---- Chapter 16 16 The clinic was private, sterile, and inescapable. Ava was sedated, despite her protests. The procedure was quick, efficient When she woke, the slight swell of her belly was gone. A profound, empty devastation filled her. Liam was there, watching her with those cold, dead eyes. "Now, the apology," he said. His team had a camera ready. Under duress, sobbing, Ava recorded a statement. A humiliating confession of her lies, her affair with Liam, her deliberate campaign to hurt Maya. She begged Maya for forgiveness she knew would never come. Liam watched the recording, then had it uploaded to all of Ava's (soon to be former) social media channels. It went viral instantly. The end of Ava Sinclair. But Liam felt no satisfaction. No triumph. Only a deeper, aching void. This hadn't brought Maya back. It wouldn't erase his betrayal. It was just... more destruction. He went back to the empty penthouse. He opened a bottle of scotch, the most expensive one he ---- owned. He drank. And drank. He imagined Maya's face, her disappointment, her quiet strength as she walked away. "I'm sorry, Maya," he slurred to the empty room. "I'm so sorry. I'll find you. I'll make it right." He replayed their life together, searching for the moment it all went wrong. It all came back to him. His choices. His weakness. His arrogance. The alcohol didn't numb the pain. It amplified it. He became a recluse, drinking heavily, alienating everyone. Marc Chen tried to "help." "Liam, buddy, you gotta snap out of it. So Maya left. There are other women. Better women." He brought a leggy blonde to the penthouse, a model type, vaguely resembling a younger Maya. "She's a friend," Marc said. "Thought you could use some company." Liam looked at the woman, at her hopeful, predatory smile. And he exploded. "Get her out!" he roared, his voice hoarse from alcohol and grief. "Get out! Both of you!" He threw a crystal glass against the wall. It shattered, like his life. "There is no one else! There will never be anyone else! Only Maya!" ---- He was a man consumed. Unwavering in his twisted, belated loyalty.