Chapter 2

Ava' s car skidded to a halt on the gravel driveway of her childhood home. A large construction vehicle sat on the lawn like a metal monster, its clawed bucket having already ripped a gaping hole in the side of the porch. Wooden planks and shattered glass littered the ground.

She scrambled out of the car, her heart pounding against her ribs. "What' s going on?" she yelled, her voice raw with panic.

A man in a hard hat turned from the wreckage. It was Liam.

He stood there, calm and composed, watching her with those same cold eyes. He wasn' t wielding a hammer himself, but he was clearly in charge. The destruction stopped as the workers looked from him to her.

"This doesn' t concern you, Ava," he said, his voice flat.

"Doesn' t concern me? This is my house!" she cried, gesturing wildly at the damage.

"Not anymore," he replied, and his lack of emotion was more chilling than any shout. He held up a set of documents. "Your father sold it to me. To cover his gambling debts. The deed was signed over two weeks ago."

The world tilted under Ava' s feet. Her father. Of course. Another mess, another debt left for someone else to clean up. But for it to be Liam… it was too cruel.

"You can' t do this," she whispered, the fight draining out of her.

He took a slow step toward her, his face a mask of contempt. He looked at the broken house, then back at her.

"I can and I will," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "This place is a monument to lies and broken promises. It' s fitting that it comes down." He paused, his gaze raking over her. "You' re just like him, you know. Selfish. Manipulative. You take what you want and you leave a mess for others to deal with."

Each word was a precise, targeted attack. He was conflating her with her deadbeat father, painting her with the same brush. The injustice of it burned in her throat, but she was too devastated to argue. He believed the worst of her. He had believed it for eight years.

"I' m nothing like him," she managed to say, her voice trembling.

He just scoffed. "Save it. I' m not the naive boy you left behind anymore."

She couldn' t stand to be there another second, to see the hatred in his eyes and the ruins of her past. She turned without another word, her shoulders slumped in defeat. As she walked back to her car, she took out her phone. She had made a small bucket list on the plane ride over, a list of simple things she wanted to do before she died.

Number one was: Reconcile with Liam.

Her thumb hovered over the screen. With a final, heartbreaking sense of finality, she deleted the line.

She drove away, not looking back. She couldn't return to the lakeside retreat, not with him there. She found a cheap, rundown motel on the edge of town, right next to the local cemetery. The irony wasn't lost on her.

She checked in, the room smelling of stale smoke and bleach. She lay down on the lumpy mattress and stared at the water-stained ceiling. The hope that had carried her back to this town was gone, replaced by a cold, hollow despair.

The relationship was over. It was truly, finally over. There was no going back.