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va sat at home with her father, crying her heart out and shaking in his arms.
“I don't want to be the reason he's unhappy," she whimpered, her voice low and weak. "What if he comes to think he made a huge mistake. He was rich his whole life. What am I compared to a billion dollars?”
James nodded in that fatherly, loving way only a parent could.
"What if the big mistake would be not talking to him about this? What if he truly loves you? Love is sometimes not as complicated as we think."
He held her close. His dear little girl who had become a woman, gotten married, and now suffered from a broken heart.
Ava burst out into another crying spell. She curled her shoulders over her chest as if she was trying to build an invisible wall around herself. Her father put his arm around her once more.
"It's going to be fine," he assured her. “I promise you; it will be just fine.”
It had been two weeks since the incident at library. Ben was sitting behind his enormous desk at the Radcliff company when James walked in with a quiet knock at his open door.
Benjamin frowned. This was the absolute last thing he needed right now. A talk from former father-in-law to son. His own mother had already departed his life forever. Pretty much disappeared overnight after their fight about Ava—never to be heard of again.
Barney was bouncing back and forth between the two of them, trying to be the peacemaker, always without success. Not that she had tried to ask for his forgiveness, not Lucy Radcliff, but even if she did, Benjamin was sick and tired of money-hungry, cold women, and that included his mother as well.
For a brief moment, the old man froze in awe at the wealth his room reflected. An enormous glass front offered the best possible views of Manhattan’s glittering skyline. The modern designer furniture was themed in white, complementing the endless light that was shone in through the windows.
Benjamin quickly glanced at him but then focused back on the investment proposals on his desk.
“They think we are still family, so they let me walk straight in,” he excused himself for showing up like this. Ben responded with an uninterested nod without looking up.
“If you are here about Ava’s share of the inheritance, she will get it soon. I just didn’t have the time to sign the divorce papers yet. Her debts and those of your wife have already been paid for. The gardener’s house’s deed has also been assigned to you two.”
It was a lie. One of the few Ben had ever told. Not the part about the debts and the house, but that Ben had been too busy to sign the papers. He had all the time in the world. He could literally leave right now and go sign them. But he just couldn’t get himself to do it. He was terrified to even look at the darn divorce paper. To him, they were the definite end of his love story, his happiness.
James frowned and walked over to one of the golden Egyptian statues that lined up at the wall. He touched one of them, the one of Anubis.
“Are they real?”
Ben now leaned back in his chair, looked up at him. Brows tightly drawn together, he elegantly folded his hands in his lap.
“What do you really want, James?”
“Ah, a straight shooter, just like your grandfather.” He stepped back from the statue. “I am here for my daughter. She really cared about you… Still does.”
“Ah yeah? She was pretty fast to get out of the house and sign the divorce papers, don’t you think? If I am not mistaken, she signed them the next day?”
James threw Ben this certain look that made him uncomfortable for some reason.
“If that is truly what you think of her, then why have you not signed the papers yourself?”
“I was busy…”
“I am sure you were. But just in case you were also afraid of losing the woman you love, I would recommend doing a little more soul searching to ask yourself if you truly believe my Ava was after your money or if she might be that selfless person who you fell in love with after all…”
James strode toward the door when he turned once more. “Elijah was the most genius man I have ever met. Unfortunately, he realized too late what life is really about.”
Those were James’s last words before he closed the door behind himself, leaving behind Benjamin and his treacherous thoughts. As he had done so many times before, he pulled his phone out of his pants and opened the picture of Ava and him at the beach. Her hair shimmered like gold under the cloudless sky and her eyes glittered like the reflection of the sun on the ocean. This was the kindest person he had ever known. A woman who dedicated her life to the homeless.
A sharp painful knot formed in his throat as he looked at her. He loved her—still and would do so forever.
Before he realized what he was doing, he rose from his chair like from the dead and he put the phone back into his pants.
