Ava Jerome may have survived the most dangerous part of her plan with Drew Cain, but one careless sentence could bring the entire scheme crashing down. After helping Drew make it appear that Sonny Corinthos ordered the brutal Pentonville attack on Jenz Sidwell, Ava believes the truth is safely buried. What she does not realize is that Curtis Ashford’s injuries have created one weakness she cannot control: Trina Robinson.
Curtis was never supposed to become part of the plan. Ava and Drew wanted Sidwell attacked while Sonny took the blame, but Vito’s inside man made a devastating mistake when Curtis was caught in the violence. Drew immediately saw an advantage in the disaster. Curtis was a far more believable witness than Sidwell, which meant his accusation against Sonny could make the frame-up even stronger.
Ava saw something very different. She was horrified that Curtis had been seriously injured, and her thoughts immediately turned to Trina. Ava knows how much Curtis means to his daughter, and she also knows what could happen to her relationship with Trina if the truth ever comes out. Drew can promise that their names will never be connected to the attack, but Ava’s fear may be exactly what causes her to expose herself.
The trouble could begin when Trina visits Ava after seeing Curtis. Trina is shaken by how close her father came to an even worse outcome, and Ava struggles to hide her guilt as she listens. At first, Ava says all the right things. She expresses concern for Curtis and insists she is grateful he survived.
Then Trina makes one innocent observation.
Curtis was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That is when Ava says too much.
Trying to comfort Trina, Ava could accidentally insist that Curtis was never supposed to get hurt. She might even let something more specific escape, suggesting that whoever was working inside Pentonville made a terrible mistake by involving Curtis.
The words immediately change the atmosphere.
Trina knows Ava was not at Pentonville. She was not part of the investigation. Curtis himself cannot prove who ordered the attack. So how could Ava possibly know that Curtis was not an intended target?
Trina does not have to accuse Ava immediately. In fact, her smartest move would be pretending she noticed nothing.
Instead, Trina could quietly test her.
She might deliberately tell Ava that Curtis believes both he and Sidwell were targets. Ava, already frightened and desperate to protect their relationship, could instinctively correct her again.
No. Curtis was never part of it.
That second slip would be much harder to explain.
Suddenly, Trina is no longer listening to Ava as someone worried about her father. She is studying her. Every pause matters. Every attempt to change the subject becomes suspicious. Ava’s knowledge is simply too specific.
And then one name could blow the whole thing apart: Vito.
Sonny is already trying to determine why Vito turned against him. Ava and Drew, meanwhile, ordered Vito to leave Port Charles after the attack went wrong. If Trina hears Vito’s name connected to the Pentonville investigation after Ava has already revealed knowledge she should not possess, the pieces could begin falling into place.
Ava would then face the confrontation she has feared from the beginning.
Trina could return to her and ask one devastating question: How did you know Curtis was never supposed to be hurt?
Ava could deny everything. She could blame gossip, claim she misunderstood something, or insist Trina is reading too much into an innocent comment. But Trina would no longer be asking whether Ava knows something.
She would be asking what Ava is hiding.
That distinction could change their relationship forever.
The cruelest part is that Ava genuinely never wanted Curtis hurt. Her horror over what happened to him appears real. But that does not erase her role in the scheme that created the danger in the first place. To Trina, learning that Ava helped unleash the chain of events that nearly cost Curtis his life could feel like an intensely personal betrayal.
Drew may believe Vito is the loose end they need to eliminate from Port Charles, but he could be looking in the wrong direction.
The greatest threat to the conspiracy may be standing inside Ava’s own gallery.
Because Ava does not need Vito to betray her.
She may have already betrayed herself.
And once Trina realizes Ava knows something she could not possibly know, the woman Ava was most terrified of losing could become the one person who refuses to stop digging until the entire Pentonville secret is exposed.
