Craving Ava

Copyright © by Rita Ribeiro All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without written permission. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means. First Edition 2023 This book is dedicated to everyone who believed in the stories I had to tell. I wouldn’t be here without every single one of you. Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 1EastonIn front of me was an angel.Her ginger hair flowed in the wind as she pranced towards me with haste while the space around her disappeared, turning into an oblivion shade of black. An aura with a light pink hue surrounded her, indicating that she was meant for me.She held her hand out, and I sprinted towards her, desperately trying to grasp her with my fingers, to hold on to her presence as securely as I possibly could.I reached for her and thought I had her in my hands. I wrapped my arms around her with relief but quickly felt strangely empty. That's when I looked down and noticed there was nothing there.I dropped my knees onto the floor and succumbed to the void around me in defeat.She was gone. And my heart had gone with her.***I woke up at 4:55 am, knowing my alarm clock would ring about five minutes later. These days, I always awoke at the exact same time, no matter where I was and whether it was my day off – which, I soon came to realize, were days I never had.It was like my body had gotten used to my relentless routine, knowing it needed to wake up at that very same time to be able to get through the endless daily tasks ahead of me, which were never a small feat.I got up immediately, not wanting to waste a second of those five minutes I had to spare and looked out the window.It was still night-time, and it was raining, pouring even, just like it had been for the past couple of months, as fall had come and winter was approaching, but that never deterred me.I made my bed – the only chore that wasn't done by Rosa, my housekeeper, as I liked my bed to look untouched as soon as I left it – and walked through the long corridors of my penthouse on Fifth Avenue.It wasn’t the most expensive penthouse in New York City, although I could purchase it if I wanted to. However, it was still considerably exorbitant and undoubtedly one of my most significant accomplishments. I don't know of many people that could afford such a place, let alone redo it, stripping down its insides and redesigning them from scratch — which I did, and it took me about a year and a half as I wanted the place to be perfect. Every time I looked at the dark marble floors, the modern decor, the neutral-colored walls with wooden features, and the enormous, vibrant pieces of artwork hanging on them, I realized I did just that. This place could not be a better representation of me. I went downstairs and into the kitchen, taking in the vast window panels covering most of the penthouse corners along the way, from floor to ceiling. I wanted to see New York entirely from here, so the bottom floor was open, apart from a wall that contained a fireplace in the main living room and the kitchen, which was enclosed with a big wooden arch at the entrance.The city exuded power, and only a select few people could fully experience what it had to offer. And even though I could resonate with its grandness, I never saw the beauty in it. Maybe because I never had anyone worth sharing it with. I made some scrambled eggs – which never tasted good unless Rosa made them, but I ate them anyway – and my signature protein shake that contained kale, radish, spinach, and broccoli, which I always drank before any workout and swallowed in one sitting. Then, I glanced at the clock. It was 5:23 am, and I was already late. I ran upstairs, put on a watch, some running gear, and a rain jacket, fully decided to go for a run, and left the penthouse. I got downstairs and greeted the doorman quickly before walking out and putting on the hood of my rain jacket, and I started running without a destination. The time it took me to get down here had been enough for the sky to begin hailing, making my muscles tense up every time a piece hit me, but I didn't have time to waste, so I pushed through it."I have an in-home gym;" I thought to myself. "I don't know why I didn't just stay in." Except that I did, as I only went running under these conditions when I needed to empty my mind. These past few days hadn’t been the greatest regarding my professional life, as quite a few crises required my undivided attention, and it had been elsewhere for longer than I wished to admit. There were only so many ways I could blow out some steam, and this was one of them. I ran for precisely thirty-five minutes before making my way back to the penthouse, knowing I only had exactly one hour and two minutes before having to leave, and hopped in the shower,