Avery had always hated her room but it had never felt this much like a prison before. She was not even allowed to go to the kitchen and couldn't talk to anyone including the servants, so her meal times depended on when her parents believed she was hung—which was once a day or twice if she was lucky. It had been five days since she was grounded and the torture was unbearable.
What she found weird, however, was the food that would appear in her room when she woke up. It would be snacks and fruits most of the time, and take out once in a while. Whoever was sending it would only come when she was asleep and take away the trash to replace it with more food. She had no idea who it was but they made the last five days much better.
On Saturday, she wasn't certain whether they would come because her parents were home. At the back of her mind, she believed it had to be Damon. There was no way he would be able to sneak in with them around and he might just end up in jail for trespassing and a ton of unreasonable charges.
She eyed the last box of cookies with a smile. It had to be Damon. No one else knew what she loved and was aware that she had been grounded. Her phone had been taken away five days ago so the only way to make sure it was him was to catch him in the act.
So at midnight, she dimmed the lights in her room and climbed into bed pretending to be asleep. It was her usual bedtime and sure enough, it wasn't long before she heard movement by her window. A series of light taps nearly scared her into looking over but she lay still, taking in slow breaths in case he checked on her.
"Avery," She heard a whisper, probably confirming that she was asleep. Then she heard light footsteps heading for her bed. She felt him near the bed, pulling the drawer of her bedside table, and opened her eyes.
"I knew it was…"
He froze, and she was shocked when she actually saw him. "Gabe?"
"I see you managed to smuggle in some snacks. Was it that boy?" He glared at her.
She sat up, rolling her eyes. "I saw you, Gabe. You don't need to pretend. No wonder you managed to get everything I like."
He didn't react, awkwardly holding the bag that still had the rest of the snacks he was going to hide in her drawer.
"Why?" She demanded.
"I hate that you are close to that boy but that doesn't mean I want you to starve to death." He responded dismissively and placed the bag on her bed since she already knew the truth.
"Don't get used to it."
"It's your fault I'm here in first place." She complained.
"Yes. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what Scott did to you." His voice was heavy with bitterness.
She scoffed. "You are the one who threw me at him."
Before he could make an excuse, she opened the drawer and put all the snacks back into the bag which she placed at his feet. "I don't need your fake pity, Gabriel. Get out."
"I don't pity you. I…" He stopped himself from saying whatever he was going to say and placed a phone on her bedside table.
"My phone?"
"I stole it from our parents' room. Don't worry, I replaced it with a new one so they will never find out."
She rolled her eyes. "What do you want from me, Gabe? If you are doing this so I stop seeing Damon…"
"It will end in tears, sis. Trust me."
"Don't…" She cringed. "Never call me that, okay? It's giving me chills."
He chuckled. He had never called her that before and it felt weird to him too.
"And Damon would rather die than make me cry." She added.
"Right." He mocked her, making her want to rip him into shreds.
"Since he loves you so much, why hasn't he ever told you about his sister?" He challenged.
"Because he doesn't have one." She ignored him and turned on her phone. In the next few minutes, it flooded with notifications and she knew they had a lot to do with the fight at the college followed by her sudden disappearance.
She didn't want to see what everyone thought of her so she marked all of them as read, then her eyes widened when she saw a post about Scott. His hands had been broken and he couldn't use them for the next three months. Everyone speculated that he had touched a girl who was considered 'off limits' and faced the wrath of Gabe.
It didn't make sense. The post was from four days ago, which meant Scott had touched the girl on the day they fought with Damon. Gabe definitely didn't care who his girlfriends slept with. Did he fight his friend for touching her?
She looked up at him and decided not to ask. "Are you waiting for me to give my phone back to you after a few minutes of accessing it?"
"I'm waiting for you to tell me what I can do to make you feel better. Of course, that doesn't include anything to do with that D'aboville loser. He is only ever going to hurt you."
"The only one who would hurt me is you."
______
Present.
"He was right this whole time." Avery sighed deeply as she thought back to the words her brother kept yapping like an anthem of sorts.
"Avery!" Mina came in anxiously after knocking a few times. "Are you okay? I knocked and you didn't seem to hear."
Avery sat up straight and forced a smile. "I'm okay. Do you need anything?"
Mina placed a file on the desk. "It's unlike you to space out in the office during working hours. Are you really okay?" When she realized that she was not going to get an answer, she smiled. "Well, I did a thorough search on Mabella D'aboville. She doesn't have a spec of dirt."
"I want to know everything relevant to my son." Avery insisted.
Mina pulled up the files she had received on her Ipad. "She is a qualified pediatrician with an excellent reputation and has taken care of many autistic children before. Both verbal and nonverbal. She just seems to understand them better than everyone else."
"She does?" Avery listened hopefully.
"I know sometimes recommendations are exaggerated but I saw her interaction with Angel that day that they came over. It was as if she could understand exactly what Angel needed." Mina added.
Avery checked through the files on Mina's ipad and smiled. It didn't matter that Mabella was Damon's sister. All that mattered was that she loved children and would take good care of Angel. So, she gave her a call and asked to meet in the evening.
…
Just like the last time they saw each other, Angel willingly let Mabella hug him and was happy to be held by her.
Avery was relieved. "Would you like to talk about your remuneration?"
Mabella slapped her forehead. "I already told you, Avery, I'm not going to accept payment to take care of my nephew."