Oliver Black
Sam sat across from me with a thick file on Avery.
His faded and worn jeans, black t-shirt and leather jacket looked comically out of place at the office.
"She's had quite a life." He said and slid the file across the desk.
I opened the file and it had the basics on her.
Daughter of Joseph and Camille Adley.
Both died 16 years ago when she was 8 years old.
She's 24, born in 1994 on October 12th.
Lived in France with her Mother for 2 years when she was 3 and moved back at 5 years old.
Throughout her schooling and education she received top marks and was an excellent student.
Never had a boyfriend or many friends. The only ones were Alissa and Gerards children when they were adolescents.
After the fire that took her parents she spent a week in hospital with complications from smoke inhalation and was unable to attend the funeral.
The only reason she made it out of there alive was due to Joseph's quick thinking. He lowered her out of the window before finding his wife.
The fire department found her passed out on the grass barely breathing.
"The report from the fire department says the fire was suspicious but the police never followed it up appropriately." Sam said crossing his legs. "Can I get a coffee and sandwich?" He asked curiously.
"Do you ever not eat? Go to the kitchen." I frowned at him.
He huffed and left while I continued reading. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that Adley had something to do with the fire.
Apparently Alissa and Gerard were the only ones who visited her in the hospital. The only time the Adley's showed up was to sign paperwork when she was released.
She was never officially adopted as their daughter. But they announced it to the media and they were in a frenzy over it.
Every picture they captured of the family had a miserable little Avery. Her hair was neatly tied and she was dressed impeccably, but her skin was dull and her eyes were empty.
What I read next made me frown.
When she was 17 she swallowed a bottle of Mrs. Adley's pain killers.
Russell found her and took her to the hospital, she had her stomach pumped and remained for observation and counselling.
No one was able to get her to talk. Adley pulled her out of hospital earlier than recommended.
Before that incident her school reported that the Adley's mistreated her.
That was soon thrown out of the window and no action was taken.
Teachers reported her as a liar and misfit. They also said she behaved questionably outside of school. Getting into fights, drinking and even drugs.
This doesn't add up. If she was up to no good her grades would surely be affected. There are no police reports to back it up, either. Not like Leah...
Avery appeared to have thrown herself into school work and started doing an online degree. By 19 she had her bachelor's in business and then went away for college at Stamford. After 2 years she got her MBA and began working for Adley.
I flicked through the pages and stopped at her bank statements. I furrowed my eyebrows.
Her current balance was $157.63 with $3,000 in her savings account.
The only transactions were small items, cab fares and necessities from supermarkets and online clothing stores.
Her salary was the only thing being put into her account.
It was safe to say Clara made 20x more than she did and that's without overtime. Avery didn't even receive overtime. She was definitely there longer than 8 hours a day.
How can an Adley have so little money? What about her inheritance or allowance?
This was strange. How could she only make $7 an hour as a personal assistant?
She was no better off than a waitress.
Sam walked back in happily with a plate of sandwiches and pastries piled high and a coffee in the other hand. I could hear Clara grumble from her office.
"It's all fucked up, huh?" He asked as he sat down. "She was used for media attention as a kid. Leah lived the high life as a teen, luxury cars, holidays, you name it she had it. But there's nothing on Avery. She never left the country or even the state, except for college, that is."
I nodded and thought for a bit. "Can you look into those rumours about her? They don't sit well with me."
There's something not quite right. It's nagging at me.
"Of course, I'm already working on it. I'm also getting as much on Jeremiah Adley as possible, but he's a hard man to get info on." He took a big bite of his sandwich. "There's nothing really note worthy of Mrs. Adley and Russell is the same." He said through a mouthful of food.
"That's fine, don't worry much about Russell." I paused. "Look into Adley's involvement in the fire. I dare say no one was supposed to survive it."
He nodded and kept stuffing his mouth full of food.
I continued to read through the reports. There were a lot of articles about the fire. It was particularly aggressive and took the whole night to get under control. Nothing was recoverable after the fire and water damage.
Mr and Mrs. Adley were reported to be found in each others arms in a bathroom. Mrs. Adley suffered smoke inhalation but also severe burns and Mr. Adley suffered burns to his back and neck from shielding Mrs. Adley from the flames. The roof caved in on them killing them both. I would have liked to say it was instant, but I don't think it would have been.
The only people home at the time were Mr and Mrs. Adley and Avery.
Of course Marie Adley took the opportunity to gain media attention. She played the sob story about how sad they all were and discussed Adley taking over Adley Corporations.
I sighed closing the file.
That woman is relentless. She even told me to be careful of Avery. She even said how dirty she was.
Leah's probably had more sexual partners in a day than Avery's had in her whole life.
Sam stared at me with a blank expression for a good while. I furrowed my eyebrows at him.
"You like this girl." A large smile grew on his face. "Wife or not you would never be concerned or even interested in a woman. The only thing you were interested in was sex. I know she's not giving you any." He smirked.
"How do you know?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Please, who do you think you're talking to?" He scoffed and filled his mouth again.
"Enjoying the free pastries?"
He moaned and nodded. "Everything tastes better when it's free."
"Mr. Black, we have a bit of a problem." Clara walked into the office glaring at the man who was wolfing down his food. "Ugh." A disgusted look crossed her features.
"What is it?" I asked.
She placed down magazines in front of me. On the front cover of multiple magazines was a picture of myself an Avery.
"She's cute." Sam smirked.
I sighed in exasperation. "Shit." I said under my breath. "I thought this was taken care of." I growled.
"Obviously not." Sam stated.
"We're going to have to contact Adley and put security on Avery, she's going to get bombarded by the press and public." I ran a frustrated hand through my hair.
"Yes sir." Clara said. "Is that all?"
"Fire the security on last night and hire new guards."
Clara nodded and walked out.
"Its probably not their fault. Those bastards are sneaky." Sam defended. "They already got a hold of the first picture anyway, she was bound to get attention."
"It doesn't matter. They allowed him to get in in the first place. I understand that she was going to get some attention, but with these kinds of photos it will get out of hand."
Sam sighed and nodded. He licked his fingers and stood from his seat. "I'll see you around!" He grinned and left
I looked at the pictures and thought to last night.
I honestly didn't expect her to say what she did about Adley. I thought she would play the good little assistant and daughter. Although, the wine probably helped and it wasn't anything I didn't know already.
A smile played on my lips.
That kiss...
It was probably the best kiss of my life. She wasn't very experienced, but her lips were so sweet and soft. Her body moulded to mine perfectly, even with the height difference.
She was oblivious to the effect she had on me.
I could've killed that man for ruining the moment.
I wanted to tell her how much more beautiful she was than Leah. How much I wanted her.
She obviously thinks Leah was the better choice.
No one I know thinks that. Mother would have an aneurysm from trying to be nice to her, I would probably never see dad, Erica would kill her and I would kill myself.
Everyone simply loves Avery. Everyone except her own family.