Chapter 108: Hard to Punish her

Avery feels the blood rushing to her face, but she presses her lips together and remains silent. The maids and her sisters approach the board one by one and take magnets from Robert. They giggle and stick the magnets below the picture of the man they find most handsome. Most of the women choose Evan. 

"Mr. Howel is indeed the most handsome man I've ever seen," giggles one woman, "He has beautiful eyes, perfect lips, and a noble nose. The men in the other pictures are very ugly. You can't even compare them to Mr. Howel."

"Mr. Howel has a great body and he's very handsome," says one maid with a blush, "All in all, he is perfect."

Vanessa and Janetta Peters even curse and disparage the other men. They compare Evan to a god or an angel. Avery smiles coldly at the proceedings. 

"Well, there you have it, Evan," Avery sneers, "According to all these women, you're the most handsome man, and no one can compare with you. Are you happy now?"

"Their praise can't compare with yours," Evan whispers back, a sudden intensity in his voice.

"You're crazy," Avery says.

"If Evane asks me to do it, I must find a way to say that I find him unattractive," Avery thinks stubbornly.

"I just want you to learn to have good taste," Evan says arrogantly.

Avery glares at him. She wants to rip the photo of him in half.

"Miss Gabrielle, it's your turn," Robert urges.

Gabrielle is the last woman to place her magnet. She holds the magnet gently and studies each photo carefully. Vanessa and Janetta stand behind her and watch her coldly.

"Do you really need to look at them all so closely?" Vanessa asks, "Obviously, Evan is the most handsome."

Gabrielle glances at Evan anxiously and then looks back at the photos in front of her. Finally, she stops in front of one of the photos and places her magnet on the board.

"I think he's handsome," she whispers. 

Evan kicks the coffee table and the women gasp. Gabrielle has chosen another man. Even though Evan gave her a generous gift, she chose another man. Evan looks at the photo through squinted eyes and decides that the other man is ugly and short.

Avery is equally confused by Gabrielle's choice. Her little sister hates disagreement and usually matches her views to the most popular opinion. She's shocked that Gabriel would be so bold.

"Besides," Avery thinks, "The man in the picture doesn't seem very handsome."

"Do you think he's more handsome than me?" Evan Howel asks.

He makes an impatient gesture and Robert brings him the man's photo. 

"Different people have different tastes," Avery says, trying to assuage her husband's rage.

Evan glances furiously at Avery before turning to Gabrielle.

"Tell me!" Evan barks impatiently.

Gabrielle suddenly becomes anxious and uncertain. She looks back and forth between Evan and Avery and tries to figure out what she's supposed to say.

"Brother-in-law, you are very handsome," she stutters, "But you are my elder sister's husband, and it doesn't seem right to look at you that way."

The answer seems to pacify Evan, and Avery exhales a quiet sigh of relief. Robert squints at the photo, examining it more closely. He gasps inadvertently and Evan turns to give him a questioning look.

"Mr. Howel, this photo shows Mr. Clifford," Robert says, pointing at the image.

"Is this really Mr. Clifford?" Evan asks Avery.

The photo shows a young man sitting in the shade of a large tree, casually chewing a straw. Though the image is small, it's unmistakably Andrew Clifford. Andrew has his head turned toward the camera and he's smiling as if he's just noticed that someone is taking the photo. Evan feels anger and betrayal pierce through his chest.

"Avery lied to me," he thinks, "She clearly knew Andrew Clifford before. Maybe they even dated."

Avery is equally surprised to see the picture of Andrew. She looks at Evan and sees that his face has gone livid.

"I don't know why he's in the picture," she said honestly, "I have no memory of ever taking that photo."

"I swear to God, Avery, you better not be lying to me. If you are, everyone will suffer," Evan threatens darkly. 

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He commands Robert and the bodyguards to search the villa for other evidence of a relationship between Andrew and Avery. 

"Everyone?" Avery asks.

"Mrs. Howel, please tell him the truth," Robert pleads, "It will be a disaster for everyone if Mr. Howel finds out that you're lying to him."

Avery frowns and turns to Evan. She can't believe that he's threatening to punish her maids and family.

"It's a new low, even for him," she thinks. 

"It would be one thing for you to punish me, but you want to punish my maids too?" Avery asks Evan.

"It's hard for me to punish you directly," Evan murmurs under his breath.

Avery wants to scream at how unreasonable and unfair Evan is being. She takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders and then strides across the room to the blackboard. She takes a magnet from Robert and sticks it firmly underneath Evan's photo.

"Mr. Howel—look!" Robert exclaims happily.

Evan looks at the blackboard and his lips curl into a satisfied smile. He suspects that Avery voted for him just to appease his anger and protect her maids, but he can't suppress the sudden joy rising in his chest. He slowly smooths Andrew's photo and looks gently at Gabrielle.

"Do you think Mr. Clifford is handsome?" he asks.

"I think—I think—" Gabrielle stutters.

"If you really think he's handsome, I'll invite him to come here," Evan says.

"What? Why would you do that?" Avery asks.

At the same time Gabrielle stutters, "No, no, I don't think he's so handsome."

Gabrielle's face has gone bright red and she's trembling with nervousness. She wishes she'd never voted for Andrew. Evan glances at Gabrielle with cold eyes and Gabrielle looks down at the floor. She twists the skirt of her dress in her fingers as if she wants to tear the fabric to shreds. She wishes everyone would stop looking at her.

"Gabrielle just said she doesn't think he's that handsome," Avery says, rushing to her sister's defense, "Why are you so weird about Andrew Clifford anyway? Does he make you feel insecure or something?"

"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder," Evan says vaguely.

He stands up and approaches Avery from behind, lowering his head to inhale the scent of her hair. Avery has no idea what he's trying to do, and she's nervous that he's concocting some sort of plan to hurt or embarrass her little sister.

"Gabrielle has poor eyesight and she often forgets to wear eyeglasses," Avery says to Evan, "So her eyes are mistaken."

Evan ignores Avery's comment and glances at Robert. "Bring Josiah here," he orders.

"Josiah?" Robert asks, racking his brain to guess who his boss is referring to, "Is he the famous hairstylist or are you talking about someone else?"

Evan nods curtly at Robert's question and begins to play with Avery's hair. Robert is puzzled by his boss' request.

"Is he as insecure as Avery says?" Robert wonders, "Does he feel the need to change his hair to compete with Andrew Clifford? Or is he planning some new way to control and punish Avery?"

Vanessa Peters is surprised to hear Evan mentions Josiah's name. The famous hairstylist is known worldwide and his styles are frequently seen on the runways at fashion week and on celebrities as they walk the red carpets. She's one of his many devotees, and she follows his social media accounts religiously. She knows that he's currently abroad working for a fashion show in Italy, and she wonders if he'll agree to Evan's request.

"I don't blame your younger sister," Evan says to Avery, "In fact, I want to give her the spotlight."

"Why do you want to force Gabrielle into the spotlight?" Avery asks, pulling her hair out of Evan's hands.

"If she's given the right light to shine, Mr. Clifford will fall in love with her," Evan explains.

Avery gasps with understanding.

"Evan wants to make Andrew Clifford fall in love with Gabrielle because he still feels threatened by him," she thinks, "If Andrew focuses all of his attention on Gabrielle, he won't try to compete with Evan for me. It's a well-thought plan, but I don't want that man anywhere near Gabrielle."

Robert also begins to understand Evan's plan and nods happily, "I'll invite him here immediately."

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