Roughly jerking her shoulder so Kathy's hand could fall off, Avery asked, "How was it so easy for you all to frame me?"
Valentina scoffed, "Look at her asking questions like she still call the shots in this house. You expect us to tell you that?"
"That is not surprising, Tina. The fact that she can still talk after seeing all this is what's baffling me. She should be broken now, wrong?" Roberts added.
Ignoring the two who had just talked, Avery kept her gaze fixed on her uncle, the smug smile on his face making it hard for her guess what was going through his mind.
When he opened his mouth, her heart sank at the words that came out.
"Emma's testimony was the strongest amongst us, though we had to coerce her to say those."
"Emma?!" Avery's voice was raised.
Jon nodded, "That's right. It was pretty easy to force her since her mental disorder already acted up then. But then, our testimonies didn't seal the deal. We had someone who needed this power as much as we did, backing us up. You can imagine how many enemies your Grandpa had—"
"Who backed you up?!" Avery interrupted him, her gaze flickering with determination. "You can rest assured that even if you do not tell me now and I get arrested, I'll make sure to do everything I can to find out on my own, escape from prison and hunt you down!"
As if planned, everyone else burst into laughter as soon as she concluded her words.
"What? You all think I'm joking? I am—"
Jon was the first to regain his composure, cutting her off, "Shut up, Avery. The joke isn't in your threat, but because you thought you will actually get to the police station."
Avery's eyes dimmed.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean exactly what you heard, Niece. If we were planning to hand you over to the police, you think we'd have bothered answering your questions and keeping you here when we could have called the police on you?"
Finding sense in what he said, Avery finally began to feel fear infiltrating her heart. She stuttered,"Why…then?"
"Because the news headline in a few hours won't be 'The Fake Heiress Arrested By Police' but will instead be, 'Fake Heiress Commits Suicide After Destroying Family'," Jon replied.
Avery looked around herself. No one here seemed to be surprised by Jon's words, as if it had been planned before she got here.
'Of course it has, Stupid. You walked into the enemies den with your own legs,' she thought before speaking out loud, "Suicide? Who said I will give you that satisfaction of seeing me dead? I will do whatever it takes to stay alive—"
"No, you won't." Kathy's voice was suspiciously soft this time as she spoke, "That's why Jon answered your questions earlier; he didn't want you haunting us as a clueless ghost."
"I said I won't—"
For the umpteenth time in ten minutes, Avery was interrupted again. This time by a voice she now found repulsive. Brian's… She turned to look in his direction, to see that he and Roberts had somehow gotten themselves dressed up.
"Don't stress, Babe. By the time they are done with you, you'd be begging us to hasten your death," he said.
Before Avery could think of an appropriate reply, Tina closed the distance between them and slipped her arm around her shoulders.
"Don't push my hand away, Cousin. I am taking you to Grandpa," she said.
Even if the former had planned to push Tina's hand away, she completely forgot about her discomfort, her heart rate spiking at the thought of seeing her grandfather.
The events that unfolded in the next hour however, crushed her heart, leaving it empty and fueled with a burning desire for revenge which she planned to achieve at all costs.
★★★
Music Rec: Dark Horse by Katy Perry.
Back To Present.
Lifting his gaze off the face of the girl slumped on the ground, Archie looked up to the men in black masks and suits who appeared in front of him.
"Sent the police back, Luca?" he asked, knowing the answer even before he got it. The team leader of his elite guards never gave him no for an answer; it was always positive. No matter how hard the mission was.
"Yes Sir," one of them who was standing at the forefront of the group replied. Luca's eyes strayed down to the woman who was lying on the ground, an action which Archie noticed.
"That's my wife," he stated. "One hell of an introduction to your boss's wife, ain't it?"
Luca nodded gently, lifting his gaze to look at his boss.
"Is she coming with us?" he asked.
Archie's eyes narrowed at his subordinate, staring at him like he had grown horns on his head.
"Tell me, Luca. Would you leave your unconscious wife in a garage?"
"I don't plan to—"
Archie interrupted him before he could lunge into his daily mantra, "Of course, I know you do not plan to get married, Idiot. You could have answered with a simple yes or no."
Shaking his head slightly, he released an exhausted sigh and bent to pick up Avery. Without breaking a breath, he carried her back to the car in and settled her in the back seat. Within minutes, he found a way to get her out of her wedding dress before draping a shawl over her almost naked body.
Taking the wedding dress with him, he slammed the car's door shut and walked back to the team of guards.
"Here, her car is the smashed one on the highway. You know what to do," he instructed, extending the dress to the guard standing closest to him.
"Noted Sir!" the guards chorused in unison, dispersing in the twinkling of an eye.
Archie stood still in the quiet garage, staring straight into the dark distance, until he was sure none of the guards remained in the place.
"Rest in peace, Avery McCallum," he whispered.