The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 72

"What is she up to?" Amelia asked Bryce as soon as Avery was given general details about the company.

Bryce didn’t want to think about it any more than she did. Years ago, he had trusted Gabe and the outcome had been all these troubles they were facing. It wasn’t too exaggerated to assume he had done it deliberately due to his hatred for them.

Avery was likely to do the same but when he considered it in detail, he didn’t think it was impossible for Avery to help them just to get back at Gabe.

Thinking of this, he calmed down a little.

Meanwhile, Avery picked up a failed project and brought it to discuss with Bryce.

"What’s the use? That was years ago. It failed despite all the attempts and effort put in." Bryce dismissed it as soon as he saw what she had brought.

She smiled mysteriously and sat down opposite him. "Who came up with the perfume formula?"

"Clinton." He recalled.

"And apart from you and the factory, only he knew all the ingredients, right?" She picked up a sheet of paper. "But what if the formula in the prototype isn’t the same one in the actual product?"

He sat up in shock. "Why would that ever happen? What would the difference be?"

She silently took out a picture of the said Clinton and Gabe at a dinner table with their girlfriends.

"That son of a..."

"Your son." She stopped him from cursing.

He grabbed the whole folder to study it carefully and each time he read the different formulas, he was more shocked that anyone would think up such a thing. There was only a tiny difference but it made the real perfume’s smell too strong for anyone’s taste and when it was tested, it was reported to cause skin irritation and rashes.

"It finally makes sense." He was puzzled but he should have expected it.

"Why does Gabe hate you so much, father?" She asked, pretending not to know.

As expected, he chalked it up to all the women he brought home, whom they disapproved of.

Unbeknownst to him, Avery now suspected they only got into Gabe’s bad books for what they did to her.

She played along. "He must have loved those women way too much if your disapproval of her made him go on a rampage." She sounded as though she was trying to understand the situation but she was being sarcastic.

It must have flown over his head because he took the chance to paint Gabriel as unreasonable. "It was only one girl, actually. And she was a gold digger."

She nodded to stop herself from saying something mean. How dare he talk about women being gold diggers when all he wanted from her was her help to save his company?

"Gabe did all this to make you run losses and no one ever found out. It makes one wonder to what lengths he went to jeopardise you." She planted a seed of doubt in his heart and watched as it blossomed on his face.

"That just crossed my mind. There’s no way he could have caused all these losses within a short time. No matter what we did to change the situation, it would end the same way." He rubbed his face in distress. "You can do something about it, right? After all, you built a conglomerate within such a short time."

She was his ray of hope and she knew this, which is why she pretended it was too difficult. "How could I undo such a mess? I’m just a useless little brat."

He wanted to snap at her for ’throwing a childish tantrum’ as he would usually say, but he couldn’t. She watched the struggle on his face before he finally said, "You have never been useless, Avery. You just never showed your potential before. I never thought you’d turn out to be so smart."

The Oscars owed him an award. How could he be so good at putting on an act? Unfortunately for him, so was she.

"I don’t know, father. I’m not certain whether I can do it." She acted innocent.

He wanted to explode. "Do you want something in exchange?"

She shook her head. "I just want to ensure I’m doing the right thing. Could you give me access to the relevant documents?"

Not only did she gain access to the documents, but she was also given access to the entire company’s database.

She huffed when she realized how fast she had managed to dupe her so-called smart parents.

"This is just the beginning." She huffed as she turned on her computer to access all financial records.

She didn’t need to search for too long before she found what she was looking for. On the day Angel was born, two million dollars was transferred out of the Vaillant family’s shared account, only for the amount to be partially reimbursed a few days later.

At first, she had not made the connection but when she realized the payment had been made to the same account it had been reimbursed from, she realized it was not an accidental transaction. Her family could have paid someone off to get her son and threatened him for a refund later. For rookies who were not habitual criminals, it was possible for them to not have thought of paying the rest of the amount if the job was completed to their satisfaction.

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"Two million dollars?" She scoffed when she met again with Gabe. "Is that all my son’s life is worth?"

"Apparently, the Vaillants don’t think newborn babies are worth much." Gabriel started but stopped to clear his throat and correct himself. "He matters more than all the wealth the world could buy. But unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way. As long as he gets a piece of bread on his table, he will do anything."

She sat on the couch opposite Mina and Mabella. "Thank you so much, you two." She was still in disbelief that Gabriel’s plan had worked. "The Oscar’s owe each of you a prize."

"It was a piece of cake." Mabella winked. It had all been her idea to take a dinner picture with Mina, Gabriel and one of her friends whose silhouette was a bit similar to Clinton’s.

She had guaranteed that Bryce and Amelia wouldn’t think much if she brought the topic up in a certain specific way and would be duped completely.

"Are you a swindler? Your ability is terrifying." She gasped at Mabella.

"Parents like to call me a pediatrician." She smiled, reminding her that her ’swindling’ ability was what had brought them together in the first place.

"It’s not going to be long before the realize they have been swindled." She warned Avery.

"So what? I already have the proof I need." She thought back to the financial records she had uncovered, sighing in defeat. "But what if I’m wrong? What if I think they made this transaction to try to kill my baby when in real sense, they were only paying for their own crap?"

"That’s a hefty load of money." Gabe reminded her.

"And they don’t care much about what they spend their money on, as long as they like it." She tried to convince herself she was thinking too much. Otherwise, how could she believe her parents hated her enough to want to kill an innocent baby for being her son?

In the end, she decided they were simply heartless creatures who cared about no one but themselves. She was about to voice this when she noticed the looming silence in the room. Mabella was minding her own business and playing on her tablet while Mina and Gabriel were caught in a staring contest.

What was happening? She wondered, just in time to see Gabriel lick his lip. She cringed. She didn’t need to know her brother was crushing on a woman.

"Why don’t the two of you get a room? Thanks." She groaned at them.

They giggled and resumed looking into each other’s eyes as if they couldn’t wait to be alone. Unwilling to stay near them for a minute longer, she signalled to Mabella for them to leave silently.

"Avery, can I see my nephew this evening?" Gabe had the decency to ask as she left.

"No can do." She rolled her eyes at him and shut the door behind her when she left.

Although he had been denied permission, Gabe still showed up at Avery’s villa in the evening when Damon had just arrived to take Angel for the night.

"What is he doing here?" He growled when he saw Gabriel.

Avery cleared her throat. "I told him not to come."

He closed in to check on her and hid her behind him protectively. "Told him? Don’t tell me you are on talking terms with this jerk."

"Fucking jerk, I’m her brother!" Gabe glared at him.

"Guys, how about you put your superhuman strength aside? Angel is going to be scared off by you." She nervously stopped the fight that was threatening to begin.

Luckily, they stopped but the trouble was gone for only a brief moment. It wasn’t even a minute later when she was notified of the Vaillants trying to barge into her villa.

"Uh-oh." She knew they had found out.

"I would like to see who dares to lay a finger on my sister." Gabe rolled his sleeves in preparation for battle.

Before she could say a word, so did Damon. "Anyone who touches my woman deserves to die."

Did he just call her his woman? She massaged her temples, but that was not the point. The point was that Angel had just gotten down from his father’s arms with his sleeves rolled and was holding up his small fists in preparation for battle.