Chapter 87
Chapter 87 All That Matters Is My Love For You
"Your friend gave her key to me," Cayden explained how he came into possession of it.
Throwing him an acknowledging glance, Avery couldn't hide her eyes that were swollen red from crying.
When Cayden approached her curiously, he saw her stagger back in reflex, causing him to wonder when she had begun to avoid him.
Thinking back to the night before, she not only didn't dodge his kisses in the car but also reciprocated with even greater passion.
In the morning, both of them didn't talk much in the car due to Blake's presence. Other than that, their interactions were normal with no sign of any attempt to create distance.
However, when he called her in the afternoon, she didn't answer regardless of how many times he did.
Left without a choice, he came over to see her.
Coincidentally, he ran into Nina while driving into the residential area. The latter came up to him and asked, "Boss, I know about your relationship with Ery. Do you why she is behaving strangely today? Did something happen between the two of you?"
Unable to bear not knowing what happened, Cayden rushed over the moment he finished his meeting.
In truth, he looked distracted during the entire meeting, which was a first for the employees of Trident Group.
While the meeting's key speaker was going through his presentation, Cayden, who was supposed to be concentrating on the data, was staring listlessly into space with a frown.
"It's already late. What are you doing here?" Avery wasn't ready to talk to him until she got a grip on her emotions.
Besides, her home wasn't the right place to do so.
At that moment, Blake was done playing with the birds. After getting up from his rocking chair and giving them a final glance, he opened the balcony door and returned to the living room. When he saw Cayden standing at the door, he gave Avery a look of surprise. "Oh? Zayne's here. Ery, why aren't you inviting him in?"
Avery glanced at Blake.
The advantage of being overwhelmed by problems was that she was able to differentiate her priorities at the crucial moment instead of being devastated by them.
Ever since her sick father left her side, Blake's health was all that mattered. As for her relationship with Cayden, it could be dealt with later.
"Zayne, come in and have a seat," Blake invited, to which Cayden nodded before taking his place on the couch.
"Ery, get him a glass of water," Blake ordered his granddaughter when he saw that she was not budging before taking a seat on the other side of the couch. Avery had no choice but to comply.
"Here." She walked up to the couch with a glass of water in hand.
When Cayden reached out to receive it, he clasped Avery's hand while holding the glass at the same time.
As if she had been electrocuted, Avery retracted her hand swiftly.
Since Blake's presence had made it inconvenient to talk, Cayden raised his glass from his left and placed it on his right.Text content © NôvelDrama.Org.
Looking up at Avery, he noticed the grim look on her face.
"Were you crying just now?" Cayden asked the obvious.
"No," Avery denied at once.
Cayden's gaze darkened as he pressed on. "In that case, why are your eyes swollen red?"
Stumped, Avery gave Blake a worried look before lying, "I didn't sleep well in the old house. Every time I don't, my eyes become like that."
Due to his nearsightedness, Blake failed to notice the change in Avery's eyes. In fact, he thought it was part of her makeup.
Back when he was in Jetroina, he had grown accustomed to the flamboyant makeup of the young girls there.
Even though his eyes weren't what they used to be, his ears were still doing fine. As a result, he could sense the tension between them when he heard the way they were talking to each other. "Both of you continue. I'm going back to my room to rest. The long car ride has exhausted me." No sooner had Blake spoken than he made his way back to his room.
With that, only the two of them were left in the living room.
Getting to his feet, Cayden grabbed Avery's wrist so that she couldn't avoid him further. Despite her silent struggle to free herself, she was dragged into the kitchen against her will. There, Avery looked up at Cayden and protested in an emotionless tone, "I don't like it when you do something like this."
At the same time, Cayden gazed icily down at her. It was obvious to him that she was behaving out of sorts.
"I don't like how domineering and overbearing you can be." Avery's eyes reddened as she spoke. Peering into his eyes, she pulled out all the stops for her act. "I spent the last two days with you not because I have any feelings for you. Instead, it was my ego that was controlling me."
Cayden tightened his grip on her wrist upon hearing those words.
"Because of Zayne's betrayal, I needed a man to restore my dignity. I have no reason to reject when that person happens to be a boss of a conglomerate. After all, it feels great to humiliate Zayne and his mistress with someone who's superior." Avery burst into laughter.
"So you were just using me?" Staring into her eyes, Cayden could see his own reflection in her tears.
"That's right." The moment Avery blinked, the tears lingering on her eyelashes dropped. "It was only after I had gotten my revenge that I became aware of how depressed I felt over Zayne's marriage and the fact that he already has a child with her. The despair that struck me was just as devastating as when I first heard about my dad's cancer."
Leveraging on her excuse, Avery intensified her sobs while her hand trembled concurrently. "I was willing to sacrifice myself to destroy Zayne and his other half. The hatred inside me was so strong that everyone else, including you, didn't matter."
"Do you think I'll buy that nonsensical story you're spouting?" Cayden furrowed his brows. With a stern expression, he continued, "Your excuse doesn't make any sense. That aside, I don't care who you love. All that matters is that I love you."
Avery did not have the energy to argue further since he refused to believe her.
Nevertheless, his confession caused goosebumps to rise on her skin and sent a chill down her spine. At the end of the day, there was an invisible line between them that was impossible to cross.
Inside the cramped kitchen, the air was saturated with Cayden's crisp and unique scent.
Despite keeping her distance to desperately resist his breath and kisses, Cayden's invisible charm overwhelmed her like a virus. Enveloping her on all sides, it dissolved into her breath and emanated through every fiber of her being. Even though she had decided to stay away from him, coming face to face with him triggered doubts about whether he was actually Allie's biological son.
However, the chances of that are just too slim. Given how sharp Cayden is, there's no way he wouldn't know that Allie isn't his birth mother.