Abused.

Try as much as she could, Avery could not hold back the relieved sigh that escaped her lips as she walked out of the bathroom, droplets of water trailing after her feet. Not once in the past one month had she taken a satisfactory bath such as this one, where she was opportuned to scrub off the imaginary blood that had smeared her skin on that fateful day.

She looked around the room, taking in the soft, snowy color that dominated the whole place. From the silky smooth beddings and curtains, to the glossy, porcelain like drawers and desk, to the wooly rug that cushioned her feet. She loved it all, and if she was not in this current situation, she would have been swimming in excitement just by the sight of this room.

"Was this room previously owned by his wife?" she wondered out loud, unable to think of any other reason why such a luxurious room would be prepared and left empty. Even her currently aloof heart could sense the affections that were projected into the room's aesthetics…

Her thoughts ceased as she caught sight of the damaged phone lying on the bed.

'No therapy, Avery. Endure the pain,' she implored inwardly.

★★★

"What do you plan to do with Miss Ava, Arch?"

"Are you planning to send her off to another country? That would be great since she can start her life over and stay away from danger."

"You don't plan to keep her here in this country with you, right?"

Fed up with the constant chattering that had filled his ears since he came into the study, Archibald finally looked up from the book he was reading, his cold blue eyes piercing through his assistant's face. His gaze unwavering, he took off his glasses slowly and placed it on the desk.

''Neil, shouldn't you know the answer to that question?'' he questioned, his voice holding a hint of displeasure. Anyone would decide not to irk him more at this point except if the person was Neil, who had stayed long enough with Archie to know he was not yet angry.

He replied, ''I should. It's just that you promised your best friend to let his sister be but you are doing the direct opposite here.''

''Oh will you shut that mouth, Neil? You think Arthur would prefer that I let his sister die in the hands of those traitors and hate the idea of her getting married to me for safety?''

''No, that is definitely not what I mean. I just know he would appreciate you better if you employed other means to keep her safe instead of-''

Archie interjected, ''Then his gratitude can go to hell, with him of course. This, is the best way to keep Ava safe and you would not convince me otherwise.''

Neil gave up. The same way he knew when Archie was not yet angry is the same way he knew when the latter had made up his mind, and now, was an instance.

'Since you already decided, I guess I can leave now then. Jodi was disappointed I didn't go home last night,'' he tried to excuse himself.

''As she should be. I didn't ask you to stay," Archie replied, in a matter-of-fact tone. Picking up his glasses and the book, he continued, "I will be needing you back here early tomorrow morning."

''Alright, Sir. I will…" Neil trailed off, hearing a familiar voice calling out from the hallway. "Isn't that Miss Ava—"

Archie interrupted, "Stop asking obvious questions, Neil, and get out of here. Guide her here if she can't find her way."

Seconds later, the door was pushed open from the outside, Avery peeking her head in before her whole body followed.

"You are reading," she pointed out nervously, her eyes wandering around the study. Was a study meant to be this big? Or were the large shelves of books standing at every corner, the reason such a big room was made out into study?

"Not anymore," Archie replied. He dropped the book, placing it facedown on the table, but left his glasses on. "You prepared to answer the question I asked earlier?"

Avery nodded. "Yeah…maybe. I am telling you only so someone else can know the extent to which my family members were tortured; something the media obviously doesn't know," she said.

"Anything that makes you feel better,'' he replied blandly.

Since she was not invited to take her seat, Avery took the liberty to invite herself and settled on the couch.

"She left an audio message for me," she began, straining her eyes to watch Archie's every reaction closely. But even as she continued, the man kept his impassive expression like one who was listening to the weather forecast on a day he would be staying home.

She continued, "She was sorry, sorry that she didn't tell Arthur and I when Aunt Kathy began threatening her at first. She said it started the week—well, the week I asked her to meet some investors and…"

"You don't have to state the disturbing facts if you don't want to. I only need to know how gruesomely she was murdered."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have you misunderstanding her and thinking she was stupid for not escaping with me when the chance arose." She paused to catch her breath before proceeding, "Emma thought she could find out those traitors real backer and that I could save her from them, but it turned out we were tricked. They knew she would want me to escape alone so they tampered with my car and when they were sure I was either on the highway or dead, they video called me using the phone Emma gave me, and then I was forced to watch Aunt—sorry, Kathy abuse her one last time before…I don't know what happened next. But I am sure she died there."

"In what way was she abused?"

"She was whipped," Avery replied. "Emma said in the audio message she left that Kathy is a crazy woman. She blackmailed her with the rape video, forcing Emma not to tell both Arthur and I, and whipping her in private too. She only got the courage to tell Arthur on my uhm…wedding day."

Archie completed the story on her behalf, "And Arthur was quick to sense something was wrong so he wanted to stop your wedding, and met with an accident on the way?"