"ɪ'ᴍ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴜᴘ."

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

⋆·˚ ༘ *

I'm having a horrible time.

"Do you realize how dissimilar you two are?" Max asks, his grin wide enough to make me suspect he's up to something. It's been a few hours since I decided to ask Avery to forgive me for being a jerk. Asking Max to help me with it is a good idea but an over-caffeinated Max isn't being very helpful right now.

"And?" I ask, waiting for an elaboration. If Max decides I have no hope, then I might as well give up.

"No, no. Opposites attract," he says with a shrug.

"Max, you're not helping."

He takes a bite of his burger and mumbles, "Have you ever wondered why you can't stay away from her?"

I lean back in my chair, staring at Max as he casually eats while I'm battling a storm in my head.

"Max," I say, "I'm trying to fix things here, not analyze them to death."

After a moment, he swallows, "I'm serious, though. I'm just saying—there's something about her that gets under your skin, and also makes you think about her an unhealthy amount."

"Yeah, well, maybe she's just got a magnetic field."

Max shakes his head, and I know he's about to drop some sage wisdom. "I think she'd actually appreciate it if you said that to her."

"What? That I think she's got a strong magnetic field? You think that's a pick-up line that works on Avery Turner?"

"Funny. I'm talking about talking to her about how you feel. You don't go after people who don't matter to you. You wouldn't care so much if she wasn't important. So, tell her that."

I hesitate. "Okay, maybe that's just dramatic. I like her, but I'm not obsessed with her."

I'm lying. I just hope he can't tell.

"When you talk to her or about her, you're literally aglow. Look at your face right now."

"I just got out of the shower, Max," I deadpan.

I wonder why there's a part of me that can't deal properly with Avery not being in my life. Maybe, it's an attachment issue. Or, it could be more complicated than that. It isn't something I can explain. It's like an addiction—one that's hard to get rid of even after knowing it's not good for you. I'm not saying Avery hasn't helped me. She has, and that makes this so much worse.

How many times did I mess this up by now? Three times? More?

"Okay, here's what I think. I think Avery needs help. And, you two are never going to be happy while her mother's in the picture," Max says.

"You're suggesting I get her mom arrested?" I ask, the thought making me happier than I expected. "Trust me, I'd love to do that. I would've done it ages ago, but Avery doesn't want to be left responsible for her sister who is...evil but not as evil as her mom."

"For once, you can use your hacking skills for something that doesn't involve breaking into data centers and stuff."

He is making it seem like breaking into data centers is a worthless talent. It took me two years to crack the code for it, and honestly, I don't like how he's making it seem like it isn't useful.

"At least I'm not like leaking people's life stories online," I say, remembering how Caleb goaded Avery. When Max told me that Caleb encouraged Avery to approach me during training, and revealed it on purpose because he wanted me to play worse than ever, I was furious. I am still very much feeling the same about him. It took every single bit of self control to not hack into his phone.

"I'm sure Caleb would be grateful," Max says, nodding. "But not the point. I think that she has another parent who would like to meet her."

I scoff. "Her dad? He's another type of an asshole. He hasn't ever looked back at the family."

Max furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head. "I just don't think her mom's telling her the whole truth. Frankly speaking, she seems like the kind of person that'd lie to her kids and keep the dad out of their lives as much as possible. Because, that's what control freaks would do."

Max has a point. Everything Avery knows about her dad, and her family is information that she got from her mother. Her mother's worse than a Wikipedia source. But if she's her only source of information, there'd be no reason not to believe her.

"You're suggesting I find her dad?"

Max claps his hands. "Exactly. You can find out everything about him. Where he lives, what he's doing...what the deal is with her family. I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a good guy who just couldn't handle the mom."

I shrug. "Doesn't make him any better. He's still got his kids and he left them there."

"True. But, as fucked up as it is, I feel like he cares about Avery's sister. A lot. I mean, he did raise her for a while, didn't he? While Avery was living with her grandparents?"

"That's what Avery said, yes."

"Oh, man. I feel so sorry for Avery. She's like desensitized to everything now because of them. But that's so fucked up."

"Yeah." I can't even feel shit about my dad because since then, I've only gotten happier. I still have a mom who cares, a step-dad who's awesome and sisters who love me. Her entire family is so bad that I think she hit a misfortune when it came to the genetic lottery. I wonder how many times she wishes she was born somewhere else, to someone else.

I whip open my laptop and start searching. Her mother is easy to find. For someone so evil, her record is squeaky clean. She paid off her student loans in time, got decently high grades in her exams, worked in a pharmaceutical company for a while, got married in the presence of a large family...it seems like she's nothing short of perfection.

It almost hurt to see that.

Her medical record is quite interesting though. If she isn't so evil, I'd feel sorry for her. She has had five surgeries, a few abortions, and after giving birth, started so many medications.

Blood pressure, Thyroid, Diabetes, Mental Health pills, Sleep pills, Bladder issues...I had to stop myself from scrolling because the records went on for a bit.

