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| striped sweater |

He crossed out another date on the calendar that hung on his wall. A bright neon blue marker slid across the dry paper, dabbling it with two intersecting lines. Only then did he notice the two digits that lay underneath the wet marker ink.

24th December.

It was Christmas Eve.

Avery remembered the conversation he'd had with Rue Hawthorne just a week ago. It felt like decades had passed. Decades of silence and isolation; it was like he'd never met her at all. Never gone to university, never studied photography, never spilled coffee over the front of a very special girl. Never lost her.

And now as he was forced back into his other life, he realised that all his efforts had been in vain.

There was no going back, not unless he somehow managed to convince everyone that he could run the family business as well as his mother had.

His mother.

His lifeline.

His support.

All gone, along with any sense of dignity and self-esteem that he had. Living with his brother was a bittersweet torture. It's not everyday that your estranged brother turns up at your university, forcing you to give up your dreams. It had been ten years since Avery had seen him. Ten years since he had left Avery and their mother, all alone.

Theresa Black had built herself an empire of business.

Avery Black had decided to pursue his dreams and inherit that empire. The empire he never wanted. The one he always assumed would be his brother's. But now, he intended to make good use of it. And that was not possible in the hands of the villain who called himself his brother.

Before any of that though, he needed to prove himself. And the only way to do that was to come home and assert whatever authority he had.

Avery was scared.

But he wasn't about to step down.

He sighed, pulling himself out of his thoughts. Then decided to grab himself some tea from the kitchen, before he had to run off to the meetings he had scheduled. Of course, Erwin the butler would be devastated that Avery didn't ask him for the tea first.

Half dressed in pyjamas and a shirt, Avery was walking barefoot to the kitchen, when he heard the doorbell.

He walked over to find Erwin standing at the door, holding it open for someone outside.

'Who is it, Erwin?'

'Erm, I think you would like to see her for yourself, Sir?'

His eyes went wide.

That's impossible...

'Holy mother of...' came the voice of the girl who had just stepped in, as she scanned her luxurious surroundings. She was dressed in a striped red and white sweater that made her look like a candy cane. Avery had to resist laughing at her expression. 

The temptation to laugh immediately died down when Rue turned her cold stare at him. 

'Care to explain why you ran off that night, Avery? Maybe try doing the talking yourself, this time?'

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