Chapter 126: The Bomb is Empty

Smoking?

A twinge of loss crossed her mind, it wasn't what she'd expected, was she overthinking it?

"Ava,"  Ryan exhaled a puff of smoke, his gaze lifting from the lake and slowly falling to Ava, but with a guilty expression on his face. "The divorce papers were mailed to her a couple weeks ago, but somehow my mom suddenly changed her mind."

Ryan's voice was hesitant as he continued, "After all, my marriage is a matter for the entire Golden Group, it's not just me who can make the decision, so just be patient for a little while longer, after this stormy time, okay?"

Ava didn't expect that what he wanted to say would be this, which was very different from what she originally thought, her heart thumped, and a great despair swept over her heart in an instant.

But she still forced her composure, tried to squeeze out a smile, and said lightly, "I thought what was wrong, how big a deal."

"Then ...... this will be returned to you first."  Saying that, Ava took out the small box from her bag and put it on the table, pushing it towards Ryan with her hand as she did so, "I can't accept this, it's too early."

Ryan looked at the small box on the table, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, "This?"

At the sound of his voice, Ava raised her eyes and looked at him incredulously, "You didn't know?"

Without saying a word, Ryan took the box on one side and opened it right up, suddenly understanding something.

So someone had given this to her?

Ryan's face changed abruptly, and for a moment, he had mixed feelings inside. A sense of crisis that he was going to lose her and another sense of guilt that he had given this to her because it wasn't him who had given it to her, mingled and stirred his heart.

"How did you get this?"  The man closed the box in one go, his tone as calm as ever, as if nothing had happened.

On the way back, Ava looked out the window at the scenery that kept passing by, but her heart was full of complexity.

James, it's you, isn't it?

If it wasn't for Ryan, there wouldn't be another person other than James who would send him this.

Ava couldn't help but close her eyes, recalling what it was like for her and James four months ago.

As far as she could remember, he had been by her side for a while then, but she had never promised him anything.

"If you really can't let go, go meet up."  Off to the side, the voice of Ryan, who was driving the car, suddenly rang out, breaking her thoughts.

Ava was stunned and looked at him as if she was waking up from a dream, only to see Ryan driving the car on one side, his exquisite side face was facing her, her heart couldn't help but move, he could actually guess what she was thinking at the moment.

But Ava chose not to pretend to understand, "What did you say, Ryan?"

The air was quiet for a few seconds.

Suddenly, however, the car came to an abrupt stop, Ryan's hands releasing from the steering wheel and letting out a low sigh, and Ava looked over at him, unaware of what was going on, only to see the man's face sunk in a shadow.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you what you wanted."  Ryan paused, a deep sense of frustration in his tone, "And he, on the other hand, did."

"I know, that's what you've been waiting for for a long time, isn't it, Ava."

Ava looked to him, unabashedly, "But it's you I love, Ryan."

At that, a pale smile pulled at the man's face, and he couldn't help but caress her face with one hand, "Ava, I love you."

The next second, he kissed her heavily, without any hesitation.

Ava accepted the kiss, taking the initiative to press against him, feeling his scent, filling her with a sense of security as it permeated her surroundings.

In that moment, it suddenly dawned on her that the frustration she had just felt, the complexity she had just felt, might just be because James was a little different from what she thought he was.

Don't forget, he was the one who personally strapped the bomb on her.

It was hard to believe that bad guys could be sincere if they were, and he actually had a heart?

Ending the kiss, Ryan looked askance into her eyes and said, suddenly and seriously

"Let's go see him, he's got an indictment the day after tomorrow."

.......

 London Detention Center.

It was a month after seeing James again, when he, handcuffed and cuffed, staggered towards the interview room under the watchful eye of the prison guards.

Ava didn't expect that after only a few months of not seeing him, the man who used to be so spirited had already changed into this, with a few gray hairs on his temples visible to the eye.

He is a felon, according to reason is not eligible to receive visits, Ryan went through some channels, which was able to meet with him.

James eased himself down in his seat and Ava and Ryan sat across from him.

"You guys are here."

James glanced at them, his lips opening and closing without any rise or fall in his voice.

"As I said last time, I'll get you a lawyer ......"

"Don't bother."  James faintly interrupted Ryan's words, shook his head, and while laughing at himself, he spoke, "I don't care about this life anymore for a long time, I myself know what crime I'm committing."

Ava's heart was even more inexplicably depressed when she heard him say that, and with that in mind, she suddenly looked up and said to Ryan, "Ryan, I'd like to talk to him alone."

Ryan nodded and stood up to go out first.

Ava and James were the only two left, looking at each other face to face, speechless.

"I got your ring."  Ava opened her mouth first, her voice dark, "You sent it, didn't you, four months ago."

James' face was faintly expressionless, thought it was because he himself had forgotten that he had ever even done such a thing for her, and after a moment the man let out a clouded 'hmmm', as if remembering.

"It's been a long time."  He thought back, his gaze looking into the distance, seemingly recalling his own state of mind back then, and suddenly his lips curled into a hidden smile, "Even if it was, to make up for the dog's tail before."

When he said that, Ava also remembered, at that time in the Golden Triangle, when he proposed to her, due to too much haste and wretchedness, he temporarily folded a dog's tail grass by the side of the road and made it into a ring for her.

"Sometimes I really don't understand you."  Ava spoke silently, "It's not that I can't feel your heart, but in the end, you still tied the bomb to my body with your own hands, James, do you really want to kill me?"

James looked her in the eyes and suddenly laughed, a reckless, open-hearted laugh, and

Ava looked up at him, puzzled.

"Didn't the police tell you?"  James tightened his smile, a hint of hopelessness in his voice, "The bomb was empty."

"What?"

Hearing that, for a moment Ava was too surprised to speak, she didn't hear it wrong, he said the bomb was empty.

"Seriously?"

James was silent for a few seconds, raised his head and looked seriously at the woman in front of him.

"I do want that bad guy dead, but I don't want to hurt you."

Ava looked at him in disbelief, she had never known about this, the police hadn't told her the truth, perhaps they felt that a sinner was a sinner, and compared to the enormity of the crimes he had committed, these little bits and pieces of detail were no longer necessary to publicize.

"Even so, approaching me in the beginning was because I was his daughter, wasn't it, just the first point, I'm confused, how did you know?"

At that time when James started approaching her, no one knew about her birth, not even herself, and James seemed to have become the first person to know the truth.

"I wasn't the first to know."  However, James seemed to guess what she was thinking and interrupted her speculation.

The expression on Ava's face became even more puzzled; could it be that someone had already known the truth about all of this a long time ago and was secretly watching.

"Who is it? Who the hell is it?"  Ava asked sharply, her hands shaking uncontrollably.

There was no need for James to hide anything from her now, and looking askance into her eyes, he uttered a name that was more than familiar to her, the

"Vivian,"  James spoke in a single word, " I overheard her diary, long before she knew you were the Dawson's daughter."