A Promised Fate Read Online Free PDF Page A

shoulders fell in defeat. I had had hopes of
going in a different direction.
    “I want to talk to you.”
    “I’m all yours. What’s on your mind, Beautiful?”
    “I want to know, Ari, who are you?” She
blindsided me with her question and every muscle in my body
clenched, my stomach tightened and my lungs froze.
    “It doesn’t matter. Hey, listen, we need to talk
about the baio fashion show-”
    “No we don’t. Who are you?”
    The curvy line in her brow deepened when her eyes
narrowed. Her stare dug into mine.
    “I, um… Ava, where is this coming from? Why do you
even care? Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? What
difference does it make?” I jumped into defensive mode much more
quickly than I probably should have. My fingers raked through my
hair again and again tugging on knots and pulling painfully at the
roots.
    Ava has asked me who I was a few times throughout our
relationship and I have always managed to dodge the question. She
knows that I descend from Adonis and that is all that she needs to
know.
    “I am curious. I want to know. I want to learn these
things, Ari. We are having a baby together and I want to know who we are having. What to expect.”
    I gave her a short dismissive laugh at her question
and she flinched at the quick and flippant insult. Her question and
reasoning were actually quite astute and valid. She was right to
want to know the answer. I was just too fearful to tell her.
    “Don’t laugh at me,” she spat.
    “You already know who I am, Baby.” I softened for a
different approach. “You know me better than almost anyone.”
    “ Who are you? Tell me, Ari,” she begged.
    “I am Ari, husband to Ava, father to Max and I am
excitedly waiting the birth of our baby. That is all I ever I want
to be. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. That’s enough, Ava.
We are done here.”
    “Excuse me?” Her molars ground sharply together; I
could hear them crunch from across the room. Ava was more than mad
and she had every right to be.
    “You heard what I said. We are done with this
conversation. I still have work to finish. I’ll meet you and Max by
the pool in a while, once I am done. Now excuse me.” My softened
approach hadn't worked and I had no choice but to be insulting.
Hurting Ava’s feelings was a small price to pay. I was doing her a
favor. I was doing us both a favor. I could live with her angry,
but I couldn’t live with doubt, I could not live with her gone from
my life.
    She refused to leave the office and stared across the
desk at me with angry eyes and tight lips. My blood warmed and a
wild fire rushed through my veins. A nervous ball of tightly wound
energy sucker punched my core. No matter how hard I may try to
prepare myself, I would never be willing or ready for this talk,
for this fight, for this heartache. She would be angry but mostly
she would be hurt. She would question me, she would question my
love for her. She would think horrible things about me. She would
think she wasn’t supposed to be mine and that we made a mistake. I
love only her but she would still be right to come to those
conclusions.
    “Ava?” I picked up the phone and dialed my assistant,
giving her a cold and final dismissal.
    Fauna answered and I leaned back in my chair and
tilted around to look out at the sea while I talked over the image
and the ideas I had come up with to stop Marketing from pushing the
decision through.
    “Is Margaux backing this?” I asked Fauna.
    “Yes. She has her mind made up.”
    “Did she even humor the other suggestions?”
    “She gave some thought to them but it wasn’t enough.
We’ve lost, Boss.”
    The stale air pushed through my tight lungs when
Ava’s receding footsteps were followed by the closing of the office
door.
    “Shit. Fauna, this is bad.” I said and hung up the
line.
    Ava’s question made the nerves in my stomach erupt
and scatter from my tight core up to my chest and down through my
gut and finally through my limbs,