Filed to story: Love Entangled with Her Unconscious Husband Novel >>
A week later, Ben walked into Elliot’s office at Sterling Group with the latest piece of first-hand gossip about Trust Capital to share with him.
“Charlie Tierney is interested in investing in Tate Industries, right? Rumor has it that Avery Tate hasn’t given him a solid answer yet,” Ben said with the widest grin on his face. “I also heard that he’s been asking Avery out at every opportunity… He invited her out for dinner, asked her out for a hike, and even to an art gallery… It looks like he’s pulling out all the stops, but it’s too bad that Avery’s been indifferent and ignoring all of his advances…”
“Mr. Tierney’s finally met his match!” Chad chimed in. “He’s an expert Casanova. Every one of his girlfriends has been more outstanding than the last, and they were all crazy about him. Even after he broke up with him, he still managed to stay on friendly terms with all of them. I didn’t expect Miss Tate not to fall for his charms.”
Elliot’s face was stiffened with rage. He did not find the whole thing funny at all.
The fact that Charlie Tierney was asking his wife out in the name of “work” was vile, disrespectful and a blatant act of shamelessness.
“She hurt her face and hasn’t left the house in a week,” Elliot said curtly.
Ben and Chad were taken aback.
“How did she get hurt?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Elliot said quietly, “My mother hit her.”
“What the hell? Was it because of that whole thing with your nephew?”
“Yes,” Elliot said as he shifted his gaze away from his laptop screen. He picked up his cup of coffee, took a sip and said bitterly,
“She hasn’t spoken a word to me all week.”
“Well, did you try to make her feel better after your mother hit her?” Ben asked.
Elliot shook his head.
“Did you get her a gift or something to cheer her up?” Chad queried.
Elliot continued to shake his head.
Both Ben and Chad took deep breaths.
Any idiot would be able to figure out why Avery had ignored Elliot for a week!
“She wants a divorce. If I asked her what she wanted, she would say she wanted a divorce agreement;” Elliot said dejectedly. “If I tried to cheer her up, she would say that I was faking it and that I should divorce her if I truly cared about her.”
He was afraid of making a move or saying a word because all Avery wanted from him was a divorce.
Ben and Chad suddenly felt sympathetic towards him.
Elliot was far better than Charlier Tierney in every aspect, but why was his love life such a mess?
At the end of the day, one could blame it on his lack of experience. After all, most things become easier to handle the second and third time around.
The first thing they had to do was make it past the first obstacle. Only then would the journey get smoother.
“In that case, don’t ask her about it and just get her something,” Ben suggested. “You should get her some jewelry. All women love jewelry.”
“She doesn’t. I’ve never seen her wear any,” Elliot said.
“How about beauty products? All women use that stuff, right?” Chad proposed. “She doesn’t use any. When I went into her room, I didn’t find anything but a cleanser.” He could not just give her a measly face cleanser as a gift, could he?
Ben did not expect Avery to be so different from all the other women he had met.
What was even more unexpected was the fact that the great president of Sterling Group, Elliot Foster, actually snuck into a girl’s room to observe things like this!
“Buy her that cleanser, then!” Ben said.
“It was covered in dust. It didn’t look like she uses it much,” Elliot responded.
Ben and Chad were at a loss for words.
– “Clothes, Shoes, bags! She obviously wears clothes and shoes. She must use bags, right?” Ben continued to throw out ideas.
“I bet she’s devastated after your mother hit her. She won’t talk to you until you take some action.”
“Actually, I think Miss Tate is different from most women,” Chad said. “She’s still in college, so she probably isn’t very materialistic. Gifts might not do much for her.”
“You have a point,” Ben said as a thought popped into his head. “Gifts might help, but what’s more crucial here is the man being proactive with his body.”
“Meaning?” Elliot asked.
“Giving hugs and kisses?” Chad suggested.
“Exactly!” Ben exclaimed.
Elliot’s face instantly turned glum.
Seeing his change in expression, Ben offered up his assistance, “We can help you if you don’t feel like doing it!”
“You want to give her hugs and kisses?!” Elliot roared.
Ben choked and clarified, “I mean we can help get her gifts for you! The rest is up to you.” “Forget it,” Elliot said coldly. He did not want to depend on others to help him in his love life. “It’s not like she’s the only one for me,” he added.
“Why did you sneak into her room to check out her dusty face cleanser, then?” Ben teased. “Stop it, Ben. Give the boss some face,” Chad said.
“Get out, both of you!” Elliot snapped.
Chad grabbed Ben and yanked him towards the door.
“Chad,” Elliot said as they were walking away, “Get me an appointment with Charlie Tierney.”
“Yes, Sir. When would you like to meet him?”
“Tonight.”
“Okay.”
That evening, Avery decided to take a walk outside after dinner.
She had been cooped up indoors for a week and was feeling restless.
The bruise on her cheek had worsened after the day she covered it in makeup for her checkup.
She also was not using any medication, so it was taking a while for the bruise to heal.
Even now, even though it was not as bad as before, you could still notice traces of a purplish bruise if you looked closely.
Avery put on a face mask and walked out of the neighborhood.
She had barely taken a few steps before a motorcycle rode past her. It had already sped away before she realized that the phone in her hand had vanished!
Avery froze in her tracks.
When she realized that her phone had just been snatched away, she began to run in the direction that the thief had sped off.
However, she stopped running when she remembered that she was pregnant and made her way back toward the house.
Mrs. Cooper was on the phone with Elliot about an hour later.
“Master Elliot, Madam Avery’s phone was stolen when she was out on a walk earlier. I took her to the station to file a report, but we were told that it was nearly impossible to get the phone back. Madam Avery’s eyes were so red when we got home. She said that there was a lot of important information on her phone. She’s crying by herself in her room right now.”
She could not allow things to remain as they are, and she thought that if Elliot knew about the matter, he might be able to use his connections to retrieve Elliot’s phone.
In truth, she had never confirmed if Avery was actually crying in her room, but she said it on purpose in hopes that Elliot might feel bad and help her.
Elliot had an appointment with Charlier Tierney that night.
He was already at the restaurant where they were supposed to meet in, and Charlie was expected to arrive at any moment.
After receiving Mrs. Cooper’s call, he came to a decision after less than a minute’s consideration.
When Charlie arrived at the restaurant and saw nobody but Chad, he raised his brows and asked, “Where’s your boss?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Tierney, but Mr. Foster just left. Something happened at home, so he asked me to wait for you here and explain things to you,” Chad explained apologetically.
“Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?” Charlie scoffed. “Could it be that he decided not to meet with me and came up with some lame excuse?”
“Even if Mr. Foster didn’t want to see you, he wouldn’t escape at the last minute,” Chad said. “He’s not afraid of anyone.”
Charlie took a seat, then stared calmly at Chad and said, “From what I recall, he doesn’t have the best relationship with his family. Who exactly is in trouble for him to ditch me like this?”
“His wife,” answered Chad. Charlie did not have anything to say to that.
“I’m guessing Mr. Foster asked to meet you to discuss your dealings with Miss Avery Tate. I may be speaking out of turn, but I have to inform you that Mr. Foster is very fond of Miss Avery. You would be better off keeping your distance from her.”
After considering it for a moment, Charlie responded, “Have you ever thought of jumping ship, Chad? can offer a significant pay raise.”
Chad was flustered.