Chapter 92
That was William's hand.
The hand that had once explored every inch of her body was now tightly holding another woman's.
Ava curled up under the covers, clutching the blanket tightly, struggling to breathe.
He was the kind of person who could easily move her to tears two days ago and completely break her heart now.
He had already left for Emerald City without telling her, while she had been foolishly worrying about him not being used to the hotel shampoo when washing his hair at night.
Sarah knew he was returning to Emerald City today, yet she, as his wife, had to find out about his schedule through someone else's Facebook.
The countless promises he had made while pressing her down echoed in her ears—he said their marriage wouldn't involve Sarah, said he would handle his relationship with Sarah properly, but what was the result?
Ava laughed through her tears. How could she believe what a man says in bed? Only an idiot like her would fall for such nonsense.
She leaned against the headboard, gently stroking her belly, constantly asking the two little lives inside, "Babies, what should Mommy do?"
She so desperately wanted to give her children a complete family, but if it was like her own family growing up, with parents who didn't love each other, that would be an invisible wound to the children, too.
Near dawn, the sound of a car engine came from downstairs.
Ava knew he was back.
She composed herself and lay back under the covers, facing away from the door, pretending to sleep.
Within minutes, the bedroom door opened. William went to the bathroom first for a shower, then returned to bed with a cool freshness about him.
A large hand slid along her waist to her belly and stopped. His warmth spread from her belly, making Ava's heart tremble involuntarily.
"Did I wake you?"
His voice was heavy, clearly showing he was in a bad mood.
Ava made a sound of acknowledgment, her voice unusually cold. She pushed away the hand on her belly, suddenly feeling he didn't deserve to be this close to the babies inside.
That hand had held Sarah's—the babies would be so disgusted if they knew.
William felt her coldness and abruptly pulled back the arm she had pushed away. Leaning against the headboard, he took out a cigarette and held it between his fingers. As the lighter's flame sparked, his mind filled with memories of her disgusted expression the last time he smoked in front of her.
After hesitating for a few seconds, he gave up, irritably tossing the cigarette and lighter aside.
"Ava, I decided to come back at the last minute."
In other words, he hadn't had time to notify her.
He was explaining why he came back in the middle of the night, not knowing what this woman was upset about, though he vaguely sensed it was related to his return.
But it was just a simple explanation—for him, this already counted as lowering his head to admit fault.
Looking at all of Emerald City, the people who had made him lower his head were probably only Howard and this woman before him. William smiled bitterly, not even knowing when she had come to occupy such an important place in his heart.
Ava lay on her side on the pillow, now calm enough to ignore his existence.
William sat stiffly for a few minutes before slowly lying down in the middle of the large bed. He glanced at the woman sleeping on the edge, who could roll onto the floor with one turn, avoiding him like a flood or wild beast. He held back and didn't disturb her further.
The two shared one blanket with a clear boundary between them.
At daybreak, Ava got up. He was already gone from his side of the bed.
Just then, the phone call she'd been waiting for finally came.
Ava answered urgently.
"Sam, what happened yesterday?"
"Ms. Davis, I was just about to tell you about this. Yesterday on the road, we discovered that a car was following you, so we forced it to stop. Don't worry, it's not a big deal; we've handled it. My buddy and I are guarding outside your house, still secretly protecting your safety."
Ava's heart sank—that car had indeed been coming for her.
"Was there someone else in the car?"
The man on the other end of the phone hesitated before answering.
"There was also that Sarah woman. But don't worry, she won't dare come looking for trouble with you again anytime soon."
Ava didn't understand what Sam meant by "Sarah won't come looking for trouble anytime soon" until the morning meeting at the company, when she noticed Sarah wasn't there. The system showed she had taken sick leave.
In the afternoon, she heard colleagues discussing visiting her at the hospital. Someone said Ms. Brown had been in a car accident and broken her right leg.
After thinking it over several times, Ava decided to call Sam to get the details. She found a private place to talk and called him.
"Sam, do you know the details about Sarah's car accident?"
Sam, on the other end, spoke hesitantly.
"Ms. Davis, Johnny and I spent last night at the police station and were only released on bail this morning. I don't know much about that woman's car accident. Don't worry—if she died, she had it coming."
On the other end of the phone, Sam's words carried hidden meaning. Ava began to form a terrifying idea. If Sam and Johnny had spent the night at the police station, then they weren't the ones who did it. Michael's gentle, jade-like face suddenly appeared in her mind. This thought startled even herself.
Speak of the devil—after hanging up, Ava saw Michael walking out of the building, wearing a neatly pressed suit, his glasses reflecting gentle light in the sun.
"Ava, what are you doing here?"
Michael walked over casually. Ava stared at his glasses, suddenly realizing she had never clearly seen the eyes behind those lenses.
If he really was behind all those things, how deep and unfathomable must those eyes behind the lenses be?
"Michael, I... came out to make a phone call."
Michael smiled calmly, his expression like a spring breeze. "Come back to the Morgan Mansion for dinner when you have time. Howard talks about you every day."
Ava sighed, studying Michael carefully, as if meeting him for the first time, finding this person strange from head to toe. William's warning echoed in her ears: "Don't get too close to Michael. He's not as simple as he seems."
"Mr. Morgan..."
His assistant, who had been following behind, finished a phone call and walked over, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Michael adjusted his glasses.
"Ava, remember to call me if anyone bullies you."
Then he added, "Anything at all!"
Ava nodded woodenly. Michael's gentle image in her mind had been completely overturned. At this moment, she felt he must be someone not to be trifled with, even more dangerous than William, that proud peacock. And she had the fortune of being someone he protected.
Michael seemed to have urgent matters to handle. After briefly saying goodbye to Ava, he returned to the building with his assistant.
Ava stared at his retreating figure for a long time, feeling she needed to reconsider her relationship with Michael. She couldn't be sure anymore whether Michael really saw her as his nephew's wife.
For two days in a row, William wasn't at the company during lunch. Ava ate the meals sent from the Morgan Mansion alone in his office. He had been extremely busy these past two days, coming home late at night and staying in his study until midnight before entering the bedroom.
Ava thought it was just as well that he was busy—it meant he had less energy to torment her.
The secret she had prepared to tell him never found the right moment.
After three days, the results of the Morgan Group's internal design competition came out. The top three designs, along with their like counts, were posted on the official website.
Ava saw the numbers under her work—more than the combined total of second and third place. She had wanted to keep a low profile, never expecting that the bracelet she had rushed to complete would be so popular with the public.
In this competition, she had gone from last place in the first round to a commanding first place, making quite a splash within the company.
The design department was already the center of gossip at the Morgan Group, and now the name "Ava Davis" was known by tens of thousands of employees throughout the company.
Other colleagues in the design department also began to see her in a new light, no longer treating her with their former coldness.
Before the end of the workday, the CEO's office called.
"Ava, come to the CEO's office now."
William's voice on the phone was steady, completely different from when he had flirted with her on video a few days ago.
Ava wondered what could be so important that William had to specifically call her upstairs. Couldn't he wait a bit and tell her at home?
She locked her computer screen and went upstairs with her phone.