My Guardian's Fall, My Empire Rises

For ten years, I secretly loved my guardian, Ethan Hayes. After my family fell apart, he took me in and raised me. He was my entire world.

On my eighteenth birthday, I gathered all my courage to confess my love to him.

But his reaction was a fury I had never seen before. He swept my birthday cake to the floor and roared, "Are you insane? I am your GUARDIAN!"

He then mercilessly tore the painting I had spent a year on-my confession-to shreds.

Just days later, he brought home his fiancée, Chloe.

The man who had promised to wait for me to grow up, who called me his brightest star, had vanished. My decade of desperate, burning love had only managed to burn myself.

The person who was supposed to protect me had become the one who hurt me the most.

I looked down at the NYU acceptance letter in my hand. I had to leave. I had to pull him out of my heart, no matter how much it hurt.

I picked up the phone and dialed my father's number.

Dad, I said, my voice hoarse, "I've decided. I want to come be with you in New York."

Chapter 1

The eighteenth day of giving up on Ethan Hayes began with Ava deleting the photo on her phone's lock screen.

It was a candid shot she had secretly taken.

Ethan was sitting on the sofa, bathed in the afternoon sun, a financial magazine resting on his knee. He was looking at her, a faint, almost imperceptible smile on his lips.

For a full ten years, from the age of eight to eighteen, this man had been the sun in her world.

Her joy, her anger, her sorrow, her entire world revolved around him.

But now, she wanted to extinguish that sun with her own hands.

The screen went black.

A clean, stark black, leaving nothing behind.

Ava's fingers trembled slightly as she put the phone down and picked up the glass of milk on the table. It was already cold.

She drank it in one gulp, the cold liquid sliding down her throat, but it couldn't suppress the burning sensation in her chest.

She picked up her phone again and dialed a number she hadn't contacted in a long time.

The call connected quickly. A man's gentle voice came through.

Ava?

Dad, she called out, her voice a little hoarse. "I got my acceptance letter. NYU."

Her father was silent for a moment, then his voice filled with unconcealed joy. "That's wonderful! Ava, congratulations. Art History, right? The department you always dreamed of."

Yes.

So, you've decided? You're coming to New York?

I've decided, Ava said, her grip on the phone tightening. "I want to come be with you."

She wanted to escape this place. She wanted to escape Ethan Hayes.

Her father seemed to sense the emotion in her voice. He sighed softly. "Is it because of Ethan? Did he give you a hard time again?"

No, Ava lied, forcing a relaxed tone. "He's getting engaged. I can't just keep living in his house as his ward, not now. It feels wrong. Besides, I'm an adult now. It's time I learned to be on my own."

A heavy silence followed.

After a long while, her father's voice, full of heartache, came through the phone. "My poor Ava. It's been hard on you all these years, living in that house because I couldn't... It's good that you're coming. Dad will take care of you from now on."

He added, "Our family's business is back on track. You don't need to depend on anyone anymore. Dad can support you."

The warmth of his words made Ava's eyes sting.

She sniffled, holding back the tears. "Okay."

After hanging up, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and swollen.

Ten years. She had spent a full ten years loving a man who would never belong to her.

She had to leave.

She had to pull Ethan Hayes out of her heart, piece by piece, no matter how much it hurt.

Taking a deep breath, she walked out of her room. The light in the study at the end of the hall was on.

Ethan was still working.

She hesitated for a moment, then walked over, clutching the NYU acceptance letter. She needed to tell him.

She stopped at the half-open door. Through the gap, she could see the man inside.

He wore a simple gray shirt, his posture upright and his expression focused. The light from the lamp cast a soft glow on his sharp profile, outlining a face so handsome it seemed unreal. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses sat on his high nose, giving his cold demeanor a touch of refined elegance.

This was Ethan Hayes. Her father's former protégé, the brilliant young man who had stayed loyal when her family's business crumbled. When her parents divorced and her mother left the country, it was her father, at his lowest point, who had asked Ethan to become her legal guardian. He was the man who had raised her.

Her guardian, with no blood relation.

And the man she had secretly loved for ten years.

Ethan, she called out softly, her voice barely a whisper.

Ethan looked up, his brow furrowed slightly as he saw her. "What is it?"

His voice was as cold and distant as ever.

Ava's heart clenched. She was about to speak when his phone on the desk rang, a crisp, pleasant tone.

His cold expression melted the moment he saw the caller ID. A gentleness she had never seen before bloomed in his eyes.

Chloe, he said, his voice low and soft.

It was his fiancée, Chloe Vance.

The venue? You decide, I'm fine with anything. Don't worry about the cost. He listened to the person on the other end, the corner of his mouth curving into a doting smile. "As long as you like it, nothing else matters."

Ava stood frozen at the door, her hands and feet turning to ice.

The acceptance letter in her hand felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

She suddenly remembered her eighteenth birthday, just two months ago. She had gathered all her courage to give him a painting she had worked on for a year, titled Secret.

In the painting, a young girl followed a man's back, her eyes full of love.

It was her confession.

Ethan's reaction was a fury she had never seen before.

He swept all the gifts off the table, the cake crashing to the floor.

Ava Miller! he had roared, his eyes red with rage. "Are you insane? I am your GUARDIAN!"

She had stubbornly argued back, tears streaming down her face. "But we're not related by blood! My dad trusted you! And the way you've always indulged me... that's not how a guardian is supposed to treat his ward!"

He had sneered, his handsome face contorted with cruelty. "Can't you tell the difference between familial affection and love? Your education has been a waste."

With that, he had mercilessly torn her painting, her Secret, to shreds.

He had turned and left without a backward glance, leaving her alone in the wreckage of her birthday.

She had cried and picked up the pieces, carefully taping them back together. But the painting, like her heart, was covered in scars.

Even then, she hadn't given up.

She thought that as long as she was good enough, as long as she got into his alma mater, he would see her.

But just after her graduation, he brought Chloe Vance home.

He had introduced her with a smile. "Ava, this is Chloe, my fiancée."

That was the moment she knew.

It was truly over.

All her desperate, burning love for the past ten years had only burned herself.

Now, she had to be the one to extinguish the fire.

She had to get him out of her heart.