Ava’s POV
“Over here!”
I ran behind her as she directed me to her room. There, I stood face to face with my worst nightmare. The nurses were spreading the blue cloth over him and the machine made just one sound.
“Dad! Please don’t leave me!” I clung to his bed and had the nurses struggle to pull me away from him.
“Please, Ma’am, you need to calm down,” one of the nurses tried to soothe me while pulling me away, but I didn’t flinch.
I shook him, hit him hard, told him I was there and I wouldn't leave his side ever again. Still, I got no response from his stone cold body.
“Let the dead man be, Ava and stop acting as though you care,” Ivana scoffed from the doorframe while Ethan stood beside her.
I aimed for her neck immediately to perhaps strangle her for being so heartless and cruel with her choice of words. How could she say that to the man who has never treated her differently from me? He was her father too!
Ethan came between us immediately, finally pulling us apart and saving us from each other’s claws.
“You killed him in the first place so don’t act like a hypocri-”
“Ivana!” Ethan raised his voice with his hands slightly above his voice. Ivana’s breath hitched while swallowing hard. She took a few steps back, leaving me puzzled as to why he'd scold her in that manner, before she stormed out of the room.
I looked away the moment his attention went from enraged Ivana to me.
“I'm sorry things had to happen this way, Ava.”
He patted my shoulder and then he left. The calmness in his words resurrected a storm within me. I could easily blame him for everything, yet when he spoke to me like this, it was almost as if my Ethan was still around.
***
It has been three days since my father’s death and guess what, Ivana hasn’t shown up since. Today was his funeral and though I had relieved the nanny of her duties, she still insisted on staying for the funeral.
“I promised myself the day his health became terrible that I was going to be by his side even till his last moment and if you ask me to leave now, Mrs Ava, it would be me breaking that promise.”
“Fine, then,” I lowered my voice with no strength left in me to argue. She had been faithful, and I didn't mind hiring her as well .
“Mrs Ava, you are not the only one that feels guilty for not being there,” she began, making me furrow my brows in confusion. “Miss Ivana Ha called earlier asking me to pick a parcel from the company. She emphasised on how important it was, so I left. I came back as quickly as I could to meet thick black smoke. Yes, I called for help and even found out that he was locked in his room from the inside.”
“How possible is that?”
“I don’t know, Mrs Ava. All I know is that by the time we were able to break the door open, he was already unconscious. Whether or not somebody tried to kill him, there’s no one there to serve as an eye witness. So please, don’t feel the guilt alone.”
She barely looked above my waist while she spoke and I could see her struggle to speak with the way she fumbled her fingers and stammered in between her sentences. Was she trying to say that my father was murdered in his own room? The mere thought of it was hauntingly hilarious and I just had to push it to the back of my mind to avoid losing my sanity completely.
The preparation was almost done and I left with the nanny to the church for his last service. During the reception, I still noticed that Ivana was absent until I had almost given up on her showing up.
“Where is the lawyer?” She took off her sunglasses to look me in the eye, wearing nothing but meanness and unconcern.
“Today is our father’s funeral and you’re clearly not here for the funeral, so try checking back later,” I sighed while tucking some stray strands behind my ear.
“Unfortunately, big sis,” she sent me an evil grin as though I was nothing. “You’re right. I have no interest in attending his funeral, besides you were the only thing he cared about when he was alive and I owe nothing to his death, but,” she dragged the last words. “He does owe me something,” her grin grew wider.
“Did you seriously come here to create a scene?” I threw my purse to the couch, taking bold steps towards her.
“Just tell me where the lawyer is,” she spat.
The sound of someone clearing his throat made us look back to see Mr Albert, my father’s lawyer walking towards us.
“Here you are,” she smirked.
“Mr Albert,” I acknowledged his presence before swallowing hard.
He held a brown envelope and signalled for us to move into my father’s library.
“It is your father’s wish that this will be read on the day of his funeral and if you don’t mind, I’d like to proceed with his last wish,” he looked from me to Ivana who was now biting her bottom lip.
“Yeah, you can proceed,” I said with my heart barely beating, as the content of the will would tell our future.
With that he passed one of the envelopes to me before passing the larger one to Ivana. The excited look on Ivana’s face made my heart sink. Obviously, everything that was good news to her was definitely bad news for me and the fact that the situation we were in was what had to do with the will, it only made me quiver. Hopefully, my father wouldn’t make one mistake twice by showing Ivana an undeserving love again.
“Ahhhh!!!” She jumped on Ethan with a wide smile spread across her lips.
Just after seeing her reaction, I braced myself for the worst while finally tearing the sealed envelope open. My jaw dropped open as I began to read the content of the will. By the time I was done, my limbs gave up, earning me a brutal fall to the ground.
Ethan quickly snatched the will from my hands while Ivana flung the property papers to my face.
“They are all mine!”