A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (23 page)

“I don’t know, but I can’t let her know I know.”

I turned my back to him and he undid my wet dress so I could peel it off
and change.

“This is not at all what I had in mind when I pictured taking this dress off you.” He grumbled.

“Ari!” I scolded him. “This is serious.”

I grabbed the first dress I saw out of her closet and threw it on
, “we are leaving, now. Make up an excuse and let’s go!”

Chills ran down my spine as I tried to gain composure.

“Don’t panic. She won’t try anything now; there are twelve witnesses downstairs.”

“Ari, please! Let
’s leave!” I begged.

Ari stopped me at the top of the steps.

“Take a deep breath. Calm down. We’ll leave and we will figure out what to do. I promise.”

We walked back down the staircase and found that the guests had all retired to the lounge, where they were sipping wine and talking again about
baio
.

“Margaux,” Ari said interrupting the conversation. “I am so sorry to have to do this, but Ava and I have run into a small emergency and we need to get going.” He held up his cell phone and shook it in his hand, as if the gesture would prove there was a real emergency.

Margaux stood up, “oh, I am so disappointed, dears. I hope everything is alright.”

“I
’m sure it will be,” he said with a inviting, easy smile. “I’ll see you all on Monday. Have a good rest of the evening!”

Margaux walked us to the door and I couldn
’t help but shudder. She turned to me and for one very small second her black eyes flashed a sad, worried blue. She wrapped me up in a small, soft hug but before I could even give her a quizzical glance, she had gone back to her hard, mean self, with her usual fake smile plastered across her face. Margaux’s cold hand held on to mine. She gave it a tight squeeze, so tight that my hand hurt...then she wished us both well as she shut the door.

As soon as Ari opened the car door
, my phone began to ring.

I answered it quickly and found August on the other line yelling at me in French.

“Stop. Slow down. What’s wrong?” I demanded.

“Collin has been working on this damn message of yours and is seriously freaked out!”

“Okay, August, what is it that has him upset? What did he find?”

August talked a hundred miles a minute and explained what Collin had unearthed. For the most part, Collin had encrypted what I had already known; that I am a Fate and was being hunted. I frowned in disappointment.

“How much of the journal has he gotten through? Is there any more?”

August sighed, “There
’s loads more to work through, Ava. But count Collin out; I don’t want to see him this upset ever again.”

“Okay, okay, chill.”

“He did put together one thing that’s a bit odd though.”

“What?!”

I heard the shifting and rustling of papers moving in the background.

Reading from whatever he held in his hand he said, “Margaux loved you so greatly that she made a deal to save you.”

Chapter 20

Max

Weeks passed with only bits of information to add to the cryptic message.

One piece of the puzzle read, “I fled with you away from Margaux, away from what she had become.” I read that sentence a hundred times. I was more positive than ever that Margaux was No. 7, but I didn
’t know what to do with the information. I couldn’t just kill beloved fashion icon Margaux Baio – a stunt like that would ensure a life behind bars. Frustration set in and I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders.

“Ava. Ava, Baby.”

My eyes shot open, but I couldn’t see anything. My vision was blurred from cloudy tears. Ari held my face in his hands as he whispered at me to wake up; I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand and sat up in bed.

“Ava, you
’ve been crying in your sleep all night. What’s going on?”

I closed my eyes, remembering my dream; I had been in Greece, in a familiar stone home on a slope in a hillside town. Night had just fallen and I was with Maya.

“It’s Maya... She’s gone.”

He looked at me for a minute cocking his head to the side.

“What do you mean?”

“She was with me last night in my dream; it was her time to go, Ari. There wasn
’t anything I could do for her. She wouldn’t let me spare her again; she was old and tired and was ready to go home.”

“Oh, Ava,” Ari said and began to rock me softly back and forth.

I cried in his shoulder while he held me and we remained silent for a while.

“Ari?”

“Hmm?” he murmured softy in my ear.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

“She put Max in our custody.”

I felt Ari
’s arms go a little slack and I heard him suck in a breath. I could feel his heart pick up the pace. I felt his jaw against my cheek drop open, he pulled me back a little bit to look me in the eyes.

“Max?” He asked slowly.

“She didn’t have anyone else she trusted to care for him. We are the only family he has left and she had no one else to turn to for help. She couldn’t just leave Max alone with no one to care for him.”

I was getting defensive, as though I thought Ari had been going to say no. I was starting to panic. I was starting to fight for Max.

