Confessions over Coffee

Ava Sinclair's POV

I stared at my phone, my fingers hovering in a blur over the name Elise Turner. There was only one person on earth who could make sense of this insanity, and that would be her. She had been my best friend since college.

Married to a stranger.

It didn't sit well in my stomach even now. Not even the bright gold ring on my finger could be regarded without the sensation. It felt heavy, like it carried a thousand questions.

Breathing fast, I pressed the call button.

Elise answered on the second ring; her voice sounded Abit brisk but confident as always. "Ava! Hey, what's up?"

"Elise…" My voice shook, and I hated how small I sounded. "I need your help. I don't even know where to start, but I'm in some serious trouble."

There was a beat of silence before I heard the rustling of papers on her end. "Okay, slow down. What happened? Are you safe?"

"Yeah, I'm safe," I told her, even as my heart skipped into overdrive. "But…married I think.".

There was another pause, until Elise laughed low and from the pit of her stomach, I knew she didn't believe me. "You think you're married? Really, that's just not the type of thing you'd forget, Ava."

"I mean, I woke up this morning in a penthouse suite with a marriage certificate and some stranger who swears he is my husband!" The words just all came tumbling out in one rush, and I heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Wait…what? Are you serious right now?"

"Dead serious."

"Who's the guy?"

I hedged, clenching my fingers around the phone tighter. "Maximus Blackwell.

There was a long, silence from the other end of the line. Then Elise's voice sank to a near whisper. "As in the Maximus Blackwell? Billionaire CEO of Blackwell Enterprises? That Maximus Blackwell?"

"Yes," I groaned, sinking into the couch and covering my face with my free hand. "That Maximus Blackwell."

"Holy shit, you need to meet me. Right now. Our usual spot. Give me twenty minutes." She said.

She ran off before I had a chance to utter a word.

I pushed the door open a quarter of the way later-twenty-five minutes later-and slid inside the comfortable, comforting clime of Brew Haven. Smells of ground beans and warm pastry filled the store 

Her dark hair was pulled neatly back into her trademark slick ponytail, a well-tailored blazer buttoned over her breasts, already seated at our usual window table, her sharp eyes scanned the room as though she was about to cross-examine someone.

A concerned but curious expression etched on her features as the moment she saw me, she waved me over.

"Sit," she said, as I slid into the chair opposite her.

No sooner had I sat than she was leaning forward, her voice low but urgent. "Start from the beginning. Leave nothing out."

I took a deep breath and plunged into the tale, telling her all about my surreal morning-from waking up in the penthouse to the marriage certificate to Maximus's insistence that we keep things on the down low.

Elise listened closely, and the lawyer in her piped up with a couple of very pointy questions. "Anything about the night before you can remember? Had you drunk anything? Could you have eaten something that might have been drugged?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "The last thing I remember, I had dinner at home. Alone."

"This Maximus fella.he's just as clueless as you are, right?

I said. "But who can know? He is not all concerning an open book anyway."

Elise slumped back in her chair, arms folding as her gaze took it all in. "It is just insanity."

On cue, the bell above the door jingled, and murmurs swirled through the room as I turned to a host of people-armed with cameras and notepads-filing in, their eyes scraping the space over like bloodhounds.

My stomach dropped.

"Ava." Elise's voice cut through the din pulling my attention back to her. "We need to go. Now."

But it was too late. One of the reporters had already honed in on me and had darted across, camera in flashing.

"Ava Sinclair! Can you confirm your marriage to Maximus Blackwell?"

"How long have you two been together?"

"Is it true you had a secret ceremony in Paris?

I froze, and couldn't handle all of these questions flying at me plus the flashes; Elise leapt to her feet and thrust herself between them and me-like a shield.

"That's enough," she said in a voice . "My client will be answering no questions at this time. Please just respect her privacy."

"Client?" one of the reporters repeated, his pen scrambling across his pad. "So you're her lawyer? What can you tell us about the marriage?"

"Nothing," Elise snarled, yanking on my arm. "Let's go."

She dragged me toward the back door, but the reporters continued to shuffle along with us, their voices louder now, more aggressive.

"Ava, can you comment on your relationship with Maximus Blackwell?

"Pregnant? Was that why she got married?

I couldn't breathe; it was like the walls closed in.

"Ava Keep your head down," Elise whispered, her fingers digging deep into my arm.

We hunched our backs through the back door into the alley behind the coffee shop. Elise was pulling me in the direction toward her car.

"Get in," she ordered opening up the passenger-side door.

I didn't argue, sliding into the seat as she rounded the car and got behind the wheel. The reporters were still shouting as she started the engine and pulled away.

Neither of us spoke a word for what felt like the longest time. My heart raced and my hands shook badly enough that I had to fist to gain my composure.

The silence was eventually cut through by Elise. "It's worse than I thought, Ava. The media's on it already, and unless we get on top of it, it will spiral out of control."

"What do we do?" I asked low.

"We find out who's behind this," she said. "And we do it now. But for the meantime, you're staying at my place. You can't go back to that penthouse. It's a media circus waiting to happen."

I nodded, too tired to argue.