The police dug deep into Ava’s personal details and traced her contact records. What they uncovered was unsettling, to say the least.
A week before, she’d contacted a woman named Lauren Stewart—someone who had never been on her radar before. The two of them had a financial transaction totaling ten million dollars.
With Ava nowhere to be found, the police went after Lauren, finding her at home. She was caught off guard and taken in for questioning.
As soon as she heard they were asking about surveillance footage, Lauren dropped to her knees in front of Ethan, panic written all over her face. “I don’t know anything!” she begged. “I just got paid to walk around under surveillance. I didn’t show my face, I swear! It shouldn’t be illegal! I’m disabled! Please, don’t arrest me—I’ve told you everything I know. I’ll return the money, just let me go!”
The police took her statement, recording every word. Just as they were about to let her leave, her phone rang.
Ethan, sensing something was off, quickly snatched it from her hand. The number on the screen was unfamiliar, and an uneasy feeling settled in his gut.
He answered the call and gave Lauren a quick signal to keep quiet. The voice on the other end was unmistakable: Ava’s.
“Pack your bags and leave. Don’t tell anyone you saw me. Get rid of your current SIM card and get a new one,” Ava’s voice was icy and commanding.
Ethan froze. The weight of her words hit him like a punch.
Lauren looked at him, her face pale with fear. Ethan scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her. He motioned for her to read it out loud.
The note read, “This is important to you. The money you gave me isn’t enough. If you want me to stay quiet, you need to pay more.”
On the other end of the line, there was a long, tense silence, followed by heavy breathing from Ava. The rage in her voice was unmistakable when she finally spoke.
“How dare you! You’re just some actress I hired! Now you want to threaten me? Are you crazy? You think you’ll live to spend the money?” she raged, her words dripping with venom.
After a beat, she calmed herself, though her voice remained sharp. “How much do you want? Where do I send it?”
Ethan’s heart shattered in that moment. The woman he had once loved, the one he’d trusted with everything, had turned into a stranger. If Emma had still been alive, maybe Ava would have kept up the act, pretending to be the sweet, caring person she once was. But now, with Emma gone, everything had changed.
Ethan wrote down a figure and a location on a piece of paper, then handed it to Lauren. The deal was set for the next day.
That night, Ethan sat alone at home, drowning in his thoughts. He stood in front of Emma’s room, staring at the empty space where she used to be. The silence was suffocating. He opened the door slowly, only to find that nothing had changed—no trace of Emma remained. All that was left were the ghosts of his obsession.
He stood there, lost in grief, before finally moving back to the living room. The custody agreement—trampled on the floor earlier—now sat on the table. He flipped through it, his hands shaking. The custody clause had been crossed out.
With a heavy heart, Ethan sank into the sofa, his head in his hands, lighting one cigarette after another. He stayed like that, his mind reeling, until the first light of dawn.
The following day, Ethan and the police arrived at the agreed-upon location. As soon as Ava appeared, they moved in quickly and arrested her.
Ava, still dressed in her usual glamorous attire, didn’t even attempt to flee. She stood there, face flushed with anger.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” she demanded, her voice shrill. “Let me go, or I’ll sue you!”
But then, Ethan stepped forward, his eyes—once filled with warmth and affection—now cold and filled with hatred.
