Chapter 4
Ava tried to regain control with posture.
She lifted her chin.
Smiled thinly.
Made her voice elegant enough to hide the knife inside it.
“Lisa, this is a private family event.”
Lisa glanced around the foyer.
“Your invitation said charity gala.”
A few guests shifted uncomfortably.
Chloe Mitchell, standing near the staircase with a champagne glass, lowered her eyes to the black folder in Lisa’s hand.
Ava noticed the attention moving away from her.
That was intolerable.
“The help enters through the service door.”
The sentence should have restored the hierarchy.
It did the opposite.
Guests froze.
One man looked toward Zachary.
Another woman quietly lowered her glass.
Lisa stood beneath the chandelier, calm and still, as if Ava had not insulted her in front of Nashville’s wealthiest families.
Then she lifted the invitation.
“You invited me, Mrs. Covington.”
Ava’s fingers tightened around the stem of her champagne flute.
Zachary reached the bottom step.
“Mother.”
Ava did not look at him.
Her eyes remained on the envelope.
“What exactly are you holding?”
Lisa turned slightly toward Zachary.
Not with a plea.
With intention.
That was when he understood the document was meant for him.
Ava stepped forward quickly.
“Give it to me.”
Lisa did not move.
“No.”
The word cut cleanly through the foyer.
Ava blinked.
No one said no to Ava Covington in her own house.
At least, no one she considered beneath her.
Lisa opened the cream envelope.
“The document your husband hid for three years.”
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For the first time since Charles’s funeral, Zachary saw his mother look truly afraid of the dead.
Read the full story 👉 Ava’s insult made every guest witness the moment Lisa refused to hand over Charles Covington’s hidden document.
