Chapter 3

Carter couldn't even keep hold of the soup bowl. He tossed it onto the table, and hot broth splashed everywhere.

Real fear washed over his face-panic, pure and unfiltered.

“Ava! Don't be scared. I'm coming right now!”

He rushed out so fast he forgot to come back and dose my food.

I looked away and poured the rest of the soup down the kitchen sink.

Then I went to his study.

The door had a keypad lock.

The first code I tried was Ava's birthday. Wrong.

Only when I entered the year and month from when Ava was sixteen did it unlock.

With that password, I opened his computer and the safe beside it.

Inside were some documents and thousands upon thousands of photos of Ava.

Every single one was obscene.

Some of her in lingerie meant for the bedroom.

Some of her completely naked.

Some with semen smeared on her body and hanging from her mouth.

I felt so let down; I didn't even know my daughter had this side.

No wonder she'd always clung to her father.

All this time, I'd blamed myself, thinking I was too strict.

But it turned out the reason was simple—I wasn't a handsome man.

No wonder Carter always made excuses when I asked him to take pictures of me.

I guess I didn't deserve a place in his albums.

I was plain. Ordinary. Not beautiful enough.

And what shocked me even more was the safe was filled with Ava's worn clothes.

And all kinds of 'toys' they'd used in bed.

There was even a handgun inside.

A sudden bolt of pain split my head. I pressed my fingers to my temple and crouched down.

I realized what I was looking at.

That gun was the one that killed my mother.

Ava's face in those photos overlapped with the feral, twisted Ava in my mind.

It was like someone smashed my skull with a hammer and the air in my chest was squeezed out until there was nothing left.

I forced myself upright. With shaking hands, I pushed past the photos and clothes, searching for anything that could prove the truth from that night.

But I found nothing.

In the end, all I could do was photograph the evidence of their sex, then put everything back exactly how it was.

The moment I locked the door, Carter called.

I didn't answer.

So he started texting instead:

“Isabella, come to the hospital-now. Ava's surgery has complications. She needs blood urgently!”

If I didn't know the truth... with how much I used to love Ava, I would've run there without hesitation.

But now I wasn't going to be stupid again.

I ran a bath and sank into the water, letting the heat loosen the stiffness in my body.

If Mom knew I was torturing myself like this, she'd be heartbroken.

The next second, Carter stormed into the bathroom and yanked me up hard.

“At a time like this, you're taking a bath?” he snapped. “Get dressed and come with me. Ava needs your blood!”

The hospital was an hour away. He'd made it home in twenty minutes.

That could only mean one thing, Ava wasn't truly in danger.

I pulled my arm free, my voice flat.

“Can't the hospital use blood from their bank? Why does it have to be me?”

“Last time you donated for Ava,” he said, eyes fixed on me, “and this time it has to be yours too. Yours is best.”

Watching how sincere he looked, I couldn't help wondering was this Ava's idea?

Did she want her adoptive mother to play a NPC in their so-called love story?

“I took medication,” I said. “I can't donate.”

But Carter didn't back down.

“That medicine expired a long time ago. It won't affect your blood.”

Was it really expired?

Or had he swapped my sleeping pills for vitamins so my blood could be available?

I refused to be the disposable pawn in their game, so I pressed on.

“How can you be sure it's expired? What if it harms Ava?”

His gaze turned icy.

“What is going on with you today? Aren't you the one who dotes Ava the most?”