Chapter 5 - Why Sabrina Wanted Ava in the Annex
Sabrina contacted Ava directly three days later.
No threats.
No insults.
Just one message.
You deserve to know why I brought you there.
Ava almost deleted it.
Instead she agreed to meet Sabrina in a public café.
Grace sat three tables away.
Ava was not taking risks.
Sabrina arrived without the dark green dress, the heels, or the cruel smile.
She looked tired.
Ava did not soften.
“You tied my ankles.”
“Loosely.”
“That isn't a defense.”
“I know.”
“You terrorized a pregnant woman.”
Sabrina looked down.
“I know.”
Ava waited.
Sabrina claimed she had not planned to hurt her.
She wanted Ava trapped long enough to listen.
Ava almost stood up.
“Then you could have called.”
“You wouldn’t have believed me.”
“You don't know me.”
“I knew Nolan.”
There it was.
Sabrina believed humiliation would force the truth into the open because private conversations had failed.
That explained motive.
It did not excuse what she had done.
Ava asked why the church.
Sabrina had been cleaning the annex for a parish renovation.
Nolan knew she would be there.
That answer stopped Ava.
“Nolan knew?”
“He came earlier.”
“When?”
“Two hours before you.”
Ava stared at her.
Sabrina said Nolan came to ask her not to contact Ava.
They argued.
Sabrina told him she would expose everything unless he admitted the truth himself.
“What truth?”
Sabrina’s eyes filled.
“The affair wasn't one night.”
Ava did not move.
According to Sabrina, Nolan slept with her three times during that October separation.
Then once again in December.
Ava and Nolan had fully reconciled by December.
Nolan had lied.
Ava asked for proof.
Sabrina did not produce a miraculous recording.
She had old messages.
Ordinary messages.
Hotel confirmation emails in her own name.
A restaurant receipt Nolan paid with his card.
And one message from Nolan dated the following morning:
Last night can't happen again. Ava thinks we're finally okay.
Ava read it twice.
December 14.
The same week she and Nolan had put up their first Christmas tree as a married couple.
Sabrina watched her.
“I didn't tell you in the annex because I wanted him to say it.”
“You wanted to punish him.”
“Yes.”
“And you used me to do it.”
Sabrina's silence admitted that too.
Ava left the café with a different understanding.
Sabrina had told the truth about the affair.
But she had not rescued Ava.
May you like
She had weaponized the truth because she wanted Nolan to feel what she had felt.
Ava had been collateral to both of them.
