“This is where it gets stranger,” Ava said and crossed her legs. “From what I found out, the mother got really obsessed with finding her son. She quit her job, cut off all her friends, and went into debt, hiring a bunch of private investigators. She barely ate or slept. The only thing she cared about was finding her son.”


    “That poor woman.”


    “I know, it’s awful,” Ava agreed. “So, eye witnesses im to have seen the boy’s mother make a few trips to the Windsor family home. Two weeks after that, she died from a gas explosion. Her ex–husband had been in the house too, and they both died on impact from the explosion.”


    My blood turned to ice. “Are you serious? That can’t be a coincidence!”


    “I agree, but I’ll have a hell of a time proving that it wasn’t,” she said and sighed.


    We were quiet for a moment, and then I told Ava about how Ethan asked me to write a letter of understanding for Chole. My friend’s eyes widened as I detailed my ex–husband’s threats to my family and how he had locked me in that private room.


    “He is such an asshole,” Ava muttered after I was finished.


    “You’re telling me,” I said and grabbed a throw nket to cover me since this whole eerie situation was making me colder by the second.


    Ethan’s threats today, along with the bizarre way that the boy’s parents


    0.00%


    11:41


    VerVourners


    had died after going over to the Windsor family home, made the hair on my arms stand. Fear wed up my throat as I thought about my family’s safety and the fact that Ethan could go after Ava, too, since she was helping me.


    Ava put a reassuring arm around me. “I’m so sorry that Ethan did that to you,” she said with anger in her voice. “He is such a bastard for threatening you and your family!”


    I leaned into herforting touch, and my heart rate lowered slightly.


    Then, the doorbell rang, making me jump about five feet into the air.


    Ava whipped her head to stare at me with panic in her eyes. “The gas explosion,” she hissed.


    “That’s what I automatically thought of, too,” I whispered back. “Who would be at the door thiste at night? I don’t think we should answer it.”


    “At least I have an electric oven, not gas,” Ava joked, but her voice was shaking slightly.


    “Maybe we should go stand in the hallway,” I suggested. “So, they can‘ t hear us.”


    Ava nodded in agreement.


    But as soon as we went to another room, my stomach dropped to the ground, and I let out a squeak of fear.


    “Be quiet, or whoever is at the door will hear us,” Ava muttered.


    “Look!” I said and pointed in the direction of her balcony.


    That was when arge gust of cold wind blew through the room,


    31.96%/%


    11:41


    <b>Chapter </b>146


    288 Vouchers


    making my whole body shiver. Ava’s white curtains were billowing because the ss doors of her balcony had been thrown open.


    “Did you forget to close your doors before you left your apartment,” I asked hopefully as my stomach stiffened with fear.


    Ava met my eyes, and I could see the panic that was flowing through me mirrored in her wide eyes.


    “No, Olivia. I clearly remember closing the doors and locking them,” she uttered.


    “That means that someone is the house,” I murmured as my heart mmed against my rib cage.


    The doorbell rang once more. Then, someone began to pound on the door.


    *Olivia*


    The knocking became insistent and loud. With each second that passed, my certainty that there was an intruder in Ava’s apartment increased. From where we were standing, I could see that her wooden front door was shaking from how hard the person was pounding on it.


    I looked at Ava, but she no longer seemed scared. Her face was no longer pale, and now she looked nothing but determined.


    “How dare someone try to terrorize me in my own home,” she said as his hands clenched into tight fists. “I’m calling the police.”


    “Good idea,” I said as a shot of adrenaline pumped through me. Her courage was helping me not be as afraid.


    “I left my phone by the couch,” Ava said.


    “Me too.”


    63.25%


    11:41


    288 Vouchers


    Together, we began to walk back to the living room, but we had only taken a few steps when all the lights in her apartment went out.


    “No!” Ava yelled in frustration. “They must have messed with the circuit breakers.”


    9466%