Avery's Game Of Revenge
Chapter 31: Payback?

Chapter 31: Payback?

"One year! That’s all the time you have to own me!"

Walking away from her, Archibald restrained himself from turning around and allowing Avery see the ire in his eyes, certain it would scare her. Brave girl that she thought she was, she would always cower whenever he showed his true colors and would distance herself from him for months, something he hated more than death itself.

He got to the room and slamming the door after himself, immediately took out his phone and dialled a number. ’’Neil?’’

’’Yes, Boss. We hung up just a few minutes ago," Neil’s voice came from the other side of the line.

Archie didn’t bother himself with explaining why he was calling so early. ’’Get the caretaker to drop off Lake and Thorne early tomorrow morning. Ava seems brave enough to handle them now,’’ he simply instructed.

’’Brave? But she was really scared—" Neil started to argue, but was cut off immediately.

’’Neil, I am currently not feeling my best so unless you want to offer yourself as a sacrifice to defuse my anger, hang up now.’’

The reply came in form of the beep sound his phone made, showing that the call had been disconnected from the other end.

’’Why the fuck is everyone so annoying tonight?’’ he muttered, as he took off his shirt and discarded it, heading straight to the bathroom.

When he stepped back out a few minutes later, he was still fuming. He couldn’t bother himself with wiping off the droplets of water sliding down his neck to his chest, as his mind was set on a particular person. The one person he approached whenever he was angry, the only one who would somehow find a way to divert his attention from what had angered him.

Walking down the hallway, he stopped by Avery’s door and turned the doorknob, a smile starting to form on his lips when the door didn’t budge.

’She truly thought a locked door would be enough to keep me away from her?’ he chuckled. She was lucky her room was not his destination tonight.

Minutes later, he was stepping into the second apartment through the secret door beneath the stairs. Out of habit—as the dogs used to follow him in here once in a while—he looked behind himself to make sure he was alone, before sliding the door close.

’’Mr Donovan,’’ the nurse sitting in the room greeted as soon as he recognized the person who had just come in.

Returning his greeting with a nod of acknowledgement, Archie dismissed him with a wave of hand, ’’Excuse us.’’ He waited until he heard the door close behind him, before going to take his seat on the chair placed behind the patient’s bed.

’’How are you doing?’’ he asked, his words echoing in the empty room. Silence ensued for a few more seconds before he continued, ’’Looks like I’ll be the one to do the talking all through today. Like you used to in the past.’’

He laughed, a dry one which sounded like it was forced from his chest.

’’So I came here last time to talk to you but I wasn’t able to. There was an intruder, not someone I think you’d find interesting. What else...? Oh yeah! I got married...again, and just so you know, I call her Ava too. Guess what? She’s as annoying as you used to be. She also tests my patience so much that I have been tempted numerous times to show her my dark side. I couldn’t do it though, because I know she’d want to do anything to escape me. Just like you did and met with an accident,’’ he continued talking to the still body on the bed, with a short pause every now and then, until a knock resounded on the door and it was pushed open from the outside.

The nurse he had dismissed moments ago came in.

’’I am sorry for interrupting but it’s time for us to check up on the patient. If you could—"

"I will leave. I spent more than enough time in here," Archie interjected. "Wishing you a boring night," he flashed an evil grin, before taking his leave.

It worked; coming here had not been a waste of time after all. His anger had dissipated to a reasonable extent and he was sure he could get through the next day without shedding blood.

Archie’s expectation was rendered completely void the next morning, when he woke up to a loud scream, accompanied by barks, echoing through the hallway.

"DAMN YOU, ARCHIBALD DONOVAN! Are you out t—to get me killed?! I—I am almost..."

Her voice slowly receded and was replaced by Nancy’s, "Lake! Thorne! Get off the Madam and stop lapping her skin when she so obviously doesn’t..."

Dragging himself out of bed, he scoured through the cluster of books lying on the bedside table to pick up his glasses. When he got out in the hallway, there was a furious Avery stomping towards his room with a head of disheveled hair.

"Can you see what your brothers did?!" she yelled.

He stifled a laugh, seeing how she was trying hard to compose herself but ended up failing miserably.

"I can see what they did. And like I once said, they meant no harm and were only trying to show how much they missed you," he stated.

"And as I once asked, how come your brothers missed me when even I can’t remember meeting them?!"

"Well, that’s true." Archie shrugged. "But maybe it’s cause you look like someone they once met, and miss now?"

Avery’s eyes shrouded in confusion, unable to understand a single word of what he said. She looked like someone the dogs once met and whom they now missed?

She sighed, "I won’t give up my mental health for you to toy with it. The issue with your brothers, I will forgive them and take it as your revenge for what happened last night so let’s move on to more important matters."

Archie nodded. She could think whatever she wanted. Payback? If he wanted to punish her for what she did, would she be standing right here in front of him? Without wobbly legs?

"Important matters like?"

"Resuming school, university I mean. And I need your help with something else too," she replied.