In Tate Industries, Averie went straight to Mike’s office upon arriving at the company’s building.
Mike was discussing the details of products with the department manager and immediately walked toward Averie when he spotted her.
“Why are you here out of the blue? You scared me.”
Mike entered his office and said, “I thought that you would be at home counting your jewelry!”
Averie ignored his teasing and told him the idea she came up with on the way there.
“We can use the drones to locate Adrian!” Mike’s blue eyes lit up.
“I talked to Adrian on the phone just now.He is being imprisoned right now and can’t get out, but he can talk on the phone,”Averie blurted out in excitement.” I told him to place a red object by the window, and if I send the Seeker Series drones to search—”
“That’s one way, but it wastes too much time and effort,” thought Mike as he crossed his arms.
“Why don’t you just get the address from his family?” said Mike, offering his own suggestion.
“I wouldn’t have come up with this if I could reach his family. They aren’t answering my calls.” Averie’s expression darkened.
“But they don’t want to cross me either, so they allow Adrian to call me.”
“What about calling the police?” Mike asked.
“I have no right or reason to get the police involved,” said Averie.
“Adrian is a part of their family, not mine.It’s reasonable that they are restricting Adrian’s freedom due to his intellectual disability, so the police won’t act, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless Elyette gets involved.”
Averie sighed.
“I told him that I would settle this on my own.Besides, he’s been really busy lately, and I don’t want to trouble him.Let me try with the drones first, maybe it will work!”
“Alright, I will help you! If I manage to find Adrian for you, that ought to serve as a wedding gift from me.I don’t really know what to get you, anyway.”
Mike cursed, “That b*st*rd Elyette bought you so many pieces of jewelry.So what if he is rich??”
“He was under some kind of influence last night.”
Averie collected the labels on the jewelry she had received the night before found that they had cost over seven million and five hundred thousand dollars, and that did not even include the gifts he had bought the children.
Elyette was a fearful man when he lost his mind.
Nathan arrived home with 1.5 million and lit a cigarette gloomily.
“Dad, what should we do next?” Peter asked.
He looked sad.
“The money we received from Mrs.Foster exceeded 1.5 million in total! Elyette is so stingy! Does he take us for beggars?!”
“He’s powerful! This is Aryadelle; his territory.To him, we are no more than ants, and it will be as easy to squish us.We can’t move against him recklessly, or he is really going to kill us.”
Nathan took a puff of the cigarette and started plotting the next step.
“Averie called Adrian this morning,” Peter said.
“I don’t know what they talked about, but they ended the call pretty soon.Averie sure is an interesting woman.She is about to get married, yet her mind is filled with another man, and an idiot of aman no less! we “That idiot is the last leverage we have,”
Nathan mumbled, “At least Adrian is obedient! Elyette acts as if he would die rather than give us some money.We might as well push Adrian up the corporate ladder and make him the boss of Sterling Group!”
“I’m just worried that the Foster family would fight us over Adrian!” Peter scowled.
“Henry Foster is so broke that he has to sell the old residence. What’s to fear from that useless man?”
Nathan retorted coldly.
“I am considering if we should talk to Averie.That brat Elyette seems to listen to her!”
At noon, Averie had finished work and drove to meet up with Tammy.It was the second time Tammy had an appointment for a therapy session and she appeared to be much more relaxed compared to the last time.
“Maybe it’s because Chelsea is dead now that I don’t fee as much resentment within me,”
Tammy said casually as she sipped on her coffee, “My psychiatrist told me not to feel inferior because guilt is something that the person who committed wrong should feel.”
“Of course.Did you mention that you want a manicure? Let’s go to a nail salon later! I want to get my nails painted.”
Averie switched to a more casual topic.
Tammy scanned her up and down and asked, “Since when have you started caring so much about your appearance? You are even wearing a necklace today.I dare say you are not wearing it for me, right? Do you have a date with Elyette later?”
Averie couldn’t help her smile.
”He’s so busy that he barely has the time to eat these days.How could he possibly make time for a date? I’ve never thought that weddings would be this complicated.”
