Chapter 110: Lovely Ring

Suddenly her fingers begin to shake, and she feels her breathing accelerate out of control.

"What's wrong with me?" Avery wonders, "I should be happy that I'll soon be free from the Howel. Why does it feel like a knife is stabbing me in the chest?"

She takes several deep breaths and begins to laugh at herself.

"I'm being stupid and ridiculous," she thinks, "Evan won't care a bit when I leave. I need to remember that he's probably looking forward to it. As soon as I'm out of the picture, he's free to marry Diana Summers."

"What are you looking at?" Janetta's voice calls from the door.

Avery folds the agreement in half to hide the words and tries to look calm.

"What are you doing here?" she asks her sister.

Janetta Peters plays with her hair and leans against the closet doorway.

"The maid said you were here, and I knocked on the door but you didn't answer," Janetta says, "What are you doing in there anyway?"

"Can't you tell?" Avery asks, hoping her sister will reveal whether or not she saw her reading the divorce agreement.

She glances at Janetta's hand to see if the ring is still there.

"No, I can't see anything," Janetta snaps, "Anyway, I'm curious about what you're doing. Can I help with anything?"

Leaning against the closet doorway, Janetta looks lean and gentle. She smiles encouragingly at her sister.

"What are you going on about?" Avery asks, "I'm just trying to unpack my luggage, and I have no time to play your games or cater to your whims."

Janetta pulls her hair to one side, covering part of her face in the process.

"I have something I want to talk to you about," Janetta says.

Janetta shows the ring to Avery, and Avery looks curiously at the jewelry. Ever since seeing the ring on her sister's finger, she has been trying to devise a plan to get it back. She didn't expect that her sister would make it so easy to find out more about it.

"What do you mean?" Avery asks, pretending to play dumb.

"Can you not guess what it is I want to talk about?" Janetta asks, waving her hand even more obviously, "Are you going to pretend you don't know about this ring?"

"It's a lovely ring," Avery says innocently, "But I can't say I've ever seen it before."

Janetta laughs, "I got this ring from a man."

"Well, it's a beautiful ring," Avery says dismissively.

Janetta smiles mysteriously. She raises her hand in the air and allows the light to refract off the green diamond.

"Do you like it?" she asks.

"What are you going on about?" Avery asks, "I already said it's beautiful."

"I'm just asking you whether you like it or not," she says, bringing the ring even closer to Avery's face, "I heard that it's the wedding ring that Mr. Howel gave to Mrs. Howel."

"Are you sure?" Avery frowns and drops the agreement back into the suitcase while her sister seems distracted.

"Yes, I just wanted to find out if that's true or not," Janetta says with barely concealed malice, "If it is true, I will give it back, of course. But if it's not true, I might give it to someone else."

Avery knows her sister well, and she knows that no matter what Janetta says she will not give the ring back so easily.

"You can't just casually give a ring like that to someone else," Avery says with a smile.

"So do you want to give the ring back to you then?" Janetta asks with a gleam in her eyes.

Although Avery is trying to feign indifference, Janetta can see that she cares about the ring.

"I would never ask for a thing like that," Avery says cautiously.

"Aren't you interested in the ring?" Janetta sighs and changes tactics, "It's so strange—I've also heard that the ring has something to do with the Meyer family. Someone suggested that it's a family heirloom that can only be passed down to a woman worthy of marrying into the family."

Avery continues to arrange her clothing, but when she hears her sister's words she drops a hanger with a loud clang.

When Charles Meyer gave the ring to her, he never told her what it signified. He said it was just a ring he had modified so she could check for the next toxin and protect herself from whoever was poisoning her. She had no idea that the ring had such huge significance for the Meyer family. Suddenly Charles' mock proposal takes on a new light.

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"Had I known that I never would have accepted it," Avery thinks, "And what on Earth was Charles trying to say to me—was he suggesting that he wants me to marry into the Meyer family?"

