The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 153
If Shirley was upset by the revelation, she was good at hiding it because she didn’t reveal a hint of emotion on her face. Avery continued to push her buttons. "Speaking of which, Angel likes her very much. Do you think you can bring her over to play?"
"Well..." Shirley squirmed, probably trying to find a way to weasel out of it.
Avery didn’t let her. "Damon has a soft spot for Angel. Even if he didn’t like Gemma very much, he would as long as Angel likes her."
While she made it sound like Angel was important in changing Damon’s opinion, she was indirectly letting Shirley think she won; that the father-daughter bond she had wished to create between Damon and Gemma was successful.
"I see. I will bring her over the weekend." She promised.
Avery smiled and tried not to sneak a peek at her phone. This was going easier than she expected. Which reminded her, she had to be careful. She only had one chance at this. If she failed, Shirley would put her defenses up and it would be impossible to try again.
So when their meal was done, she did the one thing she didn’t think she would ever do in this lifetime. She called Mina, who was equally shocked to hear her request.
"You want the D’Aboville Mansion’s telephone number?" Mina nearly shrieked. "Did you get kidnapped by an alien who swapped your brain?" She asked dramatically.
"While I thought that was what happened when people didn’t get home on time for some years of my childhood, no. I have not been kidnapped by aliens." She had Gabriel to thank for all her insane childhood beliefs. "SO, can you get the telephone number or not?"
Mina hummed through the rustling of paper on her end. "Just one second." She called, as if Avery was in a hurry. Then, as if magically, she exclaimed in triumph. "Got it. I sent it to you via text message."
While she was happy to receive it, Avery couldn’t help asking, "how come you got it so fast? Am I missing something?"
"Ah, never mind that." Mina chuckled. "I just kept it on a sticky note under my desk for, you know, instances where the D’Abovilles pissed you off and I needed their address so I would kill them."
"Thanks, you crazy woman." She laughed. Mina grumbled something about both of them being equally crazy now that they had been knocked up at the same time and hung up.
She stared at the telephone number on her screen for ages. She had thought all ties had been cut between her and the D’Abovilles. But all grudges aside, if she was being honest, she didn’t want her son to miss out on having his family just because they didn’t like each other. It was already going to be a blow to him that his maternal grandmother had passed away before they reconciled.
So, deciding she would not be the unreasonable one, she took a deep breath and dialed the number. Well, that and the fact that she needed to contact them to call Shirley out on lying. It would not be funny if she confidently called the woman out only to find out she had fallen into her trap.
Within two rings, the call was answered but someone she assumed must be the butler based on their introduction.
"Hello, I..." she hesitated. "I would like to speak to Dorthe. Tell her it’s Avery."
She was certain the other oerson would hung up after hearing her name. To her surprise, they put her on hold and she guessed they had gone in search of Dorthe, who came on the phone a minute later.
"Avery?" She asked in a disbelieving tone, as though she thought it was a prank call.
"Yes. I..."
"How have you been?" Dorthe cut her off.
"Great. I would just like to ask you something." She continued before she got roped into small talk that might just end in another chaotic battle.
"Go ahead." Dorthe was surprisingly compliant.
"Did anyone bring a little girl to your family recently? She’s three years old, has lovely long hair and..."
"Looks a lot like Damon?" Dorthe guessed.
That was a yes. Avery sighed. "Yes. Gemma."
Dorthe was silent for a few heartbeats before she resumed speaking. "We will not accept her into our family. I may not like you but I know my grandson. He will never father a child who isn’t yours. And this girl, she acted like she could call anyone ’mommy’ as long as she was asked to. There is nothing motherly about the woman who brought her. SOmething’s off with her."
It was strange to hear that from Dorthe. But again, this is why she had asked to talk to her instead of Damon’s mother. The latter would have agreed with Shirley even if she was wrong, just because she hated her.
"I just wanted to know if Gemma is there." She asked, a little relieved this time.
"I sent them away." Dorthe concluded.
"Avery." She called before the latter could end the call. After a moment of hesitation she said, "A lot has happened over the years but we are not getting any younger. And I miss my grandson very much, even though I have not been the best grandmother." She sighed in regret. "If you get the chance, can you come for a visit?"
"I can’t promise that." She deadpanned. "But as long as you are not truing to hurt me or my loved ones, I have no reason to hate you." Besides, she didn’t get to tell Damon where he could or couldn’t go. If he wanted to, he could reconnect with the D’Abovilles—as long as he didn’t bring Angel with him yet. Just because she didn’t see any reason to keep the grudge didn’t mean she trusted them now. That was going to take some time.
______
While Avery and Damon tried their best to find incriminating evidence, Shirley had something else in mind.
Damon was at his office, on a call with the private investigator he was hiring, when his assistant knocked and came in. "Mr. D’Aboville, there’s a woman here to see you. She refused to give her name but assured me you would want to see her."
He frowned with the call still on hold. "Give me five minutes and then let her in." He instructed, then resumed the call. "I want to know everyone who was involved in this scheme. Down to the last employee. Separate those who knew what was going on from those who didn’t."
Five minutes elapsed faster than he expected and he had barely ended the call with the private investigator when the office door opened and in walked the very woman he had expected.
"I knew it was you." He frowned. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Shirley took that as a compliment. If he knew it was her but didn’t turn her away, what were the odds? That he knew there was a chance it was someone else, or that he wanted to see her?
The woman was wearing a knee-length coat and had her hair in a ponytail. He didn’t take any notice of it, much less realize what she was up to, until she shut the door behind her and undid the belt of her coat, before proceeding to undo the huge buttons.
"What do you think you’re doing?" He frowned.
She slid a hand down her bra and he looked away in discomfort. If Avery did that, he would be having a raging boner by now. It was almost strange that a woman who looked so much like her could do the same thing and evoke the opposite feeling from him.
"Why do you love her so much? Isn’t it because of this body?" She swayed her body a little, realziing barely a second later that he was not looking at her.
"Don’t give me that, Damon." She chuckled and took a step closer. "I know you will never love me. Not as much as you love her anyway, but I’m not trying to replace her. I only want..."
"Something I cannot give you." He carefully stated. He was acutely aware of the closed door. If he were to turn her down rudely and wake whatever demons were in possession of her brain, he would never be able to live it down if she accused him of something despicable.
He’d had most of his employees for as long as he was the CEO of RA Vaille and no such thing had ever been associated with his name. But unfortunately, it was easier to believe the woman in this situation and even if most people trusted him, there would still be a hint of doubt at the back of their minds. The last thing he wanted was for his reputation to go down the drain.
He was relieved when he remebered something that was slipping his mind. "Especially not on camera."
"What do you mean?" She instinctively gathered her coat to cover herself.
He let out a gentle sigh in relief that he had it in order. "If it’s not already clear enough, I will never touch you. Now, don’t you dare think about trying to turn this on me. There are surveillance cameras."
She didn’t look certain whether or not to believe him but he knew from her hesitation that it was exactly what she had in mind. She had come here to create a back up plan but luckily, it was thwarted before she even begun it.Which reminded him, if the surveillance camera had captured her actions, maybe they should use it to their advantage. It was heartless, alright, but so was she.
