I Fell For My Nemesis

Leah had overheard about the contents of the room after her husband went on a rampage the night it was destroyed. That was why she was afraid. She had tried to file for divorce and was afraid of getting killed before it was granted.

Angelo needed her so he would keep her safe. No one would ever connect a high profile woman like Leah Hunsacher to a nobody cake decorator like Avery. She had the space for a woman and two children at her apartment. She hardly used it anymore based on how often she seemed to spend the night at her boyfriend's.

As long as they got there without being followed there was no way anyone would find them there. Avery, Angelo, or Jorge could drop by with food and supplies since they were known to hang around there. The neighbors wouldn't be suspicious in the slightest.

He texted Avery the plan in code saying 'special delivery heading to your apartment later, make sure your boyfriend isn't around.' She might not guess it was people right away but she would know it was related to their revenge.

She wasn't as stupid as he often berated her for. She was actually quite clever and good on her feet most of the time. He wasn't worried about her blowing this for them.

Angelo sighed and headed out to do what he needed to involving Jorge and some of his tías in preparation to have Leah and her children stay at Avery's. They were going to need food and he doubted his friend had much on hand if she wasn't staying there often these days.

His tías were always good for feeding a crowd. Most of the time they handed things over without asking questions. They were reliable like that, wanting to feed everybody. He felt an upsurge of affection for them.

This was all going to work out. Once Leah and her family were safely situated at Avery's place they would be able to start working more seriously on a long-term plan to overthrow him. Who knew how to take him down better than his soon-to-be-ex-wife?

===

Avery was both furious that Angelo had called her so late just to freak her out and horrified by what Hunsacher was trying to do. Mind control? Really?!

When she hung up the phone she let off every Spanish curse she knew before sinking back down against the pillows. She was really lucky that Christian only spoke English. He couldn't tell what had been said, only that it had been bad.

He was looking at her in utmost concern propped up on his elbow. "Are you okay?"

"Bad news from Angelo. Why it couldn't have waited until morning…" Avery muttered. "I'm probably going to have to go meet up with him for a while tomorrow. It's kind of a personal thing so I need to go alone. Sorry. I know we have plans. I'll do my best to work around them but I kind of have to go when he's free."

Christian wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. "Hey, it's okay! I get it. Relax. If we have to reschedule we reschedule. Really not a big deal. Come here, I've got you."

She sank into his embrace feeling like she should cry but she was too frustrated for the tears to even come out. Mind control. What on earth were a handful of renegades supposed to do about something as big as mind control?

Avery had a hard time falling asleep even though her boyfriend was out less than ten minutes into their snuggle session. Stupid Angelo. Could this really not have waited until morning?  Why did he always have to drop bombs on her heedless of the time?

At least she didn't have work the next day. Christian did so hopefully she would be able to get this done while he was at work but she had to work around Angelo's schedule. She didn't know if this was big enough for him to take a sick day or not but she wanted to get whatever it was he wanted to meet for out of the way as quickly as possible.

She got a text from him around 9 AM talking about a special delivery and knew she needed to head to her old apartment. Whatever he was up to would definitely be going down there.

When she arrived she was shocked to find a woman and two children she had never seen before in her life sitting in her living room as Angelo and Jorge set up a variety of dishes clearly cooked by their tías in the fridge.

"Uh…what's going on here?" Avery asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Güera! Good, you made it. I have to head to work now so you should take over helping Angelo," Jorge said in relief. "I barely had time to get these over here. When you drive for a living everybody suddenly wants you to be their delivery boy."

He clapped her shoulder on the way out and left without any further explanation. She was still waiting for one and glared at her best friend until he gave one to her.

"This is Leah and her children Zack and Sydney," Angelo said unhelpfully.

"And?"

"And they need somewhere safe and off the radar to stay for a while. It's not like you're even using this place most nights anyway."

Avery crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't have a problem helping out someone in need but volunteering her apartment without so much as consulting her didn't seem like his style. There had to be more to this than met the eye.

"Angelo. You can't just show up at my apartment with three people in tow without giving me a proper explanation," she said severely. "Tell me who they are and why they're here."

"Well…" he hedged.

"Angelo, it's alright," Leah spoke up quietly.

Her hands were in her lap and she looked rather refined if nervous. It was then that Avery realized she was wearing some rather expensive clothes from a brand she had seen from a distance while shopping with Nancy a while back.

Why would Angelo go so far for a rich person and her children? He hated rich people! And he couldn't possibly be interested in her…she had to be at least a decade older than them.

Leah suggested that the kids watch a movie and Angelo helped them put it on before they all congregated in Avery's room where it was unlikely they would be overheard. She rather ashamedly looked down at her hands before speaking in the same subdued voice as before.

"I'm trying to get a divorce from my husband before he kills me. Angelo said you could help hide us. I'm terribly sorry to impose but I don't have a lot of options right now and need to stay off the radar. He's a very powerful man with a lot of connections. If I went any of my usual places he would find me."

Avery's eyes nearly popped out of her head as the implications set in. "You're Leah HUNSACHER?!"

"Unfortunately. Marrying Nolan was a terrible mistake…I see that now…but he wasn't always like this. He wanted to present himself to the world as a family man so marrying a widow like me with a good family background was the perfect way to do it," Leah said bitterly.

"Whenever he didn't need to pretend for the cameras he was hardly involved with us at all. I was able to use his name and his money but now I realize it came at such a terrible cost…I overheard something I shouldn't have and now he's out to get me.

"He'll find a way to make my murder look like an accident sooner or later. It's only a matter of time. I didn't know where to go or who to turn to so I was very lucky that Angelo found me."

Avery couldn't believe this. Angelo found such a willing, potentially game-changing new coconspirator mere hours after they were concerned all was lost. What sort of madman was he?

Nolan Hunsacher's estranged wife walked directly into their hands and wanted to cooperate in return for being protected. This could completely change everything. Their plans could be accelerated by years because of this!

Angelo had a rather smug expression on his face when she glanced his way. Of course he did. What he had done was a huge step for their network.

"What did you overhear?" Avery asked gently.

Leah looked up at her with weariness written all over her face. "It was a few months ago. He was yelling at someone on the phone about security and how 'that room' was supposed to be impenetrable. He was mostly concerned about the secrets behind mind control getting out.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing so I forced myself to stay quiet and keep listening. He was talking about chemical compounds, a specific laboratory, and some of the people involved. I already told all of this to Angelo and he's trying to figure out who they all are and where the laboratory is. If you can destroy that room you can destroy that lab as well, can't you?"

If they destroyed the lab where the research was being conducted that would buy them time. Especially if they managed to kidnap all of the scientists involved at the same time. It was a tall order though since Avery was the only one capable of doing fieldwork. She might have backup from people like with the factory explosion but it wouldn't be the same.

"Yes," she said with grim determination.

No matter how difficult it was or what all the plan entailed she was going to have to pull it off. This was their only chance to stop Nolan Hunsacher before the situation got so much worse.