“Shhh,” Ari stopped me. He put his hands on my face.

“Ava, calm down,” he smiled at me. His smile was small at first then it grew bigger and bigger as he let the information sink in. His eyes sparkled with excitement. “We have to go get him!”

“We can’t…” I frowned. “Well, you can’t anyway, you have finals and work.”

“Well, you can
’t go to Greece by yourself, Ava. It’s not safe for you.”

I let my shoulders drop. He was right. It wasn
’t smart for me to travel by myself right now. “What about Rory or Julia; could they come with me?”

“They have finals, too,” he reminded me.

“Ok, August or Collin can come.”

“August has to work and don
’t take this the wrong way, but you still make Collin a little bit uncomfortable.”

I bit the inside of my lip.

“Who then?”

“I bet my mom would be thrilled to go with you.”

I groaned at the thought of Ari asking his mom to babysit me in Greece, but there was no one else.

“Yeah, ok, you ask her. I
’ll book the flight.”

I went down the hall to my study, stepped over a pile of scissors on the floor, got on my computer and booked round-trip tickets to Greece. We had a few hours to make an afternoon flight and we would be back by the end of the week. I hoped the window would give us enough time to pay our respects and get all the legal work started for Max. Maya had been adamant that he be put under my custody; she said, in fact that the legal work had all
been taken care of and I hoped she was right.

I booked a few days
’ stay at The Athenian Loft, the same place Ari and I lodged in a few months back. It was fairly close to Maya’s home, so packing up some of Max’s belongings and taking them back to our rooms would be simple.

I went back to our bedroom, took a quick shower and got ready for the trip. I do tend to be a major over-packer and already had half my suitcase filled before I even started on clothes. I sat down on the closet floor and readied myself for the chore of packing outfits, shoes and underwear. Ari walked through the door a few minutes later. He had gone next door to explain everything to Aggie. Ari never phoned home when something special was happening; he always had to tell his mom in person. He had been gone quite a while.

“Is she coming?” I asked.

“Yes. She
’s glad to go along with you and is already almost done packing. I’ll put her stuff in the car in a little bit. I just wanted to see if you needed any help.”

“Sure,” I said with a smile and patted the space on the closet floor next to me. Ari took a seat next to me and at the same time handed me a box wrapped in Christmas paper. I had been so busy folding clothes into tiny squares I hadn
’t even noticed him holding the package. I looked at him curiously.

“What
’s this?”

“Well, it
’s one of your Christmas presents. I want you to have it now; you may want it for the plane,” he shrugged.

A smile grew on my face, “a
re you sure?” I asked before tearing into the paper.

“Yeah, I
’m sure; go ahead.”

“I love you,” I said before opening it.

He laughed then gave me one of his huge beautiful smiles and said, “I love you.”

I finished ripping the paper off and then squealed with delight.

“My very own iPad! Ari, wow, thanks!”

“You are most welcome, Ava; it
’s actually more of a gift for me than it is for you...now you can give mine back to me.”

“Well, do you want this one? I can just use your old one,” I asked, thinking that letting Ari have the new one was the fair thing to do.

“Nope, this one is all yours. I know an iPad is not a very romantic gift, but I also know you’ve been wanting one. It’s already charged and I downloaded all of your favorite apps.”

I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, Ari, I am going to miss you.”

He ran his fingers down my arms.

“I know, and I am going to miss you, too, but it will only be a few days and you’ll have my mom to keep you company.”

“Lucky me,” I said sarcastically into his shoulder.

“She won’t be that bad, besides she’s great with little kids. She’ll probably be a really big help to you. I should know -- she was the best mom ever when I was little.”

I unlocked my arms from around Ari
’s neck and rolled my eyes at him, “Ari, you are such a mama’s boy.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Well, it certainly isn’t good,” I teased.

He shrugged his shoulders at me and then zipped up my bag and took it to the car.

Ari drove Aggie and I to the airport. I held on to him for as long as I could in the noisy, crowded corridor, not wanting to say goodbye. I hated that he couldn’t come with me. I hated being apart from him.

“Hey,” Ari tilted my chin up with his finger. They had just announced our flight over the loud speaker and I was beginning to cry.

“It’s just a few days, Ava. Call me anytime day or night.”

I nodded my head up and down and wiped my nose with my shirtsleeve.

Ari smiled a smile that was so huge it made my breath catch in my throat. He pulled a tissue from his pocket and handed it to me.

“Be safe. You hold my heart in here,” he gently placed his hand on my chest. “I can
’t live without it.”

