---- Chapter 10 Chloe felt a surge of panic, then frustration. Her carefully constructed narrative was crumbling. How did they get all this? Ava. It had to be Ava. That quiet, mousy woman had more fight in her than Chloe anticipated. Chloe sobbed, clutching Mark's hand, her eyes wide and pleading. "Mark, darling, yes, | sent some messages. | was hurt! Ava was being so cruel, trying to break us up! | was defending our love!" A partial confession, immediately twisted into a fabricated narrative of victimhood. "And the money... it was a loan! For the business! | was going to pay it all back! Ava is twisting everything, making me look like a monster! She's jealous, Mark! Jealous of our happiness, our baby!" She feigned emotion, her voice choked with tears, a detailed, false narrative pouring out. Mark, despite the cold, hard evidence the reporters were shouting, found himself wanting to believe Chloe. Ava had been distant, cold. Chloe was... passionate, alive. He remembered Chloe's vulnerability, her "twisted ankle," her "black mold." He had saved her. ---- His doubts wavered. Chloe's tearful performance was convincing. "Oh, Chloe," he said, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so sorry. | didn't realize... Ava has been... difficult." Gullibility. Misplaced guilt. Renewed loyalty. "She will pay for this," he vowed, his voice tight with anger at Ava. "She will apologize to you." Mark furiously tried calling Ava. No answer. The number was disconnected. Anger. Dismissal. He couldn't believe she'd cut him off. He sent a barrage of angry texts to her old number, knowing they wouldn't go through, but needing to vent. "Ava, how could you? After everything Chloe has been through! You are ungrateful and cruel! You owe her an apology!" Self-righteous anger. Ava, miles away in the quiet Hill Country, felt nothing. She had already blocked him mentally and emotionally. Finality. Detachment. Chloe, seeing Mark's rage, fanned the flames. "She won't even answer you, Mark? See? She's arrogant. She thinks she's won." Subtle instigation. Mark, still clinging to the delusion that Ava secretly wanted him back, sent one last message to the dead number, a desperate, ---- delusional threat. "If you don't contact me and apologize to Chloe within 24 hours, Ava, then consider us truly, permanently over. No more second chances for remarriage." Delusion. An attempt at control Days turned into a week. Ava remained silent, absent. It defied all of Mark's expectations. She always came back. She always caved. Frustration grew in him. Mark was struggling. The public backlash was intense. Clients were pulling out. His rival, James Peterson, now a major shareholder, was making his life hell at the firm, questioning every decision. He was too mired in his own professional crisis to actively pursue Ava. Stress. Frustration. 1 Chloe, ever the opportunist, continued to slander Ava. "| bet she's already found some other man, Mark. She was probably cheating on you all along." Mark dismissed this. Ava? A cheater? Impossible. She was too ... predictable. Too devoted to him, underneath it all. He remained overconfident in Ava's supposed underlying loyalty. He believed his past arguments, his manipulations about Leo needing a "complete family," would eventually wear her down. ---- She'd realize her mistake and come crawling back. It was their pattern. Finally, after two agonizing weeks of silence and mounting professional disasters, Mark realized Ava wasn't playing her usual part. A flicker of real panic ignited. He had to find her. He had to find Leo. Belated concern. A dawning urgency. Chloe insisted on accompanying him, feigning concern. "| hope they're okay, Mark. Ava can be so... impulsive. And Leo is so sensitive." Her words were honey-laced poison, subtly reinforcing the narrative of Ava's difficult nature. Mark, his patience frayed, snapped at her. "Just be quiet, Chloe. | know how to handle Ava. This is her fault for running off like this." Frustration. Self-righteousness. He still blamed Ava for his predicament. They checked the hotel Ava had briefly stayed at. "Ms. Rodriguez and her son checked out two weeks ago. Left no forwarding address." They went to Ava's catering company's old address. A new business was there. The new owner said, "Ava sold the lease to me. Said she was relocating." Shock. Growing panic in Mark. ---- Mark stood on the sidewalk, the city noise fading around him. Ava had truly left. Severed all ties. Moved on. He remembered her calm demeanor during the divorce signing, her lack of hysterics. He'd mistaken it for cowed compliance. It had been resolve. Panic, cold and sharp, clawed at him. Regret, a bitter taste, filled his mouth. "Everything," he whispered, "everything is out of control."