The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 106

"That’s not what I’m talking about. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean." Dorthe looked like she had swallowed a fly when she heard her words. Avery had a way of playing with words and using them against her opponent, but that was not going to work this time.

"Your mother ruined my family and the result was you. What does that make you?" She pointed an accusing finger at Avery.

"Your enemy’s daughter?"

"Damon’s aunt!" Dorthe regarded her with disgust. I can’t believe there is a woman shameless enough to fool around with her nephew after finding out they are related. Don’t you have any manners?"

Avery smirked at her frustration. Did she come here as soon as she heard the news about their date? There was only one way the woman could have found out, and she wouldn’t begrudge her for it. She wouldn’t let it slide either, so she asked Mina and Chloe to wait for her in the house.

"I’m not going anywhere." Chloe took Avery’s hand. "How can I let you face her on your own? Damon would kill me if he ever found out I did that."

Mina agreed with her but at the same time, she knew Avery wanted to deal with this in private.

"Avery will be fine. Dorthe knows better than to try anything she shouldn’t. Right, Dorthe?" She grinned.

Dorthe shivered with a frantic nod. "What would I ever do to her? I only want to talk."

Mina smiled and left with Chloe, making Avery wonder what she had done to make the elderly woman so terrified. The last time she saw the D’Abovilles, Gabriel had ferried them away in a way that made her scared he would kill all of them off. Why were they back in one piece, and what did it have to do with Mina?

There was a lot to unpack but no time to do so, so she decided to deal with that later.

"Dorthe, I understand your frustration." She started.

"You do?" Being ready to counterattack against whatever Avery was going to say, Dorthe was caught off guard.

Avery dropped her arms that she had crossed. "I have to. I’m human, after all, and if anyone broke my family apart, I would be bitter against them for generations."

"But that doesn’t mean I appreciate you coming after me for being a bystander and minding my own business."

Dorthe rolled her eyes. "And here I was, about to applaud you for being the only reasonable Vaillant. How were you a bystander? You are that woman’s daughter and you went after my grandson!"

"If I remember correctly, your grandson came after me for revenge." When the woman’s face paled, she smirked. "You thought I didn’t know that, didn’t you? Your daughter-in-law tried to kill my son twice and do you know whose son this is? Your grandson’s. Damon and I decided to put the past behind us—including the fact that the reason he tried to befriend me years ago is because of you. I didn’t mention what you and your daughter-in-law tried to do. If you stay away from me, I will pretend none of it happened. You are my son’s family after all, and I wouldn’t want him to be deprived of familial affection because of grudges that have nothing to do with him."

For a while, Dorthe didn’t know what to say. Her tone had completely changed when he finally spoke. "He’s such a cute kid. I can’t believe a woman like Amelia managed to raise such a sensible daughter." She went off on tangents to avoid it but under Avery’s gaze, she couldn’t. "I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to do with all this anger. It’s every woman’s dream to have the perfect family, okay? I thought I was the lucky woman until...well, until he strayed away."

"I know it doesn’t matter what I say after everything I did to you. I..." She got close to Avery and held her arm.

The image of Dorthe trying to push her off the stairs six months into her pregnancy flashed right before her eyes. She jumped back. "Don’t you ever touch me!"

"I deserve that." Dorthe stepped back. "But from one woman who lost her family to another, the longer you stay away, the harder it is to get them back. Once everyone has moved on, it’s impossible to get together."

She watched as Dorthe tried to peek into the house to see Angel one last time. Her face fell in disappointment when she couldn’t catch a glimpse and although Avery pitied her, she couldn’t let her get close to her son when she had tried to kill them both before. Dorthe smiled at her and left, and although the woman had tried to clear the air between them, she hoped they would never see each other again.

"How is it? Did she try anything?" Mina ran out as soon as she couldn’t hear their voices anymore.

"She’s gone. Good riddance." Chloe was relieved too. "Hey, where’s Angel?"

Avery finally snapped back to reality. "Damon took him to school today."

"Will you pick him up in the evening? Can I tag along?" She asked excitedly.

"He is staying over at Damon’s today. You can drop by and play with him." Avery offered, and was surprised when Chloe looked reluctant to go. Now that she thought about it, wasn’t it odd that Chloe had decided to move out so fast when she had planned on staying until the end of the month? It was almost as though she was running away from something.

"Never mind. When is he coming back here? I’ll play with him then." She asked.

This time, Avery didn’t stop herself. "Out with it. What’s happening with you? You usually can’t wait to run over to Damon’s villa. It’s only a few minutes from here."

Chloe tried to switch the topic to something else but Avery dragged her to the living room and sat her down to talk about it.

"You can tell me anything, you know."

Mina smiled. "I’ll clean the kitchen."

It was out of the blue and unnecessary but they both knew she was giving them some space to talk about it.

Chloe ran a hand through her hair. "Remember how you told me to stop ignoring my feelings and to talk about them with Mabella if I wanted to?"

"Yes?"

"I did."

"Excuse me?" Avery’s eyes widened. "Chloe, I was talking about the sadness you kept avoiding. I mean, now that you mention it, it could have been linked to that, but I didn’t know you felt that way."

"That makes one of us. Actually, this only happened yesterday."

.....

The day before.

Once he got home, Damon had had Chloe and Mabella help him select the perfect outfit for his first date with Avery. The man had tried out what felt like an entire closet of outfits and been satisfied with none. He wanted an outfit that ’gave off a certain vibe’ that he couldn’t describe either. It had taken Mabella ages to finally understand what he needed—something as close as possible to what he had worn on his first date with Avery years ago.

Luckily, there were rows and rows of blue outfits in his closet.

When he was finally gone, Chloe slumped on the couch next to Mabella. "Finally. If he had stylists, I would pity them for having to read his mind. If not, they would never be able to find an outfit that satisfies him.

"You can say that again." Mabella agreed with her and they both laughed heartily. Their talk spiralled into what they thought Avery would think of his look, whether or not they would go back home, before they suddenly fell silent.

Chloe watched the latter nervously and inched closer. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Chloe!" Mabella warned.

She shuffled away and laughed it off, but then shot a look at Mabella. "Why? Are you going to pretend you don’t know what this is about? You can read everyone like a book and I’ve been giving some obvious signs. You know how I feel."

"I know."

"And you feel the same way. Why else would you..."

"Chloe." Mabella cut her off sternly. "It doesn’t matter. You are my patient and that’s all I would ever see you as. You need to put yourself together, can you do that?"

...

"You need to put yourself together." Chloe imitated her as she complained to Avery. "How can I simply do that? I’ve tried my best, can’t she see?"

Avery patted her shoulder. "I wasn’t dreaming when I thought she was checking you out before. Besides, she once said something..." She decided not to say it out aloud. She was right. What Mabella thought was missing from her life was Chloe.

"After everything you’ve been through, it’s easy to mistake affection for love." She suggested.

Chloe looked offended. "You think I believe I like Mabella only because she understands me? If that was the case, I would like Damon and fall into a vortex of confusion about my feelings. But I know what I feel and it’s something I’ve never felt before. But who cares? She doesn’t feel the same way."

"Or she feels that way and doesn’t want to go against her work ethic and get together with her patient. It does feel wrong if you ask me."

Chloe scoffed. "Who cares? It’s the same thing. And now I can no longer face my shrink because I couldn’t keep my feelings to myself. Do you have any other shrink in mind? Preferably, a man."

_____

AN

Mabella X Chloe. Ship or no ship?