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Zayne narrowed his eyes wearily and looked scrutinized Avery. “You were gentle and docile when you
were in your teens. But now, you're all covered in thorns and quills that appeared after your true colors
have been exposed.”
Hearing that insulting remark, Avery recalled how he had denigrated her again and again yesterday.
Words always cut like a sword when it was meant to hurt.
They cut deep into her, riddling her with wounds that dripped blood.
Right then, she had completely given up on him.
“It's almost time to clock in,” Avery reminded evenly as she walked past him.
However, Zayne grabbed her wrist. His hold was forceful, and he yanked her back. With his eyes
blazing scarlet, he snarled, “I'm not done talking to you!”
At that exact moment, Nina rushed out. “What are you doing, Zayne? Let go of Ery!”
Avery was wearing high heels, as required by the company. The heels were low, but that didn't mean
they were stable. At Zayne's pull, she twisted her left ankle.
Enduring the pain, she seized the opportunity when Nina pried Zayne's hand away to retract her hand.
In the next instant, she slipped off the ring on her left hand and threw it at Zayne's face with resolution
written all over her face.
She lifted her head again and declared, “Starting today, we'll go our separate ways.”
Her voice was monotonous. Despite her wrath, she clenched her jaw and remained calm.
Otherwise, she would look utterly pathetic.
Throughout these five years, the ones most skilled at putting on a front turned out to be Zayne and
Milana!
Nina told Avery that she once advised her brother not to have any contact with Milana, to which Zayne
asserted that he never had any contact with the latter.
By then, however, Avery realized that she was the one deceived through and through.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAt that very moment, Milana was sitting by the fountain in front of the office. While touching up her
makeup, she watched the show with a smirk through the mirror.
Withdrawing her gaze, Avery pursed her lips, revealing nary a hint of weakness.
The ring hit Zayne on the bridge of his nose. Lifting his hand, he caught the ring. He then stared at the
ring in his hand, his nose stinging. A long while later, he raised his eyes to look at Avery. “Go our
separate ways? How easy for you to say that. Are your calmness and indifference the only thing I get in
exchange for my grief and misery?”
“Stop talking. The two of you need to calm down.” Nina alternated her gaze between her brother and
her best friend.
“I'm calm because I have a clear conscience,” Avery sneered.
“Is that all you've got to say to me?” Zayne's hands balled into fists, and he seemed to be on the verge
of turning hysterical again.
“From the second you doubted me, nothing I say will make any difference. So why should I waste my
breath?” Pushing through the pain in her ankle, Avery headed toward the building.
Zayne's face went as black as thunder. He whirled around and chased after her.
Nina clutched at her brother hard. “We're at the office here. Do you want to make such a huge fuss that
everything becomes public knowledge? Zayne, I beg you. Everyone is staring, so please don't ruin
Ery.”
Avery's eyes suddenly turned red-rimmed when she heard Nina coaxing Zayne.
That's true. I've got a shameful past that can never be erased. If he goes off the deep end, there's a
possibility that he'll reveal everything, no matter how many people are listening and staring around us.
Where's the rational Zayne of the past? He knows full well that I'm most concerned about my reputation
in terms of my private life after that incident five years ago, yet he's now using that to humiliate me.
“You don't trust Ery, but you trust that pretentious b*tch, Milana? Who is she? She's nothing more than
a sl*t! Why are you entertaining her? Have you lost your brains?” Nina lambasted in distress, regarding
her brother in disappointment.
Staring at Avery's back, Zayne clenched his hands into fists again. Casting his mind back at the
bouquet of flowers sent by air freight that she received, Milana's words, and Deborah's caution at the
residential area, he looked at his sister with a manic expression. “I've learned my lesson from believing
her in the past. To me, she'll never be innocent again.”
Meanwhile, Avery went into the office.
She kept her head down as she walked, her mind a jumbled mess.
“Ms. Ery!”
Following a little boy's soft cry, someone hugged Avery's leg.
Avery turned back and looked down at the little boy hugging her leg at the side.
Lifting his head, Zachary gazed at her with innocent eyes and declared coquettishly, “I've been hiding
here and waiting for you for a long time, Ms. Ery! I've finally caught you!”
Avery cautiously darted her eyes around, only to discover that her colleagues seemingly had no idea
that Zachary was their CEO's son.
“Why are you here?” she asked in a whisper. At the same time, she tried to remove his hands from her
leg.
However, Zachary held firm to her leg and muttered, “Why are your eyes red, Ms. Ery?”
On the other hand, Xavier discovered that Zachary was gone when he came back down after delivering
the document. He searched everywhere, but he didn't find him. In the end, he had no choice but to
check the surveillance footage, tracking Zachary from when he got out of the car.
Finally, the surveillance footage indicated that he was on the first floor of the building. He came out of
nowhere. And now, he's hugging Avery's thigh as he acted cute?
On the first floor, Avery's phone rang.
“Hello.” From the caller ID, she saw that it was Xavier.
On the other end of the line, Xavier inquired, “Can you please bring Mr. Zachary to the top floor, Ms.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmRumpley? Mr. Moore is fit to be tied now.”
Averse to going to the top floor, Avery stammered, “Uh... Could you please come down and bring him
up instead, Mr. Dartsley?”
“Actually, Ms. Rumpley...” Xavier trailed off mid-utterance as he glimpsed Cayden, who had already
gotten to his feet. His brain whirred for a few seconds before he said, “It's okay. Just wait where you
are, Ms. Rumpley.”
Just wait where I am?
“Mr. Dartsley is coming down to pick you up,” Avery announced.
A minute later, however, she saw Cayden stepping out of his exclusive elevator and heading toward
her with his long legs.
Shuddering, she looked down and said to Zachary, “Your daddy's here. Quick, be good and let go of
me.”
Unfortunately, the boy refused to do so.
In the next moment, a massive hand took Zachary's petite ones away.
Zachary's hand was encircling Avery's thigh, so Cayden's hand inevitably grazed the latter's creamy
and smooth thigh when he took his son's hand away.
Before Zachary followed his father upstairs, he looked back and queried in concern, “Ms. Ery, does it
still hurt where my daddy hit you?”
Upon hearing that, Avery was wholly puzzled.
Hit me?
Noticing her bemusement, Zachary explained, “You were a picky eater, so Daddy spanked you. Daddy
said you cried when he hit you that day.”
Avery glanced around nervously before she answered, “N-Not really. It doesn't hurt anymore.” After
saying that, she discovered that Cayden was looking at her. At once, her face flamed.
Worried that others would misunderstand her relationship with the man, she bowed to him respectfully,
trying to appear as distant as possible.
Cayden's eyes flittered to her left hand, which was bereft of the usual ring. His initially grim features
promptly turned thoughtful and enthralling.
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