After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 06

After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 06

Noah’s face was a cold mask as he picked up the brand-new sailing suit at his feet.

“I’ll race.”

As he accepted the challenge, several people from the Whitaker family’s circle panicked and rushed forward to stop him.

“Noah, are you insane? Zack has been sailing these unofficial courses for ten years! You barely know the rules. How are you supposed to beat him? You’re playing with your life!”

“Exactly. You’re about to become a father. There’s no need to risk this for Sloane! If something happens to you, what about Ava and Lily?”

But Noah didn’t hear a word. He automatically ignored the mention of “Ava and Lily.” His gaze cut through the crowd and landed squarely on Sloane.

“The passion and danger she wants, I can give her, too.”

That declaration, full of masculine bravado, made my heart tighten in spite of myself.

Several friends spotted me and, as if they’d found a savior, rushed over and pushed me toward the changing room where Noah was about to put on the gear.

“Ava, go talk him out of it! You’re the only one who can stop him!”

Looking at the door in front of me, my emotions churned.

I didn’t understand sailing, but I knew Noah had no chance of winning. A man like Zack, raised on the streets and wild water, belonged to a world governed by raw survival. If Noah charged in recklessly, he could lose more than just the race.

Even though I had already decided to let go, I still couldn’t stand by and watch him walk toward his death. It wasn’t about love anymore. It was about a life.

I took a deep breath and raised my hand, ready to push open the door.

The next second, Sloane stepped out from the crowd with graceful poise and blocked my way like a beautiful, icy wall. A knowing, victorious smile appeared in her eyes.

“Are you going to convince Noah to give up? Save your breath. He won’t listen to you.”

“Do you know how much he loves me?” She leaned close, lowering her voice, but the smugness in it pierced through. “In college, I casually mentioned that I liked a vintage Jaguar at a Sotheby’s auction. He used his trust fund without hesitation and spent seven figures on it, just so I could drive it once. Another time, at a Harvard fraternity party, a few football players made a joke that went too far. He fought them all for my sake and ended up at Mass General covered in blood.”

She swept a contemptuous look over me, as if assessing an object of no value.

“To him, you’re nothing more than the ‘safe choice,’ Ava. A respectable wife who meets every requirement of the Whitaker family. A safe harbor. But he will never give up the thrill of chasing a storm for the peace of a harbor. How could one sentence from you possibly make him give up on me?”

Looking at the naked triumph in Sloane’s eyes, I felt an ice pick pierce my heart.

“If he loves you so much, then what about you?” I forced back the tightness in my throat and asked, “Since you’ve chosen him, why won’t you stop him when you know he could get hurt, or even die?”

Sloane looked as if she had heard the funniest joke of the century. She gave me the classic sneer of a girl from Boston’s highest social circles.

“Why would I stop him? Don’t you think it’s fascinating to watch a man abandon all reason and every boundary for you, to watch him throw himself into danger like some kind of superhero?”

Her voice carried a sick excitement. “Since I’ve decided to choose him, of course I want him to prove that he loves me enough to risk his life for me. This is a perfect test, isn’t it? Of course, you wouldn’t understand.”

She deliberately paused, every word steeped in poison.

“After all, Noah would never risk his life for you.”

Her words fell like countless heavy stones into my ears, smashing my heart, twisting my insides with pain.

I opened my mouth, only to find I couldn’t say a single word in rebuttal.

Seeing my pale face, Sloane seemed to think it wasn’t enough. She suddenly reached out and took my iPhone from my stiff hand.

“If you still refuse to give up, I’ll prove it to you one more time.”

She unlocked the screen, found Noah’s number, and held the phone out to me. Her eyes were full of cruel provocation.

“Call him now. Tell him Lily suddenly has a high fever and you’re in the emergency room at Mass General. Let’s see if he’ll abandon the race he’s fighting for me, for the sake of his ‘daughter.’”

I looked at the familiar name “Noah” on the screen. My fingers were so cold they no longer felt like my own.

Under Sloane’s urging gaze, I pressed call as if under a spell.

Beep… beep… beep…

The long ringing tone sounded extraordinarily clear against the noisy wind on the dock.

After a short while, the call connected.

“Ava,” Noah’s voice came through, edged with suppressed impatience. “I’m handling a very important deal right now. Whatever it is, wait until I get back to Beacon Hill.”

He didn’t even give me a chance to speak.

Before I could say Lily’s name, before I could say the lie about the emergency room.

“Noah, I—”

“You handle it. I trust you.”

The call was cut off cleanly.

Looking at the screen as it slowly went dark, my hand, suspended in midair, finally dropped. Powerless.

In that moment, the world seemed to stop. Zack’s shouting, the friends’ worried cries, the wind over the Charles River—all of it receded into the distance.

I lowered my head, and a relieved smile actually curved my lips.

Then I raised my eyes and looked calmly at Sloane, speaking only three soft words.

“You won.”