Davi paced the private lounge trying to remain calm. His plan was either the best solution out of this four year old mess or the fallout would be apocalyptic. Whatever the outcome, it was too late to do anything about it now. Ava should be here any second and all arrangements had been made, checked and safety checked.
Two days had passed since her and her father's reconciliation and she'd remained close to his bedside for the duration. Ed Granger had been discharged this morning and so it was time to enact the final part of the saga that needed to be locked away in the past. They needed to start their future afresh, purged of all the secrets about to unfold.
Ed Granger might be happy to gloss over their previous offences, but Davi couldn't. It had been a colossal mistake to listen to him before and that mistake would not be repeated now. His own demons, which had contributed to his actions back then, had been doused, overridden by his need for Ava to be in his life.
For the last two days, whilst Ava had been occupied with her father he'd tried to take an objective view of his life. He had worked tirelessly to succeed. To be the type of man he needed to be, but now, nothing seemed worthwhile without Ava at his side. Being with her again had changed his goals, not just his personal goals but his business ones were in need of revision too. He had enough money for the rest of their lives and now making more seemed almost repellent. He still needed a life of purpose and achievement but he wanted those achievements to be in pursuit of the dreams he first had when he was still young, wanting to be different, before he'd gradually morphed into the corporate mould.
He was determined to rediscover his passion for making a contribution to the world's fundamental resource problems, and now he had the financial power and the connections to make an impact. He wanted Ava there, with him, whilst he did it.
But first he had to finally tell her the truth about why he had forced their relationship to end and deal with the repercussions. He grimaced at the underhand nature of his decision to take her to a remote place where escape wasn't easy. He needed her to stay and listen to him, he couldn't risk her bolting and disappearing forever.
Staring out of the window at his private jet ready to fly them away, a bustle of noise behind him alerted him to Ava's arrival. He spun around and felt his soul torn into two conflicting teams. Team One was filled with joy at the rosy hue to her flushed cheeks and the huge smile splashed across her face. Team Two was filled with dread that soon that smile might never be directed at him again.
Before she'd even reached him, the impatience started. "So now are you going to tell me where we're going?" Her eyes tried to inject some stern intensity into them but she couldn't maintain it and burst out laughing.
Davi pushed away Team Two's negativity and just enjoyed the moment. "Not yet, sorry. I want it to be a complete surprise." He pulled her gently by the lapels of her wool jacket and swept her away in a kiss that expressed everything he couldn't.
"Hmm...," Ava emitted dreamily, "a girl could get used to this."
"That's the plan." He grabbed her hand and led her out onto the plane.
#
"Yes?" They had just reached cruising altitude and he looked up to answer her whilst undoing his seatbelt.
"I'm a little warm. Could you tell me where my suitcase is, so I can change?" She gave him her best angelic smile.
He laughed. "Nice try, little lady. That cuter-than-a-cherry-pie-with-a-cherry-on-top face might fool some, but not me."
"Drat." She threw him an irritated expression that couldn't hide her amusement. He'd told her not to pack anything aside from her laptop for the trip, wanting to maintain the secrecy for as long as possible. He'd arranged the clothing she would need for their trip. "This is unbearable. You know I'm the world's most impatient person when it comes to secrets."
"I know, but I really want this to be a surprise, chuchuzinho. So, do you think you can swallow your impatience just for me?"
She sighed theatrically. "I guess I can try."
"Let me help you, with a little distraction. And trust me you'll definitely be feeling warm by the end of it." He focused the most insanely horny eyes on her she had ever seen, quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, pulled her out of the seat and took them both to the privacy of the aircraft's private bedroom.
A few hours later, back in the main cabin and relaxing with a glass of champagne, Davi spoke. "I have a present for you."
"Another one? Wow, Davi you are totally spoiling me. You really don't need to, you know."
"I know. But I want to, so you'll just have to get used to it." He raised his eyebrows daring her to challenge him.
Over the past few days she had received so many gifts from him, some were wonderful small token gestures but others had been wildly extravagant. Looking at the new Cartier watch on her wrist and a hand travelling to the diamonds at her throat, she felt a little guilty for accepting them. She really didn't want him to spend any more money on her.
