She was already two months pregnant, and he had just found out about it. Avery met his eyes, which were burning with rage, and said in frustration, "You always manage to find a way to humiliate me!"'Whose child does he think it would be, if not his?' she thought, 'Eric's, maybe Mike's?'"If it's mine, why didn't you tell me?!" Elliot did not realize that there was a flaw in his suspicion-filled thoughts. Her actions had brought back memories of their past.This was not the first time she had hidden her pregnancy from him. He hated how she had kept him in the dark, toying with him like a fool. "Don't you ever get tired of this, Elliot?" She stared at the furious expression on his face and said in desperation, "I am… I am so tired… No matter what happens, you can always find a reason to be mad at me! Who do you think I am? What exactly am I to you?!"Avery pressed the button to open the elevator doors.Elliot glanced at the display screen and realized that they had only reached

Her eyes were red with rage. "And what if I have a miscarriage?"Her question had caused a lump to form in Elliot's throat, and he fell helplessly silent."The baby is barely three months old, there is no certainty that it will survive! If you keep pissing me off every single day, I can assure you that it won't." Avery watched as Elliot gaped at her words. She felt a rush. She was finally able to retaliate.He moved his lips, but in the end, he could not say a single word. He knew that he should not provoke her any further when he remembered how hopeless Avery appeared to be while in the hospital. She had plenty of chances to get rid of the baby before, but she did not. She suffered from morning sickness in silence, she had lost so much weight, and still, she had not gotten rid of the child. That was proof enough that she intended to carry it to term. Elliot slowly began to regain his composure.Avery calmed down and unlocked her phone to find messages from Mike, Tammy, and Eri

He walked to the living room and stood still, waiting for Avery to follow him."What else do you want to talk about?" She walked toward the stairs, longing to go upstairs and rest."Are you going to sleep?" He studied her slim frame and lowered his defenses."Yeah. We can talk first, though, if that's what you want."Avery remained standing by the stairs. She did not want to get close to him, for every time she caught a whiff of his scent, her heart would clench with pain. It was a scent that she was so familiar with, yet destiny had made it so that their hearts were miles apart."Go to sleep!" He sat down on the couch. "I will leave in a while.""Oh…" She looked away from him and went upstairs.Elliot stood up from the couch as soon as Avery was upstairs. He had finally realized how self-centered and selfish he had been all this while. He had never truly understood what she wanted. He had thought that he had given her everything he could, and he blamed her for not accepting him

She immediately tensed. Since she had her back to him, she could not see his face, and she had no idea as to what he was trying to do. She found herself at a crossroad. 'What should I do if he tries something?' she thought to herself.To her surprise, he did not move after lying down.She could feel his breath drift across her skin, and she could hear his strong steady heartbeat. His breathing slowed, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, the way he would when they had still been in love all those years ago.She opened her eyes as her mind drifted back to the past. Tears began to gather in her eyes as the men behind her slept. She lifted his arm off of her and sat up. Wiping her tears away, she studied Elliot as he slept. Her gaze traveled to his chest, and she suddenly felt the urge to see the wound on his chest. She began unbuttoning his shirt.As soon as she unbuttoned the first button, he scowled and instinctively shoved her hands away.She looked at him and thought

"Why are you mentioning this now?" Elliot did not want to fight. Now, there was something they shared, their child."Why not? Just because we don't talk about it, doesn't mean it's in the past!" Avery knew it was bad to be hung up on the past, but she also knew that there were things that had to be clarified, or they would all come back to hurt them.Elliot pulled her into his arms and said in a gentle voice, "Weren't you going to sleep? Did I wake you?"Her face was pressed into his chest, and she felt the heat of his skin. She panicked and shoved him away before she lay down with her back facing him. Elliot stared at her slim frame as his heart ached. Avery had not told him what his mother had said to her before she died, and naturally, he did not have the courage to ask about it.If she was this frustrated when he did not ask about it, she would only be angrier if he confronted her about it. He pulled up the blanket and covered her with it, before lying down next to her once

