Chapter 76: To Know Him

Avery frowns at his threat. Then she gets up to bring him cold water to soothe his tongue. She hands him the glass and tries to sit on a chair near the couch, but Evan pulls her down and holds her against his side. She can't help but wonder if he's as ill as he claims.

Angered by his possessive move, she tries to jerk away from him. Robert enters the room with a procession of bodyguards—each man carries a pile of leather-bound ledgers. They place the books on the table, covering the entire surface. Evan nods his dismissal, and Robert and the bodyguards step aside.

Avery gets up, "I'll leave you alone to work."

She assumes that Evan is going to work—the books look like business ledgers and she's sure that Evan is the type of man who refuses to take a sick day. But Evan pulls her arm, forcing her back down onto the sofa.

"I'm not working."

"Then what are you doing?" Avery asks.

She looks at the neatly bound books and realizes they're photo albums.

"I want you to know me," Evan says.

He holds out his band and Robert hands him one of the books from the stack. There's a picture of a smiling baby on the cover. Evan opens the album, revealing that it's filled with his baby photos.

His small body is wrinkled, and his eyes are closed in many of the photos. He looks like a grumpy old man with little chubby arms.

"It was a natural birth," he says, "I weighed 8.6 pounds and measured 58 cm."

"Why do you want me to know this?" Avery asks.

"I want you to know everything about me," he says with great intensity, "Who I am. My past. Everything."

"The past is the past. Why bother with it?" Avery asks.

"So you want to know me now?" Evan asks, turning the album page and gazing up at her.

"Not exactly."

Avery avoids his gaze. Instead, she looks at the new picture and laughs out loud. Baby Evan is trying to lift his head, but it's too heavy for him. After several similar photos, he gives up. The next series of photos show him using his chubby hands to lift his body. Little by little he raises his read, trying so hard that his little forehead wrinkles with the effort.

"Even as a baby, he was persistent," Avery thinks.

"You were so cute then," Avery says, "Much cuter than you are now."

"You think so?" Evan asks, "Maybe we should make one of our own."

"In your dreams," Avery replies.

"Two then?" Evan asks.

"Nonsense."

"How about a dozen—we can have a football team," Evan jokes.

"Not a chance," Avery says, fighting the urge to smile at him.

"Do you want boys or girls?"

Avery considers it for a moment, "Definitely girls."

"Then eleven girls and one boy," Evan says.

"You seem convinced we get to choose the sex," Avery says with a laugh.

As soon as the words leave her mouth, she regrets them.

"Why am I talking about children with Evan, when I don't want them?" she thinks, "Why am I suddenly using words like we?"

She pushes his away, "I see what you're doing—but you can't trick me into this. I'm not having children with you."

"Sir, dinner is ready," Robert interrupts, "Shall I ask them to bring it to you?"

Evan nods but Avery stops him, "I'll do it."

Evan gives her a questioning look.

"What? You asked me to care for you, and I'm doing it," Avery says to Evan.

She feels overwhelmed in the room with him and desperately wants to escape and get some fresh air. Evan nods and passes the album to Robert, and Avery strides out of the room. As soon as she enters the hall she takes a deep breath. Unbidden, the image of a baby appears in her mind. It looks like Evan's baby photos, but it has her eyes. She's not sure if the image makes her want to scream or cry.

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There is crashing noise in the kitchen and the chef shouts, "Miss Summers, lookout."

The warning is followed by the loud banging of a ladle and a knife.

"What's going on?" Avery asked, raising her voice to be heard above the noise.

"Miss Summers said she wanted to cook some soup for Mr. Howel," a maid explains.

"Really?" Avery looks at the mess in the kitchen. It looks like a bomb has gone off. As Avery nears the work station, she sees food and utensils littering the work table and the floor.

Leonie stands poised with a large knife in her hand, roughly hacking at something on the table. In spite of the chaos and the heat, Leonie's hair and makeup are still perfect. As Avery gets closer, she sees that the pink ring has disappeared from Leonie's finger.

"Evan wants to eat now," Avery says, "Is the food ready?"

"Almost. But my soup needs another few minutes," Leonie says, "Chicken soup is one of the best remedies for the flu, so I decided to make some for Evan. I'll bring it to him myself when it's ready."

"That is very kind of you," Avery says.

She pinches a stray carrot peel between her fingers and flicked it into the bin. Based on what she knows about Leonie, she suspects that the chicken is still alive and bathing in the broth.

"It's not kindness," Leonie says, "I love Evan almost as much as I love my sister. Since she can't get back, he's all I have."

"Can't get back?" Avery asks.

Leonie pretends to look surprised as if she's slipped and said something she didn't mean to say, but she seems to change her mind and her expression becomes cunning.

"If you don't have Evan's children, Diana will never come back," she says.

"What do you mean?" Avery asks.

Leonie pretends to ignore the question and focuses on chopping some herbs. Avery grabs her wrist, and Leonie freezes with the knife in mid-air.

"What are you doing?" Leonie demands, "Let go of me!"

"I asked you what you meant?" Avery snarls, imitating Evan's threatening demeanor.

Avery tugs the knife from Leonie's hand and slams it down on the table.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Leonie hisses.

"If I don't have Evan's children, your sister can't come back. Why?"

"Oh," Leonie pretends to be surprised, "I guess you don't know."

"What should I know?"

"I can't tell you," Leonie says with infuriating smugness.

"Whatever," Avery says.

"Leonie is probably just trying to lay a trap for me," she thinks, "I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of falling for it."

Avery releases Leonie's hand and turns to leave the kitchen. Leonie hates Avery's don't-give-a-damn attitude., desperately she shouts after Avery, "I cooked the soup for Evan and I want to feed him myself."

"As you like," Avery says airily.

"Compared to a 200 million dollar ring, what's a little homemade soup?" Avery thinks bitterly.

"Evan has been treating me coldly since the disaster with the candle and our relationship isn't what's used to be. I want to look after him and show him I have no hard feelings."

"Whatever," Avery says.

"If you want to know what I mean about Diana, you have to help me with Evan," Leonie says, "Get me some time with him so I can break the ice and save our relationship."

"You live in the same house as him," Avery says incredulously, "You can find your opportunities with him."

"It's not like I haven't tried," Leonie complains, "If I'd been able to get time with him, why would I bother with you? I'm not trying to take Evan form you anymore, I just want us to be what we used to be. I'm not asking for much from you—but if you don't give it to me I'll take this secret about Diana to the grave."

Leonie pauses and studies Avery's expression before adding, "This secret concerns you, you know. In the end, it's me who's doing you a favor by offering to tell you."

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