Monday morning came heavy with silence. Ava walked the university halls like a ghost, her books forgotten in her arms, her eyes catching every stranger, every shadow.
She couldn't shake the memory of the shattered café window. The rock. The note.
That morning, she found another one—slipped under her dorm door in blood-red ink:
"I was there the night your family burned.
Meet me at Delacroix Station. 6:45 PM. Come alone.
—Julien"
Who the hell is Julien? The man in black? Is this a trap?
Her hands trembled as she folded the note and hid it in her jacket. She didn't tell Rosa, didn't even text Leonard.
Will she go see him?
Yes
She needed answers.
A stupid decision.
She needed this to end.
The sky bruised purple as Ava hurried across the city to Delacroix Station. Her heart pounded with each step, her breath catching in her throat like it knew what was coming. The air was thick with tension, headlights flashing across damp streets.
At 6:44 PM, she reached the underpass near the station—an old railway tunnel long out of use. The air smelled of rust and decay.
"Julien?" she called.
Only echoes replied.
"Julien, if you're here, I just want to talk!"
A flicker of movement.
A shadow darted past the edge of her vision.
She turned.
And the car came out of nowhere.
Blinding lights. Screeching tires. Wind tearing at her coat as she jumped to the side, landing hard on her elbows.
The car didn't stop. It disappeared into the darkness.
Someone had just tried to kill her.
Again.
She stood, shaking, blood dripping from her scraped palms. But Julien was gone. Or maybe… he'd never been there.
Was it a trap?
She stumbled back into the streetlight's glow, pulling out her phone with trembling fingers.
No signal.
But she had service five minutes ago.
The next day, she was back at the café before class, flipping through old online articles on the family "accident."
One headline stood out.
"Mysterious Fire Claims Lives of Anjello Family: No Evidence of Foul Play, Says Lucien Crane Du Callian-, CEO of LCD Holdings"
She tried to google who Lucien Crane Du Callian
Her heart stopped, she knows this face? He seems so… familiar.. Yet different.
Ava dropped her phone.
Later that day, Leonard showed up on campus again—this time in an expensive charcoal coat, aviators on, oozing privilege.
"Did you enjoy our little meeting yesterday?" he teased.
Ava stared at him, her voice low. Yes, now she know who Lucien reminded her of, this asshole, Leonard.
He raised a brow. "Earth to Ava! Why are you quiet?"
But this is not possible, Leonard is bearing a different name?
"Who are you Leonard and why are you talking to me"
He looks confused
"Pardon me"
"What do you want from a common barristar? Stop coming to me like we are friends. I don't know anything about you"
"Are you even using your father's name."
He froze for a second. Just enough for her to see it. The flash of recognition. The panic. Then the smirk returned.
"Is the great Ava trying to knoww more about me, has she finally fallen inlove with the Billionare Heir"
She looks at him with disgust. What was she thinking, just like Luca reminding her of her brother Alex. Leonard and Lucien is definitely also a coincidence.
He continues talking about himsels and how he is not surprised she fell for him because any girl in her right mind will want to be the wife of the Heir.
"Who is your father Leonard, whose Heir are you?"
He stopped speaking and looks uncomfortable
"Why do you ne…"
"I have been looking everywhere for you,Ava, let's go home" Rosa storms in
"Ooh I'm sorry, am I interrupting something, I can come back if you want."
She turns to head out
"Actually I have to leave" Leonard cuts in and hurries out quickly.
Well, that was weird
Ava didn't sleep that night.
She sat curled by the frosted window of her room, knees to her chest, watching the moonlight drip through the glass like melting silver. The city below still buzzed, but her mind was a quiet storm.
Leonard knew something.
Julien was being hunted.
And her past wasn't just tragedy—it was murder.
She clutched the note tighter in her hand. It still smelled of smoke.
Meet me again. Tomorrow night. Same place. Don't bring him.
—J.
This time, she'd be ready.