Avery looked up at Mike, then said, "Can't you just let me eat in peace? We didn't talk about any of that!""What did you talk about all afternoon then?" Mike said with a look of astonishment. "Why was he upstairs? Did he sleep in your room? Well?""Do I ever freak out when you bring Chad home to stay the night?""Chad's my boyfriend. Is Elliot Foster your boyfriend?" Mike asked. "How can your ex-husband possibly be compared to my boyfriend? Or are you planning on making things official with him?"Avery was taken aback."You're so annoying," she said with furrowed brows."Fine, I won't speak anymore. Go on and eat," Mike said as he felt bad seeing Avery's skinny figure.Avery picked up her spoon and took a sip of her soup.It was still warm.The children were staring at her with unblinking eyes.Avery's cheeks flushed as she said, "Why are you staring at me like that?""Mommy, will you still love Hayden and me once the baby's born?" Layla asked."Of course!" Avery exclaimed

Shea nodded and said, "I'll keep it in my room. I won't lose it.""Good. Have you had dinner yet?" Elliot asked."I did! I ate at the hotel with Hayden.""You seem to like Hayden a lot," Elliot said as he recalled the way she had switched seats with Mike that afternoon.In the past, she had never left his side while they were out. Today, however, she had actually preferred sitting next to Hayden."I like Hayden and Layla," Shea said.She had a strong feeling that she was not only Hayden's aunt but Layla's as well.She felt this way because she recognized that the bond Hayden and Layla shared to be the same as the one she and Elliot shared. Elliot could not help but recall the way he had almost strangled Hayden to death at the mansion in the forest.When they met that afternoon, Hayden did not once look at him.It was as if he was avoiding him on purpose.Elliot was sure that the boy was traumatized.He felt guilty as he recalled what had happened.He had never felt guil

Avery almost passed out when she saw the trending topic online that morning.She was not distraught because the author had called her private life a mess, but she was distraught because the reprobate holder of the account had posted photos of her two children!The photo had been taken by a member of the paparazzi, and it did not show the children's faces only their backs, but it was all the same!One could clearly see the children's features in the photos.The post even went as far as to reveal the name of their preschool.Avery dragged her weak body out of the bedroom.She knocked on Mike's door, then walked right into his room."Wake up, Mike!" she shouted as she yanked the covers off.It was a good thing Mike was wearing his underwear.Otherwise, Avery would have immediately regretted her recklessness."What's wrong?" Mike said as he looked at Avery with groggy eyes. "Avery… Is the sun even up yet?""It is! The kids are going to wake up soon."Avery showed Mike the artic

Elliot had not been able to get a wink of sleep, and he was currently catching up on his sleep. When his phone rang, he got up to answer the call."Sir, Mike said he wanted to hire a nanny to help Avery out. He accepted my offer to help him look for one."Chad had received new orders from Elliot last night, telling him to keep an eye on Avery's movements through Mike.Chad thought it was nice of his boss to do that.Elliot was clearly doing this because he wanted to be a responsible father, because of that, Chad had agreed to carry out his orders without hesitation. "I see. I'll arrange something," Elliot said hoarsely."Also, Avery went viral today. Someone got an entertainment news company to post photos of Hayden and Layla that had been taken by the paparazzi. The article went so far as to reveal that Avery was a single mother and that her personal life was a mess…" said Chad, finishing his report. Elliot's eyes furrowed as he said, "Look into it immediately and find out

Shea was worried they did not understand her and added, "My brother bought this gift for Avery."Avery closed the box, looked at Elliot, and asked, "What's the meaning of this?"The spark of war was instantly ignited.Mike immediately dragged Shea and the children out of the house.It would be bad for the children's mental well-being to watch their parents fight.Once Shea was out of the house, she turned to Layla and Hayden and explained, "My brother may have bought Avery's gift, but I was the one who got you your presents. It was me! You have to accept them!""Sure," Layla said and began to open her gift.On the other hand, Hayden had his eyes pinned in the direction of the living room."Relax, Big H! Your mom's pregnant with that dirtbag's baby, so there's no way he'd pick on her!" Mike said as he tried to comfort the boy. "Let's go somewhere to play!""I'm not going out," Hayden responded.He was still worried about his mother.Shea took Hayden's hand, then said, "Let's