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    “Tortellini forter. Take these home and stick them in your fridges. They’ll keep for a few days. They won’t be quite as good as when they‘ re fresh from the kitchen, but they’re still miles better than anything you’d get at the supermarket.”


    Olivia looked down at her now over–flowing te, then back at Ava. Without hesitation, she began scooping half of the transferred ravioli onto Ava’s te. “Better?”


    Ava beamed and nodded. “Better.”


    As they finished their meal, Mike reached into a bag beside him and produced two takeout containers. “Here.” He slid the boxes across to Olivia and Ava.


    Both women epted the containers gratefully. “You’re too generous, Mike. Thank you for all of this,” Olivia said.


    As they began gathering their things to leave, Alexander suddenly turned to Ava. “Earlier, you mentioned having something important to tell Olivia. What was it?” It had gued him since, and he was awfully curious to know what it was about. “If it’s not too private, I’d like to hear it as well.”


    Ava froze. She wasn’t sure this was something her best friend would want the Alpha to know. But after a nod of approval from Olivia, she spoke. She nced nervously between Alexander and Olivia, clearly torn between her desire to share the news and her uncertainty about including Alexander in the conversation.


    “It’s about Chloe.” She paused, allowing the words to sink in. “I went


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    to the hospital today. I had this n, I dressed up like a nurse, with scrubs and everything. The idea was to get some kind of false evidence by having Chloe pretend to be sick.”


    Olivia’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe this was what her best friend had been up to. “Ava, that was incredibly risky. What if you’d been caught?”


    Ava waved her hand dismissively. She’d perfectly calcted the risk before she ventured on the mission. “That’s not important. While I was there, waiting for the right moment to approach Chloe, I overheard one of the real nurses talking. She was discussing test results with another staff member, and I heard her say…”


    Ava paused for dramatic effect, then lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “She said that Chloe is pregnant.”


    Olivia snapped her head up so quickly she had whish. What?


    “There’s more. I did some additional digging after I left the hospital. The Hawthorne family has been making regr visits to see Chloe and her family over the past few days. They appear to be discussing marriage arrangements.”


    Olivia couldn’t believe her ears, but Ava wasn’t done.


    “I’m worried that when these two families join forces, Ethan willpletely reverse everything he said before. It would be bad for you.”


    Olivia was lost for words. Her mouth hung open as she considered Ava’s words.


    Ava suddenly huffed in anger. “I couldn’t believe it when I found out. Just weeks ago, Ethan was going on and on about how much he regretted losing you, how deeply he loved you, how he’d made the biggest mistake of his life. And now he’s rushing into marriage with


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    her? The hypocrisy is unbelievable.”


    Olivia managed to keep her cool. She was shocked mostly, and


    worried about what that meant for her. “His marriage has nothing to do with me.”


    “But it does. After they’re married, Chole will have even more reason and resources to target you, and…” Ava trailed off as her eyes lit up with a brilliant idea. “Unless…”


    She looked between Olivia and Alexander. Yes. That was the answer. “Unless you marry Alexander. It would be the perfect way to spite those two.”


    Olivia was once again rendered speechless. However, to everyone’s surprise, Alexander didn’t immediately dismiss the idea.


    Instead, he nodded at Ava and said, “It isn’t entirely impossible.”


    Olivia stared at him in amazement,