Ava stood in front of the Carter Foundation headquarters, the late afternoon sun painting the glass windows gold. She looked up, heart pounding, breath shallow. This was where it would begin—or end.
She was no longer the wide-eyed girl caught in a contract marriage. She was something else now. Sharper. Hungrier. Determined to uncover every last lie. Even if it broke her.
Jace stepped beside her, dressed in crisp black, his jaw tight.
"You don't have to do this," he said quietly.
Ava looked at him. "Yes. I do."
Together, they entered the building.
---
The boardroom was filled with tension. Executives lined the long polished table. Lena sat at the far end, face composed but eyes burning with contempt. Michael Blackthorne stood beside her, no longer hiding.
"Interesting to see the couple still playing pretend," Lena said.
Ava didn't flinch. "Interesting to see you pretending you still matter."
Michael stepped forward. "You should walk away now, Ava. While you still have something left to lose."
"Too late for that," she said.
Jace slammed a folder onto the table. "Proof. Of the embezzlement. The offshore accounts. The shell companies. You left too many cracks."
A stunned silence.
The chairman took the folder, flipping through it with widening eyes. "This… this is damning."
Michael laughed, slow and venomous. "You think this ends me?"
"No," Ava said. "But it exposes you."
Blackthorne turned to her, voice dropping. "Your mother was a mistake. So are you."
Jace lunged forward, grabbing him by the collar. "Say that again."
Michael smirked. "You think love will save her? That woman is a legacy of deceit."
Ava stepped in. "I may be born of secrets. But I choose what I become."
---
Security escorted Michael and Lena from the building under threat of arrest. The fallout would be massive. But it was just the beginning.
Ava returned home with Jace and collapsed into the couch, drained.
"It's over," she whispered.
He sat beside her, pulling her close. "Not over. Just the next chapter."
She looked at him. "Then let's write it together."
---
Weeks passed.
The Carter name was cleared.
The Foundation restructured under Ava's new leadership.
Michael's accounts were frozen, Lena fled to Europe, and Ava's mother resurfaced—meeting her in a quiet garden in Italy.
"I did what I had to," her mother said, voice trembling.
Ava nodded, tears in her eyes. "I know. But next time—don't disappear."
They hugged for the first time in over a decade.
---
Back in the city, Jace knelt before Ava on the rooftop of their high-rise apartment.
No cameras.
No contracts.
Just two broken souls learning to love again.
He held out a ring. "No deals. No obligations. Just you and me. Will you?"
Ava smiled, tears slipping down her cheeks.
"Yes."
They kissed as fireworks exploded in the sky behind them, the city alive with celebration.
---
Epilogue: A Year Later
The book release was sold out.
Ava stood on stage, her novel—Trapped in a Contract Marriage—a bestseller, now adapted into a streaming series.
Jace sat front row, eyes never leaving her.
"I thought I was trapped," she told the audience. "But sometimes, what feels like a trap… is just the beginning of your freedom."
Thunderous applause.
Outside, the night air smelled of new beginnings.
And for Ava Williams-Carter, the story was just getting started.