The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 91

"He ruined your life...by taking me out of it?" She asked.

He knew it didn’t make sense but he nodded. "They were never there for me. They were not obligated to be there for me either since I wasn’t their son. However, Bryce knew how important you are to me—he knew you are the only person I care about and how much you cared for me. If he caused a rift between us, I’d be on my own."

Was this still her hard-headed brother who didn’t seem to be bothered about anything? She should have known, he only kept a front in her presence when deep inside, he was broken. How was it fair for one to only have one person who cared about them? It was painful to think that said person was not even a blood relative. The fact that Bryce didn’t care if it hurt her as long as she found out the truth and stayed away from Gabriel was insane.

It hurt her even more that although he had bared everything for her to believe him, she still needed to ask several questions.

"If Amelia and Bryce were your biological parents, would you still have killed Bryce?"

He had expected this. "Amelia ruined your life. I wouldn’t care any more about her death if she were my mother. And Bryce, no, I would have done it differently."

Something told her she didn’t want to know what he meant by ’differently’. It would probably have a lot to do with torture based on his tone and she was not ready to hear it.

"How did you end up in the mafia?"

"I’m not in the mafia." He lied, then met her glare and chuckled. "I’ve always been there."

That didn’t answer her, but at least he was no longer denying the rumors about him. It explained how he had access to everything that should be a secret. Also, "you don’t have a job. How did you earn so much money?"

"Are you accusing me of robbery?" He placed a hand on his chest as though he was wounded by her accusation. She rolled her eyes at his act so he dropped it.

"I’m not a robber or anything. And before you ask, I don’t deal drugs. I just happen to have invested a lot during my earlier years. I’m reaping the harvests but now that you mention it, I need a real job. Or else, how will I be able to take care of Mina? Financially, I mean."

They liked talking about their barely existent relationship, she inwardly lamented. Even though she had just found out that he was not her brother, it still felt strange to hear ambiguous statements about their relationship.

"I’ll go play with Angel if you have nothing else to ask me." He stood, only to turn to her. "About the new real job I really need, are you hiring?"

"Even if I was hiring, why would I hire you?" She crossed her arms, thinking it would make him give up. Instead, he flashed a grin.

"I’ll make you want to hire me."

Then he was gone...to play with Angel. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. He wasn’t a bad person, right? She knew just because he was not her brother and he lied about it, it didn’t mean he was evil. Besides, Angel seemed to like him. Judging from everyone else that had ever tried to get close to Angel, the boy had good instinct. He seemed to instantly hate anyone with the slightest bad intentions. He liked Gabe, so this should mean he was not a bad person.

Of course, she was going to investigate further.

_____

The next day at work, she was not thrilled when Mina brought her a file that turned out to be his resume.

"He sent his resume to you, and you delivered it to me? Whose side are you on, exactly?" She glared at Mina, who didn’t seem fazed by Gabriel’s reputation.

"Why does it have to be about which side I’m on? You could hire him because the CFO sent in his two weeks notice and Gabe’s qualifications make him suitable for the role." Mina opened the file for Avery to see his qualifications.

"Don’t even remind me." It had been odd that the CFO sent in his two weeks notice right after their conversation about him not having a real job. It wasn’t hard to guess that he had something to do with the resignation.

On the other hand, Mina was excited. "Don’t be mean, Avery. Why don’t you assess his capabilities fairly? If you find anything unsettling about his capabilities that makes you believe you would rather not hire him, you can go ahead and dismiss him. But doing so without giving him a chance is heartless."

"Don’t lecture me about heartlessness when you are biased towards him because of whatever is brewing between you two. Do you even know your place in this company?" She berated Mina, who looked deflated at her accusation. "I need you two to know that if I happen to hire him, you cannot be in a relationship."

"You can’t be serious. We are already..."

"The policy has been in place for years and I’m not changing it because of..." She took a breath, knowing what to call whatever was going on between Mina and Gabriel.

"I totally get it. But is there any room for negotiation?" She sat on the chair she had ignored for a while and faced Avery. When the latter didn’t outright say no, she took it as her chance. "Treat us as you would any other employee. We will keep our relationship a secret in the workplace and if it affects my performance negatively, I will break up with him or quit my position."

It was only fair to give them a chance so she went through Gabriel’s portfolio. Surprisingly, the four missing years had nothing to do with the mafia as she had expected. He had used the time to further his studies and if she was being honest, she didn’t know anyone who was more qualified than him to be the CFO of Vaillant Telecommunications. Besides, she didn’t think she had enough time to find someone else.

So when he dropped by her villa that evening, she gave a contract to him. "Three months."

"Three months?" He was confused. Putting down Angel’s crayons that he was using to draw with his nephew, he opened the contract to find out what it was about. Seeing the logo of Vaillant Telecommunications on it, he was overjoyed. "I’m employed?"

"You have three months to prove yourself worthy of the position. If I have a single complaint about you during this period, you’re out." She told him sternly, thinking he would complain and probably give up right there and then. On the contrary, he happily accepted the chance.

"Excellent! Then I’ll get to work right away. But first, I have to finish the showroom my nephew and I were drawing before you came in. Also, can I choose my own assistant?" He asked.

She had taken notice of the smudges of water paint on his shirt and was about to let him know when he asked. "What? Oh, of course you can. As long as you are not trying to take Mina as your assistant. I’m not going to lose my assistant right after having to hire a new CFO."

"I wasn’t thinking about that. Workplace relationships are already a stretch for me and what kind of idiot would I be if I ruined my chances?" He hurried back to the table where Angel was waiting for him.

The boy had not moved an inch despite her arrival. She went over to hug him briefly and realized just how absorbed he was in his drawing.

"I think he needs a brother." Damon spoke behind her like the ghost he was hell set on being. He nearly scared the living daylights out of her. She let him say hello to Angel and pulled him aside.

"Aren’t you going to scold me?"

"For not giving Angel a brother? Of course not. Children don’t happen just because we want them to. Though if we start trying, we will have a better chance at making one."

She jabbed him to shut him up. "Who the hell is talking about kids? Angel is enough." And why was he bringing it up in such a lewd way? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Really? That’s a bummer. I was hoping we’d have one more. Actually, make that two more." When he noticed her glare, he cleared his throat to act serious. "Sorry, why should I scold you?"

"He is not my brother and I’m letting him get close to our son." She chewed her lip, waiting for him to go on a rant. Instead, he pulled her into his arms.

"Mina is not your sister."

"No. And?"

"Neither is Mabella and Chloe."

She raised a brow. "Mabella is your sister and Chloe is your friend. What are you getting at?"

"Just because they are not your siblings doesn’t make them bad people. On the other hand, your siblings are more capable of stabbing you in the back than anyone else. Blood siblings, that is."

"I’m glad you think so." She was relieved. "Are you here to take Angel? It’s not your day."

"No it’s not. I know you are going to spend the night with him so I came too." As if on cue, her butler walked in with his overnight bag.

She crossed her arms. "Stay at your place."

"Why do I have to? I let you sleep over at mine when it’s my night with Angel. It’s only fair for you to do me the same favor, right?" He smiled, rendering her speechless. Could he have some semblance of shame?