Chapter 3 Chapter 3: The Prank Call
Ava Duval
In all my five years of marriage, yesterday was the first time Damian ever hit me, and it was because of Serena.
He had rushed her to the hospital and came back shortly after just to berate me. I sat alone in the living room when he came home the next evening, after three days of staying in the hospital with Serena and the children.
"Damian, I want to talk to you about something." My voice was low, which made Damian look up at me for the first time in three days, and the red print of his fingers on my cheeks was still there.
"There's nothing to talk about, Ava." He shot back. "You still feel no form of remorse after what you did and…"
"Is it true?" I stood up to face him, not hiding the last tear that slipped from my eyes. "Is it true Serena sabotaged my pregnancy, and you knew about it all this while?"
Damian's back stiffened, and his jaw went slack when I dropped those words. That reaction was not what I was expecting.
It meant Serena wasn't lying. It meant Damian had been wicked towards me from the start of our marriage. Everything was a lie!
"Ava…" Damian started. "Serena was just young and foolish. You shouldn't make this a big deal!"
His words shocked me to my core. "Was that the reason you hit her and made her almost lose her pregnancy?" He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I'm so disappointed in you, Ava. You went too far. You're too petty!"
I felt my entire body shaking with so much rage when the words fell from his mouth. "What. Did. You. Just. Say. Damian?"
Damian stared at me, but his eyes were empty.
"I'm saying you should rest and take responsibility for your actions for hitting her. Serena has already paid the price for what she did because she was childish."
He sighed heavily. "You needed to see the way she beat herself up all year because she was riddled with guilt. Isn't that more than enough? You're overreacting, Ava, and you need to chill."
More than enough?
"So…" I began, chuckling at how my life had turned. "She destroyed my womb, took my kidney that you lied to me was for you, and because she beat herself up for a year, you think it's enough punishment?" I shook my head in disappointment and turned on my heels to leave.
I wanted to get away from all of these. I got into my car and sped out of the estate. I drove as fast as I could. I wanted to get away from everything. The pain… the betrayal… everything…
I didn't know where I was going. I needed to move. The house felt like a cage. Damian's words were still in my ears. You're overreacting.
My phone buzzed beside me, and I almost ignored it, but I remembered the letter from last week. I had fished it out of the mailbox, seen the return address…Tate & Associates…and shoved it into my glove compartment unopened.
I didn't need strangers claiming to know my dead parents. But before I closed the glove box, three words on the envelope had caught my eye: Father. Grandfather. Inheritance. Now my phone showed the same name. Tate & Associates.
Maybe this was what I needed to keep my mind off my reality. I didn't even care if it was a prank or not. All I wanted was to forget everything and the burn in my chest.
I swiped my phone's screen and answered the call, and a woman's voice filled the speakers of my car.
"Ms. Duval? This is Rebecca from Tate & Associates. Mr. Tate's assistant."
I gripped the wheel. "Yes?"
"I'm calling to reschedule your appointment."
Was there even an appointment?
"We've been trying to reach out to you, but you never answer. We were lucky to get your response yesterday agreeing to the meeting; however, Mr. Tate had an emergency. He's very sorry. Can we move you to tomorrow at 2 PM?"
I sent a message back to them? I didn't recall doing any of that. Or was it because I was drunk last night?
"Ms. Duval?"
"Yeah. Sure. Tomorrow." I replied, my mind still in a haze.
"Great. I'll send you a confirmation." She said before the line went dead.
My mind had already begun wandering as I drove to nowhere in particular, and I didn't notice two vehicles following behind me and an incoming vehicle in front of me until it was too late. It was too late to slam my brakes and swerve around.
The cars that hit me reversed and sped out of sight, and I was left in my own pool of blood and a crushed car. I was slowly slipping out of consciousness as I reached out to my phone to call the only person that my life had revolved around all these years… Damian.
I didn't know how many times I slipped in and out of consciousness, and when I was able to touch my phone again, I saw that two hours had already passed, and I was still in the wreckage. Damian had not come.
The cold realization that I was now all alone hit me so hard that a tear slipped from my eyes.
I was about to slip out of consciousness again when I heard commotion outside the car as someone was detaching the car door from its hinges.
Hope bloomed in my chest that Damian had come, but even in my blurry unconscious mind, after the door was pulled apart, the man above me wasn't Damian.
"Shit!" The stranger cursed under his breath.
"How come there haven't been any paramedics brought here already?" He pushed his head inside the wreckage, and his hands slipped under my waist as he tried to carry me out of the car.
"Sir!" I could hear someone speaking in the dullness of my mind. "You will stain your shirt. At least, wait for the police or ambulance to come. You will stain your expensive clothes!"
I, in my haze, could perceive the scent of his perfume filling my nose and giving me a strange sense of calmness. The calmness that Damian once gave me, and another tear slipped down my cheeks.
"She's alive, but her breathing is shallow." The man who was carrying me said hurriedly. "We need to be in the hospital in the next five minutes, Colt. I don't care if you break all the traffic rules. I'll pay the fines!"
When I opened my eyes, the room was brightly lit, and I could tell I was in the hospital.
My eyes darted around the room until they landed on two tall and imposing men in the corner of the room, speaking in low tones.
I recognized the tallest of them almost instantly, as the man who carried me out of the wreckage, while the second man had the voice of the person trying to stop him.
"You saved me." Those were the first words out of my mouth that made both men turn, and I could swear my breath caught at the sight of my saviour. Not only was he tall and broad-shouldered, but he had a lethal face card.
"You're awake. That is good." The man began, his voice deep and dark in a way that sent shivers down my spine.
"The doctor will be here shortly, and I have had your phone repaired in case you have a family you would like to call."
He didn't waste any more time, and I didn't even have the chance to thank him, when he patted his friend on the shoulders, and they both walked out. Shortly after, the doctor came in to check my vitals.
"Thank you, sir." I began in a small and weak voice.
"You're one lucky woman, do you know that?" The doctor peered down at me with a small smile on his face.
"We had to do a full body check on you, and you're one strong woman. If the boss didn't find you on time, you would have bled out and died. But you're lucky."
"The boss? Who is he? I would like to thank him."
"He is the owner of the hospital." The doctor said, "Lucian Wright. Everyone was surprised to see him running into the hospital with you in his arms. And you shouldn't worry about thanking him. He is… hard to find and talk to."
I gathered that in the short conversation I had with the man. He wasn't uncomfortable having conversations; he wasn't interested in one.
"He cleared all your bills too, if you're worried about that." The doctor gave me a deep smile. "Have you already called your family members to come? A room will be prepared for them to stay, paid for by Mr. Lucian already."
After the doctor left, I managed to carry my phone and dial Damian's number. It went to voicemail six different times before he finally picked up.
"What? What is it? What do you want?" The sharpness in his voice broke me.
"Serena, the children, and I are out on an outing as a way to welcome her back from the hospital you sent her to. What do you want?"
I bit my lips and swallowed. "I was in an accident, Damian." My voice was low. "My car has been crushed, and I'm in the hospital. Can you come pick me up?"
There was a pause on the other end of the call. "I don't know what kind of clingy games you're playing now, but if you're serious, I'm sure you'll find a way to sort yourself out. I have to go. The kids are coming.”