"I'm actually being quite serious, Ava. I have so much to make up for, let me at least do some of it in the traditional way of men."
"And I'm serious, that's a terrible reason to buy me anything." She was a little annoyed.
"Fine. Then just accept that buying you presents makes me happy and I'm very selfish about my happiness and very stubborn in general, so you have no choice but to accept anything I give with complete and genuine joy. OK?" He jutted his chin out to accentuate his tenacity.
Ava laughed. "OK, OK. If it makes you happy, I will from now on be filled with ludicrous joy when I receive your overly-priced gifts."
"Good. I'm glad that's settled. Right, come here and accept your present." He motioned for her to take the seat opposite him next to the window.
Ava rolled her eyes, shook her head and smiled, before standing up to do as he asked.
"Look out the window and tell me what you see."
Ava looked at him and scrunched her nose, confused.
"Don't look at me. Look out the window."
"O..K.." She turned her head to look out into the sky
"What do you see?"
"Well... an airplane wing, a lot of white clouds and acres of blue sky." She turned back to face him.
"Keep looking. What else do you see?"
"Erm." She moved closer to the window and looked down towards the ground. "A lot of water..."
"And..."
"A collection of islands."
"Good. You can look at me again."
As Ava turned to face the beautiful Brazilian he pulled out a photograph but kept it faced away from her.
"Those islands form the Philippines."
"We're going to the Philippines?" She started to wriggle excitedly.
"We are. But first I want to give you your present. Close your eyes and hold your hands out flat, palms up."
"You do realise that for an impatient person this is torture." She laughed.
"Just do as you're told, for once, woman."
She stuck out her tongue playfully and held out her hands. He placed the photograph face up on top of them, catching the not-so-subtle opening of one eye. He shook his head and laughed. "OK, you can open them."
Ava opened eyes and looked down at the photograph. "It's a picture of an island."
"Yes. It's your present."
"Oh, erm, thanks. It's a really nice photo. I'll put it up in my office to remind me of our holiday."
"The photograph's not your present, silly. The island is." He sat back and waited for his surprise to graduate through to understanding.
Ava stared at him with a complete loss of brain function. "I..I don't understand."
Davi leaned forward and tapped the picture. "This island belongs to you. I bought it for you."
Shock slapped a wild expression across her face and forced her voice to raise a couple of octaves. "You...you bought me an island. You bought me this island?"
"I did. And before you say anything else, let me tell you something." He took the photograph, let it slide onto a table and held her hands in his.
"You always told me how much your mother loved her cottage in Cornwall. How she loved that it was hers and only hers. That it was the creative space she could go to and lose herself in her work. Correct?"
"Yes... But, Davi..."
He didn't let her finish. "I wanted you to have your own space. Somewhere that was truly yours, a place where you can forget the world and immerse yourself in your work."
"But...but. That was a cottage. This is an island."
"You and I have Asia in our bloods. A cottage in wild and wet England wouldn't be right for you. You need to be in Asia, we both do."
She shrugged. "I guess you're right. But still, an island?"
He raised his hands, palms up. "Asia is too crowded and you always used to be most creative when we were away from the hordes. An island seemed the only way to ensure total and long-lasting privacy."
Staring into his blue eyes she could see nothing but warmth. "I truly don't know what to say. This is too much to take in."
He smiled at her but quickly became serious. "There is one other thing I need to tell you. It's extremely important that you know that no matter what happens in the future, this island and everything on it belongs to you. I've arranged for you to sign all the ownership documents as soon as we land. From that moment, whatever you decide to do in the future, it's yours do with as you wish."
Not the island itself, but it was the thought that motivated him to do it that filled her throat with emotion and blurred her eyes with tears. She stood up and slid onto his lap, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "This is incredible. I'm genuinely lost of words. You are the most amazing man I have ever met. Thank you." She squeezed him harder and they both remained silent, too emotional to speak.
