He Said No, She Found Love

He Said No, She Found Love

Gavin

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The last thing I remembered was the cold. It was the kind of cold that seeped into your bones, mocking the thin dress you wore. I was dying in a dark, abandoned warehouse, our son Leo trembling beside me. Then, his voice. Over the kidnapper' s phone, Harrison Hayes, the man I' d loved for years, flatly declared: "Wrong number. I don' t know them." He didn' t know me. He didn' t know Leo. Five years of a miserable marriage dissolved into one brutal truth: he resented me, seeing my existence as the ruin of his life. My death, simply a convenient erasure. And then, nothing. A profound, silent void. Until, a voice, warm and familiar, broke through the darkness: "Ava? Happy birthday." My eyes snapped open. I wasn't in a warehouse. I was at my 21st birthday dinner, staring at a younger Harrison, before the resentment carved lines around his mouth. This was the night it all began, the night I confessed my desperate love. But this time, the memory of his callous "Wrong number" burned. The phantom ache of my son' s absence was a hollow void in my chest. I would not make the same mistake. I would not confess. I would let him go. I would let him have his perfect life with his perfect Charlotte. When Charlotte Evans, his first love, walked in, I didn't fight. I left. I walked out into the cool night, hailing a cab, for the naive girl I had been, for the son who would now never exist. The pain was immense. But underneath it, a fragile seed of freedom took root. I wouldn' t be a victim. I would save myself. My first call was to my parents' lawyer. I was activating a forgotten betrothal agreement. I was going to Daniel Thorne.

Introduction

The last thing I remembered was the cold.

It was the kind of cold that seeped into your bones, mocking the thin dress you wore.

I was dying in a dark, abandoned warehouse, our son Leo trembling beside me.

Then, his voice.

Over the kidnapper' s phone, Harrison Hayes, the man I' d loved for years, flatly declared: "Wrong number. I don' t know them."

He didn' t know me.

He didn' t know Leo.

Five years of a miserable marriage dissolved into one brutal truth: he resented me, seeing my existence as the ruin of his life.

My death, simply a convenient erasure.

And then, nothing.

A profound, silent void.

Until, a voice, warm and familiar, broke through the darkness: "Ava? Happy birthday."

My eyes snapped open.

I wasn't in a warehouse.

I was at my 21st birthday dinner, staring at a younger Harrison, before the resentment carved lines around his mouth.

This was the night it all began, the night I confessed my desperate love.

But this time, the memory of his callous "Wrong number" burned.

The phantom ache of my son' s absence was a hollow void in my chest.

I would not make the same mistake.

I would not confess.

I would let him go.

I would let him have his perfect life with his perfect Charlotte.

When Charlotte Evans, his first love, walked in, I didn't fight.

I left.

I walked out into the cool night, hailing a cab, for the naive girl I had been, for the son who would now never exist.

The pain was immense.

But underneath it, a fragile seed of freedom took root.

I wouldn' t be a victim.

I would save myself.

My first call was to my parents' lawyer.

I was activating a forgotten betrothal agreement.

I was going to Daniel Thorne.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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