Chapter 49 We Can't Change The Past

• The gala, once a celebration, had quickly become a circus. Ava stood just inside the grand hall, watching the chaos unfold around her. The room buzzed with gossip, whispers cutting through the air like knives. News of the alleged troubles in her marriage to Alexander had spread like wildfire, and now, she was the star of the evening-though not for the reasons anyone had hoped. Linda's attack had only fueled the fire, and Ava could feel every set of eyes on her as she took a slow, deliberate breath.
• She straightened her back, forcing herself to stand taller, her heels clicking sharply on the polished floor as she walked past a row of reporters. Their cameras flashed at her with relentless speed, eager to catch a glimpse of the woman they saw as a victim, as the trembling wife of the infamous Alexander. But Ava wasn't the woman they thought they knew. She wasn't the woman who would cower or give them a scandal. Not tonight.
• Ava could hear snippets of conversation as she moved through the crowd, snippets of rumors she had no intention of addressing. The world had already decided what her story would be. It was easy to make her the villain, the helpless wife whose marriage was crumbling. But that wasn't the truth. And Ava was tired of letting the world define her.