Avery's Game Of Revenge
Chapter 113: Initials.

Chapter 113: Initials.

Archie shrugged.

"You can’t determine just with that. Remember the men I killed four years ago? One of them had his eyes wide open while I flicked my lighter to set fire..." he trailed off, casting a brief glance up to enable her see the small smirk tugging at the side of his lips, "...to their gasoline soaked bodies," he concluded.

Though Avery felt a chill run through her spine at his words, she gave no outward reaction. Not that she restrained herself from doing so, but because she was truly numb right now. She felt absolutely nothing—but a special kind of thrill—as she imagined him doing what he just said. Maybe she should do this to Valentina? Or Roberts? Brian... absolutely! Kathy and Jon? Those two deserved much worse.

She snapped out of her thoughts to listen to Archie speaking.

"I was further convinced those idiots were worse than trash when I saw how the flames consumed them. Like it would do to a piece of paper soaked in diesel—"

Seeing that the man would only keep talking about how he burnr bodies, Avery squirmed and tried to pull her leg out of his grip again when he suddenly stopped, changing the topic instantly, "You were talking about a small rock. Where did it happen? I’ll check it out myself and make sure you are not telling lies."

"While I was trying to escape from the church," she answered. "And you don’t have to check. Orion was there, his brother too. They gave me a ride home."

The atmosphere in the room dropped by a few degrees, with Avery instantly noticing and wondering if she’d just said something wrong.

"They brought you home without bothering to stop by at a hospital to check this out? The blood literally just stopped and your toenail was wrecked," his observation dispelled all fears she’d had that she made a mistake.

She pulled her leg to herself and this time, he let it go, finally raising his head to meet her eyes.

"As you can also see, the blood stopped when I was still in the car while my toenail has always been kinda soft even without hitting it against a tone. We couldn’t possibly go to the hospital in that heavy traffic just because of a stupid cut like this," Avery explained as she rolled her eyes at his sudden care, "Besides, who goes to the hospital all because of a small cut?"

"Ava Donovan," Archie deadpanned. He rose to his feet, towering above her as he added, "I’ll place a call to the doc—"

Avery cut him off mid-sentence, "No doctors! We don’t need more people knowing we are related to each other with my face being the topic of discussion every single day, on the internet. Your friends know already, and that’s enough, how did you even explain the situation to them? My pursuing a career as an actress, I mean."

He shrugged in indifference, the frown on his face still not disappearing.

"Why should they care? They know to mind their businesses in matters that have nothing to do with them. Back to the ’small’ cut that bled heavily..." Archie trailed off, his brows furrowing at the sight of the colorful handkerchief Avery was holding in a tight grip. "What’s that?"

"Oh... this? It was giv—" the words ceased in her throat, Ian’s voice resounding in her head as reminder. Why was she suddenly feeling like the reason he had been insisting that she discard the handkerchief before anything else, was this man standing in front of her, a hint of annoyance in his eyes? She opened her mouth to continue, unable to stop the lie that rolled off her tongue, "I found it somewhere in my bag. I should throw it—"

"Hand me that," Archie interjected.

She shook her head. "Why? I have to wash the blood off it and throw—"

"Hand me that, Ava."

The firmness in his tone made Avery comply immediately. Still hesitant to have him hold the stained white handkerchief, she tried to dangle it before him when he took it right out of her hand.

She stared on as he examined the four edges of the soft fabric, a grim expression crossing his face as soon as he was done. Without speaking a word, he dug his hand into his back pocket and retrieved a similar handkerchief to the one she just gave him, only that this one was in the color black while the one she gave him was white. He extended it to her.

"What’s this?" she asked, blinking in confusion as she took it from him.

"Yours, from this moment on. A small cut or not, you can use that anytime you need something to wrap around your wound," Archie replied with an impassive voice.

Avery could not help but chuckle. Using the one in his hand to wrap her bleeding toe had only been because she didn’t want to mess up Ian’s car on one hand, and also to find a way to stop the blood as soon as possible.

"What’s this about? This is supposed to be a one time thing. If you wanted to show me you care—which I doubt—you should be gifting me a band-aid instead," she stated.

"You can get that tomorrow. Just keep that with you in case," Archie insisted. Lowering his eyes to the handkerchief he had in hand, he continued, "I’ll get rid of this. I will also have a talk with Orion on why you can’t return it." He had his phone out, his fingers already flying over it as he talked.

Avery sighed out loud, "I didn’t intend to return it in the first place." Her brows furrowed, realizing the meaning of the last few words he said, "Wait... How did you know it is Orion’s? I clearly told you I got it from my..." she trailed off, spotting the answer to her question in the black handkerchief she had in hand.

A.A.D

Archie’s initials were embroidered with golden threads into the four edges of the fabric. To know who owned the one she had, he’d only had to check the four edges earlier and had seen Orion’s initials. It all made sense now. Everything...from the car, earlier.

Ian cussing at Orion and refusing when the latter initially offered her his handkerchief. Then later insisting that she made sure to discard the fabric as soon as she could even though it was customized. For Archie to have one like it—though in a different color—and recognize it at first sight to be something she couldn’t have casually found in her bag, then it had to be really expensive.

At the same time, none of it made sense to her. Why did the brothers not want Archie knowing they borrowed her a napkin? And this glowering man in front of her too, why was he acting like this was a big deal? Lastly, why was she getting a bad feeling from all these?

"Now that I think of it," Archie’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "In what color do you want yours? You would have loved white but that idiot stole the color. I’m happy to share though; would you like yours in black?"

Avery looked up, meeting his imploring gaze and face that still seemed displeased. She didn’t ask the questions that had been bothering her just seconds ago. Instead, she asked, "What initials would mine have?"

"A.M.D of course," he replied, an edge in his voice, like the answer to her question was something she’d supposed to have figured out.

"In full? What do the initials stand for?"

At this point, Archie could finally understand there was a point she was trying to make.

"Isn’t it obvious? Ava Mi—"

"Whoops! There we go!’’ Avery interjected before he was done speaking, drawing in a sharp inhale. "Ava Donovan, Ava Donovan, Ava Donovan! I know..." she stood up, joining him on his feet. "I know I’m only here to take her place. That was our main agreement, after all. You’d help me with everything and keep me safe. And that; you have been doing. I also won’t complain since I have been utilizing her identity all these while for my own gain, while you have pretty much required nothing in return. No parties to visit as your plus one and wife; absolutely nothing! I can’t even uphold a good reputation for her name. With all these, it’s clear that I’m literally the one on the receiving end while this is a losing game for you. But... can we stop here please?"

"Stop what?"

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