The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 74

"Amelia?" He called out in panic. Why would she take a bath and let the water flow this level? How come she didn’t realize it?

A thought occurred on his mind but he didn’t want to let it materialise. Amelia would never do that.

But when he opened the door, he was proven wrong in the worst way possible. Amelia was in the bathtub, appearing to float, with her body limp and her eyes shut.

The crimson water made him look around and notice how horrifying it actually was. Seeing her hand dangling out of the tub with a surgical blade on it was the last straw.

"What have you done?" He screamed.

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"Do you guys think she is capable of doing it? Wanting to get rid of a child is one thing but actually executing the plan..." Avery stopped thinking about it. Something wasn’t right.

No one was incapable of murder and she knew this. As long as the wrong button was pushed, anyone could do it. However, why did it still feel like she was missing something?

Damon went over to her and held her. "You have to give yourself a break, Avery. Why don’t you let us handle this? Gabriel might be the world’s worst scumbag but he and I can..." He looked over to the man for him to tell Avery they would help her out but all he saw was his potential supporter locking eyes with his new crush. "Never mind. I can use all the connections I have to find out whatever else we could have missed."

"If you keep saying such things, I’m going to rely on you." She warned him with a laugh. Her phone rang with a call from Bryce and when she ignored it, he called again.

"It could be something helpful." He coaxed her. "Maybe he found out who used the family account to make that payment."

The mention of ’family account’ made her gaze fall on Gabriel. It was accessible by the Vaillant family, which meant Gabriel could use it to make transactions too. What if he was playing her and making her think someone else was responsible for his actions?

She didn’t want to drive herself crazy thinking too much so she answered the call, only for Bryce to bomb her with the least expected news. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"She did what?" She stood up in shock. Everyone looked at her curiously. When she ended the call, she shook her head and looked at Gabriel. "It’s mother."

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"Why would mother do this?" Gabriel couldn’t believe it. They had rushed to the hospital where Bryce said she had been brought, but just as he feared, it was too late.

He had only forced himself to believe it when he touched her ice-cold body. On the other hand, Avery still hoped she was stuck in a nightmare and it would be over soon.

She hated her mother more than anything but after seeing her lifeless body, she realized she had hoped there was still a chance Amelia would become aware of how much she was hurting her family and in effect, try to be better for them.

Alas, there was no such chance now.

Gabriel patted her shoulder. "She probably didn’t want to face the consequences of her actions."

"That’s what everyone thinks." She didn’t know whether it was the absolute truth. What if there was something happening that they didn’t know of?

Bryce came over to her and held her shoulders after pushing his son aside. "Vivi, don’t be sad."

She glared at him. Was that how one was supposed to console his daughter who had just been rendered motherless? He was out of his mind! And of course she was going to be sad. Amelia’s death had just thrown a dead end in her face.

"How am I supposed to confront her now?" She sighed in dismay. "I should have gone after her as soon as I discovered the family account had been used. Now that she’s gone, so is my only remaining lead."

"Is that all you care about?" Bryce frowned at her.

She shrugged. "What else am I supposed to care about? The two of you abandoned me. I don’t know what anyone should feel in this situation because it’s no different from the life I’ve led so far."

"That must have stung." Gabe winced. Both Avery and Bryce knew it was not because he pitied his father for receiving a slap in his face moments after becoming a widower. He was only rubbing salt to the latter’s wound.

"Avery, we need to talk. Alone." Bryce requested.

She didn’t want to, but she considered the possibility that he knew something she didn’t about what she was investigating. She didn’t want to be too far from the morgue so she pointed her chin in the direction of the hospital park.

When she went with him, however, she didn’t think he was going to start a topic she didn’t find necessary.

"I have failed as a father." He spoke up.

"You have." She agreed with him, and could immediately imagine Gabe’s life. He enjoyed seeing his father squirm and such a cold answer would have fascinated him. She had to admit she felt a hint of satisfaction when she saw the discomfort on Bryce’s face as well.

He nodded and reached for her hand, which she immediately tucked behind her back to avoid him.

"You were so cute when you were born. Amelia and I were glad to finally have a little princess. You were so tiny and we loved you so much. Within a few weeks, you had stolen our hearts and we would do anything for you."

She rolled her eyes. "You would, huh?"

"I know you don’t believe me but even now, I would. I still love you." He continued.

She concluded he was lying. How did he express his love? By ignoring her all her life and dismissing her as a useless little brat? He was the reason she had spent most of her life believing she was capable of nothing.

"I know I didn’t do the best job expressing it." He once again pointed out something he would have agreed with if he didn’t stop her by continuing, "I can’t only speak for myself. Amelia didn’t do the right thing either. We were both scared you would not meet our expectations. It took us years to finally learn that your life had nothing to do with what we hoped would happen in your future.

But by the time we did, it was too late. You had moved out."

"Where are you heading with all this?" She had become impatient listening to his one-sided rant that she didn’t think had anything to do with her. Why was he talking about it when it couldn’t change a thing?

"I have no idea why Amelia would take her own life but I do know she felt guilty for how your relationship with her turned out." He continued, making her nod just to shut him up.

"Right."

"I hate how it turned out too, and while I cannot bring her back to life, I would like to change what happens between us." He once again reached for her hand only to get ignored. He pretended not to notice and went on. "I’m terrified to know how short life is. I don’t want to die with any regrets. So, Vivi, do you think you could ever forgive me for the kind of father I was?"

"Are you done?" She asked, shutting him up for seconds. He stared at her in disbelief for what she thought would last forever. She laughed. "Oh, you expected me to burst into tears and hug you, saying I wished I was a better daughter too and was going to do my best to make up for it."

"Are you really that heartless?"

She didn’t know he still needed to ask that. "No. Not at all. I just don’t want to go down memory lane with you. I have better uses for my time than trying to rekindle a relationship that is too dead to be revived."

She stood to leave, but her last words lingered in her mind. By ’a relationship that is too dead to be revived’, did she mean her family or another relationship? She didn’t know what she meant either, and the thought that it could be a certain other relationship left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Ciome out, Gabe. I know you are here somewhere." She yelled at a bush she had seen move way too much for it to be a breeze.

Within seconds, Gabriel stumbled out laughing. "How did you know I was here?"

"Do you think I don’t know how gossipy you are? There is no way you would know I was meeting up with father for a secret talk and not come over to listen." She scoffed.

He wanted to tease her about loving him so much that she couldn’t forget his character but something more important crossed his mind first. He dragged her as far from where she had left Bryce as possible and pushed her against the wall to interrogate her. "When you said you had more important things to do than revive a relationship that is too dead to be revived, what did you mean? What important things?"

She snuck a glance into the park and made sure Bryce was too far to hear even though he had already confirmed it. She then dropped the bombshell. "Like investigating who killed our mother."

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AN

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