She tries to keep her expression calm. If Janetta knows how important the ring truly is, she'll try to use it as some sort of bargaining chip. She picks up the hanger she dropped and turns to her sister.

"So this morning you go to the hospital just for a ring?" Avery asks.

"You're really smart," Janetta smirks.

"You told me that Dr. Meyer wasn't even there," Avery says carefully.

Janetta can sense her sister's increased interest.

"Do you wish he was there?" Janetta taunts, "You know, there are some very interesting rumors about you and Dr. Meyer circulating in that hospital."

Janetta touches the green jewel on the ring and shrugs, "If you don't care about the ring, I guess I should go. I have more important things to do than to stand around talking to you."

"Wait! Wait a minute," Avery says, hating herself for giving in to her sister's scheme.

"Are you interested in the ring after all?" Janetta asks with a slow, cold smile.

"I like the style," Avery says nonchalantly.

"Do you want me to give it back?" Janetta asks.

"Only if you're willing to give it to me," Avery says, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Well nothing comes free, you know," Janetta says, "I want to be the star of the party. That's my price."

"That's easy. I promise you I'll make it happen," Avery says, holding out her hand to her sister, "Now give me the ring."

"I'm not a fool," Janetta scoffs, "If I give it to you now, there's nothing to stop you from going back on your word. After I have the first dance with Mr. Howel at the party, I'll give the ring to you."

"If I refuse, what will you do?" Avery asks.

It's easy to make Janetta the star of the party, but she knows it's impossible to designate her sister as Evan's dance partner. She knows Evan Howel well enough to know that he avoids physical contact with women whenever possible. It'd be impossible to try to convince him to dance with Janetta.

Janetta walks confidently toward the bedroom door. Just before she crossed out of the room, she turned to look at Avery.

"I'll give you one day to carefully consider my offer. I want to be the star of the party and Evan's dance partner," she says, "Think about my offer carefully and remember that you only have a day."

Avery frowns. She doesn't know what to say. If it was just her ring, she wouldn't care that Janetta has it, but the ring is Charles' and it's Meyer's family treasure, and she can't allow her scheming sister to keep it.

Avery focuses on her other problems. Her family is sneaky and conniving and she doesn't want them to find the divorce agreement. She finds a transparent, plastic folder and tucks the paperwork into it, then she sticks the folder to the bottom of the makeup table. It's an out-of-the-way place, and she knows most people wouldn't think to look there, but she still wishes there was a better place to hide the agreement.

After hiding the agreement, she leaves the room and follows Janetta. Her phone is still messed up, and she wants to borrow her sister's phone to call Charles. Once again, her call goes straight to voicemail: Charles' phone is still turned off. She's quite worried that his phone is still turned off, several days later.

"Sister, can I please not be the star of the party?" Gabrielle asked, approaching Avery and Janetta, "I'm afraid that I won't live up to your expectations, and I don't want to embarrass you all."

"It's been many years since you were a little girl, and many years since we spent time together, but I know you very well," Avery says to her sister, "Right now, I just want you to focus on how you're going to get your internship back."

Gabrielle looks anxiously between her sisters.

"Don't let people bully you," Avery adds with a significant look at Janetta.

A maid approaches from down the hall, "Miss Peters, Mrs. Peters said she wants to drink a cup of juice."

Gabrielle turns to follow the maid. She knows that Katherine expects her to make the juice, but Avery stops her.

"You tell Mrs. Peters that Gabrielle is busy now, and she can manage to get herself a cup of juice," Avery says severely.

"But Mrs. Peters said Miss Peters makes the best juice," the maid protests, "She insists that Miss Peters makes it."

"Sister, I should just go and make the juice," Gabrielle whispers.

"Stop right there!" Avery calls, "You're not a maid here."

Gabrielle sits down on the sofa and stares at the floor, and the maid closes the door behind her as she leaves. 

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