Chapter 10
Around noon, I watched through my security feed as Ava trudged home looking completely defeated.
She was about to throw away the business card stuck in her door when something made her pause and actually read it.
Then she stuffed it in her pocket.
Bingo.
Just like I knew she would, Ava took the bait and got a loan from those sharks.
Two days later, she was going under the knife.
Eye lift, nose job, cheek implants, lip fillers-the full makeover package.
Right after recovery, she packed up Tom and Tommy and vanished.
Ava thought her new face would give her a clean slate.
What she didn’t know was that I’d carefully chosen the worst loan sharks in the city for her.
Sky-high interest rates, zero mercy.
With compound interest eating her alive, it didn’t take long for the collectors to come calling.
But all they found was an empty apartment.
I opened my door to furious banging across the hall.
‘They moved out.”
The head-a guy who looked like he bench-pressed cars-asked, “You know where they went?”
‘Not a clue, but I’ve got the address where her ex’s parents live.”
I gave him Theodore’s family home address.
I hated Ava, but I hated Theodore even more.
About a week later, Theodore’s parents practically begged me to meet them.
They dragged Theodore along to some fancy restaurant’s private dining room, all of them plastering on fake smiles.
‘Harper, honey! God, we’ve missed you so much.”
‘Save it. What do you want?” I wasn’t playing their games.
“You little-” Theodore started getting heated, then remembered his predicament and slumped back down.
His mother immediately switched to victim mode.
“This is all Ava’s fault! That bitch borrowed money from loan sharks and then disappeared on us.”
“These thugs showed up at our house and beat the hell out of us.”
“They said they’d kill Theodore if we don’t pay up. We can’t find Ava, so we thought maybe…”
She was fake crying while studying my face for any sign of sympathy.
“Please, you have to help. Theodore’s still Gabriel and Raphael’s father.”
When I didn’t say anything, Theodore got this nasty look.
“Harper, don’t be a bitch about this. If you don’t help us out, I’ll go straight to Harvard and make a scene.”
“Trust me, nobody wants that kind of drama.”
Looking at these disgusting people, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“AHAHAHAHA! Who the hell told you those boys were yours?”
All three of them went stone-cold silent.
Theodore finally stammered, “What… what are you saying?”
“Oh, did I forget to mention this at the party?”
“I used a sperm donor and IVF. You literally had nothing to do with them.”
The room was dead quiet for about three seconds before Theodore completely lost his shit.
“YOU FUCKING CHEATER! You made me a fucking cuckold!”
“You disgusting, lying whore!”
I leaned back in my chair casually.
“I knew your actual twin boys were brain-damaged from the start, but I deliberately kept you in the dark.”
“Aren’t you obsessed with having sons to carry on your precious family name? Oh, and I heard your little housekeep Lily lost the baby last week.”
“Face it, Theodore-you’re a useless man, and you’ll never have a real, healthy child of your own. Ever.”
Theodore grabbed his chest, turned white as paper, and collapsed onto the floor.
“Yikes, looks like he’s having some kind of medical emergency… you should probably call an ambulance.”
I grabbed my purse and walked out like nothing happened.