“Okay,” I hiccupped and sobbed simultaneously and gave him one last kiss before we parted.

****

“He loves you so,” Aggie said quietly as the plane taxied down the runway.

“I know,” I laughed. Even then, after all Ari and I had been through, my cheeks still turned pink at the mention of him.

Aggie took my hand and placed it in hers. She fidgeted with my wedding ring.

“You were right at the gym...I need to be more respectful of the fact that the two of you are married. I did overstep my bounds, Ava and I am sorry. I will give you two the space you need. I am glad I have you as a daughter-in-law. I couldn’t imagine losing my son to anyone else.”

“You haven
’t lost him, Aggie. Ari would do anything for you.”

“It
’s not the same,” she said and frowned out the window.

The flight to Athens was sixteen very long hours. I stayed up and worked my way through my mother
’s journal. “She agreed to give the man her soul to spare your life but only temporarily.” My tray table was covered in post-it notes as I arranged and rearranged the sentences. But I couldn’t come up with the sequences that fit into my interpretation of what had happened. As we readied for landing, I sighed and repacked the notes for another try later on that day.

As soon as we arrived, Aggie and I took a cab straight to Maya
’s home. I found Max there with a social worker. He was quiet and seemed scared and sad. He sat perched by the garden door with his ball. The social worker spoke English, so I explained who I was, providing the proper documentation. She told me that she had been trying to call me and had reached Ari earlier, who told her I was on my way. I sat at the table with her to figure out some of the arrangements for Max while Aggie took him to his bedroom to pack.

The following day, we attended a small service for Maya at a church down the street from her home. People from gathering neighborhoods and hill-top homes had come to show their respect. Women dressed in black patted Max on the head and looked down at him with sad eyes. Clearly Maya had been loved. The day was very long and we didn
’t get to our room until late in the evening. Aggie and I were beyond tired and Max was exhausted. Aggie took the smaller room down the hall and Max and I snuggled into the bed in the bigger bedroom. One minute we were awake and the next we were dead asleep. I don’t know how much time passed before I woke to Aggie shaking my shoulders and calling my name.

“Ava!” she yelled. “Wake up! You
’re screaming in your sleep again. Max is terrified. Ava, open your eyes!”

I shook my head trying to c
lear my mind and wake myself up; Max was crying so hard his whole face was bright red. I had scared him bad.

“Oh Max! I
’m so sorry. Sweet boy, come here.”

I took him out of Aggie
’s arms and held him close, hugging him and kissing his crumpled forehead.

“I was just having a bad dream, it
’s okay… calm down. Shhhh,” I crooned over and over. But Max pushed against me and pawed at the air in Aggie’s direction in an effort to get back to her arms. I couldn’t blame him. I was sure he was scared and confused. Ari was a grown man but still my screams scared him most nights.

My heart sank. “I
’m so sorry,” I cried to him again, willing him to understand.

Aggie ran her fingers down my cheek. “Max knows you are sorry, don
’t worry,” she said. “This situation will just take some getting used to, that’s all.”

She took Max from my arms and carried him out the door and down the hall to her room, where the two of them slept for the rest of the night. I stayed up and worked through the rest of the night on my encrypted message. At dawn, I had no more information than I had had at dusk.

Aggie spent the next two days with Max while I took care of some of the legal matters dealing with Maya’s will. Back home, Andy stayed up half the night helping me with legal documents and addressing all of the questions I had. Maya had left everything to Max. Her little home was beautiful and quaint. It had been in her family for years, so I arranged for a caretaker. I boxed up some things that belonged to Max and some of Maya’s personal items and had them shipped home to Ari.

I met up with Aggie and Max for dinner on our final evening in Greece at a kid-friendly restaurant by the sea. Max had seemingly forgiven me for scaring him and sat on my lap for a while, coloring the back of a menu. He sang a little song that Aggie had taught him and I applauded and cheered when he finished.

What a sweet little boy...Chubby pink cheeks, wide-open brown eyes like Ari’s, and a wonderful, loving smile. Brown spiky hair flopped forward over his brow, sometimes covering his eyes and I fell totally in love with him.

After dinner, I called Ari. The phone rang three times before he
answered my call.

“Hi,” he whispered in a sleepy, groggy voice.

I smiled into the phone and longed to be in the bed next to him.

“Hi. I
’m sorry I woke you.”

“Mmmm,” I could hear him stretch and yawn. “Don
’t be. I’m happy to hear from you.”