Chapter 106: Create Chance

Gabrielle is stunned and she shakes her head demurely.

"No, Mr. Howel," she whispers, "I can't accept it. It's too nice, you're too generous."

"What did you just call me?" Evan asks with a warning note in his voice.

Gabrielle trembles.

"I mean, brother-in-law," she says.

"Well then, since I'm your brother-in-law, just accept the gift," Evan said with a smile.

Gabrielle knows she can't refuse Evan. Smiling shyly, she fastens the watch around her thin wrist.

Vanessa abandons her seductive pose on the floor and stands up. She is startled by Evan's gift to Gabrielle and she decides to change her tactics.

"I'll ask the servants to make you a cup of coffee," she says with a sweet smile.

Avery smiles ironically at her sister.

"Vanessa, as the eldest daughter in the family, don't you think you should do a little more to make us feel welcome?" Avery asks.

Vanessa hesitates to respond. She's not used to Avery standing up to her, and she's confused by her sister's seemingly affectionate relationship with Evan. Evan smiles to himself at Avery's sudden fierceness, and he gently kneads her earlobe.

"Can we go now?" he asks.

Avery nods. She knows she's done her best to protect Gabrielle from the rest of the family. Though her older sisters and her stepmother may act stupid, they have evil in their hearts. Vanessa presents herself as a vapid and shallow woman, but she is a schemer who enjoys sabotaging relationships and alienating people from one another. Avery hopes that her family will leave Gabrielle alone for fear that Evan might find out about their petty cruelties.

Evan wraps his arms around Avery to pick her up just as the sound of high heels comes from the doorway.

"Why is our home so lively today?" Janetta asks.

"Janetta, you're back!" Vanessa exclaims.

"Mr. Howel!" Janetta shouts with surprise.

She is delighted to see the handsome man sitting on the sofa but frowns slightly upon realizing that Avery is sitting on his lap.

"Oh, Avery. What brings you here?" Janetta greets her sister with disdainful arrogance.

Evan stands up and takes Avery in his arms.

"Are you leaving so soon?" Janetta asks, placing her hand on the door.

A ring on her finger immediately attracts Avery's attention. The green diamond is bright and dazzling. Avery feels her breath catch in her chest. Janetta quickly removes her hand and casually slides her shoes off. Avery changes her plan, and hurriedly pulls the sleeve of Evan's shirt.

"Darling, now that the family is all here, can we please stay for a while?" she asks sweetly.

She desperately needs to know how her sister managed to get that ring. Evan casts a doubtful glance at Avery.

"The fickle woman could hardly wait to leave, but now she suddenly wants to stay," Evan thinks, "I wonder what she's thinking."

"You want to stay here?" Evan asks skeptically.

"It's hard for me to get together with my family," Avery says.

He looks at her for a long moment. Then he wordlessly sits back down and pulls her onto his lap.

Anthony is overjoyed. He tried everything he could think of to persuade Evan to stay, but nothing worked. To his great surprise, a simple request from Avery seemed to do the trick. He begins to think of ways he can continue to curry favor with Evan.

Avery casts secretive glances at the ring on Janetta's hand. The more she looks, the more convinced she becomes. She learned a lot about precious gems to please Evan's grandmother and she knows that there's no other green diamond in the world that large.

"But why is the ring on her hand?" Avery wonders, "How did she get it?"

Janetta notices Avery staring at her hand and gives her sister a questioning look. Avery deliberately focuses her attention on a transparent plastic folder in Janetta's hand. It seems to be filled with medical records.

"What's the matter with you, Janetta?" she asks.

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Before Janetta can answer, Vanessa interrupts, "There's nothing wrong with her. Janetta has ulterior motives. Did you see Dr. Meyer?"

Avery feels her blood go cold upon hearing Charles' name. Her pupils dilated and her breath caught in her throat. She glances at Evan unwittingly and sees that he's staring at her with disdain.

Janetta scowls at Vanessa and throws the medical records to a servant.

"Who told you that I went to see Dr. Meyer with ulterior motives?" Janetta snaps, "If you must know, I have irregular periods and I just wanted to get some medicine. I didn't even see Dr. Meyer. The nurses told me that he hasn't been to the hospital for several days."

Avery feels her heartthrob in her chest.

"Is Charles still suffering from some sort of parental punishment?" she wonders, "It's fine if Charles wants some time alone, but I don't want to cause problems in his family."

She tries to stifle the rising guilt and panic. It makes her incredibly uneasy that Charle's phone is still off, and it seems weird that he's been away from the hospital for so long. She glances at Robert to see if she can glean any answers from his expression, but he bows his head, hiding his face from her view.

"Mr. Howel, the room is ready for you," Anthony announces, "Shall we ask the servants to carry your luggage up?"

Anthony gives Evan a fawning look and nervously rubs his hands together. Evan takes Avery's chin between his fingers.

"Are you tired?" he asks.

Avery nods. She is exhausted, and thinking about Charles has made her feel weak. Wordlessly, Evan sweeps her up in his arms and carries them upstairs to the room. Anthony follows, hoping to find a way to ingratiate himself to Evan.

Avery's sisters and stepmother remain downstairs. Vanessa relaxes as Evan disappears up the stairs, and sprawls lazily across the sofa.

"Did Avery cast some sort of a spell on Mr. Howel?" she asks, "What's wrong with her? She hasn't even walked since she got here."

Janetta curls her lips and sits down beside Vanessa.

"What's going on?" she asks, "They're not here for a divorce?"

"It doesn't seem like it," Vanessa complains, "But if they don't get divorced, how will we ever have a chance with Evan?"

"People create their chance," Janetta says knowingly.

Janetta looks longingly upstairs as if she's planning something. Suddenly, Katherine seems to remember Gabrielle's presence.

"Girls, watch your mouths," Katherine warns.

Janetta immediately looks at Gabrielle—Gabrielle seems to be hiding behind the sofa.

Janetta laughs mockingly, "She's a coward, and she wouldn't dare to say anything."

Janetta turns sharply toward Gabrielle and snaps her fingers.

"Gabrielle, I'm thirsty. Get me a glass of water," she commands.

The three women of the Peters family order Gabrielle around as if she's a servant. Every time they boss her around, they imagine they're punishing Avery. They all resent Avery for marrying Evan and still harbor a great deal of jealousy and bitterness. They vent their grudges on Gabrielle, getting petty satisfaction from bullying her.

Gabrielle quickly gets her sister a glass of water, but Janetta loses interest in bullying her. She is more concerned with devising a plan to win Evan. Gabrielle quietly returns to her room and is surprised when she sees that Katherine has followed her. Katherine closes the door and leans against it, caressing the slight bulge of her belly with her right hand.

"Why did you come back?" Katherine asks.

"I—I," Gabrielle stammers.

"I'm going to warn you again: don't say anything about the hospital internship to anyone. If your father finds out, I'll tell him all about your boy toy."

"He is not a boy toy," Gabrielle says, her face suddenly pale.

"Call him what you want, but you won't be able to keep him without a penny from the Peters family," Katherine says.

She glares at Gabrielle and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her. Gabrielle feels weak and she collapses to the floor.

The 'boy toy' Katherine refers to is a man Gabrielle accidentally hit with her car a few months ago. The man lost his memory in an accident, and he didn't have any ID with him. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't locate his family. The man urgently needed a blood transfusion, but his blood type was incredibly rare.

Gabrielle was convinced he would die because she couldn't find anyone with a matching blood type. Andrew Clifford happened to be in the hospital at the same time. When he heard about her predicament, he offered to help her on one condition: if she let him tattoo her, he would make sure that the man lived.

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