Page 83 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

Chapter Seventeen

Avery

The past week had worn me down so much, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out. My uncle wasn’t talking to me. He hadn’t apologised for slapping me. In fact, I think he was avoiding me completely. It should be fine by me, but it wasn’t. I still had to work with him. He was sending me messages via Clara and Saskia like we were in fucking preschool. It was ridiculous. He was a grown man in his late forties for fuck’s sake.

We’d had constant requests for a statement about my marriage. They still hadn’t managed to work out who Aiden was, but I was sure it wouldn’t stay that way. I imagined our public relations department was getting hounded every five minutes. Not that they could complain. It was their job to manage this sort of thing.

I should be happy to be moving into my new office as the refurbishment was finally complete, but I wasn’t. I wanted this nightmare to be over. Except I wasn’t even going to get to go home. We had a stupid dinner with Rick. I didn’t want to go. Not one bit. I wasn’t sure I could handle being stuck making small talk with him all over again.

As I threw stuff into a box, Ed poked his head around the door.

“Hello little cousin.”

“Hey… What’s up?”

Things were a little weird between us since the whole finding out I was married business. I still didn’t know what he and Chuck had wanted to talk to me about. Everything around here had kind of gone up in flames. Nothing felt right any longer. And I was growing tired of being the owner of a company I hated.

“Thought you might want some help since John is with Chuck.”

Saskia had been helping me, but I told her to go man the phones because it wasn’t like I had much stuff anyway.

“Uh, well you can if you want.”

He came into the room, giving it the once over before coming to a halt in front of my desk.

“Listen… I wanted to tell you congratulations on your marriage. I know things have been strained this week, but I wanted you to know I’m happy for you.”

“Oh… well, thank you.”

I looked down at my hands, unsure what else to say to that.

“Is that the only box?”

When I looked up again, he was pointing at the box in front of me.

“Yes, I don’t really have much. It wasn’t like I could bring in a framed photo of Aiden or anything…”

Not that I would’ve anyway. It was weird that people still did stuff like that, but I’d seen some of our employee’s desks. Family photos everywhere.

Ed gave me a tight smile.

“Is that everything? I’ll take it for you.”

I popped the last pile of paperwork into the box and nodded. He drew the box towards him and picked it up. I came around the desk and we walked out together along the corridor towards where our new offices were situated.

“So… What was the wedding like?”

“Small. We only had six guests, which was nice. I’ve been in the public eye all my life, so having a quiet affair felt right. Oh, the photographer sent us our photos, but I haven’t had a chance to go through them. I mean, I can show you if you want.”

I looked over at him. He was smiling.

“I’d like that.”

We reached my new office. I pointed towards the conference table situated on one side. Ed popped the box down on there before coming around to my desk with me. I’d already logged on so I signed into my emails and found the link to the album.

We sat together for about ten minutes, going through the photos from the day. It almost made me get a little teary eyed seeing Aiden and I so fucking happy together. That day meant everything to me.

“You looked so beautiful,” Ed said. “I’m kind of jealous I didn’t get to go.”

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