I Was His Secret Genius, Now I’m His Biggest Regret Chapter 03

I Was His Secret Genius, Now I’m His Biggest Regret Chapter 03

Ava didn’t know how much time had passed.

She woke in a hospital bed.

Her body was cold, her chest ached, and every breath was a struggle. The doctor told her she had severe pneumonia complicated by hypothermia. If she had been brought in any later, she could have gone into cardiac arrest.

Familiar voices drifted from the hallway. She looked up and saw Savannah.

“Clayton, I really didn’t know… I only wanted to comfort the children so they wouldn’t be so upset. I didn’t expect Ava to get this sick.” Her voice was filled with a perfectly measured dose of self-reproach.

“It’s not your fault,” Clayton said, his voice low and tired. “Ava backed herself into this corner. I’m just grateful you were able to calm the children.”

“But Ava was wronged, after all. I can’t help but feel terrible.”

The children’s anxious voices followed.

“Aunt Savannah, don’t be sad,” Daisy comforted her. “Mom doesn’t care about us, and I don’t want her anymore either. I like you best. Will you be our new mom?”

Beau lifted his head and looked at Savannah, a flicker of hope in his eyes. “Savannah, I hope you can be our mom, too. You’re much more like a real Montgomery.”

Ava closed her eyes, her heart turning to ice.

These were the children she had insisted on having, enduring a high-risk pregnancy and forgoing any medication that might affect the fetuses.

During her pregnancy, Clayton had been busy expanding into the European market. She had faced all the discomfort and fear alone. When she hemorrhaged on the delivery table, she had gripped the doctor’s wrist and begged, “Please, save my children.”

But now, the children she had risked her life for had become the sharpest knives piercing her heart.

If they wanted a new mother, she would grant their wish.

Ava lay in the hospital bed all night, enduring the pain.

The next day, the company’s HR director knocked and entered with a bouquet.

“Ava, are you feeling better? Mr. Montgomery is in a board meeting, so he asked me to visit on his behalf. He said to rest well.”

Ava nodded, saying nothing. She was used to it.

In her previous life, when she had a miscarriage, he was entertaining VIPs at the Kentucky Derby. When she was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and told she might never be able to blend again, he was celebrating a new award with Savannah.

Her sacrifices had always been taken for granted.

The HR director hesitated, then said softly, “By the way, Ava, while organizing your files, I noticed several records of ‘accidental injuries’ at the distillery. For company safety regulations, and to comply with OSHA, we need to ask… how did these injuries happen?”

Ava paused.

“Carelessness at work,” she said.

The HR director’s gaze flickered to the “hypothermia” diagnosis in her medical record. She simply wrote “follow-up needed” in her notebook.

After the HR director left, Ava pulled the IV from her hand. While the nurse was distracted, she changed her clothes and slipped out of the hospital. She called a car and went straight to a downtown bank.

In the heavily guarded underground vault, she opened her private safe-deposit box.

Inside lay a thick, leather-bound notebook.

Her Distiller’s Ledger.

It contained more than ten years of her experimental data, formula improvements, and brilliant ideas that had never been released to the world. This was the true soul of Montgomery Distillery.

Her trembling fingers brushed over the rough cover, and tears fell without warning.

With this, she could rise again anywhere. Now, only one final step remained: the confirmation letter for her business loan from the bank in Tennessee.

She had just placed the ledger back in the box when her phone rang. It was Clayton. She didn’t answer. She went straight back to the hospital.

When she pushed open the ward door, she saw Clayton standing there in an expensive suit, immaculate and cold as an unopened bottle of premium bourbon.

“Where did you go?” he asked, his voice cool.

Ava hung up her coat. “Out for a walk.”

Clayton didn’t press the issue. He stood beside the bed, looking down at her. “About the icehouse, I overreacted.”

He paused, then changed his tone. “But the children are still young. They don’t understand. As their mother, you shouldn’t provoke them like that.”

Ava wanted to laugh.

She had been framed and locked in a freezing icehouse until she nearly died. He dismissed it as an “overreaction,” then turned around and blamed her. But for Savannah, who had only feigned distress, he had offered every comfort.

The difference between being loved and not being loved had long been clear.

Ava only replied coldly, “Miss Beaumont understands these things better. Please ask her to take the trouble to teach them in the future.”

Clayton heard the barb in her words and knew she was still angry. He rubbed his brow, his patience wearing thin. “How long are you going to keep this up?”

Ava remained silent.

For the first time, Clayton felt a loss of control. He was used to her pleading or crying, but he had no idea how to handle her silence.

“In that case,” he said, as if making a punitive decision, “tomorrow’s quarterly industry tasting will be attended by Savannah in your place.”

He waited for her to object, to argue that this was her domain. But Ava only nodded calmly. “All right. I understand.”

Clayton frowned, clearly not expecting her to agree so easily.

But the words had been spoken. He stood there for a moment longer, then left in irritation.

The next day, she was discharged from the hospital. Ava called an Uber to take her home alone. As the car passed the convention center hosting the tasting, traffic was at a standstill.

She got out to walk the rest of the way. The moment she opened the door, she saw Beau and Daisy holding Savannah’s hands, proudly introducing her to a famous industry critic. “This is our family’s future hostess, Savannah!”

The guests laughed. “Your mother is beautiful!”

A familiar distributor asked, “And the one who usually handles the technical side… Ava?”

Beau and Daisy’s expressions stiffened. Daisy rushed to answer, “Oh, she’s just our family’s distiller.”

