It happened on a Tuesday.
A quiet, ordinary Tuesday — the kind of day no one expects their life to implode.
But monsters like Leo don't destroy in storms.They destroy in silence.
The news came fast.
A panicked call.Then two more.Then messages exploding across every employee chat group in Clark Group.
Whispers.Shouting.Accusations.
I didn't even have to try to listen.The scandal was too loud to ignore.
Leo Clark was being investigated for embezzlement.
Millions missing.Funds rerouted.Fake vendors.Fake contracts.Fake signatures.
And then — the final blow:
Forged documents found on HIS laptop.All signed under Ava's name.
Ava didn't forge anything.Leo forged them.
He set her up to be the fall girl — the way he set me up.
But this time…
He went too far.
Even for himself.
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I stood outside Clark Group's building, watching chaos unfold inside the glass walls.
Employees running everywhere.Security being called.Shouting echoing through the lobby.
The perfect Clark family image?
Shattered into dust.
And then — the doors slammed open.
Ava stumbled outside, clutching a stack of papers to her chest like they were her last lifeline.
Her face was ghost-pale.Her eyes swollen, red-rimmed.
When she saw me standing there, she broke.
"Ethan…"
She rushed toward me, breathless, trembling.
"He framed me. He really framed me. He used my login. My signature. He—He told your parents it was all MY idea!" Her voice cracked."Ethan, they believed him. They believed HIM over me!"
Her legs gave out.
I caught her before she hit the ground.
But there was no love in my arms.
Only instinct.
Only habit.
Only pity.
She shoved the papers into my hands — proof of everything Leo had done.
Fake transfers.Falsified invoices.Audit red flags.
All signed under her name.
"He even said I seduced him," Ava choked, tears streaming down her face."He told them I manipulated him because I wanted to help YOU climb! He said I was in love with him — Ethan, I swear, I swear I never—"
Her voice vanished as if someone stole it.
And it hit me.
Everything she had done — every mistake, every betrayal — was rooted in her blind belief that Leo was harmless.
Harmless.
The man who sabotaged my files.
The man who framed me.
The man who enjoyed tearing me down piece by piece.
And she had defended him.
Chosen him.
Trusted him.
Now she was learning what I did months ago:
Loving a snake doesn't stop it from biting you.It just makes the venom sink deeper.
Suddenly, security guards dragged someone out of the building.
A man.
Handcuffed.
Bleeding from the lip.
Fuelled by arrogance and panic.
It was Leo.
His hair was disheveled.His suit torn.His eyes wild.
He was screaming at the guards:
"GET OFF ME! I'M THE REAL SON! NOT HIM! NOT ETHAN! NOT ANYONE ELSE!"
The crowd stared in horror.
He wasn't pretending anymore.
He wasn't charming.
Or humble.
Or gentle.
His true nature — dark, desperate, rabid — was on full display.
He spotted Ava.
And smiled.
A sickening, spine-chilling smile.
"Ava," he spat,"You're crying? Really? You helped me. You did EVERYTHING I asked. Without you, NONE of this would've worked."
Ava's face drained of colour.
"Leo… how could you—I trusted you."
Leo laughed.
Unhinged.
Mocking.
"You? Trust me? Ava, I OWNED you. You were easy. Too easy."
Then he looked at me.
The smile died.
Replaced by pure hatred.
"And you…You don't deserve anything Clark."
Security shoved him into a police car.
He fought like a cornered animal.
He screamed.Cursed.Threatened.
"I'LL COME BACK! THEY NEED ME! YOU HEAR ME? I'M NOT DONE—"
The door slammed shut.
Silence descended over the parking lot.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
Within hours:
Robert Clark collapsed in his office.Rumours said he fainted.Others said heart attack.
Lillian Clark was hysterical.Security had to pull her away from the auditors.She kept screaming Leo's name.
Clark Group stock plummeted.Investors pulled out.Auditors seized control.
The entire empire shook.
And cracked.
And crumbled.
Everything Leo touched —everyone Ava defended —everyone who treated me like a burden —fell apart in front of her eyes.
This was the consequence.
This was the cost.
This was the price of betrayal.
Ava sank to the ground beside me.
Sobbing.Broken.Small.
"I was wrong," she whispered over and over.
"I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong…"
People walked around her.
Some stared.Some whispered.
None helped.
For the first time, Ava Summers stood truly alone.
And she finally understood:
The family she fought so hard to pleasenever cared about her.The man she trusted destroyed her.And the only person who ever loved her…she had already lost.
She lifted her face to me.
Tears washed down her cheeks.
"Ethan…if you won't take me back…"
Her voice cracked like shattered glass.
"Then tell me how to live."
I looked at her —
The woman who once promised forever.The woman who held my heart.The woman who crushed it.
And with a calm, quiet finality, I said:
"Ava…you're living the consequences you chose."
Her eyes broke.
Completely.
Irreversibly.
And I walked away.
Leaving her kneeling in the ruins of the life she burned for the wrong man.