In other words, she's not well. Not like, terminally ill but ill. It still doesn't excuse her behavior though.

I remind myself I'm looking for the dad, and open up her marriage certificate. Liam Turner. I'm surprised Melissa Turner didn't change her name back after, it seems like something she would do.

A single click is all it takes for me to get the entire history in front of me. Color me shocked. This guy is shit.

A court case in which Liam wants a divorce and all his property would belong to him and his future family, with nothing going to Avery and her sister. Her mom's stand is that he needs to give them at least 50%, or otherwise, she will not agree to get a divorce.

Oh, shit.

Oh, shit.

If this were someone else, I'd clap. But, it still doesn't explain why she's horrible to Avery. All I see on the records is a picture of Melissa as a perfect mom, someone who cares about her children so much. She definitely does care about her children, but she's also...cruel to her older one.

This has to be the most paradoxical paradox I've encountered in real life.

There's a claim somewhere in the affidavit where Liam complains that he wants to see his children but Melissa won't let him. Melissa cited a few reasons about his vile drinking habits and deemed him a "dangerous" influence on her kids.

I do not know how to feel about this guy. Her family is so weird. Someone should study them. It'd make for an interesting research article.

"Kyran, your face looks like you've just the most vile thing in the world."

I turn to Max. "I don't know...I...Her entire family is weird."

"I thought we've established this a while ago."

"Yes, but...it's worse than I expected," I say, trying to form coherent thoughts in my head.

"Well, did you get his address?"

I blink twice, forgetting that I'm doing this to help Avery find her other parent and maybe reconnect. I don't know if this feels like a good idea anymore. While Liam Turner seems like a better alternative to Melissa Turner, he isn't that much better.

"Yeah, New Jersey. Holy shit," I say, pausing at Liam Turner's job record. "He works for Google. He's earning like...half a million every year. He's paying 5% of his yearly income as maintenance for Avery and her sister."

Max grimaces. "Are you serious?"

I nod. "Yeah. This record makes Melissa Turner look like an angel."

"He wanted custody of the children, though," I say, clicking through his lawsuit information. "Three years ago. He said he was a better parent and that he needed to be with his children now that he has a well-paying job."

"Doesn't sound much like an alcoholic to me," Max replies, sipping his energy drink.

"Yeah."

Max leans back in his chair, tilting his head. "So, what now? Are you going to tell Avery about this?"

I close my laptop, rubbing my temples as I try to sort through the mess of information. "I don't know if I should. I mean, what good would it do? She already has enough on her plate."

Max leans forward, eyes serious now, the usual joking tone in his voice gone. "Avery deserves to know the truth, whatever that truth might be. Even if it's messy. Especially if it's messy."

I sigh. Max is right, but that doesn't make it easier. I picture Avery's face, the way her eyes harden whenever her family comes up, the forced smile she puts on when things get too real. I don't want to be the one to make that worse.

"But what if this just makes things worse for her?" I argue. "What if she finds out and it just... breaks her more? She's barely holding it together as it is."

Max shrugs, offering a small, sad smile. "Sometimes you have to break something down completely to rebuild it stronger. She needs the whole picture to make her own decisions. You can't protect her from the truth, Kyran."

I know he's right, but it's still hard to think about. Telling Avery about her father, about the lies her mother might have spun—it's like tossing a grenade into her already explosive life.

"What if she hates me for it?" I say quietly, almost to myself.

Max places a hand on my shoulder. "If she hates you for telling her the truth, then at least you'll know you did it because you care. But I don't think she will. She might hate the truth, but not you."

I nod, the decision settling within me like a lead weight. "Okay. I'll tell her. But not yet. I need to find the right way to do this."

Max gives me a supportive pat before picking up his burger again. "Good. Now let's figure out how you're going to do that without making it seem like you just hacked into her family's life. Because, let's face it, that's not exactly the most charming way to win someone over."

I let out a short laugh. "Yeah, no kidding. 'Hey, Avery, by the way, I just did some light cyber-stalking on your family...'"

Max chuckles, shaking his head. "We'll figure it out. For now, just focus on being there for her. Maybe buy her a few coffees, apologize, make it easier for her in school so that it balances her home life."

I nod, feeling a little lighter now that I have a plan, however vague it might be. Avery deserves to know the truth, and if I have to be the one to give it to her, then I'll find a way to do it.

But for now, I have to win her over. 

⋆·˚ ༘ *

It's me again!

I hope you had fun with learning more about Avery's family. I've been thinking of the best way to do this for a while now, and it felt logical to have Kyran dig it all up. So, let me know what you think. Do you think Avery's dad is someone she should reach out to?

I, on the other hand, started college this week. Which means, I'm busy again *nervous laugh. Updating schedule is still iffy in my head but I'll try my very best to update every week. 

That's all I got for now. 

As usual, please leave a vote and a comment if you liked this chapter. It makes my day when I read your thoughts and see that people actually read this book. 

Lots of love,

Dree (your chaotic little gremlin) 💕😘