The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 101

She turned back to the principal, who had stood to see her out. "No matter why you agreed to do this, thank you. It means a lot to my family."

He looked confused and rubbed his beard as though he was nervous and didn’t know what to do with his hands. "What are you talking about? It is our responsibility as a school to cater for the needs of all our students. You don’t need to thank me for doing my duty."

He was feigning innocence and would not admit he had received orders even if she pushed, so she let him be. It didn’t matter why he was doing it anyway, as long as her son got to learn like other kids. She would have to thank Damon later.

A call from Mina brought her back to her senses. She answered it as she said goodbye and left the principal’s office.

"Should I ask GH’s CEO to return tomorrow? He is here and doesn’t want to meet anyone aside from you." Mina explained in distress.

"I am already on my way, but GH? What on earth is their CEO doing at Vaillant Telecommunications?" She wanted to explode when she remembered this must have something to do with Gabriel. He was yet to explain why he thought GH, of all companies in Olphire, was the perfect partner for their company.

"He refuses to explain everything to anyone who is not you. Since you are on your way, I’ll have him wait."

Avery had wanted to stay with her son for a bit longer but she had to go back to work and he needed to be in class so she returned to the company.

GH’s CEO, a man in his thirties, was a nightmare on legs. It made one wonder why Gabriel would assume it would be alright to collaborate with him on anything. She was proved right as soon as she arrived.

"Did you have fun making me wait?" He asked as she entered the conference room where he had vowed not to move a step until she came.

She took her seat. "This may come as a surprise to you, Mr. Johnson, but the world does not revolve around you. People have much more important things to do than think about making you wait."

"That’s not how to speak to the CEO of the company you are about to collaborate with." He remarked, making her laugh in ridicule.

"Who said anything about collaborating with you?"

Gabriel, who had just arrived, was horrified by her words. "Vivi, a word, please?" He called her out. Hoping he had something nice to talk about, she stood and followed him out, shutting the door gently behind her.

"This better be something..."

"That I worked my ass off to get? Yes it is. GH is slowly going bankrupt and this is your biggest chance to get your arch nemesis out of the way once and for all."

"They are going bankrupt?" She couldn’t believe it.

"Yes. And the best part is, the D’Abovilles have been eyeing GH for years. They had already negotiated with Johnson and were going to buy some of their shares but I intervened and offered him a slightly higher amount to buy them from him."

"Count me in." She agreed before he brought out the big guns.

Okay? He was taken aback, having thought he would have to bring in an entire presentation of what she would gain for her to agree.

"Whatever the D’Abovilles want, I will take it from them." She returned to the conference room with a smile unlike the displeased expression from earlier.

"Shall we call it a happy collaboration?" She asked.

"Not until you explain why you changed your mind after that conversation. What exactly did he tell you?" Johnson was skeptical as he shifted his gaze between the two of them.

It made sense that he was suspicious of whatever their conversation entailed but no way in hell was she going to tell him what a cash cow his company was going to be. "He reminded me how easy it would be for us to solve our grudges if we collaborate."

She thought he would drop it but he leaned against the desk and looked at her flirtatiously. "There is a much better way to deal with pent up hate."

"I just remembered why I hate you." She shut down his advance with as much calm as she could muster. For the sake of taking something the D’Abovilles wanted so badly, she ignored his gaze and listened to what his assistant had to say. To be exact, she was not paying much attention. It didn’t matter what the cost was, she was taking the shares.

He slid the contract over the table which she carefully scanned. She couldn’t put it past him to use this chance to have her get her company in trouble she couldn’t get out of. When she took out a neon flashlight and scanned it under every sheet of paper, he scoffed. "If I wanted to make you sign to any term you wouldn’t usually agree too, I would find a way to make them appealing. Hiding unreadable text isn’t GH’s style."

"Right." She put away her flashlight only after making sure she was not being tricked.

"Judging from your skeptical reaction, have you ever made anyone sign a contract with hidden clauses?"

"No. Have you?" She wanted to change the topic. She had, but she was not going to talk about it with her enemy. She scribbled her signature on the contract, only for Johnson to ask for her identification document.

"I can’t take any chances with a beautiful women. They use their beauty to get away with way too much."

Realizing he was comparing the signature to avoid an incident of her denying the signature and accusing him of fraud, she had to agree there was no way the two of them would ever trust each other.

"If you are done, let’s proceed, shall we? Contact Gabriel if you need anything else."

"What a bummer. I wanted to be able to ask you. Also, don’t you want to show me around the company?"

"No, but I’ll be happy to show you to your grave." She threatened, and Gabriel dragged her away so she would stop talking.

"I’ll ba back shortly." He promised and pulled her as far from the conference room as he could before letting her go. "Since you know how important this is, don’t ruin it. In exchange, I’ll ensure he never has the chance to make an appearance before you."

"It’s a deal." She promised to stay away from the deal. Her signature was all they needed to proceed anyway.

"There you are. I was going to..." Mina slowed down when she saw Gabriel. She cleared her throat and pretended not to notice him. "I was going to look for you."

"She’s all yours." Gabriel grinned and left, making Avery know there was something between them.

"You have to tell me what happened between you too!" She nearly squealed in excitement. "Obviously, keep the x-rated details to yourself."

"But that’s all I care about." Mina complained but went ahead explaining on their way back to her office.

"He apologized. Can you believe that? This is Gabriel Vaillant."

"He has become quite humanly lately." Avery wouldn’t believe it either but the more Gabriel interacted with Angel, the happier he was. It was almost as though his coldness had something to do with a void in his heart and said void was slowly being shrunk by Angel. She wouldn’t be surprised if that was true—her son’s smile could light up the world and if he found someone he liked, he didn’t hesitate to let them know how much he treasured them. Maybe that was what Gabriel needed.

"No. I’m not going to have kids any time soon." Mina looked horrified, and after what she said, so did Avery.

"Who asked you to have kids?"

"Everyone knows how gentle Gabe is with Angel. When you said he has become quite humanly lately, your gaze couldn’t be any more obvious. You think if Gabe had a child, he would learn to be kinder. And you thought of that while looking right at me."

This was the only disadvantage of having an assistant with such good insight—her insanely good memory let her understand situations with only a hint of information given. It was useful against their opponents but at the same time, conversations could turn awkward in the blink of an eye.

"Honey, no one’s asking you to have kids with anyone." She assured her, but instantly remembered Mina had once mentioned she unknowingly called her honey when she was lying, she bit her tongue. "Do you just don’t want kids, or is it the thought of having them with a man you just met that’s the big deal?"

"How can I not want kids? I want a cute son. But Gabe is a secret mafia boss. How can I even think of it? I’m nervous enough dating him."

Avery was surprised they were even dating, considering how much Gabriel hated relationships and how opposed Mina was to doing anything long-term with him. She was right about them before; they were a match made in hell.

"It’s a little too soon to think about kids anyway. Take it slow and if you ever want to have them, you can figure it out together. If not, you can decide what to do to prevent sudden surprises." She patted Mina’s shoulder in reassurance, without realizing how wrong she was.