The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 52

She hung up as soon as she realized who she was speaking to. She had done it on impulse but when the call ended, she made a decision. She needed to file an actual restraining order against Constance. It was the only way to ensure that woman never got near Angel.

As if it was not enough that Constance had paid a visit, she went to his room to get him ready for dinner, only to find him drawing what looked like a large family. She recognized herself and Damon from the colors of their hair and clothes but who were two other men and two other women.

She knelt on his side of the table and gently asked. "Baby, is this Mabella?"

He shook his head and showed her the sticker labels she had not noticed on the table, which he planned on slotting onto each character.

"Daddy’s mommy?" She smiled, then she noticed there was one for "mommy’s mommy" as well. She ran a hand through his hair. "They are called grandmothers. And your parents’ daddies are grandfathers. But your grandparents..." She refrained from telling him things he wouldn’t understand.

"Your grandma Constance makes your daddy sad, you know. That’s why you never get to see her." She explained, knowing the purpose of the drawing. He was probably going to ask her about them later.

As soon as he knew the reason why he had never met Constance, he erased her head on the drawing and replaced it with what must be a rotten egg. Avery tried not to laugh. "Are you ready for dinner?" She stood and picked him off his seat.

Alas, despite serving his food, he didn’t make a move to eat it. When he placed his tiny set of cutlery in his hands, he put them back down and kept staring at the chair next to hers. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

She was distressed. "Daddy is not coming for dinner."

Meeting his teary eyes, she was helpless. That man was a demon. Whether in his presence or absence, he had a way of haunting her. Her hand hovered over her phone as she thought about it. Even if Damon managed to make time to come over this time, what about next time? Would she have to call him over at dinner every day just because his son was waiting for him? He had his own life to live too, after all.

"There are times when he can join us for dinner and times when he is too busy with work—like tonight—but that doesn’t mean he loves you any less." She tried to explain to him, and to her relief, he picked up his cutlery.

_____

She was not trying to avoid him but the last thing she expected was to see him in her office as soon as she opened the door. He was sitting on her leather chair with his feet on the desk like he owned the place.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

"Too bad I’m not." He got his feet off the desk. "This office is comfortable. I could take a nap here for a year. Corner office and all, huh?"

"Get the fuck out of my office, Damon." She was not ready for this kind of conversation in the morning. How did he even get in? No need to ask. Mina was on his side.

"I will, once I get you to check out my project proposal. I know you skimmed through it and cast it aside."

He was right but she didn’t want to admit it. "Since you are so insistent, I have to assume you have something to hide. What exactly bugs you so much about me not falling into your trap?"

"I don’t need you in any trap. You’re missing out, that’s all." He assured her. As if he was doing her a favor, he got off her chair and helped her onto it while taking out the project file to help her open it. "Do you need anything? Coffee, perhaps?"

"You out of my office. That’s all I need, thank you. You can bring me a hot chocolate while at it."

He winked and by the time she realized she had just called him back, it was too late.

"Good morning, boss." Mina dropped by for a second with a cheeky smile.

"Mina, are you aware you let one of our major competitors into my office with access to all secretive files?" She scolded her.

"Don’t worry. I hid everything he isn’t supposed to see. Besides, he hasn’t been here for long." Mina said in her defense.

"It doesn’t matter. I don’t know why the hell you are on his side but you are letting your personal feelings get in the way of your work!"

"Just like you are letting your grudge cloud your judgement." Mina countered and sat down opposite her. "Avery, I’ve been trying to think about this as your employee as well as your friend, and friendship won. Don’t you see how hard he is trying?"

Avery rolled her eyes. "He has a company to run. If he wants to leave it behind to make a fool out of himself in my office, who cares? It’s not my problem."

"It’s not about the time he spends here. It’s the effort he’s making both personally and in your workplace. Which you won’t understand because you are stubborn." She gave up. Luckily, Damon returned with her hot chocolate and saved Mina the torture of convincing Avery that she needed to see more clearly.

"If you approve of it, you know where to find me." Damon placed the cup on her desk.

"On second thought, take a seat." She instructed.

"Why are you certain this store will thrive better in Deciville than in Imperium?" She asked as soon as he sat down.

"I did my research." He gave an infuriatingly vague answer and she hated that it made sense.

"I have to inspect the place first." She closed the file. "Do you have the time?"

"I’ll drive." He grabbed his car keys out of his pocket.

While they headed to the parking lot, she stopped him. "Deciville is four hours away. You really don’t have to do this."

"I want to. Besides, do you think I’m going to let my subordinate handle such a delicate matter? Shall we?" He opened his car door for her.

She wrote a series of instructions to Mina as soon as she sat down and he floored the accelerator.

"You changed your mind pretty fast." He observed.

"I just realized what I’d been doing wrong in the last quarter. It has nothing to do with you." She knew he was prepared to take credit for everything.

"Uh-huh." He glanced over at her and regretted it almost instantly. Her skirt was much shorter today and since she was sitting, it was halfway up her thighs.

"Watch out!" Her yell pulled him out of his trance just in time to evade a deer. He pulled over at the side at her request and she got out of the car frantically. "Do you have anything against deer?"

"I promise, I don’t." It was hard to believe even for him, considering he had nearly run over another one. The little thing dashed off the road as soon as it could, leaving her empty-handed when she was going to inspect it.

"What were you thinking? Do you know how to drive?" She scolded him.

"Not nearly as well as you do. Can you drive?" He motioned at the driver’s side and to his surprise, she slid into the driver’s seat.

"Are you coming?" She called out to him.

"Of course."

Now that he wasn’t driving, he could admire her all he wanted without potentially killing them both. She would kill him if she knew what he was thinking.

"Why did you build RA Vaille?" She asked pretty much out of the blue. "I’m curious, that’s all."

"No specific reason. I wanted to create my own fortune."

It wasn’t the reason she expected and he knew he was hiding his true one, but she accepted it. "I see."

"What about you? What’s the deal with Vaillant Telecommunications?"

She shot him a look with a small smile. "To get back at your family."

It sounded overboard but he couldn’t deny it. Ever since Vaillant Telecommunications became all the rage, the D’aboville family had become a backdrop in comparison. Even so, it was still impossible. "You created a conglomerate for the sole purpose of making another conglomerate lose its popularity? Who would ever believe that?"

"I had a lot of time in my hands, and to their dismay, too much information from their son." She smiled. "I knew their strengths. I grabbed their best ideas, made them a thousand times better, launched them as my own and voila!"

At this point, the exaggeration was obvious. Her eyes met his when she turned to him. "Fine, I just wanted my parents to stop thinking I was a brainless little fool. And then I ended up with this huge conglomerate I never expected it to become and I just...I decided to use it to make my son’s life what it is."

"What a coincidence. I acquired RA Vaille for the same reason." He finally gave a different response but it was still not what she expected.

"I guess that makes two of us." She muttered under her breath.

"Do you need help?" He offered. "We still have a long way to go."

"Are you kidding me? This is fun!" She accelerated. Luckily, traffic was nearly nonexistent on the road to Deciville and she could safely drive at whatever speed she wanted.

"Does this remind you of anything?" He started, only to be shut down by her.

"Doing projects with you? Worst nightmare of my life." Although she called it a nightmare, her smile proved it was the exact opposite.