For a moment, Ava’s heart felt as if it had been scalded by steam from a whiskey still. The burn was sharp, but brief.

She gave a self-mocking smile, looked away, and tried to skirt the crowd.

But Savannah spotted her.

“Ava?” Savannah waved warmly.

The children’s faces changed when they saw her.

“Mom?” Daisy called out instinctively, then immediately covered her mouth.

Beau turned his head away, looking uncomfortable.

Savannah led the two children over. “Ava, you’re out of the hospital! Why didn’t you ask us to pick you up? Perfect timing. Today is the launch of my Savannah Select series. Clayton booked a table at the rooftop restaurant. Come celebrate with us.”

Ava calmly met her gaze, about to refuse.

A voice sounded behind her.

“Why are you all standing here?”

She turned. Clayton stood there, a cashmere coat draped over one arm. He paused when he saw Ava.

Savannah smiled. “Clayton, I was just inviting Ava to celebrate with us.”

Clayton was silent for a moment. Then, with an air of casual intimacy, he draped the cashmere coat over Savannah’s shoulders. “Sorry. It’s windy up here. I kept you and the children waiting.”

Not to be outdone, Beau slipped a small bracelet he had woven from a bouquet ribbon onto Savannah’s wrist. Daisy silently took Savannah’s handbag.

They surrounded Savannah and walked ahead, looking for all the world like a perfect family.

Ava followed behind them, unhurried.

They had just sat down in the restaurant when a muffled explosion echoed from the direction of the aging warehouse.

Boom.

Immediately, the fire alarm blared, sharp and piercing.

The crowd descended into chaos. In the confusion, Ava was knocked to the ground, her knee slamming hard against the floor. Thick smoke rushed into her throat, choking her.

The fire was spreading fast. Burning debris began to fall from the ceiling.

“Ava!” Clayton’s face changed. Instinctively, he started toward her.

“Clayton! I’m scared! The smoke is so thick, I can’t breathe…” Savannah clutched his sleeve, coughing violently, looking as if she were about to faint.

Clayton looked at Ava, barely visible through the smoke, and a fierce struggle crossed his face.

Beau shouted in panic, “Mom, get up!”

At that exact moment, Daisy cried, “Savannah fainted! Dad, get us out of here!”

Clayton hesitated for only an instant. Finally, he shouted hoarsely in Ava’s direction, “Ava! Be careful!”

Then he turned his back on her. He scooped up the “unconscious” Savannah and, with the two children, rushed toward the emergency exit.

He left Ava alone in the fire.

She lay on the ground and watched them leave without a moment’s hesitation. Her heart was numb.

There was no attachment left in her eyes.

Dragging her injured leg, she crawled into a storage room and covered her mouth and nose with a wet towel. She didn’t know how long passed before the noise outside subsided and the door was pushed open by the Kentucky fire rescue team.

She had only inhaled smoke and sustained some minor injuries. After being treated at the scene, she was sent back to the estate.

The moment she entered the house, she saw Savannah sitting unharmed on the living room sofa, sipping a calming tea. She didn’t have a scratch on her.

Clayton and the two children, on the other hand, looked disheveled.

To protect Savannah, Clayton’s arm had been burned. The two children were covered in soot and coughing from the smoke.

The family doctor was treating their wounds.

When Ava appeared, battered and soot-stained, everyone looked over.

Beau jumped down from his chair. “Mom! Are you… are you okay?”

Clayton jerked his head up, the fear and guilt still clear in his eyes.

Daisy wanted to speak, but pride held her back.

Ava pretended not to see any of it.

After treating their wounds, the family doctor turned to Ava. “Mrs. Montgomery, you’re just in time. This is Mr. Montgomery’s burn ointment. It needs to be changed on schedule. And the children should be observed for possible smoke inhalation—”

Ava interrupted him calmly. “Tell Miss Beaumont. She’s more attentive and better at taking care of people than I am.”

The father and children across from her all froze.

Ava ignored them. She went straight upstairs and entered the metal walkway on the upper level of the cellar to inspect the source of the fire.

When she came out, she found the two children standing at the door.

They wanted to apologize, but they were so used to their pride that they didn’t know how to begin.

Ava walked past them.

This provoked Daisy. She followed Ava, angrily demanding, “Why don’t you care about Dad or us? You’re so selfish!”

“I’m tired,” Ava answered without turning. “I don’t have the energy to care.”

Beau blocked her path, his eyes also filled with frustration. “You shouldn’t be like this! Dad’s company almost had an accident, and Aunt Savannah was terrified. You only care about yourself!”

Daisy’s face flushed with anger. “How could we have a mom like you?”

Ava stopped and looked at the children she had nearly died to give birth to. Suddenly, they felt like strangers.

“Perfect,” she said softly. “I don’t want to be your mother anymore either.”

With that, she turned and continued along the narrow metal walkway.

Behind her, she heard Daisy’s hysterical scream. “You don’t deserve to be our mom!”

Ava paused, but didn’t look back.

Just as her hand touched the railing, a violent shove struck her from behind.

“I hate you!”

In the next second, she lost her balance and pitched forward, falling from the high walkway.

Pain exploded through her body. As Beau screamed in terror, an entire row of aging oak barrels, loosened by the impact, rumbled down from the rack and crashed on top of her.

Warm liquid flowed from her forehead, blurring her vision.

Before she lost consciousness, she managed to turn her head. All she saw was Beau holding his crying sister, his face a mask of horror, as if he had been frightened senseless by what he had just done.