Chapter 40 - I Love You

Ace

I was feeling like someone was ripping my heart out of the chest. It was weird because I had just finished talking to Ava and started feeling like this after that.

I was getting a really ominous feeling. Did Ava rub off her gut feelings on me?

"Sir, your file," Veron said, getting into my office cabin after knocking on the door. "Sir?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and said, "Yes, what?"

"Your file," Veron repeated and handed it to me.

I nodded and was about to check it, but I had to quench this awful feeling first. I tried calling Ava again, but this time, she didn't pick up. I called a few more times, and yet, the same result.

"Veron, can you check Ava's location?" I asked.

"Yes, of course. I'll check it right away," Veron said and pulled out his phone to check. After a moment, he said, "Ma'am is at the Valentino Mansion right now."

"I see." If Ava was home, then why was I getting such a bad feeling? No, I needed to check it by myself. "Veron, I'm going home. I'll check the file later."

"Okay, Sir. No problem."

I headed down to my car and drove back home. When I got home, I saw the maids surrounding Vayden who was playing on the carpet. They were watching him like a hawk as if he would disappear if they looked away.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked sternly.

The maids jumped in surprise, and one of them replied, "Good afternoon, Sir. We are looking after him like Ma'am Ava ordered. She said not to look away from him for a second."

I raised an eyebrow. "And where is Ava?"

"She went upstairs about an hour ago," another of them replied.

My worry increased as I nodded and ran upstairs. I went straight to our bedroom to find Ava packing her bags.

"Ava, where are you going?"

At my voice, Ava turned around. My heart clenched as I observed her. Her eyes were bloodshot red, and her cheeks were stained with tears.

I immediately ran to her and put my hands on her shoulder. "What's wrong, baby? Why are you crying?"

Ava moved back, pushing away my hands. "I'm leaving you forever, Ace."

My heart almost stopped beating. I just stared blankly at her beautiful tear-stricken face. I couldn't process her words. "Sorry, what?" I let out dumbly. I couldn't possibly be hearing those words right.

Ava took a deep breath and looked me in the eye. "I'm leaving you forever, Ace."

I pursed my lips, trying to let those words sink. When they did sink, panic shot through every fiber of my being.

"Why... Why are you saying that? Did I do something wrong, Ava? You can tell me, and I'll fix it. I swear—" she cut me off coldly.

"No, you did nothing wrong."

"Then? Why are you leaving me?" I asked desperately.

"Because you were cheated."

"What?"

She wiped her tears and steeled herself to say, "I went for a checkup with another doctor two days ago."

Shit, I knew she was hiding something from me for the past couple of days. But oh, no... now she knows the truth.

"Ava—"

"I got the results today. Turns out..." She bit her lips to hold back a sob. "I can never be a mother." She started crying again. "Can you believe that? I had no idea. My dad knew about this the entire time, yet he never said anything. We cheated you, Ace. We robbed you of the right to be a father. That's why it's for the best that I leave you."

I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath, before saying, "I knew."

Ava looked up at me in shock. "What?"

"I knew," I repeated. "I knew about it even before I married you."

"What..." Then something clicked in her head. "That's why you weren't willing to let me see another doctor..." she said after connecting the dots.

I nodded. "Yes, I didn't want you to know." For as long as I could drag the untold truth, I wanted to. Because I didn't want to look at the hurt look on her face.

"But how did you know about it before marrying me?" she asked, baffled.

"How could you think that your dad would trick me into marrying you? He told me the truth just before we got married, and I had said yes despite that," I told her honestly.

Ava stared at me in disbelief. "If you knew... why... Why would you marry someone like me? Why would you even want to stay with me?"

How could she even question that? Did she not know me at all?

I grabbed her shoulder firmly this time so that she couldn't get out of my hold and said, "Because I love you."

Her eyes widened.

Yes, she was moody and unpredictable. She could get overbearing at times, but it didn't matter to me. I loved her too much. And how could I not? She was there for me when no one else could be. She supported me when I needed a shoulder to cry on. She was the reason I was here today. It was because of the love she showed to me throughout the years.

"I love you, Ava. That's why I married you, and that's why I want to stay with you forever. I love you for who you are, not because of the fact that you can or cannot give me a child."

More tears slipped out of her eyes. "Do you really love me that much?"

I nodded. "Yes, you can't even imagine how much I do."

"Even so... isn't it unfair for you?"

I shook my head. "Ava, if I were in your shoes, if I were the one who had problems, what would you do?"

Ava was stunned to hear that, and her expression morphed into a more understanding one as she reversed our roles. "I would accept it."

"Why would you accept me?" I asked to make my point.

A smile formed on her lips as she uttered, "Because I love you too."

I smiled as well and kissed her forehead. "Now, do you get why I did what I did?"

She nodded. "I'm so sorry, I was being so immature. The news was just... so shocking."

"I understand, Ava. No way it could have been easier for you after knowing that." I made her sit on the bed and hugged her. "But God, you scared me so much when you said you were leaving me forever."

She chuckled in response.

"Hey, you have to promise that you will never try to leave me again. I promised you last time, but you didn't. So promise me now," I insisted.

"Okay, okay, fine. I promise, Ace, I will never leave you."

I smiled in satisfaction and squeezed her in my arms. "That's better."

"But how did you know that I was going to leave?" she asked curiously.

I chuckled and said, "You rubbed off your gut feelings on me."

She raised her head from my chest and looked at me in disbelief. "Seriously?"

I nodded with a smile and pulled her back into my chest. I needed to calm down for a few minutes. That momentary fear of her leaving me was more terrifying than any nightmare I ever had, almost on par with that time she had gone to her dad's place after learning my truth.

I was so glad that I came home from the office when I got that gut feeling. If I hadn't, who knows where Ava would have gone? Definitely not to her dad's place.

After a few minutes, Ava spoke up, "Ace...".

"Hmm?"

"I still want a child of our own, though," she murmured.

"Yeah, sure. What do you have in mind?" Of course, we would have a child. There was adoption—

"Why don't we do surrogacy?"

A/N: If you are loving my novel so far, please follow me, trimagical_, and stay tuned for more updates! Have a nice day!