The Next Day – 3:45 PM
Leonard paced the marbled floor of the LCD Holdings penthouse suite. His fists were clenched. The floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the skyline, but he barely noticed. His mind replayed Ava's voice again and again:
"Who is your father?"
He stormed into his father's office without knocking. He has always hated him. He abandoned his mother when he was 5 then forcefully tried to form a relationship after he turned 15.
Because he other mistresses could not give him a son, an heir.
He looks so disgusted and everytime he had to have this father-son meetings
"What do you want this time Lucien"
Cole Hernandez didn't look up from his glass of scotch. "Good afternoon to you too, son."
The title of father never sat right with Leonard. Lucien was never a father just a means to an end.
No father-son bond but he enjoyed the privileges of being a Du Callian, part Du Callian. That was his name on paper, but he would never take his father's surname. His father did not deserve.
Leonard took a glass of the scotch
His father hated it when he drank, how ironic, and he loved pissing off his dad.
"I hear you have added a new girl to your toy collection…. What her name again… Ava?"
Leonard slams the glass on the floor, the noise of the glass shattering floods the room
"What I do with my life is none of your business"
Lucien chuckles "easy son, a father is just inquiring of his son's conquest.
"So, slept with her yet? I hope you are being safe, or not.. This family needs an heir" Lucien says taking another sip of his scotch
"Don't talk about her like she's some common whore" Leonard spat, "she is better than all those whores you have had in your corner"
Lucien stood slowly chuckling. "Well, son, you are on the right track and very soon we will achieve our plan"
Leonard turns his back to his dad
Lucien takes another sip "You hate to admit it but you are indeed your father's son, doing everything to keep this family on top"
"You're disgusting," he muttered.
Cole stepped forward still laughing at his son. "Everything is working out the wway we want it son" He takes his glass and walks away.
Leonard is standing there, very upset. He hated the fact that his father was right.
He wwas slowly becoming like him and he hated it. But he had no other choice
That Night – 6:42 PM
Ava was back under the old railway tunnel, her breath clouding in the cold. She wore all black and carried pepper spray in her boot. This time, no car came to mow her down. Just silence.
Then, footsteps.
She turned.
"Julien?" she called, half-hopeful, half-terrified.
A figure emerged from the dark. A man in his mid forties, eyes haunted, the scar, jacket torn. It was him—the man in the shadows that has been following her for the past one month
"Ava," he said softly.
"Why are you doing this? What do you know about my family?"
Julien hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. "I shouldn't be here."
"I almost died twice this week," Ava snapped. "I deserve the truth."
He exhaled slowly. "Eighteen years ago, my boss and I worked on a plan to execute a family. Your family.
Ava's knees weakened.
"We were successful, except you survived. We have been keeping an eye on you for the past nineteen years, you shouldn't be alive Ava"
"I was in the second car watching," eyes glistening. "I didn't know you were still alive. Your mother threw you out before the flames hit. I saw it."
"So are you here to finish the job, to kill me"
He looks at her with sadness in his eyes "No, I am not. I have repented of what happened that day and I just want peace. I am tired of carrying this guilt everywhere"
Julien stepped closer
She moved back
"You need to be careful of the people you let in, be careful of Leonard, there is more to this than you can ever imagine, the person you though…"
Before he could complete his sentence, there was a loud bang
Julien dropped dead in front of her. His blood splsashing on her face.
She screamed loudly
The look in his eyes, loveless
She screamed again holding her face. His blood on her hands she turned around and did not see anybody. Who shot him?
She turned again, she wanted to run but she couldn't her knees were weak, she felt nauseous.
She rushed towards to the other side and vomited.
Everything was a mess. Things just got more serious.
She went back to Julien, searching him, catching her breath, she felt light headed but she had to continue She needed answers and her screaming here would not get her the answers she needed.
She needed to be strong.
She searched his pocket and found two squeezed pictures. The people in the pictures surprised her.