Avery's Game Of Revenge
Chapter 159: Dividends.

Chapter 159: Dividends.

As soon as his body weight was completely off her, Avery jumped out of bed and bolted straight out of the door, not allowing herself a few seconds to process his words.

"We will be going on our date tonight and at the end of it... we can test my claims to see if I was just blabbering... or not."

What the hell was that?!

"You really aren’t escaping this time, Vee," she murmured beneath her breath, her heart pounding in anticipation. She ignored it, letting out a dreamy sigh as she leaned against the wall. "Not like I want to escape though."

The back of Avery’s head had barely touched the wall when she let out a loud wince, feeling her migraine return. She cussed beneath her breath, noting that this was Archie’s fault for making her drink water instead of her tea the previous day. He hadn’t even allowed her to drink coffee!

The tea was fast becoming her fix, and though she hated that she was kind of becoming addicted to it, she wasn’t ready to stay away from it yet. At least it wasn’t alcohol or drugs. If ordinary herbal tea was what she needed to get through her day to day tasks, then she was more than up for it.

Heading down to the kitchen, Avery’s eyes sparkled in delight when she saw Nancy was already pouring a cup of tea for her.

"Good morning to you, Nancy!" she greeted, wiggling her hand in a small wave.

Nancy lifted her gaze to meet hers.

"Good morning to you too, Mrs Donovan. You look... different," she said.

"In a good way I hope?" Avery asked, brows raised slightly.

"Obviously," Nancy replied.

Avery sighed, "Then it’s a facade. There’s an MMA tournament going on in my head as we speak." She gestured at the cup of tea, "Is that mine?" With Nancy nodding in confirmation, she leaped forward to pick up the cup of tea. Taking the first sip, it was as if an heavy boulder had been lifted from her chest and she let out a loud exhale of relief.

Perfect. She was ready to face the day now.

~

Avery paced the front of Archie’s study, clasping and unclasping her hands nervously as she tried to decide whether to knock first before opening the door, or to just push it open. Lake sat by her legs, watching her with a bored and somewhat judgemental look, that made her roll her eyes at the dog.

"Why that look in your eyes?" she hissed. "Go ask any upcoming actress out there and you’ll find out that more than ninety percent of us, are actually broke. You don’t expect me, as a first timer, who is yet to complete her first gig and hasn’t collected complete payment to have enough money in her account, do you? At least I’m not living hand to mouth."

Lake threw his head away from her, as if to say he still didn’t support what she was about to do.

"Yeah, that’s it!" Avery snapped, as quietly as she could. "I knew there was a reason I loved Thorne at first sight. He would understand and not judge me like you’re doing right now." She was so engrossed in her solo dialogue with the dog that she didn’t hear the sound of the door opening and closing behind her.

"Is that so? Why do I remember you were scared of both my brothers on the day you arrived?"

As she hadn’t expected the door of the library to open anytime soon, it took Avery a while to realize it wasn’t the dog that had replied her, but Archie. Earlier, he had knocked on her door while she was dressing up to tell her he would be working from home today and also had to catch up on the books he was reading.

She had automatically taken it as a ’do not disturb me’ sign and that was partly the reason why she had been hesitating to knock the door.

"There must be a problem with your memory then," she managed to say, her voice lacking the usual challenging tone it held when she was arguing with him. Only a stupid beggar would fight with her helper before getting her request to be accepted.

"I’d say it’s the direct opposite. But then, anything that helps you sleep at night," Archie teased. Lake walked to him and he squatted to pat its head, a rare smile gracing his lips. "Isn’t your sister-in-law a liar, Lake?"

Lake nudged his head against his thighs and kicked his hand in reply, causing Archie to let out a chuckle.

"Hmmm, right? She might be my wife but I won’t argue with you on this. She really likes lying."

Avery huffed. "I won’t bother myself with you two ganging up against me. Thorne will always take my side. After all—as the old man that he is—he’s surely wiser than the two of you put together..." The words were out of her mouth before she caught herself.

Archie laughed, looking down at Lake.

"See that? She’s not only good at lying, she’s also immature." He lifted his eyes back to Avery’s face. "Why were you here though? And what was Lake judging you for that Thorne wouldn’t have?"

"About that..." She blinked, her grip tightening around her bag. "I need your help."

"Didn’t hear that," Archie said with a serious tone.

"I need your help," she repeated, a little louder and with a clearer voice this time.

"With?" His eyes twinkled with mischief. "Don’t tell me you’re ready to take out one of the McCallums illegally?"

"No! Of course not. I need... Money," Avery corrected. "A few hundred dollars."

Archie’s brows furrowed, and his blue eyes dulled with confusion.

"For?"

"Uber and a few other things. And before you say I can use the car you provided, I don’t want to use it today. There are a lot of people watching me more these past few days than ever, and seeing me in a luxury car that’s not owned by an agency will only attract unnecessary attention." She explained like she was reciting a poem.

"Okay?" Archie said, still confused. "Then call an Uber."

Avery’s hand subconsciously went to the back of her neck where she scratched her neck, deliberately avoiding his gaze.

"I’m kind of broke right now. And that’s why..."

"Broke, Ava?" Archie couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice. "Did you buy a corporation or what? A department store? A resort? An island? An agency?"

Avery blinked, now the confused one.

"With which money? You think the half payment I got as a side character in an unreleased movie will get me a fraction of one of the things you listed now?"

Tilting his head slightly sideways, Archie regarded her for the next few seconds before nodding slightly.

"Well, it’s no surprise that you’re expensive. The confusing fact here is how McCallum’s Group profit returns were able to sustain you for so many years without it running bankrupt." His eyes raked over her body once again, his lips tilting up into a smirk. Not a sarcastic one or evil one, but a slightly amused one. "Expensive," he repeated. "I’ll have to pressure my employees to work extra harder. Their boss got a wife that needs more than enough money."

Avery’s jaws slacked in surprise.

"Wait, Archie. It’s either we are talking about completely different things here or you don’t want to loan me the money, though I don’t believe the latter is the case. Cause there’s no other explanation on why you would think $2000 is enough to buy a whole department store or entertainment agency. Or a boutique for that matter."

Archie’s face blanched out, disbelief brewing at the depths of his eyes.

"One, I would never loan you money. Two, what do you mean $2000?" He gave Lake one last pat and rose to his full height, taking out his phone. "I thought you wouldn’t want a black card, because you want to keep your identity under wraps. And that’s the reason why I asked that your dividends be sent to your account. When last was it refilled?"

"What..." Avery trails off, shaking her head slowly. "What’s that?"

"Your account. When last was it refilled with the profit dividends you are entitled to as my wife," Archie replied, stressing his words one after the other even though he knew Avery had understood him the first time. She had presided over a business organization for years after all. He continued, "We got married three years ago; your dividends were accumulating since I couldn’t get it to you. It was supposed to be delivered to your account on the day you got back home. But you’re saying it wasn’t?"

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