Echoes of Vengeance: The Sweet Wife's Perfect Revenge-Chapter 109: Flight Mode

Driving the car, Alaric could see her, more relaxed, more at ease, more herself. The natural smile he used to see before her marriage had returned to her face, radiating warmth.

"Sunshine!" he said once she was done sending the marriage annulment certificate picture to her parents.

Aveline hummed, turning to him.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

Aveline simply shrugged. "I don’t know." Then she added, "I just don’t want to think. Don’t want to make any decisions, not pretend, not lie, not worry about anything, not even plan anything. That’s so exhausting."

She knew there was a lot more to do, but just for a few days, she wanted to go into flight mode to detox mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Alaric glanced at her, amused. She wanted a real break, without giving her mind any tasks. He could make that come true. He took his phone to drop a message as he heard her continue.

She leaned back and sighed. "I just want to go with the flow."

"Tighten your seatbelt and prepare for a smooth ride," Alaric said, making her chuckle.

However, just as they reached the private airport, Aveline stiffened, turning to him. "Alaric, you have a company to take care of." She couldn’t believe he was planning her vacation when he probably had lots of work.

"Hey, you said no thinking. Why are you worrying now?" Alaric countered.

Before she could react, there was a knock on the window. Aveline turned to find Scarlett bouncing outside, grinning ear to ear.

Alaric got out of the car and heard them scream, hug, and giggle about getting rid of Damien. He let them celebrate.

Ezra passed the laptop bag to Alaric and whispered, "It’s Simon Cladwell. Famous for his dark business. It’s hard to get his picture. Many businessmen are involved with him. Chairman Lancaster might have met him. He could identify how he looks."

Alaric’s expression changed drastically. He was hearing the name for the first time. From the way Simon’s profile was incomplete, it was clear Simon was dangerous.

Was he still a threat to Aveline?

They weren’t aware of it, but Alaric didn’t want to take any chances.

"The security at the island?" Alaric asked.

The island was private and wasn’t large enough. It would be difficult to escape if they were attacked. And he didn’t want to worry Aveline either.

"We could monitor..." Ezra responded.

Alaric didn’t want to be monitored. He wanted her to be safe. After a quick thought, he turned to the two ladies. "Sunshine..."

They turned to him.

"Pick. Relaxed or adventurous?" he asked.

She didn’t have to think twice. "Adventurous." Something that would keep her mind off the hell she had been through for months.

Alaric nodded and turned back to Ezra. He changed their destination. "We are going to Silvanus. Mention the destination differently and we will do an emergency landing there." It was to avoid easy tracking.

Ezra immediately left to arrange it and instruct the pilot.

When Alaric focused on the two ladies, Aveline was convincing Scarlett. "Just for a few days, Red... Only three days." She stood lifting her three fingers.

"Linnie, I would have loved to join you, but my two cases are lined up back to back." Scarlett also didn’t want to be a third wheel. "Next time, we will plan it."

Aveline didn’t insist. Unlike her stupid self who didn’t have to work, it was a different story for Scarlett. "Okay. But listen, stay out of Damien’s radar. Ask Nate to just focus on his work. No provoking anyone. Cool?"

Scarlett closed her eyes for a moment to mask her emotions. She never knew Aveline was a worrywart until Damien’s true colors were revealed. She missed that kind, carefree friend, though she understood Aveline’s worry.

She turned Aveline around and pushed her toward Alaric. "Do whatever you want, CEO Lancaster. Get my cool friend back." She pointed at Aveline and continued, "She nags me so much. Ugh..."

Alaric easily supported Aveline, who was shooting daggers at her friend. "I’ll remember that," he said, leaving Aveline speechless.

Scarlett waved them goodbye with a huge grin, but it disappeared the next moment. She slowly breathed to remain calm, fighting the urge to run after Aveline.

She fished out her mobile, dialing the recent call. "Hello... I wasn’t able to tell her... She just got out of the toxic marriage, how do you expect me to tell her..? No, I’ll figure it out." A pause. Then softly, like admitting it to herself, "Linnie was right."

....

At Ashford Holdings,

It took less than half a day to turn everything upside down. Linette Rowe lost her voice and had to silently accept the change in Chairman back to Maxwell Ashford, the figurehead. And Damien started calling the shots, most of the board members said yes to his words.

It was very clear that Damien was burying the news and getting Charlie out of prison. Linette regretted asking Aveline to let Damien be just because he was a good businessman. She realized he was a corrupt businessman.

She tried several times to connect with Aveline, but her number was switched off. And shortly, the news of Ashford Holdings buried by the news of Damien and Aveline’s divorce started spreading like wildfire.

The picture of Damien standing in front of the marriage bureau with a blurred-faced woman began circulating. Many rumors and stories were cooked up. Most of them just said Damien didn’t want Ashford’s shares in Aveline’s hands.

Some accounts even speculated Damien was the man Vivienne was talking about. Aveline divorced him after learning the truth, with attached pictures of the yacht that was named after Aveline.

The Ashford PR team was taking down lots of posts, but it was growing beyond their capacity. Meanwhile, Laurent didn’t bother to help them unless there was a picture of Aveline without her face blurred.

Sitting in his office while everything was working out smoothly, Damien dialed Clara Reeve’s number. "Did the acquisition of the law firm complete?"

[It has been completed, Director Ashford.]

"I want every case, every file, every paper Scarlett Fournier ever signed," Damien ordered.

[Yes, sir. I’m already working on it.]

Damien ended the call, his lips curling into a sly smirk. He knew Henry wouldn’t let Aveline get close to him again. And he had to create several encounters between him and Aveline.

His pawn was Scarlett Fournier.

If Aveline didn’t follow him, either Scarlett would have to betray Aveline, or he would have to threaten Aveline.

"Enjoy your freedom, Aveline. It ends the moment I say it does."

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