Pieces of a Puzzle

Ava

After what felt like an eternity, Rose finally burst through the door, clutching her tablet like it was the last thing connecting her to reality. Her usually composed face was flushed, eyes wide with urgency.

“What the hell took you so long, Rose?” My voice was sharper than I intended, impatience clawing at my throat.

She barely managed to catch her breath. “I— I ran into some issues with the legal team about the Mr. Connor’s deal. He insists that he wants to have a meeting with you directly, so I scheduled a meeting for tomorrow. But, Ava… you’re not gonna believe what I found.”

I barely heard her. My mind was spiraling, thoughts tangling into a chaotic web. How could this be happening? Was this even real?

“Ava?” Rose’s voice cut through my fog, sharp and worried. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is everything alright? What name did you see? Who else is involved?”

I swallowed hard, the word almost sticking to my tongue. It can’t be. But it is. How? “Celia. Celia Sanders.”

Rose froze, her eyes going wide like she’d been struck. “Wait… Celia Sanders? Are you serious?” She fumbled with the file, dropping it on my desk with a thud. “Ava, the information I mentioned about Mr. Richard… it involves that name.”

My heart pounded in my ears, every beat like a drum of disbelief. “Wait, what? What did you find?”

Rose’s curiosity was practically vibrating off her. “Who is she? Do you know her?”

I let out a shaky breath and nodded slowly, the room tilting. “She was my mother. Celia Sanders was her maiden name.”

For a moment, the air between us was thick with silence. Then Rose’s voice, barely above a whisper: “But… Ava, you said your mother died when you were 15. So how the hell is she the biggest shareholder in Orion’s company? The company didn’t even exist back then. And why did Mr. Richard mention her in this document? How did he even know her?”

Questions swarmed like a relentless storm, each one more twisted than the last. My pulse thundered in my ears.

Rose’s eyes darted between me and the file, her voice rising with every word. “Do you think—”

“No!” I snapped, cutting her off, the word laced with a desperation I couldn’t hide. “She’s dead. I saw her, Rose. I watched them lower her into the ground.” Even as I said it, a sickening seed of doubt sprouted. Did I really see her? Or did I just believe what they wanted me to?

No…no, Ava! She’s dead. I felt her cold body myself.

Rose pressed on, her voice edged with disbelief. “But Ava, how is she tied to Richard? Why would he refer to her as his sister? And why did he use her maiden name, not Rodriguez? That means he knew her before she married your father.”

It felt like my world was tilting off its axis. Rose echoed the same thoughts I had spiraling in my mind. How could this be happening? I scanned the document, my fingers brushing on the part where Richard referred to my mother as his sister. Is this even possible?

“The small treasure box,” I whispered, the realization crashing over me like a tidal wave. “The one thing she left behind. An anonymous person mailed it to me a few years back, with a note that says my mother left it in their care. I couldn’t open it, no matter what I tried. There’s something in there… something she wanted to keep hidden.”

I met Rose’s gaze, my eyes blazing with a mix of fear and determination. “Make sure no one else sets eyes on this document. Find out everything, including the last assignment I gave you about my father’s wife. Dig deeper than you’ve ever dug. I want every record, every connection. I need to know why Richard called her his sister. And why he forced me into this… this twisted marriage.”

Rose nodded, already scrolling frantically through her tablet. “I’m on it.”

I grabbed my coat, the urgency clawing at me. “I have to go home. There’s something I need to check. Call Joe. We’re leaving now.”

As I stormed out of the office, my mind was a hurricane of unanswered questions and twisted possibilities. What kind of sick game was Richard playing? If my mother was his sister, that made him… my uncle. So why would he trap me into marrying my so-called cousin? Wait, I had sex with my cousin?

A wave of nausea washed over me and I felt like throwing up. This can’t be happening.

Nothing made sense. The puzzle pieces were jagged, sharp-edged lies, and I was done being played.

The elevator doors slid open, and I collided with Mr. Kingston, one of the board members. His smug smile made my skin crawl. He’s one of the people on Orion’s team.

“Mrs. Miller,” he drawled, his tone oily. “Your husband just left. You could’ve asked him for a ride. Rash, don’t you think, moving to kick him out of the board like that.”

I clenched my fists, the temptation to punch him in his smug face almost overwhelming. Instead, I smiled coldly. “Mr. Kingston, how’s your wife? Last I heard, she was on a ‘missionary journey’ in Manhattan. Same one we’re both thinking of, right?”

His face turned beet red, teeth grinding audibly. He stormed off, muttering under his breath.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. I had bigger demons to face and no time to waste on Mr. Kingston and his whoring wife.

The car ride was a blur, the city lights streaking past like neon ghosts. My mind raced, each thought more twisted than the last. There are answers in that box. Secrets that could shatter everything.

When we pulled up to the mansion, I barely waited for the car to stop. I slammed the door behind me, my footsteps echoing in the silence. My heart pounded in my chest as I swung open the front door.

And then I froze.

My breath caught in my throat, my pulse a deafening roar in my ears.

Because standing there, in the dim light of the foyer, was a shadow I never expected to see again.