Promise

chapter 33

Elijah

I walked into the penthouse, fully intending on talking to Avery about the alcohol. I wanted an explanation however when I entered mum, em and maisey were sat in the living room. Why are they here?
I look around but I dont see Avery. Why is she not with them?
"Where is Avery" I ask.
"I'm here" she says coming from her room. I look at her, my eyes go straight to her neck and I see the gold chain of the necklace I had given her as a baby. I'd never seen her wear it, yes it was under her top but still it was an improvement and I couldnt be more happy. "They knocked and i didnt know whether to let them in but i did because there your family, i just went to my room to put my books away. I hope you dont mind" avery said, she was nervous. I made her nervous. "So what are you doing here mum" I ask. "Well after last night I thought I'd come see how Avery is, maybe have a girls afternoon" she suggested. Avery looked hesitant when she mentioned girls afternoon. I got the impression she didnt want to go. "I'm ok now thank you" Avery said with a smile, it was fake though, she wasnt ok and it was my fault. "Great how about we go out" mum suggested. "Why does she have to come" maisey interrupted reminding me of what Avery told me yesterday. "Maisey I suggest you stop talking" I warn. "But she scares me, I dont wanna get hurt" maisey cried. I look over at Avery she has a fearful look. "Avery, Maisey please can you both leave the room" I say wanting to talk without them in the room. "O..ok" maisey stutters. Damn was she fake. Avery looked so scared and I hated being the cause but it had to be done. They both left and after I made sure they werent listening in, I spoke "avery never touched Maisey" both looked confused. "I suggest you teach your daughter some respect em, I dont appreciate how shes been treating Avery" I say hoping not to start an argument but I was mistaken "bullshit, I'm sorry Elijah. I know you want to think the best when it comes to Avery but Maisey has bruises from being pushed on the floor" I roll my eyes "she threw herself on the floor em, she made Avery question my reasons for keeping her" I say. Mum decides to jump in "have you told her" I shake my head. I wish I could. "I was about to but she interrupted and told me she wanted to go to bed. Maybe it's for the best, I dont want to force her into accepting me as her father or thinking it's a cruel joke, she thinks her father is dead" I explain, mum says nothing but gets up and hugs me "its gonna be ok Elijah" she comforts and I smile grateful i had her.
"I need to go check on Avery" I say after a minute or so. I didnt like the idea of her and maisey alone. Mum nods and I walk out to go find Avery.

I was about to go into her room when Maisey run up to from the other direction, she clung to my leg, she barely reached my torso. "Eli" she said crying. Ugh. I wasnt good when it came to crying. "What happened" I ask. "Avery pushed me again and I hit my cheek when I fell" I look at her cheek and notice how red it was. "I dont believe you since I know Avery didn't do it last time" I say. More tears fall "ok ok I may have slipped and blaimed her but this time she did" she admitted and part of me believed her but I had my doubts. "I'll go talk to her" I say and she nods sniffing and lets me go.

