Chapter 0345
I didn’t sleep well last night, and it shows in the way I look this morning. I am exhausted, both mentally and physically. Rowan and I haven’t slept in the same bed since the night of our date. For the first time since then, I’d been tempted to invite him after we came home from the police station.
I walk slowly to the kitchen. It was still early, and I was probably the only one that was awake. I needed coffee ASAP because I had to take Gunner back. Calvin said he would be busy and might not be able to pick him up, so I offered to drop him off.
Yawning, I cross the threshold to the kitchen but stop dead in my tracks. Rowan was seated at the kitchen island with a steaming cup.
He turns when he hears me, and our eyes clash.
“You couldn’t sleep?” he asks, standing up.
I just nod my head as I watch him open the cupboard to get another cup. Without my asking, he pours me coffee from the pot.
“I thought I was the only one awake,” I mutter as I take a seat next to
me.
“Nope”
Even now, my mind is still playing everything Brian told us. The evidence was incriminating. There was no way to prove otherwise. Brian told us that they would begin trial immediately, and with how things looked, Emma faced thirty to fifty years in prison.
Something about that bothered me. I couldn’t place it. It was in the back of my mind, but just out of reach.
“Is it about Emma?” Rowan asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
I take a sip, trying to clear my head with the caffeine. “Yes. I can’t get everything we learned out of my mind.”
He nods his head. “Fuck. It’s so unbelievable. I never thought she would go that far, but thinking about it now, maybe I just didn’t know her as well as I thought.”
His voice turns cold, and his eyes become dangerous. I know Rowan, and right now, I know he’s thinking of ways to avenge me. It’s like he’s forgotten the history he and Emma shared.
Being on Rowan’s shit list is similar to being dead. He’ll destroy you and make sure there’s nothing left. I know this because I was his enemy once, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. So many times I thought of just packing and running away because of everything he put me through.
If indeed Emma is guilty, I feel sorry for her because what she went through in prison would be nothing but a taste. It will seem like a fairytale compared to what will come next.
“I don’t believe she did it,” I murmured, staring at the steaming black liquid before looking up at Rowan.
His gaze shows surprise. “What? Brian showed us the fucking evidence, Ava.”.
“I know, but my gut tells me that she’s innocent. I can’t explain, and I should be the one at the forefront, demanding, but I just don’t believe the evidence. Emma may be a lot of things, but a killer isn’t one of them.”
His gaze continues to search mine, as if he thinks I’ve just lost my damn mind. Maybe I have, but it doesn’t change the fact that I believe Emma is innocent.
“How can you be sure?” he asks, his brows pulled down in a frown.” This is the woman who has schemed, lied, and threatened since she came back. How sure are you that in her fucking quest to get me back she didn’t think of eliminating you because you were a threat?”
His question makes pretty good sense. All I have is a gut feeling. That is not enough… And what if he is right? What if what makes me think she’s innocent is a familial bond? I mean, we’ve been estranged, but before that, we were family, even though we didn’t get along.
Sighing, I take a sip of my coffee. I don’t know how to explain it to him. Rowan is one of those people who trusts facts. Without evidence, I won’t be able to sway him. Without evidence, I won’t be able to sway anyone.
Synopsis
Ava: Nine years ago I did something terrible. it wasn’t one of my best moments but I saw an opportunity to have the guy I’ve loved since I was a young girl and I took it. Fast forward to years later and I’m tired of living in a loveless marriage. I want to free both of us from a marriage that should never have taken place. They say if you love something…. It was time to let him go. I know he’ll never love me and that I’ll never be his choice. His heart will always belong to Her and despite my sins, I deserve to be loved. Rowan: Nine years ago, I was so in love I could barely see right. I ruined it when I made the worst mistake of my life and in the process I lost the love of my life. I knew I had to step up in my responsibility and so I did, with an unwanted wife. With the wrong woman. Now she has once again flipped my life by divorcing me. To make matters even more complicated, the love of my life is back in town. Now the only question is, who is the right woman? Is it the girl I fell head over heels in love with years ago? or is it my ex wife, the woman I never wanted but had to marry?
