---- Chapter 20 Mark felt his world crumble. His father's attempt. His mother's blame. It was a pain so profound it felt like his heart was being physically gouged out. Devastation. Pain. The calls started coming. Business associates, former friends. "Thompson, your reputation is mud." "We can't be associated with you after this scandal." "James Peterson is cleaning house. You're finished." Stress. Humiliation. Professional backlash. Then, a call from a lawyer. Chloe's lawyer. "Mr. Thompson, Ms. Davis is filing for divorce. And she's suing for a significant portion of your remaining assets, citing marital misconduct and demanding support for her daughter, Maya, whom you publicly acknowledged as a step-daughter figure." 41 Shock. Betrayal. Even from jail, Chloe was still trying to bleed him dry. Mark, in disbelief, arranged a visit to Chloe in custody. Anger. He needed to see her, to understand this new betrayal. Chloe, stripped of her designer clothes and makeup, looked ---- like a different person. Hardened. Bitter. "You!" she spat when she saw him. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't been so weak, so easily manipulated by Ava in the end, | wouldn't be in here! You owe me! You promised to protect me!" Shock. Disgust. Raw hostility. Her true, ungrateful nature was finally on full display. Mark's last illusion about Chloe shattered. The woman he'd "sacrificed" for was a venomous, self-serving monster. Disbelief. Shattered illusion. He felt his knees buckle. He later learned that his quickie marriage to Chloe, and his public statements about supporting her and Maya, made their divorce messy and expensive. He hadn't protected his assets. He was legally trapped. Helplessness. Frustration. James Peterson formally demoted Mark at the firm, assigning him to a tiny, windowless office, managing old, archived files. A humiliating fall from grace. Humiliation. Loss of power. Chloe was eventually convicted and sentenced to several years in prison for fraud and other charges. Justice. Consequence. And Maya? With Chloe incarcerated and no other family willing to step up, social services placed her in foster care. Mark, despite his hatred for the child who had helped ruin his life, ---- was still named in some preliminary paperwork due to his brief marriage to Chloe. He was now legally entangled in her child's future welfare obligations. Resentment. Forced obligation. A final, bitter irony. Mark, having lost everything - his career, his reputation, his family, his self-respect - found himself thinking only of Ava Of Leo. He had to try. One last time. Longing. Regret. He drove to the Hill Country town, to Ava's cottage. He saw it immediately. White picket fence. Flowers blooming. And... a banner across the porch: "Congratulations Ava & Danny!" with wedding bells. His heart stopped. He saw them through the window. Ava, laughing, Danny kissing her. Leo was there, holding a new baby, a little girl. Shock. Heartbreak. Jealousy. The evidence of her new happiness was a stake through his heart. Mark stumbled towards the house, a wild denial screaming in his head. "No! Ava! She's mine! She loves me!" Despair. Denial. Possessiveness. He reached the porch just as Danny's best man, a large, burly friend, stepped out. "Can | help you?" the man asked, his eyes narrowed. ---- "Ava!" Mark shouted. "Ava, it's me! Mark!" He tried to push past, but the man blocked him easily. "Sorry, pal. Private party. And you're not on the list." Exclusion. Humiliation. Mark sagged against the porch railing. He remembered his own words to Ava at Chloe's disastrous launch party: "You and Leo are not to come near it. I've already given security your photos." The bitter irony. His own cruelty, mirrored back at him. Profound regret. He drove away, tears blurring his vision. He bought a bottle of cheap whiskey. He drove to the river. He drank. He thought about Ava, about Leo, about the life he'd destroyed. He waded into the cold water, the current tugging at him. Despair. Self-punishment. He let himself go. The water closed over his head. Darkness. Then, a kaleidoscope of images. Ava, young and laughing. Leo, a baby in his arms. Chloe, smiling seductively. His father's disappointed face. And then... other lives. Other mistakes. Other Avas, other Leos, always ending in tragedy, always his fault. A near-death experience. A horrifying revelation of past lives, a cycle of his own making. ---- He woke up sputtering on the riverbank, saved by a passing fisherman. He was alive. But the memories... they were real. He'd done this before. Many times. He'd always chosen wrong. He'd always hurt them. Profound regret. Self-blame. Agony. "Ava," he sobbed, hitting his chest. "Leo. I'm sorry. 'm so, so sorry." Meanwhile, Ava and Danny were indeed married. Their life was full. Their bakery, "The Sweet Spot," was a huge success. Leo adored Danny and was a doting big brother to their baby daughter, Lily. Happiness. Contentment. Intimacy. Joy. Completeness. Mark, a broken man, disappeared. He found menial work in another state. One day, he sent a text to Ava's old, long-deactivated number. "Ava. | know you'll never see this. | finally understand. Everything. I'm going to make Chloe pay for what she did to us, to our Leo in that other life | now remember. Then... it will be over for me too. I'm sorry. You deserved so much better. | hope you're happy." Revenge. Finality. A cryptic message. Ava never saw it. Her old phone, her old number, were relics of a past she'd left behind. ---- She was too busy living her joyful, noisy, love-filled life with Danny, Leo, and Lily. Indifference. Finality. News eventually reached her, through a distant acquaintance, that Mark Thompson had died. He'd tracked Chloe down after her early release from prison, confronted her about her deceptions that led to Leo's death in their *first* life (a truth only he now remembered from his near-death revelation). There was a struggle. He killed her, then himself. A tragic end. Consequences fulfilled. Ava heard the news. She felt a brief, detached sadness for the man Mark once was, the man she thought she'd married. Then she turned back to her family, her spirit unbreakable, her past truly, finally, behind her. Complete detachment. Peace. On Mark's discarded phone, found by police, was one last unsent message, typed moments before his death, addressed to Ava's deactivated number: "| remember Leo's last breath. | remember your vow. | made sure Chloe can't hurt anyone again. Maybe this atones for a fraction of my sins. | loved you, Ava. In my own broken way. | always loved you." Tragic irony. Unreceived remorse. His final, desperate message, forever unseen.