As Ava and Nikolas kareened toward divorce, she grew bitter and wanted revenge on him for the pain he had caused her.

Forking over evidence to Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) that would help him seize custody of his baby brother from Nikolas was a dealbreaker to Nik.

He couldn’t fathom that she would do that to him and if she was going to cost him his son, he was going to cost her her daughter, Avery Corinthos (Grace Scarola). But Nikolas never made it out of Wyndemere that night after threatening Ava’s baby girl.

She clobbered him over the head with an iron statue and left him for dead in the stable tack room. It’s too bad that’s not where it ended for her.

GH Spoilers — Europe Beckoned Nikolas Cassadine

Six months later, we learned Nikolas had been hiding out at Austin Gatlin Holt’s (Roger Howarth) place the whole time — being nursed back to health. Still, being a wanted man in Port Charles, Nikolas left town without any effort toward taking Ava down.

He knew he couldn’t stick around and risk getting arrested by the PCPD just to seek revenge on his ex-wife. So off he went to Europe to hide out and hopefully never return to town, but he knew he couldn’t really trust Austin.

He may have had him followed ever since his departure, and perhaps that’s how he came to know about Austin’s feelings for Ava. Otherwise, Mason could have tipped him off, too.

General Hospital Spoilers —He Planned The Perfect Murder

Nikolas didn’t really care that Austin developed feelings for Ava. In his mind, who wouldn’t? But Austin became the means to exacting revenge against Ava in the only way Nikolas saw possible from afar.

So he plotted the end of his ex-wife by ending Austin’s life. If he could make it look like Ava killed Austin, then he knew the only way Ava would be able to prove to the police that someone else was responsible is if he pointed the finger of blame at Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober).

Of course, that means she would also have to tell them why she thinks it was Cyrus.

GH Spoilers — Justice Is Served?

There is no way for Ava to explain to the police that Cyrus would be behind Austin’s murder unless she connected all of the dots by going back to start — and admitting what happened between her and Nikolas at the point that Austin entered the picture.

Looping Mason and Cyrus into the picture could very well give the police other suspects, but if Mason has an alibi from being in the hospital — and Cyrus has one from being at work — it won’t end up helping Ava one bit to come clean.

In the meantime, they’ll be looking at her as Austin’s impassioned and bitter ex-lover who was betrayed and fought back — just as she did against Nikolas.