Chapter 150 - 150: A Bitch

"There must be some sort of mistake," Avery thinks.

"You've got the wrong number," she said coldly.

"Wait, is this Gabrielle Peters?" the police officer asks, "The man we have in custody said that you're his legal guardian."

"Guardian?" Avery thinks, "What on earth did Gabrielle do behind my back?"

Avery's head spins as she walks to the bathroom. She wonders if it's the news about Gabrielle or because she's still weak from her ordeal in the darkroom. When she brushes her teeth in the bathroom, she feels sick and wants to throw up. She gags and clutches the counter around the sink. Gastric juice splatters the fine porcelain and stings her throat. Avery wipes her mouth, and a terrible idea comes into her mind.

"What if I'm actually pregnant?" she thinks.

When she gets to the dining room, she still feels sick.

"Is it because she ate too much cake last night?" she wonders, "There has to be some logical explanation for this."

"Didn't you sleep well, Mrs. Howel," a servant asks, looking concerned, "Pardon my saying this, but you look haggard."

Avery shakes her head and tries to fight the urge to gag again.

"Could it be a coincidence that I'm showing pregnancy symptoms today?" she wonders, "Perhaps, I thought about it so much, my mind has started to play tricks on me. Besides, it seems too early to be showing these symptoms."

Avery runs upstairs and searches the cabinet in Evan's bathroom, but she can't find any of the pregnancy tests. She knows that if she asks Dr. Walter to check, he would report his findings to Evan. She rubbed her temples and tries to think everything through. She knows she didn't take any sort of birth control when she made love with Evan at the Peters' villa.

"I need to deal with this 'Amnesia' situation first, and then I'll go to the hospital to have them do a pregnancy test," she thinks.

Deciding on a plan helps settle her stomach and she rushes to the garage. She waves the driver away and gets into the driver's seat herself. The policeman told her that the man in the apartment Gabrielle rented had seriously disturbed nearby residents. She goes directly to the luxury high-rise at the address the officer gave her.

She walks through the marble lobby and takes the elevator to the 19th floor. Upon stepping out of the elevator, Avery immediately sees the uniformed policeman. He's standing at the door to one of the apartments and having a very serious conversation with a man. The man talking to the officer is tall and dressed in loungewear. He leaned casually against the doorframe, but even leaning he stands a full head taller than the officer.

His gray and slightly curled hair covers his eyebrows, and he wears a white diamond earring in one ear. His skin is white and he has rosy lips and even white teeth, which gives him a slightly feminine appearance. When the man hears Avery's footsteps, he raises his gaze and gives Avery an arrogant look.

"You called me," Avery says to the officer.

"Miss Peters?" the police officer asks

"I am," Avery replies.

"She is not," the man interrupts.

The policeman looks confusedly at Avery.

"Gabrielle's mobile phone is here with me," Avery explains, "She's tending to some urgent business and couldn't make it here today."

The smiles disdainfully at Avery.

"This gentleman said that Gabrielle Peters is his guardian, but if you're her representative, I suppose I can explain the situation to you," the officer says.

The policeman tells Avery that the man's downstairs neighbors complained about the noise the man was making while redecorating his apartment. The officer suggests that Avery and the man have a conversation with the resident in person to clarify the situation and foster goodwill in the building. According to the officer, the resident is threatening to sue the man for disturbing the peace. The officer leaves with a polite nod at Avery.

The man still leans against the door and looked disdainfully at Avery.

"Tell Gabrielle, that if she doesn't come over herself, I'll sue her for hit-and-run," he threatens.

Avery looks at him in confusion. She has no idea how Gabrielle knows this man or how he came to live in an apartment she's renting. Last time Avery checked, Gabrielle was living in the Peters' house—it makes no sense for her to have a secret apartment. Suddenly, Avery remembers the conversation she overheard between Gabrielle and Katherine—she recalls Katherine trying to blackmail Gabrielle about a man.

"She can't come over," Avery says flatly.

The man doesn't seem to respond to this statement. Avery looks at his beautiful features and frowns.

"By the way," the man said, "You should also tell her I maxed out her credit card."

Avery desperately wants to know why Gabrielle is keeping such an arrogant man. She knows that the Peters family gives Gabrielle a pitiful allowance. Her sister often has to work as a private nurse to earn extra money. She wonders why this man is behaving so ungrateful and selfish.

"Why did you max out her credit card?" Avery asks coldly, "I'm pretty sure she could sue you for fraud."

"Well, let her sue me herself," the man says, slamming the door shut in her face.

Avery scowls and begins to knock on the door with a loud, angry rap, but the man doesn't open the door.

"What kind of man did Gabrielle mess with?" she wonders, "Why did she rents an apartment for him and let him max out her credit card? I never thought Gabrielle could be so easily fooled or taken advantage of, but here's the evidence right under my own nose."

She continues to pound on the door, but the man ignores her. She hears the elevator ding behind her and high-heeled footsteps clack in the hallway.

"It's noisy!" a familiar voice complains, "Do you really want me to sue you?"

Avery turns her head and sees Leonie standing outside the elevator. Leonie is wearing loungewear and her hair is tied up with a messy bow. Avery resists the urge to gape at her. Leonie is typically well-dressed and put-together when she goes out. Her casual attire can only mean one thing.

"You live here?" Avery asks.

Before leaving the Howel estate in the morning, she heard some servants gossiping that Leonie had been forced to move out. She assumed Leonie had gone back to her family's estate, but it seems she rented an apartment instead.

"You must be thrilled to hear that I was kicked out of the Howel's house," Leonie says bitterly.

"I don't care whether you were kicked out or not," Avery says with a shrug, "How you live is none of my business. I take it you're the one who called the police?"

"You're right." Leonie says stalking toward her, "Not only will I sue the man for disturbing the peace, but I'll also make sure everyone knows that Gabrielle is secretly keeping him here."

"Do you have any proof of that?" Avery asks cooly, "If not, you are slandering the reputation of others. You have to take responsibility in court for that kind of thing."

"This man used her credit card to rent another apartment on this floor, and he combined the two apartments into one by breaking down the wall between them," Leonie said triumphantly, "Here's the bill. Do you want to see it?"

Leonie removes a stub of paper from her pocket and waves it under Avery's nose.

"What are you implying?" Avery asks.

"It's not about what I'm implying," Leonie answers with a smirk, "It's about how your father will react if he finds out about this. Gabrielle is only eighteen years old, and gossip is a fearful and damaging thing. Do you think she can handle this?"

Avery frowns. There's no denying that every word Leonie has said is true. Avery knows that Gabrielle's reputation is incredibly important to her. If rumors spread that she was keeping an older man, the damage to her reputation could follow her through the rest of her life. Avery believes the situation is more complicated than it appears, but she knows there's nothing she can do about it—the man refuses to answer the door to anyone but Gabrielle.

She walks past Leonie to the elevator and presses the button for the lobby. Before the elevator closes, she shoots a challenging look at Leonie.

"Do whatever you want to, Miss Summers," she says, "We'll see who comes out on top."

Leonie balls her hands into fists and waves them angrily.

"You're a bitch!" she screams, "Just wait and see!"