*WARNING: This chapter contains graphic content and violence and mentions of r*pe.

~You can't hate something unless you've loved something with all you have.

Avalyn's POV.

Breath... breath... breath Ava. I tried to control myself but I was helpless. Fear seeping through my every cell. "What do you think? I'm blind? I can't see a f**k like you lusting over me? How shameful you are, just like your father." I heard him whisper in my years. I wanted to die of shame. I'm ashamed of loving someone. Ashamed of existing.

His hand left my neck and he backed away the moment I thought I was about to black out. I slid down the wall sitting with my forehead resting on my knees. Breathing hard, filling my lungs with life. "You wanna know why you're here?" He went back to the table and refilled his glass and took a big gulp again.

"You're here because your dear father sold you to me. Just like he sold you before to his many other friends. All I wanted was to save a slut like you. That maybe you're too young to know what's good for you. But look what I got from this. A forced marriage and a betrayal from a c*nt like you. You got the proof of your father's crimes out of my office, when I almost had him. Almost!" He took another big gulp and turned back to me after putting his glass down.

"I misjudged you. I never regretted saving anyone before. But I do now." I was too shocked and hurt to say anything but I needed to know what he meant. "M..My father?" I choked out barely. He walked towards me and crouched down in front of me with his eyes levelled with mine.

He held out his right hand, palm up. "Touch this hand." His voice was so soft that his shouts were less scary than this. "Go ahead." I touch his palm lightly, with two of fingers. My own hand was trembling violently. "Today, I sew a 5 year old with this hand, there." I gasped when I realized what he was talking about and I pulled my hand away in shock and horror.

"You know how she was raped?" He looked me dead in the eyes and continued. "She was raped using your father's drugs. Do you wanna know what they did to her? And it's not just her. Do you wanna know how many children and people are harmed by your father's drugs?" I cried then, not for myself or my pain, but for her. For those children and for those people.

He held my ring finger with painful force. And pointed at my tattoo. "Is this some sort of code between you two f**kers?" It felt like a knife plunged into my chest and was twisted brutally. I was hurt by his accusation more than my bleeding lip or anything. Only if he knew what the tattoo meant.

He stood uper again and walked to his table. "I never did any..." Before I could explain he cut me off with a shout. "Shut the f**k up." My breathed hitched and I held my chest. I slowly stood up on my feet supporting the wall. "With the blood and screams of all those children, your father rose and made his fortune." He filled his cup yet again but before taking a sip he, roared with all the hatred he could muster.

We heard a commotion outside feets running in out direction. His eyes screaming their hatred for me. "And you! His little princess was fed and clothed and treasured by that money. You f**king b**ch! If you had any humanity left in you. You would kill yourself this instance rather than HELPING HIM!" He shouted at the top of his lungs and without thinking, he swung the bottle in my direction.

The glass scattered near my leg as it hit the wall beside me. A big piece of glass slid through my lower leg and made a deep cut. And I screamed with pain and ran at last because I knew the, that this was never a conversation. I had no saying against any accusations he posed. He believed in them and he was there to push his judgment on me.

The door swung open and I bumped into someone who was entering through the door. He was one of the guards, probably but I had no time to notice much. I ran and ran until I was out of there. Before getting far enough I heard the guard saying full of panic. "She wasn't the one! We found him! It was not her!" Of course, it was not me. I would have rather killed myself, than doing something like that. But does it even matter now? No it does not. And it never did. He made it clear now.

I realized then, that loving someone was not a good enough reason to be treated with care or be loved back. How silly I have been. He killed me then and there. And Avalyn lived no more.

I ran bare feet to Avery, it was night and no taxis or anything were near the house. The moment I banged her door I blacked out, due to the pain or loss of blood, I was not sure.

I woke up in the hospital after a day or two and Avery was on the verge of falling apart. She was trying to keep her tears in when I woke up. She hugged me and I felt like someone cared.

I refused to talk for a week, during which I was hospitalized due to fever and other reasons. I was discharged and Avery took me in her home without asking or saying anything. I loved her for that. I couldn't speak, I wish I could change things. I wish I hadn't loved the monster I saw that night. I wish I never met him. I wish I never knew what I know now.

