Alex chuckles at me when I go to stand next to him. “Man, I just love your view.”

I don’t respond, only glare at him and his stupid ass decision for stepping foot in my office. I’ll be letting Selena know quickly that Alex is no longer allowed through the building, along with alerting security of the issue. If there’s anything I should’ve expected after having him fired, it should’ve been for him to show up unannounced.

He whistles slowly while turning around and taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk. Instead of sitting in one next to him, I choose to stand behind my desk and level him with a glare as I slowly sink down onto my own chair.

“What do you want?” I snap at him.

“I appreciate you helping me out, man,” he says with a smile.

I lift an eyebrow. “Not sure what you’re getting at.”

He angles closer to me, pure hatred shining through his gaze as he bares his teeth at me. “Must suck knowing that Ava will never truly be with you, right?”

Alex leans back into his seat casually as if he didn’t just mention Ava’s name to me. I’m seeing red, but trying really hard not to let my temper show. That’s what he wants. He wants to see me react.

I glance at him calmly, trying to make it seem like this conversation is boring me even though I’m fully invested after the mention of Ava’s name. We’ve been getting lunch together for a little while now, seeming to make a routine while at work together, but for some reason, she wasn’t there today… and I feel like that has something to do with why Alex is here right now.

He slides his phone over to me, then presses the button on the screen. It’s a little muffled, but you can still hear the bullshit I spewed before admitting my real feelings about Ava. Except, he never recorded that part. He only recorded his own version of the fight.

My heart drops to my asshole as he lifts the phone from the desk and shoots me a smirk.

This fucker.

“Imagine Ava’s surprise when I told her all about you, then played her this same thing. Priceless, really.”

He lifts from the seat and heads for the door. It’s taking everything in me not to push him out the fucking window but I contain myself for an extra few seconds.

His body turns abruptly. “Looks like I’ll be getting my chance after all.”

As soon as the door shuts behind him, I’m pulling my cell from my pocket and finding Ava’s number. I get her voicemail again, then holler for Selena loud enough that the entire block can probably hear me. She scurries into the room, concern lining her features, and moves toward my desk.

Through gritted teeth I ask, “Can you please find Ava? Now?”

Selena nods frantically before rushing from the room, only to return a moment later with a sad expression on her face. Her throat clears, clearly hinting at her nervousness, but says, “She caught a flight an hour ago for Tennessee.”

Is this what your heart breaking feels like?

This isn’t how I wanted things to go. But, I’m also angry. Instead of coming to me and asking about Alex’s recording, she stuck her tail between her legs and ran away from me. From us, essentially.

You should’ve told her you loved her, you idiot.

I curse at myself for not letting her know how I truly feel about her, but more so I hate that Alex was able to get between us this way. He doesn’t care about her, that much is true. The only thing he cares about is the fact that he had her, and now he doesn’t and she’s found happiness elsewhere. Heck, she’s thriving without him.

“Sir?” Selena asks hesitantly. This woman probably thinks I’m about to jump out of my window, no doubt.

I shake my head, grunting out a thank you before dismissing her to get back to work. She doesn’t say anything else as she leaves the room and shuts the door softly behind her.

At least she knows not to push me right now.

No, right now I need to find the next available flight to her hometown. If she doesn’t want to come to me, the least I can do is go to her.

It doesn’t take long for me to find something, so I book the flight available for tomorrow and rise from the desk. There’s no sense in being here right now, especially since I won’t be able to get much work done.

I walk toward my dad’s office, knocking a few times on the wooden door, waiting patiently for him to usher me inside.

“Come in,” his muffled voice calls from the other end.

Even in the short time since Ava busted through my heart and ripped it out, I know I must look a mess because my father glances at me before doing a double take and becoming more alert. “Son?”