43. PI Report


    <<<. Avery. >>


    Having breakfast at Dom''s club lounge was a good idea. Surprisingly, I met some people who could give me a potential investment opportunity. We had decent conversations and shared contact information. Some people were eyeing me. I assume it was odd to share information at a kinky club. I don''t know. But I didn''t


    care.


    I have been contemting a lot and have decided to make some investments in California before I head back to New York. I will contact my consultant before making a final decision, but it doesn''t hurt to explore on my own.


    Right now, my funds from M are split into high yield mutual funds and a savings ount, respectively. I asked him what the source of the money was.


    He was cocky at first but told me eventually. "It''s a trust fund money I couldn''t ess if I was single."


    "Loopholes." I teased him and he chuckled.


    Despite the short time we had, because we were mostly horny and fooling


    around, he still managed to give me some wise suggestions.


    "Make sure to have a legal and financial consultant if you are not used to this kind of money." It was one of the suggestions..


    I quirked a brow at him.


    "Don''t you think you''re giving me this suggestion a little toote?" Two yearster, to be exact.


    Heughed. "I had no right to tell you what to do with your money." when he said those words, I couldn''t help butpare him with Ethan. Ethan always tried to make my decisions for me. Sometimes it was a struggle to keep him out of my work so he won''t interfere too much. After our breakup, I sometimes couldn''t help but think if that was one of the reasons he drifted apart from me. Because I was too independent for his taste? I am assuming this is what he has been doing with De too. Only that could exin his tight hold on my Collins family businesses.


    M seems like a nice man. Very considerate. Naughty, funny, and a little jerk at times. In short, everything a girl would want. This is why I need to maintain my distance from him. It doesn''t help that I get attached too easily. I felt so much hurtst night. I had no reason to. Was I expecting that he would hold me in his arms for the night or some shit like that?


    I had been throwing myself onto him. Of course, he wanted to try things out with me. Just because he is nice doesn''t mean I should cling to him.


    After breakfast, I get into the car and head towards Lena''s hotel room. I will go home after my meeting with Noah Miller. I have to return Lena''s rented car too. She was saying she will buy one over the weekend. High time I get one for myself too.


    61.5%


    I take the car out of parking and follow maps to make my way towards the


    highway. The break feels odd under my feet. Too spongy and mushy.


    I frown and look down.


    "Thesepanies charge so much for their rented cars but cannot freaking give it good servicing." I mutter under my breath.


    I don''t remember it being this bad. Or was it? Maybe I was so excitedst evening that I didn''t notice.


    Barely ten minutes onto the highway and I realized that was a wrong thing to


    assume,


    <<. Miles. >>


    I am driving towards Collins''s family mansion with hopes to find Avery there. She checked out of the hotel on the night of the attack and went to her father''s ce the next morning. She had told me she will move in with her business partner, Lena, once she finds her some temporary apartment for the two of them to stay.


    I call Avery for the third time. The ring tone booms on the car-speak while I focus on the road, speeding a little.


    "At least have some decency to decline the Call for fuck''s sake." I mutter to no one in particr when she doesn''t pick up my call.


    I take a deep breath and try to think. Maybe I am getting riled up for no reason. I


    can only hope she is safe, not alone with someone suspicious.


    What if she is? I hold the steering wheel tight in premonition.


    To ease my mind, I call Liam and he picks up shortly.


    "If this is some call to drag me to some middle night mission, I am noting," He grunts.


    “I am not!” I tell him in exasperation. Even though he is not my secretary anymore,


    I still bother him a little too much. Old habits die hard.


    "What happened?" he says, sensing my mood.


    "That stupid PI report on Avery. I didn''t see it sooner..." I say, feeling guilty.


    "Oh, shit... I forgot to check it too," he mumbles.


    We were so lost in the situation surrounding Isha. We altogether forgot about the attack.


    "I was hoping it was an aimless mugging case. That was stupid of me to think like that."


    "What did it say?" he asks after a pause.


    The investigator implied there is a chance her sister De had something to do with it.... and I think De is staying in the same house with her."


    61.7%


    Avery had told me at Dom''s club that De had confronted her at family dinner, and she was there the next morning, too. It means they are both staying at Collins Mansion.


    "Why didn''t that investigator inform us sooner... We took off the Bodyguard thinking she would be safe with her


    family."


    I grimace and nod. Avery had insisted she didn''t want a guard tagging along with her at all times. Being a private person myself, I know a bodyguard feels like a vition of privacy.


    "She is your legal wife... It can really turn serious if something happens to her, Miles." He says, and my stomach churns. I wasn''t thinking like this, but he is right. It can bring so much shit on me.


    "I am almost there." I tell Liam while taking a turn toward the Mansion as guided on the map.


    "Do you want me to send you the bodyguard?"


    "Nah, I will call him if I want him here," I say and cut the call.


    I pull over my car in front of the Mansion''s gate and press the buzzer on the side of the driveway. My heart is thumping hard, anticipating her reaction. Would she be angry? But I don''t care about anything right now. I need to make sure she is safe.


    "Who is it?" A gruff voice from the speaker asks, and I turn my face toward the camera.


    "My name is M Liam Miller... I want to meet my wife Avery Collins." I nce at the watch and wince.


    It''s 11:30 pm. Not a pleasant time for a Son-in-Law to pop up out of nowhere.


    "Oh, what a surprise!" He said and opens the gate for me.


    I drive through the passage to see a beautiful house with Spanish architecture.


    I pull over my car in front of the main


    door and see an old man standing there to receive me. He is not Avery''s father. I met Alfred Collins at the hospital. This is someone else. He senses a question in my eyes and says, "I am Orin Marek. I have been working for this family for two decades."


    "Nice to meet you."


    He takes me inside the house while I look around am surprised to see that this house is everything what Avery is hot. She is simple and


    elegant, but it screams money


    elegant in everything. This


    in


    every sense. Now I am not new to


    money, but my own family usually


    likes to keep it simple and


    minimalistic.


    "She didn''t tell me you wereing." He says.


    is


    "I... had a fight with her. She is not picking my calls." I say, scratching the back of


    my neck, embarrassed. "and I am here to patch up."


    Heughs.


    Fights keep things spicy in life. It''s all good, as long as you both keep it


    respectful."


    61.9%


    I smile and nod. Mom always says that it is a test to see if the partnership is


    strong enough to ovee the disagreements. Let''s ignore the fact that Dad often took advantage of her forgiving nature in previous years.


    I look at Mr. Marek and ask, "Could you call her out? I am kind of eager to see her."


    To my surprise and disappointment, he says, "She... is not here... She hasn''te back home since Friday afternoon."