#
The next morning, Davi had some business calls to make so Ava took the opportunity to wander and absorb the tropical paradise that belonged to her. The notion that she owned the rocks and the beach and the flowers and trees was too surreal to have sunk in yet. She made her way down to one clearing of sand and sea and lay down. A bubble of excitement bordering on hysteria burst through her as she realised that she could do absolutely anything she liked here. She could run naked along the sand, play music as loud as she wanted, cover the entire island in origami stars. Ava started to laugh. Laughing harder and harder until her face was wet with tears and she was curled in a ball clutching her aching stomach.
The laughter gradually died away and she remained lying on the sand watching wisps of clouds pass by on their way to somewhere. A sublime sense of freedom washed over her. This heavenly place had already weaved its calming influence into her soul and she felt more peaceful than she ever thought possible.
The approaching mid-day sun was starting to become a little overwhelming and so reluctantly she got up and headed towards the beautiful white and airy, sprawling bungalow that belonged to her, and her alone.
#
"Listen to me, Leonora, I am perfectly aware that Ed doesn't need any more stress right now, which is why I brought her here to tell her the truth. I can't lie to her anymore. She needs to know the truth."
Ava's legs shook dangerously as she stopped just before the open door, out of sight and leaned heavily against the wall. Unable to move, she needed to hear whatever he said next.
Davi spoke again, his rage growing. "Ed already told me that himself, but Ava has to be told. She isn't going to do anything to jeopardise his health. I am fully prepared to shoulder my portion of the blame in this but when the time comes he will have to face up to the music as well. He was the one who told me to end my relationship with her."
Ava sank to the floor as the full realisation of why her heart had been broken finally came to light.
#
Davi walked out of the study door and came skidding to a halt at the sight of Ava sitting, white with shock, on the hallway floor.
She had overhead his conversation.
She knew.
He dropped to the floor a few inches from her, not daring to touch her.
"Ava. Please listen to me."
Her eyes flicked onto his and his heart dropped at the blank, lifeless look in them.
"You chose my father over me." The words came out in a monotone, devoid of emotion.
Davi could feel the claws of panic begin to sink into him and he pleaded with her. "NO! You have to believe me. I chose you. I chose you. I didn't want to destroy the person you were supposed to be. I wanted you to fulfil every one of your dreams, I didn't want you to turn into a shell of a person, always unhappy, despising me for the taking away the life you could have had."
He wanted desperately to touch her, but he didn't dare. The cold look in her eyes haunted him.
She spoke again, her words still not punctuated with any feeling. "What I wanted was to be with you. If I had never written a word in my life, it would have been OK, because I had you. You were my world. You wore important than anything. More important than my writing and more important than my father."
The panic was gripping him harder and any hope that he once felt was dying. "Please... You have to know that the decision I made was for you. I thought it was the best thing for you. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I thought that I could bear it because you would be happier in the future without me. But I was wrong, I know that now. I should have been stronger and stood up to your father. Please, forgive me. Please forgive me."
Ava felt empty staring at him. Every sense stripped away from her. "Do you finally want to know the reason why I ended my relationship with my father? Well, I'll tell you. He asked me to choose between you and him, and I chose you. I chose you over the money and my own father."
Davi stared in disbelief as she spoke the words that showed him for the weak, coward he was. His father had been right. He might have studied hard, won sporting competitions and conquered the business world, but when it really counted, he hadn't been strong enough.
He watched in despair as Ava picked herself up off the floor and walked away.
#
A bird was singing outside and the noise was agonising to hear. Knowing that happiness, even for a bird, existed in the world beyond her pain was unbearable.
She was wondering how she was supposed to carry on, to operate like a normal person ever again, when a ringing started in the room. She realised it was coming from her laptop, open on the desk. Someone was trying to contact her on Skype. Knowing that if she didn't answer they would think she wasn't there and then give up, she let it ring.
After the ringing had stopped and then started again for the third time, Ava suddenly roused herself. Something was wrong. She scrambled off the bed and sat down in the desk chair, pulling the laptop towards her. The caller was her father.
She didn't want to answer, but worried it was Leanora calling to tell her her father had had another stroke, she hit the 'Answer' button and her father's worried face appeared on screen.
"Don't hang up before you let me tell you something, please Ava. If it's the last thing I am ever allowed to say to you again, please listen to this," he blurted, the moment he saw her face.
"I'm listening."
