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3.4% The Ultimate Chance / Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Chương 6: Chapter 6

Vaillant residence.

"You are here." Avery's mother, Amelia, stated indifferently when her daughter was shown to the living room. It was almost as though she did not expect her, and Avery didn't care about her tone.

"Yes. It's amazing to know that you didn't expect me despite calling me over." She sat on the couch without waiting to be invited, knowing that no one would waste their time doing so anyway.

They were all in the living room and it couldn't be any more obvious that she was the one they were waiting for.

Her father waved her over. "Don't cause trouble. Come here."

Avery was yet to respond when her brother returned into the living room, with another guest in tow. It had to be Markus, out of all people. She looked at him with a sneer. "May I know what he's doing here?"

"We want to know that too." Her mother spoke tauntingly, then zeroed her gaze on her daughter. "And apart from that, we want to know why you didn't ever tell us that you have a son. All these years, Avery?"

Avery looked up at the man beside her brother, her lips twitching. What an idle fool. Did he have to tattle to the whole world about it?

She wanted to scold him but in the end chose not to, and instead averted her gaze to ignore him. She sat back opposite her mother and gently asked, "Mother, do you know that my company is going to win a deal?"

"Your company… congratulations." The woman said superficially, fumbling with her words. Avery smiled with a harrumph.

"So you know about it. I thought you didn't even know that I own a company."

"How could that be? You are so famous. Is there anyone who doesn't know about you?" She smiled awkwardly.

"Really? Then you should know what I majorly deal with, right?" Avery pushed, her eyes hiding the malice behind them.

"Avery, I'm too busy to pay attention to the details, but I know you're doing well." Came Amelia's strained answer, and she was obviously trying her best to get rid of this topic.

"Hey, do you have a magazine?" She called to a maid who had just brought her water. "Any business magazine, thank you."

When it was brought, Avery looked through the pages and opened one of them. "Here. Do you know who this woman is? You could have read. I guess you ignored it as soon as you realized that it was about me."

"Honey…"

Avery cut her off with a wave of her hand. "You don't know the primary thing about me. You've always been too busy to care. Why should I care to tell you anything, especially something of such importance?"

"How dare you speak to your mother like that?" Her father, Bryce, roared across the room, frowning at his daughter who was audacious enough to say such disrespectful things.

Avery's lips twitched to one side. "I'm starting to doubt if you really are my parents. I mean, the first person to suspect that a girl is pregnant is usually her mother, right? But you didn't even know it when my stomach grew so big that I couldn't hide it anymore. Until I made an excuse to leave. Do you remember why I left?"

Amelia couldn't answer her and swallowed, finding a way to change the topic but Avery beat her to it.

"Of course you don't know. You were too busy to hear what I said." She should have been happy to have told a lie and gotten away with it, but that was the younger version of her who cared about nothing but to get away. She had made up a lie to move out of her home and live on her own so she would have more opportunities to meet up with Dairon, and she had done the same thing to get away and hide because she had discovered that she was pregnant.

Now that she thought about it, the things that made her happy in the past had everything to do with being away from this duo who neither loved nor cared about her. Still, she pushed it. "Do you know which university I went to further my studies?"

"Why are we dwelling in the past? We are talking about the present now." Amelia had enough and snapped at her.

"And the present is this man." Avery pointed at Markus who was trying hard to make his presence less noticeable. Whoever told you that I wanted him?"

"This is not about your whims!" Bryce yelled, which would have made her shudder in fear in the past. However, she was not the naive young woman she was in the past. She didn't give any heed to his shouting.

She stood to face him head-on. "What you mean is, it's not about what I want but about what you want, right?"

"Don't be stubborn. This is about the family's interests." He tried a different approach, knowing that yelling would no longer work against her. "Let's sit down and have a talk, okay?"

"We can do that while standing. I'm more comfortable this way." She didn't make any move to sit, which made him and Amelia uncomfortable. It seemed as though she would walk out on them as soon as they said anything that displeased her in the slightest, which made it harder for them to speak up. Of course, they forgot that she would walk out if she wanted to, regardless of whether she was standing, sitting or lying on the couch.

"Honey, the company is in a crisis." Amelia started, trying to sound as gentle as possible. If Avery had not spent her time to understand them, she would have given in to whatever the older woman wanted without having any discussion about it.

She crossed her arms and looked down at her mother. "And how is that my business?"

