CHAPTER 6 – THE FIANCÉ WITHOUT A MASK
Preston had always been beautiful when cornered.
That was one of his talents. His face softened. His eyes became wounded. His voice dropped into the intimate register he used when Ava felt insecure and needed to be reassured that choosing him meant choosing freedom from her father’s shadow.
“Ava,” he said, reaching for her hand, “don’t let him do this to us.”
She looked at his hand.
For the first time, she did not take it.
The guests watched in a silence so complete that the pool filter sounded loud. Thomas stood several feet away, wet shirt clinging to him, water pooling near his shoes, saying nothing. This part, painful as it was, had to belong to Ava.
Preston tried again. “Your father has always wanted control. He hates that you’re happy.”
Ava’s mouth trembled. “Did you call the estate office?”
He hesitated.
The hesitation was enough.
But Ava needed words. “Did you?”
Preston exhaled sharply. “I was trying to understand our future.”
“Our future?”
“Yes. Married couples share things.”
“We’re not married.”
“That’s because your father is standing in the way.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened, but he still did not interrupt.
Preston leaned closer. “He’s humiliating you. Look around.”
Ava did look.
And what she saw nearly broke her.
Not judgment exactly. Worse. Recognition. Guests who had flattered her all night were now watching her like a cautionary tale. The women who praised her dress looked away. The men who laughed with Preston studied the floor. The friends who called her powerful were quiet now that real power had spoken.
She had wanted this party to prove she had become untouchable.
Instead it proved how easily she had been touched by lies.
Preston’s voice sharpened when softness failed. “You pushed him because you knew he was wrong.”
Ava flinched.
Thomas stepped forward. “No.”
Preston turned on him. “Stay out of this.”
Thomas’s expression became ice. “You do not speak for what my daughter knew.”
The word daughter cracked something in Ava. Not heir. Not embarrassment. Not problem. Daughter.
Even after she shoved him into the pool, he still protected the part of her that was not cruel by nature, only frightened and foolish and proud.
Preston saw the shift and panicked. “Ava, if you let him win, you’ll go back to being a child in his house.”
Ava whispered, “It is his house.”
Preston froze.
May you like
Thomas closed his eyes for half a second.
Because the sentence was small, but it was the first honest thing she had said all night.
