The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 59

"What did the little bundle of cuteness do?" Mina asked, as if she was not the least trustworthy party in all this. There was a reason why Damon managed to come up with such a fool-proof plan and they both knew he didn’t do it on his own.

She pursed her lips. "Nothing more than you did. He just helped his dad pack my clothes. It makes one wonder what exactly he’s using to bribe the people around me."

Mina laughed. "His charm. Avery, I don’t think you are ready to work yet. Why don’t you go home and rest for the day? You can start tomorrow."

"I can, alright. But I want to start now. Let’s catch up over dinner, shall we?" She asked.

That was all the sign Mina needed to know she would have to work overtime today, but she was not complaining. If missing a date was all it would take for Avery to take a breather and take her mind off her distress for a minute, it was worth it. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Avery went home first and was excited to finally see her son.

"Mommy!" The boy jumped right into his arms and she was relieved. Her son was back. Heaven knew what Damon and his aunt had done to him earlier to make him less clingy.

"I missed you, baby." She kissed his cheek. "What have you been doing while I was away?"

He got down from her arms and ran to his room, soon returning with what looked like a chibi family with the help of his nanny.

She already knew about the chibi version of Damon, which said ’I love you, Angel’ with every squeeze, but she burst into laughter at the sight of the blue-eyed blonde fluffy toy.

"That’s not me." She denied it, but it was as though she was looking at herself in a chibi-dimension mirror. They had even gotten her smile right. Curious about what her version said, she poked its tummy.

"I love you, baby." Spoke the toy.

"No surprise." She smiled. She said that a lot and it was easy to get a recording of her saying it. But when the toy went on to play several other recordings of things she said to Angel, her eyes went wide. That man must have observed her for a while to be able to get so many of them.

"How the hell am I supposed to keep hating him?" She rubbed her temples. The man was tearing down her defenses one at a time and there didn’t seem to be much she could do about it.

"Can I see that?" She returned her chibi version to him and tried to take his adorable version, only for him to hide it behind his back.

She laughed at his antics. "Why? You don’t want me to touch it?"

"He’s scared you might love the toy as much as you love him since they look alike." Damon spoke behind her.

"Oh, you’re here." She straightened up, thinking about his ridiculous words. "Are you saying my son is jealous of a toy?"

"I couldn’t believe it either." He grabbed the chibi version of her and poked its cheek. "She’s pretty, don’t you think? I would have gotten an Avery pillow to hug while sleeping but I prefer the real one."

Her jaw dropped at the implication of his words. He was becoming way too gutsy, even in the presence of their son.

"I’ll make dinner." She excused herself. "Watch your language."

It wasn’t of any use telling them to play while she cooked dinner because within a few minutes, they were beside her in the kitchen.

Angel was excited to play a vegetable game and when she found out, so was she. She picked a knife to give to him but he was already behind her, making her stumble and bump into him when she moved.

She cleared her throat. "Knife."

"Mmh." He stayed behind her for a few seconds too long, and she was breathless by the time he took his spot next to Angel.

"I need two spring onions." She told them, then fired off a list of all other ingredients she needed. "Go!"

As usual, Angel couldn’t wait to finish washing the vegetables faster than his father could chop them. However, he was more careful this time, making sure no spot was left unwashed on the tomato he was holding with both hands.

"He’s so cute." She mused, watching him take caution with a tomato like it was a scientific experiment.

"He takes after me, of course he’d be cute." He added, making her roll her eyes.

"Narcissist." She whispered.

Cooking was much harder in his presence. She had cooked several times with him watching and racing with Angel before but this time, something was different and it unsettled her.

It took a while for her to figure out the source of her discomfort and when she did, she could barely believe it. Why would such a thing faze her?

She finished cooking and set the table for him and Angel. "Mina and I are going to discuss over dinner." She said with the intention to let them eat on their own.

He watched his son who was washing his hands and playing with soap bubbles, finding it odd that she was willing to let him eat without her.

"Is this about what happened earlier?" He asked.

She knew he was talking about what happened in Deciville several hours ago and she shook her head.

"Actually, about that, we need to talk."

"Don’t you dare tell me to pretend nothing happened." He growled before she could say it.

"I wasn’t going to say that." She cleared her throat. "I mean, yes, it happened. Nothing about that could ever change. But can we at least pretend it’s not that much of a big deal?"

He frowned, taking offense in her words. "It’s a huge deal, okay? It’s been years, Avery. You have been furious with me ever since my return and I thought I would be your enemy forever, then this trip happened and it made me realize the embers never went off between us. So forgive me for not pretending I don’t care."

She nodded. "I don’t need you to pretend you don’t care. It’s just...we have a business deal together. I don’t want to mix business with pleasure."

"You already did." He countered.

She ignored his retort. "This is a bomb waiting to explode, and I don’t want to hurt our son."

"Our son." He repeated her words.

"Huh?"

He smiled to himself. For the first time in forever, she had said ’our son’ instead of ’my son’. She would never understand how that made him feel.

He cupped her face. "I understand you, Avery. I know you’ve been through a lot and nothing I say or do will ever erase that. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and let you beat yourself up for things you would never have controlled. Give yourself a break, will you?"

He knew he had just asked for the impossible so he didn’t wait for her answer. He kissed her forehead gently. "Take your time. I know this is overwhelming so if you want to pretend nothing happened until you can handle it, go ahead. Just don’t push me away, okay?"

She didn’t need to. He was shoved off her and when he looked down to face an enraged Angel, he was puzzled.

"Are you kidding me?"

The boy was standing between him and Avery, with his arms spread protectively as though he was berating his father for crossing a line.

Avery burst into laughter while he was rendered speechless.

"Belated note to self, don’t kiss Avery while Angel watches."

Since he had witnessed what his father did and now saw him as competition, Angel didn’t want to leave her side for a second longer than necessary.

When Mina came over for them to discuss business, he tailed after her like a possessive puppy and slotted herself beside her to draw while the women discussed.

Damon followed him to convince him. "It’s a misunderstanding, buddy. I’m not trying to steal her from you." He explained to the uninterested boy.

"Now that’s not something I get to see every day." Mina laughed at the fighting duo. "What’s their deal?"

Avery shook her head. "Damon was quite jealous and possessive when we dated."

"And somehow he sired a duplicate of himself." Mina laughed at the poor man who wasn’t allowed to be too close to his son’s mother.

Avery laughed at the negotiation that had evolved into Damon promising a bunch of toys and being ignored.

"Ignore them." Avery took out her notebook.

"Right. Before I proceed, you have dozens of messages and missed calls from Mr. Blanc." Mina reported.

"If I hear that name again..."

"Henry. Not Marcus." She quickly corrected her.

Avery frowned. Why would Henry leave dozens of messages if they went unanswered? He was too busy for that.

"Confirm it’s Henry. Wait. Did it sound like an emergency?"

"All the messages stated you should call him back." Mina pulled them up on her Ipad.

Avery was skeptical when she read a few of them. "I see. Anything else?"

"A call and a verbal message from Gabriel."

She rubbed her forehead in discomfort. "I don’t know a Gabriel."

Mina shrugged. "I thought so too. He said he’s your brother."

Her face paled and her first reaction was to glance over at Damon and the clueless Angel. "Oh well." She sighed. It would never end well with Gabriel Vaillant in the picture.