"We need your help." Amelia ignored the sharp tone since they were the ones at a disadvantage this time.

"I see. How much money or what resources do you need? I will have my assistant send them if that will keep you from bothering me in future." She pretended not to understand what the couple was trying to get at.

The man frowned. "You know that's not what we mean, princess." He even used a nickname he had never used before. "How can you say that? You make it sound like we only want money from you now that you are successful in the business field."

Avery snickered inwardly. Of course, what they wanted was not money. What they wanted was for her to give up the life she had worked so hard for, in exchange for something that would only benefit the two of them.

"If not money, what do you want?" She asked impatiently.

"We need a business project that will make our company recover all the losses we made recently. We tried to negotiate with Le Blanc Group, but we couldn't get our hands on it. Luckily, Markus agreed to help us. His father holds a top management position in Le Blanc group. "

Avery laughed like she had heard the most ridiculous joke. "That's why you want me to marry Markus? Why didn't you talk to me about it? I would have had a talk with Henry Blanc."

"Henry Blanc?" The man was surprised.

"His cousin. The CEO of Le Blanc Group, who is one of the partners of Vaillant Telecommunications." Her explanation sounded like she was bluffing, because the couple had never thought of her as anything great. In their minds, there wasn't anything she could achieve, much less own a company that could make Henry Blanc interested in being a partner. They had found it unbelievable even when Markus told them that Avery was the CEO of one of the country's biggest companies, and they had not had the chance to actually look it up.

She shrugged when she saw that they didn't believe her. Forget it. "The man you want me to marry is not interested in being with a woman who has 'trash left behind by an irresponsible scumbag' with her." She finally talked about the topic they wanted to hear about, sarcastically repeating Markus' remark from a few days ago.

The man so badly wanted to die. He had wanted to forget about Avery's son since she was such a beautiful woman after all. Why did she have to bring up his comment?!

Amelia shuddered when she understood the implications. "Who is the father of the boy?" She asked.

Avery huffed. "You want me to send the boy away to his scumbag father, just so I can marry another man for your benefit?" How shameless could they get?

"That's not what your mother meant." Bryce glared at his wife discreetly and tried to placate Avery. "What we mean is, we can take care of our grandchild. Right, dear?"

Amelia nodded, and Avery laughed.

"If you cannot take care of your own child, how will you be able to take care of someone else's child?"

Before they could respond, she dropped a bomb. "I came here for one reason, and it has nothing to do with your company drama, I'm here to cut ties with the two of you." She slapped a document onto the table. "Henceforth you are no longer my parents and I am not your daughter."


next chapter

Chương 7: Chapter 7

Amelia gasped in shock at what she had just heard. "Why would you say such a thing? Have you no heart?"

Avery smiled at her tone that sounded wronged. How perfect they were at feigning innocence and playing the victim. "Why are you trying to sell me off? Have you no heart, mother?" She sarcastically reminded her that she was always teasing the line between family and enemies. She called herself her mother but treated her own daughter like a commodity that could be used for exchange or sold away.

Amelia wanted to say something mean but her husband glared at her, so she could only sigh and look at Avery sadly. "Baby, we were wrong. Can you please forgive us? We promise to be better parents."

Avery knew that her mother was not in the least bit sorry. She was only pretending to aplogize because they had no choice at the moment, which made her look down at them in spite. What an excellent pair of parents they were.

"I do not forgive you." She heartlessly dropped the bomb at them. "I do not desire to talk about this ever again. If it's regarding business, please contact my assistant Mina—even though I don't think I want to discuss anything with you." She didn't think she would ever want to collaborate with the company that ruined their childhood." Excuse me." She walked out, ignoring their fake begging.

When Avery left, Markus looked upset and was about to leave too, when Amelia called his name," Markus…"

"She doesn't like me." He had to admit. He had thought that Avery was playing hard to get but after witnessing her interaction with her parents, he now believed that there was something wrong with that woman's brain. Did she really think she could spend the rest of her life on her own? Not to mention, it was already bad enough for him to be with a woman along with her son. It would be a little alright if she was willing to let the little brat go to his father but she wasn't, which nullified his interest in her.

Amelia was still unaware of what was on his mind, she tried to convince him. "Surely you could do us a favor? There has to be another way to repay it."

