CHAPTER 7: Ava Stops Protecting Him

For three years, Ava had protected Grant from consequences.
She corrected his numbers before board meetings. She softened his insults after dinners. She explained his absence as stress, his cruelty as pressure, his affair as rumor until the rumor stood in silver beside him.
Standing on that staircase, she felt the old instinct reach for her again.
Protect the marriage. Protect the name. Protect the man's pride so the room can remain comfortable.
Then she looked at Celeste.
Then at Grant.
Then at the guests who had laughed too gently at jokes that cut her for months.
Ava placed one hand on the rail and spoke clearly.
'I want the footage preserved. I want my medical team called. I want my father's attorneys to handle Grant's access to every Bennett-backed account before midnight.'
Grant stared at her.
'Ava, don't do this here.'
She held his gaze.
The statement surprised even her. Not because she lacked the courage, but because she finally heard herself speaking without asking how Grant would feel afterward.
Freedom, she realized, did not always arrive like joy. Sometimes it arrived like a voice that stopped apologizing.
'You did this here.'