ETHAN'S POV
I'd barely closed the encrypted file Melanie forwarded before I sensed something was off.
There was a quiet, too quiet, pulse in the way the house breathed tonight.
Ava had said she needed space, just an hour or two to herself, but something in her eyes told me that space came with a plan.
Victor.
It didn't take a genius to know she'd contacted him again. I didn't blame her. If the tables were turned, I'd be chasing every lead, every thread. But that didn't mean I could sit back and let her walk alone into danger. Especially now.
Ava was more than my wife. She was my anchor. The mother of my child. The pulse beneath every strategy I'd ever executed since the day she came into my life. And I couldn't let this web around us pull her in deeper.
I pushed away from the desk and paced, hands on my hips, my mind already building the next move. If Ava was playing her piece on the board, then I needed to play mine.
I called Marcus.
"Track Victor. Now."
