Ava's POV
She looked taller the second time I saw her.
Maybe it was the heels. Or the way hate made people stand straighter.
Rain.
Leaning against the black SUV across the street from my school. Hair sleek. Sunglasses too big for her face. Arms crossed like she had something to teach me.
Like I was still eight.
She didn't know I'd changed. That I'd grown claws and wasn't afraid to draw blood.
I walked up slow. Calm. Deliberate.
She smiled, like she'd been expecting me. "That was fast."
I stopped two feet from her. "You seriously stalking schools now? Real classy."
She didn't even blink. "Just checking in. On my daughter."
"Stop saying that," I snapped.
"What?" she shrugged. "It's biologically true."
"Doesn't make it real."
She let out a little sigh. "You know he's not going to love you forever, right? One wrong move and he'll see you exactly how he saw me."
I smiled. Wide. Sweet. Like I was about to offer her tea and then smash the cup in her face.
"You really think you're scary, don't you?" I whispered. "You think he kept me because I tricked him. That the minute I mess up, he'll drop me."
Rain raised a brow. "Won't he?"
"No," I said, stepping closer. "Because unlike you, I didn't leave him when he was sixteen and trying not to bleed out in a hotel bathroom."
She flinched.
"You don't know what he told me—" she started.
"I know everything," I cut in. "And I still stayed. And guess what, bitch? He stayed too."
I leaned in. My voice dropped.
"You come near him one more time, and I swear on every bone in my body—I will f**k you up in ways no one else ever has."
Her jaw tightened.
"You think he'll forgive you for talking like this?" she hissed.
I smiled wider.
"He taught me," I said. "You should've taught me better if you wanted me soft."
Then I turned and walked away.
I didn't look back. Not once.
I didn't have to.
I knew she wasn't following. Not today. Maybe not ever again.
Because Rain might've given birth to me.
But I was his daughter.
And he was mine.