Page 350 of Now and Forever

FALLING FOR AVA

Prologue

Ava

My life was splendid. I had a doting husband that loved me to no end; a family who adored me; and a supportive, close-knit group of friends who would keep my secrets to the grave.

Envious people never failed to comment whenever they had a chance that I was a lucky woman. Indeed, I was quite lucky in all fronts of my life.

But as everyone knows, all perfections have their imperfections, whether it’s fully visible or hidden from prying eyes, it’s there, hovering, making one conscious it’s alive and thriving.

My life was fine …

Up until the past decided to give me a vivid reminder of someone I had wanted to forget for a decade yet had never been successful at it.

My parents had once called this “imperfection” a gold-digging bastard without any ambition other than to milk whatever he could from me. For a time, I was swayed by their filthy lies, treating him like the dirt they had described him to be. Mortified though I was, it didn’t stop me from making it known what I believed him to be. For a while, it made me feel satisfied, but as the time went on, my conscience started to waver against my beliefs.

My horrid actions pained him, though he wouldn’t say it out loud because he loved me that much. But shame itself couldn’t hold back from what I felt for him. The shame matched whatever passion I had, loving and hating him at the same time.

My naiveté caused me to believe such lies I knew deep down weren’t true. Realizing how horrific I’d been to him, I halted everything physical because I felt undeserving of his loyalty and love.

Then, one night, tragedy struck and life took him away from me. I was broken, dying with my guilty conscience, and mourning the loss of him. The knife struck so deep I mourned him on a daily basis, even after a decade. There was never a day in which I didn’t think of him.

However, all of this changed when the past haunted me in the form of another man named Craig Chambers.

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