Avery's Game Of Revenge
Chapter 58: Speech.

Chapter 58: Speech.

Where the hell had the man gone?! Always disappearing when she needed him the most. Kathy inched closer to Mr Walker, her facial expression blank.

"Mr Walker, did my family offend you in any way?" she asked. Their family had invited reporters to the party and with the nature of those people, it’d be incredibly hard to repair their reputation if anything went wrong tonight.

Things like people sensing they were not on good terms with The Walker’s. Months ago, the two family were rivals and could never be seen in events their opponent hosted and after it was confirmed that Avery was getting married to Brian, the thin thread holding them together strained the more.

However, with the incidents concerning the McCAllum family and Brian being paraded as one of the victims, the two families had somehow grown closer. Thereby, the reason Kathy could not understand the sudden coldness Mr Walker was showing.

The man did not get the chance to reply before everywhere went silent and a hush cast over the noisy hall. Like a magnet, they all felt drawn to the entrance of the hall and turned, shocked by the scene they saw.

Valentina was making an entrance, flanked on either sides by both Roberts and Brian. She had on a dress every member of the audience found familiar but before anyone of them could dwell much on it, they were distracted by the voice of the MC echoing from the small podium in front of the hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, distinguished dignitaries, and honored friends and family, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this magnificent celebration! Tonight, we gather to honor a truly remarkable individual, Valentina McCAllum on her special day. As we come together in this grand ballroom, we represent a community of leaders, innovators, and change makers. We are united in our pursuit of excellence, our passion for progress, and our commitment to making a positive impact. As we celebrate the young miss’s birthday, we also celebrate her achievements, her spirit, and her contributions to our world. So let us raise our glasses, indulge in the joy and splendor of this evening, and toast to the honoree’s continued success, happiness, and prosperity! Miss McCAllum, we would be delighted to get a speech from you," the MC urged, his voice almost drowned by the sound of clapping that erupted after his speech, even though it was just a third of the people in the hall who had actually clapped.

Valentina walked up the stage, reiterating the speech her mother had given her earlier in her mine, over and over again. Reporters were present and she couldn’t afford to mess this up or everything their family had going good, could turn around for the worst.

Beaming brightly, she bowed politely and took the mic from the MC, before assuming the latter’s position.

"Good evening, everyone. Wow, I’m completely overwhelmed with gratitude and love as I look around this room," she blinked back non-existent tears as her eyes roved around the room. "To my incredible family, dear friends, and loved ones, thank you for being here to share this special night with me. Your presence means the world to me. As I celebrate another year of life, I’m reminded of the blessings and memories we’ve shared together. And..." she sniffed, "I know many people here would wonder why it is I am celebrating a birthday in the midst of the sorrow my family has been caught in through this past month. And yes, even I almost called this party off at the last minute but I held myself back and remembered the reason I organized it in the first place."

Retrieving a kerchief which none of the guests had seen while she was climbing up, she dabbed at her eyes and made sniffing sounds for seconds until her mother walked up the podium to take the mic from her.

The smile Kathy had worn while welcoming all the guests had completely disappeared from her face by the time she got to Valentina, and patting the latter’s back, she spoke into the mic, "Valentina still gets so emotional when she thinks about Emma and her other cousins. It has been particularly hard on her since she’s helping the public alleviate their guilt by taking Emma’s place and all her duties, also receiving the public’s love on her behalf. All these...as her mother, I wished I could take the pain from her so when she came to me sometimes last week and requested to celebrate her birthday, I was shocked." She pulled Valentina closer to herself, whispering words into her ear which the public presumed were words of comfort before continuing,

"The first thought that popped in my mind was probably what everyone here thought when you first received the invitation. I wondered what she meant by celebrating her birthday when everyone in the house was still busy mourning until she replied—"

Valentina interrupted her, "Mum, I’ll take it from here." Her voice sounded cracked like that of one who has cried for hours, and the way she staggered when she took the mic from Kathy completely erased all doubts that this was an act, from the audience’s mind.

"To continue what Mom was saying, she thought we were still in mourning so we should not have any celebrations and also wondered what people would say. But who cares what people will say when I am only trying to put by beloved cousins and grandfather to rest in eternal peace?" She paused for a while, her cracked voice growing clearer the more words she spoke, "I reckoned that what their murderer, Avery...I still can’t bring myself to hate her even now but..." she whimpered, "But I know what Avery wanted to achieve by killing half of us was to steal our happiness. If we continued to mourn, we’d be making her wish come true. And for grandfather and Emma...Arthur too, they wouldn’t be happy seeing us in this state. What better way to—" she burst into tears at this point, and neither her mother nor anyone else bothered to take the mic from her.

The audience believing it was an outburst of emotions began to applause her. Since that was the aim of the whole speech, Valentina began to clean her eyes and with her mother’s support, walked down the stairs to the waiting groups of business men and friends who wanted to show their sympathy. Some of the invitees were big shots in the entertainment industry who had been friends with Emma and had reluctantly attended this party, but now that they saw someone whom they thought shared their pains, they didn’t hesitate in surrounding her and offering her invites to events which Valentina would have never dreamed of attending previously.

Everything was going perfectly well, much to Valentina’s delight, until a business card popped in her line of sight and she looked up to meet the eyes of an acquainted gossip reporter.

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