---- Chapter 15 15 Ava burst out of the elevator, screaming for help. The crowd, momentarily dispersed, surged forward again. But their mood had shifted. Liam's security team had quietly shown a few key figures in the crowd the evidence from Ava's phone - her taunting messages to Maya, her boasts about trapping Liam. The narrative had flipped. Now, the crowd saw Ava not as a victim, but as a manipulative liar. Their outrage turned on her. "Fraud!" "Gold digger!" "You faked it all!" They surrounded her, shouting, spitting. Someone threw a drink. Ava, terrified, tried to fight her way through, but they pressed in, their faces contorted with rage. She stumbled, fell. Hands grabbed at her, tore at her clothes. It was ugly. Vicious. Liam watched from the lobby entrance, his face impassive. He let it go on for a few minutes. Let her feel the consequences of her actions. ---- Then, he signaled his security. They waded into the mob, pulled a disheveled, sobbing Ava out. They brought her back into the lobby, a broken, humiliated wreck. Liam walked towards her. "You will make a public apology," he said, his voice cold. "To Maya. You will confess everything. Your lies, your manipulations, your harassment." Ava shook her head, defiant even now. "Never." "And then," Liam continued, as if she hadn't spoken, "you will terminate the pregnancy." Ava gasped, her eyes wide with horror. "No! You can't make me! It's your child!" "It's an obstacle," Liam said. "An obstacle to any hope | have of ever getting Maya back. And | will remove all obstacles." He gestured to his men. "Take her to the clinic. Dr. Alistair is expecting her." Dr. Alistair. A discreet, expensive doctor known for handling... sensitive situations for the wealthy. Ava fought, screamed, pleaded. But Liam's men were efficient. They half-carried, half-dragged her towards a waiting SUV. She clung to her belly, a desperate, animalistic instinct to protect her child. Her last bargaining chip. Her last hope. Liam watched, unmoved. ---- This was not justice. This was retribution. And it was only the beginning of his descent.