My Ex-Husband Begged Me to Take Him Back - Chapter 70

Chapter 70: The cold challenges

When Gianna woke up the next morning, she immediately checked her phone to see the explosive headlines, slandering Ava. But she didn’t find any, much to her surprise.

The smile on her face vanished, and her eyebrows creased. She checked the social media, expecting to see people cursing Ava. But there was nothing. No one discussed Dylan and Ava’s divorce. There was no mention of the reporters questioning Ava the day before. It was as if that incident hadn’t happened at all.

“What is going on?” she grumbled. Her initial excitement dissolved into frustration. “How can no one talk about Ava?” Her plan to publicly humiliate Ava had somehow failed, and she couldn’t comprehend how.

Unable to contain her frustration, she dialed the number of the reporter she had paid to release the news. The phone rang and rang, heightening her impatience until, finally, the woman picked up.

“What is happening?” Gianna snapped. “Why didn’t you publish the news? I gave you money, remember?”

“I don’t need your money anymore.” The voice on the other end was curt, icy. “Because of that news, I lost my job. Now, stop calling me.”

Beep

The line went dead, leaving Gianna staring at her phone in shock.

“She was fired…” she exclaimed, stunned.

A slow, chilling realization began to creep over her. Someone might have intervened and stopped the news from spreading. But who? Dylan or Nicholas?

“No, no, no…” she muttered, shaking her head. Dylan was unlikely to help Ava, especially after their fallout. “Dylan won’t do this. He hates Ava and has already divorced her. Why would he bother to help her? This must be Nicholas.”

Nicholas had the resources and the motive. Brian’s warning echoed in her mind, and she shivered slightly.

Nicholas had the capability to expose her and destroy her.

“I can’t ignore this man,” she muttered, urgency creeping into her voice. “I have to do something before it’s too late.”

Dylan was the only one who could deal with Nicholas, and Gianna made up her mind to go find him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Dylan’s office…

Ava stepped into Dylan’s office, her expression was unreadable, her eyes cold and detached.

Dylan’s face brightened for a moment, hopeful that maybe she had come to express her gratitude, possibly having learned somehow that he had gathered the evidence against Gianna. But he quickly reminded himself—he had taken measures to keep his involvement hidden. She couldn’t know.

But he couldn’t ignore the excitement coursing through him, yet he kept his face stern as he watched her approach the desk. Ava, with a look of steely resolve, set a single page down with a solid thud.

“I’m here to submit my resignation again. This time, you have to accept it.”

Dylan glanced down at the resignation letter. The thought of letting her go was intolerable. He would never accept it, no matter what. “You are in a probational period,” he started slowly. “You can’t resign. Work for three more months, and then I’ll consider it.”

He turned his attention deliberately back to his laptop, feigning indifference. Ava’s posture stiffened, and her eyes narrowed, a spark of anger glinting in them.

Ava’s annoyance simmered under her skin. “Aren’t you worried that I can make a big blunder to trouble you? Have you forgotten I have connections with gangsters? I can make things really difficult for you.”

Her words successfully stabbed his chest. Dylan’s face tightened as he lifted his head, meeting her cold stare with a sudden pang of guilt. He silently clenched his fist, regretting accusing her without knowing the truth. How wrong he had been.

He suppressed the complex feelings deep down and kept his face stern. “No,” he said decisively. “I have faith in you.”

The word ‘faith’ landed on her like a bombshell, disorienting her thoughts. Ava’s heart twisted painfully, raw memories resurfacing in a flood of resentment and sorrow.

For so long, she had yearned for even a sliver of trust from him—just a moment of belief in her honesty. Instead, he’d turned away, quick to accuse, quick to trust anyone else over his own wife.

At that moment, she really wanted to show him all the proof and ask him why he hadn’t trusted her sooner. But doing so might ruin her plan to expose Gianna.

“Are you mocking me now?” she snapped, her fury a barely controlled flame. “Did you trust me when I begged you to? No. You accused me without a second thought.”

Dylan flinched at the depth of pain in her eyes. He wanted to look away, but her gaze held him captive.

“You chose to put your faith in Gianna, who always bullied me,” she unleashed her pent-up anguish. “She lied every time, but you believed her, and ignored my truth. And now… now, you claim you have faith in me?” A bitter snort escaped her lips. “How ridiculous.”

Dylan opened his mouth to respond, but no words came. The weight of her accusation left him speechless. He simply stared at her with conflicted feelings in his heart.

He regretted accusing her and saying those harsh words. But he forced himself to suppress any urge to apologize or to reveal that he had finally seen the truth. A simple apology wasn’t sufficient.

Dylan had been too blind to see the real nature of Gianna behind the façade of innocence. His ignorance had put him into this embarrassing and helpless situation.

For a moment, he wanted to tell her that he had uncovered the truth, but he held himself back. He didn’t want to ruin her joy of exposing Gianna. He would endure this backlashing if it meant to see her satisfied and happy.

“Whether you want it or not, you will have to work here,” he said sternly, putting a mask of indifference on his face. “You can’t break the clauses, or you have to compensate.”

“I am ready to compensate,” Ava declared without hesitation, taking Dylan by surprise.

He hadn’t expected her to be so desperate to sever all ties with him.

“I am not going to work here anymore,” she declared.

“That’s not for you to decide,” he growled and shot up on his feet, striding toward her with an aura of authority. “I’ll decide whether you will work here or not. I haven’t accepted your resignation, so you are still my employee—and you will follow my orders.”

“What if I refuse?” Ava met his gaze fiercely, her posture unyielding.

“Then I won’t hold back from going after your father’s company.” He let out a low, threatening growl, keeping his eyes locked with hers.

Ava didn’t break the eye contact, her gaze as unwavering as her words. “I’m not afraid of you anymore. You don’t control me.”

His expression shifted into a cold sneer. “I know from where you get this confidence. It’s because of Nicholas’s backing. Then let me tell you: if he stands in my way, he’ll be my next target. It won’t take long for me to destroy him.”