He huffed in anger and clenched his fists, then slowly unclenched them. "The only thing I wanted in return was Avery. But how can I continue to coax her even while she treats me with such disrespect? You cannot even tolerate her yourselves. Why should I?" He stormed off in anger.

"We lost it." Amelia sighed in defeat. There was no way for them to convince Markus anymore, and she didn't think they would be able to contact his cousin, the CEO of Le Blanc Group.

"We can talk to Avery later. She is our daughter, after all. Let her calm down, and as long as she finds us honest, she will not completely ditch us. When she is ready to talk, we can convince her to have a talk with Henry Blanc." Bryce spoke resolutely. He knew his daughter well enough. She was only seeking attention and would be in her right mind as long as they showed her some extra love and coaxed her a little.

An idea struck Amelia. "What if we buy gifts and toys for the boy? She seems to care for him more than her life. Surely the easiest way to get on her good side is through him."

"Good idea, my wife." Bryce praised her as their son huffed and returned to his room. He had been watching the drama unfold all along. They knew that he and Avery had always been rivals and he could be preparing to give his sister a piece of his mind later.

….

Vaillant Telecommunications.

Mina brought a file to Avery's office. "It's ready. You can meet Mr. Baker this evening."

"Is there something else?" Avery asked when she realized that her friend looked like she wanted to say something.

"Are you really going to do this?" Mina asked. Avery had suddenly asked her to arrange blind dates for her, claiming that she wanted to get married. Was a flash marriage really what she wanted?

"My son needs a father and I'm going to give him one." Avery responded. "Please make more prreparations in case I don't like Mr. Baker."

"But Avery, it's not certain that the man you marry would like Angel, and what if Angel does not like him?" Mina reasoned. It would be more reasonable if Angel chose his own stepfather, but that was insane too. Wouldn't that mean that Avery would be married for her son? What about her own happiness?

"There is only one way to find out." Avery smiled in response to her friend's comment of concern.

Avery finished her work for the day before going to the restaurant where she was meeting Mr. Baker.

She was a few minutes later than the agreed time but she had to wait for him, which displeased her. The last thing she wanted was for a man to give her son empty promises and tons of excuses for his tardiness. He was already out of her list of potential candidates even before his arrival, and it was twenty minutes later that she heard footsteps approaching her.

She didn't bother to look up and continued reading the magazine in her hands.

"Hello, Miss Vaillant." It was a voice that made her freeze from how familiar it was.

"You again? What will it take for you to stay away from me?" Her voice trembled at the sight of the phantom that just wouldn't leave her alone.

Damon welcomed himself to sit as though the seat was meant for him. "I'm afraid that my son will be triggered at the sight of another man. Think about it, what would happen if you introduced another man to him, and he cried all night seeking his real papa? You would have to look for me, wouldn't you?" He raised an eyebrow to drive the point home. "Why don't you skip all the drama and introduce me, or simply leave things as they are?"

How audacious. She was rendered speechless by his impudence. How dare he make it sound like she was the one doing something wrong? And what the hell did he do to Mr. Baker?

"I'm yet to ask how Angel knows you." She looked at him skeptically. Someone had told Angel about his father and that was not her. Just who was it?

"Instinct?" Damon shrugged. He could swear that he had nothing to do with it.

"Damon, I will not appreciate you triggering my son's emotions." She warned threateningly. If he didn't care about Angel's feelings, that didn't mean she was like him.

"I promise, I wouldn't do that. Even if I didn't know about his condition." He knew that he could simply snatch the boy away and make Avery follow him, but it would be a stupid move. Aside from making her hate him even more, it might just backfire. Heaven knew the kind of connections she had and who she had in her pockets. He was yet to know who between them had more influence in Olphire, so fighting for full custody of Angel might not work either. He could only naturally win her back.

Avery assessed the scumbag before her scornfully. Of course, he had investigated Angel. It did sound like something he would do.

"Avery, I'm sorry. That night…" He started.

"Don't tell me about that day. Just shut your mouth." She interrupted and stood to leave.

"But I need you to know what really happened." He stood to follow her. He grabbed her arm, but she swatted his hand away.

"No. That's not what you are about to do. What you want is to tell a story that sounds more believable and less wrong than you dumping your girlfriend for being pregnant." She huffed, holding back her urge to slap his face sore.

"Why would I ever do that?" He was shocked that she would think so, even though he couldn't blame her for it. "I loved you, Avery. I still love you so much."


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