AVA
Maxim's words only made her anger boil over.
"What exactly is there for us to talk about, Maxim?" she demanded. "I feel like it's all perfectly clear. I got arrested, and you—my so-called boyfriend—decided to skip town and go on vacation in Hawaii because you never actually gave a damn about me."
"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Ava," Maxim said, taking a step toward her. "That's not what happened. I didn't leave you willingly."
Ava let out a scornful laugh.
"Really?" she asked. "Then enlighten me."
She folded her arms across her chest.
"What happened? Did you catch some deadly virus and have to be quarantined in Hawaii?"
Maxim shook his head.
"No, but I—"
"Oh, I know," Ava cut in mockingly. "You were abducted by aliens who also live in Hawaii. That's it, isn't it?"
She gave him a slow, sarcastic nod. She then continued to speak.
"Wait minute... maybe you—"
"I GOT INTO A CAR ACCIDENT, AVA!"
Maxim's voice thundered through the apartment, cutting straight through Ava's mocking words.
Silence crashed over the room after he spoke.
"W-What?" Ava finally managed, staring at him as though he wasn't real all over again.
After those words, Maxim took a step back and inhaled deeply.
He began pacing the apartment slowly, running a hand through his hair.
"Five years ago, I was in a car accident that wiped out most of my memories, Ava," he said quietly. "Including my memories of you... of us... even parts of myself."
He stopped pacing and looked directly at her.
"I didn't remember you, Ava. No one told me about you—not even my own family. It was as if you'd never existed for me."
His jaw tightened.
"I only got my memories back yesterday when I saw you at my trial. Seeing you must have triggered them somehow or maybe it was a punch in the face," He let out a shaky breath. "The point is, I've been trying to find you ever since."
Staring at Maxim, Ava was officially dumbstruck.
Never in a million years had she imagined hearing a story like that.
It sounded insane.
Maybe because it was insane, Ava thought.
Maybe Maxim was making the whole thing up for some unknown reason.
That certainly made more sense than what he was saying.
She blinked rapidly before finally finding her voice again.
"N-No... I never heard anything about you being in a car accident ,"she said, mostly to herself. "It's impossible ."
Maxim gave her a pitying look.
"Nothing is impossible when you have money and influence like my father," he told her. "It wouldn't have been much of a challenge for him to bury something like this."
Ava continued shaking her head, her expression still skeptical.
"Stop lying, Maxim. I saw the pictures you posted around that time. You were in Hawaii, looking like you were having the time of your life."
"Those pictures were probably photoshopped, Ava." Maxim's voice grew more desperate. "Don't you understand? He tricked you. I'm not making any of this up."
"Prove it," Ava challenged immediately.
"Sure." Maxim shrugged. "I can show you my medical reports on my phone. Hell, I'll even call my doctors."
Maxim hated explaining himself, but to get Ava back, he was willing to grovel if he had to.
"Not good enough, Maxim," Ava replied immediately, shaking her head. "If what you're saying about your father is true, those could be faked. You are a Holloway too, after all."
Maxim stared at her in surprise. He'd forgotten how sharp Ava was beneath all that sweetness.
He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, fine. How about I get my sister, Clara, to tell you the truth? She lied to me too, but she's desperate to get back into my good books now."
Ava snorted in derision.
"Your sister will tell me whatever you ask her to tell me. She's your sister, after all."
Maxim threw his arms out in frustration.
"How should I convince you then, Ava?" he demanded. "I don't know how to prove something like this to you. It's impossible. The only person you'd believe is my stepfather who started this whole thing but he'll never admit the truth to you."
"Well," Ava said coolly, "that sounds like a very convenient excuse."
Maxim looked genuinely exasperated.
"Why would I lie, Ava?" he asked after a long moment, his voice much quieter.
It was a good question, Ava acknowledged.
And one she didn't have an answer to.
Damn it.
Ava licked her lips nervously before giving a small shrug.
"Well, I don't know, Maxim. Who knows what goes on in your twisted mind?"
At her words, one corner of Maxim's mouth lifted, and for a moment she thought he was actually going to smile.
Instead, he just sighed, looking down at the floor.
"Okay... now you're just trying to hurt my feelings."
Without waiting for a response, Maxim turned and walked over to the couch before dropping onto it unceremoniously.
Ava could practically hear the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out how to convince her.
Or, more accurately...
Trick her.
She watched him nervously, wondering if she was a match for his dark, yet obviously brilliant, mind.
She doubted it.
Ava thought about running, but she knew she couldn't escape because Maxim still had her keys. She also doubted she could steal them back from him, so she resigned herself to staying right where she was, close to the front door.
Even though it was locked, being near the exit comforted her.
Maxim turned to her again.
"I don't understand why you don't believe me, Ava," Maxim said quietly. "You, of all people, know how I felt about you."
Ava swallowed before slowly walking farther into her living room.
Against her better judgment, she gingerly sat on the sofa opposite Maxim.
"All I know is that five years ago, I needed you, Maxim... and you weren't there," she said, emotion tightening her voice.
Maxim lowered his gaze.
"And you have no idea how sorry I am about that."
He looked back at her.
"Tell me... how did you manage to deal with the false charges against you?" he asked.
Ava tried to suppress the pathetic feeling of relief that came from hearing Maxim acknowledge she had been innocent.
She knew she shouldn't care but she did.