I enter with the intent on finding out what had happened but I find her crying in the corner of the room. Fuck. I swear if Maisey wasnt a kid and she wasnt family I would make her life hell.
"Avery what happened" I ask and she looks up at me with teary eyes. "I'm sorry, I didnt mean to hurt her" she says, I guess she was admitting to pushing her. "Ok, how about you tell me what happened" I say offering my hand out for her to take. She does so and I pull her up. "I'm sorry" she whispers, tears streaming down her face. "Please tell me what happened" I ask, starting to worry. She doesn't say anything instead she hugs me, I quickly hug her back. She cried harder and I hated it. I hated how upset she was, how I didnt know what happened so I couldnt fix it.
"I'm sorry" she said again. "What for, Avery you have to tell me what happened" i tell her. "She t...told m...me that I didnt d..deserve a..anything, d..didnt deserve b..being h..here. that I should go back to the orphange" she cried. Fucking maisey. I was about to reassure her when she continued. "I g..gently p..pushed her a...away w..when she got close. She fell and hit her cheek but she got back up and s..she s..snatched m..my n..necklace f..from m..me a..and...." she cried. Upon hearing about the necklace I felt so much anger directed at Maisey. "She broke it" I knew as soon as she said the three words she was devastated. "can I take a look at it" I ask but she shakes her head. "She never gave it back" I hated how my thoughts of maisey were changing, I used to see her as a sweet kind little kid but now I was seeing her as nothing more than a bitch. "Avery I'll sort it, just know that nothing she says is true. You deserve so much, I just wish I could give you more" I tell her and she looks up at me with a confused expression "you have already given me more than I deserve" i smile at her, it was a sad one. She didnt realize how much she meant to me.
"I'll go talk to them" I say and she nods. "I like your mum but i dont want to go out" she tells me and I nod. That was expected. Before I can even release her from the hug, her bedroom door bursts open and Em storms in. "Seriously Elijah, your stood comforting her. She hurt my baby" I roll my eyes at this but I feel Avery hold me tighter, i look down and see how frightened she was, just looking at her turned me into over protective mode.
"Your daughter broke her necklace and said some nasty things to her. You dont see me storming into her room. I suggest you lower your tone when talking to me" I say with authority, my tone was similar to the one I use with employees, I never used it with family until now and it shocked Em. She quickly recovered though "shes obviously lying. Do you even know anything about her, she is probably a professional liar, does she have a criminal record" em was starting to piss me off now. "Do not talk to me like that, now leave and go get Maisey and come back in with her" I say but she shakes her head "I'm not letting my baby near her" she defended. "Good because I dont want to be near her, your daughter has issues" this time it was Avery who had some how freed herself from my protective death grip. I smile, feeling proud of how she stood up to my sister. "You're one to talk, you have some serious issues" my sister says back. I look over to Avery who glances at me, I give her a encouraging smile and she smiles back before turning to Em "at least my issues arent because I got raised as a spoilt brat" wow I really didnt expect that from her. "Why you little..." em said but I cut her off "Em let's go living room, Avery I'll be back soon" I leave no room for argument. Em mutters something and walks out. "I'm sorry" avery says as I look at her. "What for, you took my sister down a notch, I'm proud of you for standing up to yourself" I tell her making sure she knows. "Thanks Elijah" and I nod "I'll be back in a few minutes then we should talk about the rules" i say remembering the pictures I had received this morning. It was the last thing I wanted to do but I felt if it was better getting it out of the way. "What rule, I dont think I've broken any. Is it about the drugs again" she panicked and I shake my head "I'm approaching this situation calmer this time. Just when I tell you I want the truth. Now I gotta go" she nods and I give her a smile before leaving.

When I reach the living room Em is ranting to my mum who looks tired and Maisey is sat looking sad but if you looked closely you could see how fake it was. "Enough ranting Em, Maisey come here" I order wanting to get this over with. They both comply and once maisey is in front I Speak again. "Where is the necklace maisey" I ask. She gives me a innocent look "I dont know what you are talking about uncle Eli" my glare hardens. I hate liars. "I'm not fucking about Maisey, you will tell me where you put it and you will do it now. Unless you want me to teach you not to fucking lie" I order, my tone was dark, it lacked emotion. I have never spoken to maisey like this before but right now she deserved it, at least in my mind she did. "Elijah" my mum said horrified of how I spoke to maisey. "You have 5 seconds" I snap at maisey who was on the verge of tears.
"5"
"4"
"3"
"2"
"1"
"Times up" i say, quite suprised she didn't cave but at the same time she knew I couldnt hurt her because Em and my mum was here. "Jesus Elijah, you're scaring her cant you see she doesnt have the necklace" em interrupted. I knew she had it, the guilt showed when Em said it. "Shut up Em, you have been soft on her for too long" I say, my tone harsh purposely to show Maisey that her mum cant get her out of trouble. It seemed to work because she then produced the necklace from her pocket. My mum gasped and my sister, well she was angry "what the hell Maisey, you told me she was nasty to you but you took something important from her" I smile knowing Em finally accepted the truth. I took the necklace and looked at it, the chain had snapped in half and the pendant had come off the chain. I would just buy a new chain tommorow for her. "I'm so sorry Elijah, please tell Avery I am" em said and I nod. My mum was still quiet, I look over for a response from her "I cant believe you did that Maisey, I thought you were raised better, your grandad will be hearing about this" maisey put on the waterworks but luckily it didnt work "we should go" em suggests and I nod in agreement.

Once they left I went back to Averys room to talk about the images. Hopefully this stressful afternoon will end more positive.

Extra long paragraph everyone! Hope it made up for the absent of chapters past few days.
This chapter was originally going to be next chapter but it fit better going first. Maisey isnt a good kid. Any suitable consequences, drop suggestions...just not rat poisoning 😂😂🙂