Chapter 245 No Longer Qualified to Make Choices
Sharon froze and shot him a look. "Oh, so what?"
Seb's eyes darkened at her coldness. He barely whispered, "Nothing, just thought you wouldn't give him another shot."
"If Mr. Smith has nothing else, please don't waste my time."
Sharon saw right through Seb's lame attempt at fishing for info.
She wasn't giving Alex another chance, and Seb wasn't getting one either.
Back home, Sharon decided to lay low for a bit to dodge the Smiths and Ava.
Plus, she had to think about renting a place in Aidamore to prep for her exams.
With Alex and Ava's drama lately, staying in Metropolis was just asking for more trouble.
With that in mind, Sharon dialed Donna's number.
Meanwhile, Alex had just pulled up to the villa when he saw Ava under the streetlight, looking like a mess.
Ava saw Alex's car and bolted, throwing herself in front of it.
Alex slammed the brakes, heart racing.
The car stopped inches from Ava, and Alex jumped out, fuming. He yanked her to the side and snapped, "Ava, if you wanna die, do it somewhere else. Don't pull this crap in front of me."
Ava dropped to her knees, eyes red and pleading. "Mr. Smith, I've done everything you asked. Please, let my family go. My dad's got asthma, and I'm scared something will happen to him. I know I messed up. Just let my family go, and I'll do anything."
Ava's words were desperate, but Alex just looked at her with ice in his eyes.
"I told you, until Sharon forgives you, you're not off the hook."
"Mr. Smith."
Ava reached for his clothes, but Alex jerked away in disgust. "Don't touch me with your dirty hands."
Just thinking about Ava cheating made Alex sick, and his glare turned even colder.
He thought, 'Was I really that blind? Ava's nothing compared to Sharon. She couldn't even hold a candle to Sharon.'
Seeing the disgust in his eyes, Ava's body shook, and she clutched her clothes tighter.
Tears streamed down her face, and a chill settled in her heart.
She'd been with Alex for so long, and aside from the kid, she thought she'd been genuine. But now, Alex hated her guts.
"Alex, do you really feel nothing for me? Do you want to drive me to my death?"
"We were just a deal. What feelings?"
Without another look, Alex got back in his car and drove off.
Ava didn't chase him. She watched his car disappear into the villa as the gates closed.
Ava stood there, stunned, for a long time before finally turning to leave.
Back home, the first thing Ava did was call Grace.
"You said you had a plan to deal with Sharon. I'll help and take the fall, but you gotta promise me one thing."
Grace was chilling on her balcony and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I wanna use Sharon to make Alex let my family go. As long as they're safe, I'll do whatever you want."
Grace thought for a sec, then smirked. "Alright, but no need for that. I can get your family out, but I won't let them go until you help me deal with Sharon."
Ava's face went cold, and she gritted her teeth. "No, just help them leave when the time comes."
If her family ended up in Grace's hands, it’d be just like being under Alex’s thumb. She’d still be stuck doing stuff she didn’t wanna do.
Grace chuckled, her tone dripping with sarcasm, "Ms. Kim, you're outta options. Either I help you get your family out, or you figure it out yourself."
"Grace, you're kicking me when I'm down!"
Ava's angry tone didn’t faze Grace; it just made her grin wider. "I didn’t wanna do this, but you handed me this leverage, didn’t you?"
Ava went dead silent on the other end. The silence was thick and heavy.
Grace wasn’t in a rush. She put her phone on the table and took a sip of wine.
She knew Ava would come around.
After a long pause, Ava's voice came through, teeth gritted, "Fine, I agree, but if anything happens to my family, I'll tell Seb everything you've done!"
"Don't worry, your family will be way safer with me than with Alex."
Hanging up, Grace immediately hit up Dominic to find out where Ava's parents, Walter and Thalia, were.
Dominic sounded annoyed. "Miss Hall, I'm Mr. Edwards' secretary, not yours."
"Mr. Davenport, when I visited Victor yesterday, I accidentally overheard you on the phone in the stairwell and recorded it. If I send the recording to Victor, you might not only lose your job but also end up in jail. What do you think?" Grace's tone was mocking.
If she hadn’t overheard Dominic’s call yesterday, she wouldn’t have known he’d secretly embezzled company funds to invest in stocks and lost everything.
Dominic's breathing got heavy, his voice full of suppressed anger, "Fine, I'll look into it right away."
"Victor's super busy, so no need to bother him with this."
"Understood, Miss Hall."
Grace put down her phone, a sly smile on her lips.
She was sure it wouldn’t be long before Sharon was out of the picture, and she could be with Seb again.
In less than a day, Dominic found Walter, Thalia, and Theodore and arranged for their rescue.
Following Grace's orders, he found a safe spot to stash Walter, Thalia, and Theodore.
Under Dominic's arrangement, Ava met with Walter, Thalia, and Theodore.
Ava couldn’t hold back her tears when she saw how thin Walter and Thalia had become.
"Dad, Mom, you've been through hell these past few days."
Walter's face was grim, and he was about to raise his hand to slap Ava and demand what she’d done to cause this, but Thalia quickly pulled him back.
Thalia stepped forward, her voice hoarse, "Ava, we're family. Don't talk like that. But seriously, what did you do to piss off Alex? Why did he lock us up?"