“That’s because he doesn’t have his parents to help organize,” Tammy pointed out, “Just consider my wedding with Jun.Apart from the menu and guest list, we didn’t really have to worry about anything else.Usually when a couple gets married, their parents are the ones making all the arrangements.Sadly for the two of you, neither one of you have your parents to rely on.”
Averie was instantly overwhelmed by sorrow at the topic.
“Elyette was drunk the night before because of this.”
Averie took a deep breath and her lashes trembled as she continued, “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I really miss my mom.If she’s still alive, she would be so happy to see me marrying Elyette and that we have another child together.”
“Of course, Auntie would be happy for you.Do you miss your dad?” Tammy asked casually.
Tate Industries was built from scratch by Jack, and after declaring bankruptcy, it was rebuilt by Averie on her own; though it was wrong of him to cheat, but he had corrected his wrong by leaving all that he owned to Averie before his death.
Averie remained thoughtful for a few moments shook her head.
“Not really, because the damage he caused my mom was too great.If only he hadn’t married Wanda, all the tragedy in our household would have never happened.I might have made a lot of money with the microchip he left me, but even without running the business, I would have been able to live my life just fine.”
“I understand you.I wouldn’t be able to accept it if my father cheated.Luckily, my parents are still close and I haven’t seen them fight at all for many years now,”
Tammy said in amazement, “Maybe I’m this fragile because they did such a great job at protecting me.Averie, I thought about it before and if you went through what I went through, you’ve probably overcome it by now.”
“You don’t understand.I’ve been tip-toeing in that house up until my father passed away.I can still feel that misery and suffering when I think back to it.Maybe the gods are fair, after all, and try their best to test everyone equally.”
“Averie, it’s all in the past now.Everything is going to work out for us from now on.”
“Yeah.Should I paint my nails pink or just transparent?” Averie asked.
“Do both! Who says that you need to have the same color for all your fingers,” Tammy said while chuckling, “Can’t we get the best of both worlds? You can even get ten different colors for each of your fingers.”
Amused, Averie giggled.
“It’s my first time getting married, so I’m a bit nervous.My secretary says that brides usually go for pink nail polish, but I feel like keeping it transparent makes it easier to match with clothes, because I need to change into different sets of clothes that day.”
Tammy asked curiously, “How did you get married to Elyette before?”
“I was scared the entire time during that wedding so I don’t remember most of it.”
Averie had tried to recall the details of the wedding multiple times, but her memory was vague.
“He was a vegetable at the time, so did you need to complete the entire wedding on your own?”
“Yeah.He was bound to the bed at the time.”
Averie suddenly remembered something.
“That was the day I found out that he had cheated on me.Maybe it was meant to be, after all.Had I not seen him cheating, I would have probably run from the wedding or resort to extreme actions if I couldn’t escape.I was too young and reckless back then.”
“Phew! That jerk Cole is miles away from Elyette!”
Tammy was glad that Averie had dodged the bullet, and continued gingerly, “Say, why exactly is Elyette that much more brilliant compared to the other Fosters? My husband looks up to him, so does my father-in- law.”
That question caused Averie’s heart to sink.
Elyette was not like the other Fosters, because he wasn’t a Foster.She couldn’t tell Tammy that; because Elyette couldn’t accept it, so she intended to keep this secret for him.
“What amazed me most is that Hayden is so smart that he is known as a genius in this country!”
Tammy suddenly raised her voice, “Though Layla is rather ordinary when it comes to IQ, she is a genius in art as well! Also…Robert might not be able to walk yet, but I heard that he’s learnt to bark like a dog.That kid is going to be accomplished in the future!”
Averie was quite proud when Tammy was complementing Hayden and Layla, but why did it sound so different when she was talking about Robert? When did learning to bark like a dog mean that someone was going to be accomplished? After lunch, the two went to a nail salon.
“Elyette has a lot of single friends so it’s easy for him to pick the best man.” Averie scowled.
“Most of my good friends are married.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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