"I managed," she said laconically. "That's all that matters... and I don't like talking about it."
Ava wasn't being entirely honest. She didn't like to talk about the topic but the reason she didn't want to right now was because Imogen's name would come up. Then Blake's name would follow and things were a already a complicated enough without him getting mentioned.
Maxim reluctantly nodded to her request, but Ava could tell he would bring the subject up again sooner or later.
"Fine. But I'm begging you to believe me, Ava. Just think about all of this again. Think about how good things were between us back then. Think about all the wonderful memories we shared. Do you honestly believe I'd just leave all that without saying a single word?"
Ava didn't answer.
She hated to admit it, but when he put it that way...
It did sound strange.
Despite everything that had happened, Ava couldn't help thinking that what she and Maxim had shared had been extremely special. It had felt as though they had been made for each other. It was why, after all these years, she was still hung up on him.
But it couldn't have meant the same to Maxim.
Everyone in Havari had always thought he was a psychopath, and after what he had done to her, Ava had been forced to agree.
Their relationship had always been too good to be true, she thought.
Ava was pulled from her thoughts when Maxim suddenly stood and began pacing the room again.
This time, when he looked at her, his expression was a mixture of pain and frustration.
"You know I have questions of my own as well," he said, "like why you never came to talk to me, Ava."
Ava frowns as Maxim continued.
"I mean, we were in a relationship. And I told you I was committed to you, you assured me of the same. So when you were suddenly fed some bullshit story about me abandoning you, why did you just accept it?"
"I did not just accept it," Ava shot back sharply. "I called you hundreds of times."
She rose to her feet.
"And you never answered once. Neither did your mom or your sister."
Maxim let out a humorless laugh.
"Wow. Sounds like you really went above and beyond for me."
Hurt and anger surged through Ava at the heavy sarcasm in his voice.
It seemed to her that he was trying to paint himself as the victim.
What a psychopath, Ava thought.
As she looked at him, she thought she saw genuine hurt lingering in Maxim's cold blue eyes.
But no.
She had to be imagining it.
Maxim was a psychopath.
And Maxim was lying.
She was the only victim here.
Ava felt an overwhelming need to defend herself.
Maxim might currently have the upper hand, but she wasn't going to let Maxim paint her as the villain in this story.
"That wasn't all I did, Maxim," she said through gritted teeth. "I tried every way I could think of to contact everyone who knew you, asking where you were and why you'd left me, but no one knew. They all said you'd cut them off too."
She took a shaky breath.
"And do you know who else I went to see?"
She didn't give him a chance to answer.
"Your father."
Maxim stopped pacing and stared at her in surprise.
"Jonathan?" he asked, genuine surprise crossing his face.
Ava nodded.
She told herself it didn't necessarily mean anything that Jonathan had never mentioned her visit to Maxim. The two of them had never communicated well anyway.
"You weren't answering my calls," Ava continued, "so I went to him, intending to beg him to help me get in touch with you."
She laughed bitterly.
"That's how desperate I was, Max. I went to the one man who had made it quite clear he couldn't stand me."
Silence settled over the room for a long moment before Ava spoke again.
"And do you know what he told me?" she asked quietly.
Maxim didn't answer.
He dreaded to hear what she'd say.
"He told me you wanted nothing to do with me anymore."
Her lip trembled slightly.
"He said you'd gotten tired of me... and that you didn't want the burden of helping a nobody like me deal with her stupid criminal charges."
Maxim slowly shook his head, anger and disbelief written across his face. He then sighed.
"He lied to you, Ava,"Maxim said quietly. "Just like he lied to me about you.He manipulated both of us."
For a moment, Maxim just stood there, his face unreadable.
Then, after a moment's hesitation, he turned to Ava and started walking toward her.
It took everything Ava had to stand her ground, not to turn and make another desperate run for the door.
It wasn't courage that kept her rooted in place, though.
It was Maxim.
The way he looked at her as he approached...
It was almost hypnotic.
When Maxim finally stopped in front of her, his expression seemed vulnerable in a way it hadn't been since he'd entered Ava's apartment.
His hands slowly reached up to cup Ava's face.
She flinched instinctively, unable to stop herself.
The movement made something flicker across Maxim's face, but it didn't stop him.
He gently cradled her cheeks in his hands.
"Ava," he said softly. "I swear to you, I didn't leave you. I would never do that. From the moment I met you, you've meant everything to me."
His thumbs lightly brushed against her skin.
"You still do... and I-I want to be with you."
The sincerity in his eyes and the vulnerability in his voice made Ava's conviction waver for the first time.
A large part of her found it increasingly difficult to believe that Maxim was lying.
Ava pressed her lips together, uncertain what to believe.
Maxim was standing so close to her that she could smell the faint scent of mint on his breath.
Strangely...
She didn't hate the closeness as much as she felt she should.
"You believe me, don't you, sweetheart?" Maxim asked in a low voice. "You believe I'd never leave you if I could help it."
Ava swallowed before speaking, seeking the answer inside her heart.
"I do," she whispered finally. "I believe you, Max."
Relief flooded Maxim's face when she said this.
He let out a shaky breath, a smile slowly spreading across his lips.
It was the first genuine smile Ava had seen from him that night.
Ava couldn't help thinking how beautiful it was.
When she spoke again, her voice caught.
"But even though I believe you... I c-can't be with you, Max."
At her words, the smile vanished from Maxim's face instantly.