have you forgotten how you treated her back then? She loved you, but you didn't cherish her. You wanted to divorce her for another woman, forced her to abort the baby.
Now look, she's had the children, and you've barged back into her world, demanding to possess her. Joshua, what gives you the right?
Because she loves you?
Well, let me tell you, sooner or later I'll replace you in her heart."
Ava's worry was justified. Ryan's repeated provocations made the already furious Joshua suddenly clench his fist and swing it at Ryan.
This punch was full of rage. The force of it swept past Ava's cheek with such terrifying speed and power that it was frightening.
Ryan dodged quickly.
To avoid accidental injury, Ava was pushed aside.
Ryan didn't back down either. When the fists of these two men, both trained for years, struck at each other, they carried a chilling force.
"Yes! What you said is true. I was wrong back then. I didn't cherish her. But what's that got to do with you!" Joshua suddenly grabbed Ryan's fist. "I love her. From now on, I'll only love her. Her heart only has room for me—you can't occupy even a fraction of it."
"Is that so?"
Ryan's lips curved into a wicked smile. When Joshua's fist came at his face, he didn't dodge or avoid it, taking the punch squarely. His body jerked to the side, hitting the pillar nearby.
"Ryan!" Ava's pupils contracted.
Joshua saw that Ryan did it on purpose, but he had no intention of stopping. He stepped forward and grabbed Ryan by the collar.
"Joshua!" Ava didn't know where she found the strength, but she blocked Ryan a few seconds faster than Joshua could throw his punch.
Joshua's pupils shrank sharply. Unable to pull back his fist in time, and to avoid hitting her, he punched the wall beside them instead.
An overwhelming coldness surged through Joshua's dark brows, his voice full of disbelief. "You're... protecting him?"
She used her own body to shield him.
Ryan's bloodied lips curved into a wicked smile, his brows raised as he looked at Joshua provocatively.
That look clearly said: She's protecting me. Do you understand what I mean to her now?
Even though he didn't want to admit it, Joshua knew that Ryan held a different place in Ava's life.
Even knowing this, when the fact was displayed so nakedly before him, his heart still felt unbearably blocked.
Ryan said, "That really hurt!"
Ava closed her eyes briefly.
"Joshua, stop fighting. I'll go back with you." Ava held Joshua's clenched fists with both hands, her eyes carefully pleading. "Okay?"
She really didn't want either Joshua or Ryan to get hurt.
When Joshua's murderous gaze turned to Ava, though it softened a bit, it was still incredibly intimidating. Ava's expression stiffened.
Suddenly, Joshua raised his hand to hook the back of Ava's neck, his cool lips pressing hard against hers.
Ava's body trembled sharply. Joshua held her and kissed her as if no one else was there, as if he wanted to devour her completely.
It was full of possessiveness, desperately trying to prove that she was his, his alone.
She knew he was angry because she had just protected Ryan. Somehow, she just let him do it.
Not being pushed away by Ava, Joshua felt slightly better, like something lost had been found again. He didn't make things difficult for her, pulling her hand into his embrace.
Ryan's eyes were full of rage, rage that wanted to destroy everything.
Today it seemed they had to settle this once and for all.
Ava immediately spoke up to stop them. "Are you going to keep fighting? Do you have to beat each other to death today?"
"You punch me, I punch you back—what's the point?" If they were going to keep fighting, Ava was truly angry.
"If you're going to fight, get lost and do it somewhere else, not in front of me. You're an eyesore." Ava was extremely irritated.