Chapter 5 - Unraveling at the SeamsBy Wednesday afternoon, Damian Cross’s life had completely unraveled.
His keycard no longer worked at Sterling & Croft. His corporate-leased BMW parked in the underground garage had been towed under repossession orders. And when he rushed to Victoria’s Tribeca loft, desperate for shelter and a lifeline, the heavy oak door was opened not by Victoria, but by her furious father—who threw a glass vase at Damian’s head and screamed that Damian’s association with their family had tipped federal investigators off to their financial crimes.
Standing on the damp sidewalk outside the luxury apartment building in the pouring rain, holding a single cardboard box containing his desk items, Damian finally understood the magnitude of his catastrophe.
He had climbed to the top of the mountain by stepping on everyone beneath him—starting with Ava, the woman who had worked two jobs to put food on his table—only to discover too late that he had built his entire career on a foundation of glass.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. A text message from an unknown number.
Meet me at the corner of 5th and 57th if you want a reference letter.
Believing it was his last remaining lifeline among his college fraternity brothers, Damian hurried through the freezing rain, water soaking through his tailored suit, his hair plastered to his forehead.
When he reached the designated street corner, there was no old college buddy waiting for him.
Instead, a sleek black Maybach idled by the curb. The tinted rear window rolled down smoothly, revealing Ava Malloy sitting inside in a cream cashmere turtleneck, protected from the storm by tinted glass and heated leather seats.
Damian stopped dead, his breath misting in the cold air, clutching his cardboard box like a shield.
“Ava,” he croaked, his voice desperate and pathetic. “Ava, please. You know how hard I worked to get here. Tell Julian... tell him to call off his lawyers. We were together for four years! You loved me once!”
Ava looked down at him through the glass. Her eyes weren't filled with anger. They weren't filled with sadness or lingering heartbreak either.
They were filled with absolute, profound indifference.
“I loved a ghost, Damian,” Ava said quietly, her voice carrying clearly through the open window. “The man I loved didn't exist. He was just a placeholder for a monster who thought he could use people up and throw them away.”
“I made a mistake!” Damian pleaded, taking a step toward the car, water splashing over his designer shoes. “I’ll leave Victoria! We can start over, just like the old days in Brooklyn!”
Ava gave a sad, dry little laugh. “The old days in Brooklyn, Damian, where I sold my grandmother’s ring so you could buy a suit? You wouldn't survive five minutes in Brooklyn now without your credit cards.”
She raised her left hand, resting it casually on the velvet armrest.
Catching the light of the streetlamp was a magnificent, flawless vintage diamond ring—the very ring Julian had placed on her finger the night before in total privacy, surrounded by candlelight and unconditional devotion.
Damian stared at the ring, his face twisting in bitter agony.
May you like
“Drive,” Ava said softly to the chauffeur.
The window rolled up with a silent, airtight hiss. The Maybach glided smoothly away from the curb, leaving Damian standing alone in the freezing rain, watching his past drive away forever into a future he would never touch.
Related Stories