"Have you told father about this?" I asked her quietly, sitting in my bed. I had to tell her all about this at some point. I knew it but I was just not ready before now. She shook her head telling me she would never until I told her to. I don't deserve a friend like her. After all I'm the daughter of a man like him. I deserve nothing.

"Do you want to eat something? Should I bring some fruits for you? You like pineapple, don't you?" She stood up but I held her wrists lightly. "I have something to tell you." Her eyes softened and she nodded before sitting back down. I told her everything then, including any secrets I've kept from her, like the cake or me dressing up and waiting, the meaning behind the tattoo on my ring finger.

She gasped when the complete picture of my life took hold of her mind. She cried then, while hugging me. I heard no hiccups or gasps for air from her, people normally cry with them. She just had tears sliding down her eyes one after another. We both cried for hours, that day. I don't know who she cried for. But I cried for everything. Everything I knew and didn't. Everything I was and wasn't. Everything from the beginning till then. And for myself, who died that night in the mansion.

~3 years later~

I looked at the news flasing everywhere I went. Salvatore Agosti accused of the murder of a child. A footage of him flasing everywhere, where he could be seen at the rooftop of a shady building and the center of New York right after a child fell off it. But the body of the child disapeard along with Salvatore Agosti. My ex husband.

The moment we got divorced, almost 3 years ago. News channels and magazines all covered the news and my face was known among common people. I did no interviews and kept low as I felt it to be the best course of actions, at that moment. A violent man, he was. But I refused to believe he could kill a child. Not when I saw the agony in his eyes, when he talked about them being hurt.

I don't know what's going on but I knew his lawyers would cover him up good in the case and everyone would forget about it within a month. That's all too easy for a man like Agosti.

I sighed, as I took the time in. It's about time I went home. I picked up my purse up and walked out of one of the most successful and famous firms in legal market. I made it here in record speed thanks to the financial and emotional help from my guardian angel Avery. We live together now in a 4 bedroom house. In a decent neighbourhood and a pretty expensive area.

I got home and I knew Avery would be cooking dinner by now. I went in and helped her. After that I changed and we ate. We were now sitting in the living room with news turned on and I was shocked at what I heard. Two of the lawyers appointed by Salvatore Agosti disappeared and now an attorney would be provided to him by court.

Well now this is getting complicated. If the lawyer or attorney is not his own, and is involved with someone against him, his life could be destroyed within days. There was more to it than we think. I thought about something I could do or if I could do anything at all or not.

"I see your wheels churning. Give your little head a rest, Ava. Don't get involved." I frowned at her. "Choices comes with consequences." She said warning me. I smiled at her and said. "The worst thing you could do to an arrogant man is to have pity on him." She looked at me trying to figure out if I was just teasing her or actually going out to help the f**ker. And the answer was the later one.

Next morning I was ready to give the media what they craved the most. Content.

"As the ex wife of Salvatore Agosti, what are your viwes about the case he's facing against him right now?" Exactly what I was waiting to be asked. I smiled softly at the cameras and said in a voice filled with humour.

"If anyone knew his bad side, it would be me... probably." I shrugged, which made a wave or chuckled and grins erupt from the crowd and I laughed with them. And at that moment I turned serious but a small smile remained on my face, "Believe me when I say, He can get pretty bad at.. life. But a child murderer, he can never be." I stated in a voice that left no room for question over my views.

"But, some of his lawyers apparently disapeard. If he was as innocent as you stated, then it shouldn't have been that hard for him to find a lawyer that stays and defend him." I looked at the man who said that. Bingo!

"Well, I refuse to believe the accusations made against him. And as someone most dear to me said, 'choices have consequences' I will go forward in court as his lawyer if those are the consequences I must face." There it is, now I can get a peaceful sleep knowing someone I know is not going to face injustice.

I just hope I don't regret being involved with him again. But I doubt that, because now I was not the girl who used to live for a sight of him, anymore. I was not the Kingdom of feather he stomped on years ago. Because the moment he lost my feelings for him, all of my vulnerabilities disappeared with them. I've got nothing to lose now.

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Me: Ready as he*l! For the Power Female era.