"Davi doesn't know how I manipulated him into breaking up with you. After you walked out of my house that day I was shocked. Until that moment I thought that you two were young and you'd eventually grow out of each other, but when you chose him over me and your trust fund I realised the truth." He rubbed an unsteady hand across his jaw. "So, I had him investigated. It took me a while to find out the information I needed but when I did, I used it to push the right buttons and get him to do what I, genuinely, thought was the best for you."
"What buttons? What did you find out?" Her pulsed quickened, uneasy panic beginning to build.
"Has Davi told you about his father?"
"Not really, he rarely mentions him. He always said that they weren't very close."
"His father is a bitter man. He never wanted children but when Davi's mother got pregnant and refused to have an abortion, he started to hate his unborn son. After Davi was born, his father was jealous that his wife's attention was taken by the son she loved to distraction. And he hated him more. When his father had to give up his dream of being a pro boxer because he needed a stable income to support his son, he loathed him even more."
"I..I never knew." Ava's heart was breaking for both the boy and the man he had become.
"My investigators eventually found out that Davi's father preferred method of punishing him for being born, was to tell him he was weak and a coward. That he didn't have the strength to be a success in life and that his life was a long road to the bottom and he would drag everyone in his life down with him."
Ava felt faint. "He can't believe this though, surely? He's been a high achiever since he was a child."
"His mother knew what was happening but wouldn't leave her husband, so instead she arranged for him to have counselling, to find a way to cope with his father. I guess it worked to a large extent, but I was pretty sure that the doubts would be lurking in the background somewhere."
"Oh my god! That's the button you said you'd pushed. You told him he would eventually fail and bring me down with him." Ava sat trying to digest the information for a few seconds before the need to find Davi exploded within her.
"I've got to go." Looking into her father's face, the anger began to swell. But remembering how sick he was she decided she'd deal with him later. "I'll speak to you tomorrow. I have to find Davi." Before he had time to respond she was flying out of the room.
#
Ava tore through the house searching for him, shouting his name, but Davi wasn't there. With mounting trepidation she headed out into the gardens and called for him again. Still no response. Where are you? The question screamed through her head.
Reaching the perimeter of the garden, that bordered the beach, she hurried out onto the expanse of sand. About to yell his name as loud as she could, a shape in the distance, sitting on the sand close to the wet tide line came into her vision and she set off at a sprint.
Out of breath, she reached him and dropped to her knees beside him.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't understand. He explained everything. I'm so sorry he put you through this."
Davi turned around and the utter sadness and dejection shadowed in his face was the most distressing sight of her life. He looked broken.
Davi stared at her in shock. "What are you talking about?"
"My father, he just called me and told me the whole story."
"What whole story?"
"He told me what he said to you when he asked you to end everything between us."
Davi's head drooped, his shoulders hunched. "He was right."
"NO!" The denial screamed from her. "He had someone investigate you, he knew how your father treated you. He said those things because he knew they were the words your father used to say to you. He used them to manipulate you."
His entire body went rigid. He didn't move, he didn't breathe. She stroked his cheek and he turned to face her. A single tear rolled down the other cheek.
He didn't cry, just that one tear escaped, but it bled her from within, as she suffered for all that he had suffered. Her voice was small as she spoke. "I'm so sorry for what my father did, it's monstrous. But he didn't mean what he said, he just used them as a weapon to get what he wanted. You are the strongest, most capable person I know. Your father knew this and he tried to break you. But he didn't succeed because you are tough and you will always come out on top."
Ava moved and knelt between his bent legs, took his face between her hands and looked at him with fierce tenderness and love. "I love you Davi Cavalcanti. With every cell my body possesses. You are my world. I will never let you go again. I will never let anyone tear us apart again."
Davi pulled her roughly into his arms. "When I thought I'd lost you again, I thought I would shrivel up and die. Loving you and being loved by you is the oxygen that runs through my veins. Without you I can't breathe, I can't carry on. I promise you, I will spend the rest of my life proving to you how much I love you."
"I already know how much you love me, but as I plan to show you how much I love and adore you every day of my life, I'm very much looking forward to the daily reminders."
"Then I'll start right now." And with those words he rolled her back onto the sand and showed her just how you could misbehave when you owned the beach.