Avery did not have the courage nor the heart to tell Elliot about this good news.After all, this happiness was built on top of the pain of losing Shea.If he felt a strong fatherly love toward Robert before, she was afraid that the love he felt might have changed by now.Avery did not dare to expect Elliot to continue to love this child. She just hoped that he did not hate him.She dragged her exhausted body home and was surprised to see Mike had returned."If Robert alright now?" Mike approached Avery, pulled her into his arms, then said softly, "Chad told me about Shea. Everyone's upset about this, but what's done is done."Avery saw Hayden and Layla standing in the living room, so she maintained the calmness on her face."Robert's fine for no. The doctor asked me to get some rest." Her tone was no different from usual.Mike released her.Avery walked over to the children and asked, "Have you guys had breakfast? Is it time for school?""It's the weekend, Mommy!" Layla said
Henry walked to the front yard to welcome the guest.The car came to a halt in front of Henry. When the car door opened, Elliot's bodyguard was the first to emerge.The bodyguard got out of the car and threw a cold glance over at Henry.Henry felt shivers run down his spine from the bodyguard's gaze.What was going on? He was Elliot's biological brother. How dare a bodyguard look at him in such a provocative way?!Many times, the way subordinates treated someone represented the way their superiors felt toward that person.Henry was perplexed. Shea's death had nothing to do with him!Just as he was feeling uneasy, Elliot emerged from the car.He glanced coldly at Henry, then strode into the mansion.Henry was puzzled, but followed after him."I heard about Shea last night, Elliot. I wanted to contact you right away, but I didn't want to bother you that late at night. If you didn't come by, I was planning on going to discuss this matter with you."Elliot's voice was chilling t
Elliot decided the night before that he was going to take revenge for his mother.If the one who killed her was his brother, then he would kill Henry. If it was Cole, then he would kill him.It did not matter who begged for their lives.His fingers tightened around the gun as he aimed it at Cole. He began to count in his head, "One, two, three…"A bang echoed through the entire mansion as a bullet shot in Cole's direction!Cole was so terrified that he forgot to scream.All he saw was a black silhouette flash before his eyes. Immediately after, this silhouette let out a blood curdling cry.Cole watched as his mother fell into his arms, and saw the blood oozing from the corner of her lips!He realized that his mother had taken the bullet for him!"Mom! Mom!" Cole wailed in agony as he held his mother in his arms.Downstairs, Henry witnessed the entire thing and instantly rushed up the stairs."Olivia! Olivia! You can't die, Olivia! I'll take you to the hospital! I'll take you
Why was Cole calling Avery?Avery lay back down on the bed and answered the phone."My mother's dead, Avery," Cole sobbed on the other end of the line.Avery froze for a moment. This was very sudden."Your mother's dead? How did she die?""Elliot Foster shot her," Cole choked. "He wanted to shoot me, but my mother took the bullet for me. I'm in so much pain right now, Avery. I don't know who else to talk to…"Avery sat up.Why did Elliot do that?Shea got in trouble because of Robert. It had nothing to do with Cole!Elliot would not kill someone for no reason. He was not that kind of person!"Did your uncle do that because you did something horrible, Cole?" Avery pestered. "What did you do?!"Cole had simply wanted to complain to Avery, but he did not expect her to be more emotional than he was."It's true that I did something awful. I shouldn't blame my uncle for wanting to kill me, but my mother was innocent!" Cole drew a sharp breath, then wiped the tears from his face.
Mrs. Cooper shook her head and said, "He looked really upset when he left this morning, so I was too afraid to ask. How about you give him a call?"Avery pulled her phone out of her bag and dialed Elliot's number. The call went through, but there was no answer."Come inside, Avery! It's too cold out here." Mrs. Cooper led her inside. "How's your recovery going?""I'm doing well," Avery responded casually.The wound on her abdomen was still aching, but the series of events that were happening constantly made her forget about the pain."I'm also a woman and I've also had children. It hasn't even been a month since you gave birth, but you've been running back and forth between the house and the hospital. That must affect your recovery." Mrs. Cooper sighed, then continued, "Once Robert's condition is stable, you can rest at home in peace. Master Elliot will get through this by himself.""I know. I just came to check on him." Avery would not be able to rest easy if she did not at leas
However, there were individual photos of Shea.At the time, Elliot was also just a four-year-old child. Even if he was smarter than others his age, he still would not be able to do anything about wanting his sister to be a part of the family portrait.Avery guessed that Elliot's father was the main reason behind the fact that Shea was left out of the family register. He could not accept having a mentally disabled child.Otherwise, he would not leave his own daughter out of their family portraits.Avery continued to look through the photos. When she turned a new page, she saw a photo of Elliot at five years old.Looking at a five-year-old Elliot felt like she was looking at him now, but something did not feel right.Her heart tightened in her chest as her hands began to tremble.Elliot did not look like this when she was looking at the earlier photos, but the five-year-old Elliot was obviously him!Avery turned back to the earlier pages and tried to find photos of Elliot at four
The hallways in the hospital were secluded and quiet.Avery made her way to the intensive care unit in the neonatal unit.One of the nurses recognized her, then quickly approached her and said, "Robert's doing very well today, Miss Tate! If everything goes well, then you can just rest at home and wait until he can be discharged."Avery nodded her head.Since Robert was fine, there was no use for her to stick around.As she left the hospital, her head began to spin.She knew exactly why she was upset.She could try to convince herself over and over again to not care about Elliot's behavior. She could pretend to be cool and raise the children herself with no hiccups. However, why did her heart ache this much?She knew very well that Hayden and Layla might have always said that they did not want a father, but they wanted one in their hearts.Avery knew that she needed him, too.However, there seemed to always be an invisible pair of claws between them.Every time they wanted to
Avery wanted to return to work, too, but her body still had not recovered.Even if she wanted to go back to the office, Mike would not allow it.There was another thunderstorm today.This winter was much colder than the years before. Mike reminded her not to leave the house before he went to the office earlier."You can invite your friends over to the house if you're bored, Avery," he said.Avery simply grunted in response.Once Mike left, she suddenly thought about how she did not really have many friends. Tammy's abduction left a permanent scar on her, and Wesley was nowhere to be found. She had no friends to invite over at all.Mike returned an hour later with a bag of yarn."Knit a sweater if you're bored, Avery! You could make sweaters for the kids, or even for me." Mike figured that knitting was not a tiring activity, and it took more time. "You could even knit one for Chad's dog."Avery put down the book she was reading, then looked at him and asked, "Do I look that bor