“For god’s sake, Emilia, it’s been three weeks! You can’t keep complaining about everything Serena does or says. It’s becoming unbearable.”“Excuse me?”“You heard me,” Lillian replied with a straight face. “At some point, you’ll have to get used to living under the same roof with her.”“But it’s not just her anymore, is it? Her so-called mother who appeared out of nowhere is also a part of this madness. She speaks to me rudely and encourages Serena to continue acting as if she’s my equal.”“First of all, that’s her foster mother. The woman was homeless, so it was not out of place for Serena to invite her here to live and have a familiar face around her.”“Whatever…”“Second, we all know Serena isn’t your equal and she can’t be, no matter how much she tries. Her being here is temporary,
“Granny’s dead. She passed away this morning,” Emilia’s mother informed her over the phone the following morning.“Oh, dear. I’m so sorry, Mom.”“Thanks, darling,” her mother replied brokenly and blew her nose.“I’m coming home with Travis today. We’ll be on our way soon.”“That would be nice. We’re heading to the countryside later today. Daddy’s not going with us, though. He’ll join us tomorrow after he’s sorted out things in the restaurants.”“Ok. We’ll see you soon.”After she hung up, Emilia curled up in her bed again and cried. Granny was gone. She’d never feel her grandmother’s warm embrace anymore or hear her calm singsong voice.She wished she could cry all day but that wasn’t possible. She needed to get Travis ready for the trip to her parent’s home.“Where are you going?” Lillian asked her as she and Travis marched behind the maids who were dragging her packed bags towards the front door.“We’re going to my parents’ house. My grandmother died this morning.”“Oh, I’m so sorry
Shortly after her family left, it began to rain. Emilia sat on the porch with Travis but they were driven back inside the house by the leaking roof.She decided to make pancakes for Travis but then thought she heard someone tinkering about on the porch. When she went to check, she found Matt there, fixing the leaking roof. The rain had stopped but the skies were still dark with the promise of a coming storm.“What are you doing here?” She asked and Matt almost fell off his small ladder.“Jesus! You startled me. I thought everyone was gone.”“Travis and I are still here. How did you know the roof was bad?”“It’s been like this for a while now. I kept promising Bertha that I’ll fix it but I never got around to doing it. When it started to rain, I remembered and rushed down here to finally fix it as my parting gift to Bertha.”“That’s sweet,” said Emilia. She was genu
“Are these guys for real?” Chloe asked in awe as she watched the news on TV with Emilia.It was the following day after receiving that disturbing text and she’d spent nearly 24 hours on Google, trying to search the exact location of the Homer Shed.“I can’t believe this,” Chloe continued.“When it comes to the Beaumonts, nothing surprises me anymore about them.”“Did you know they were working on this so-called rehabilitation centre?”“No. Once they accepted Serena as a part of the household, I became the outsider. I’m also just finding out now along with millions of viewers that my husband’s family is commissioning a new drug abuse rehabilitation centre in memory of the newly deceased Jack.”“But you should be there too. Instead, they took that kidnapper there. That’s so disrespectful.”“Oh, well. As you can see, they’re passing her off as Jack’s girlfriend who’s pregnant with his baby. That earns them extra sympathy votes.”“We should expose them to the world and let everyone know t
“I’m so sorry about the miscarriage, Chloe. You didn’t deserve to go through that kind of pain.”“It’s ok. I wasn’t meant to have that bay any way and don’t even pretend that a part of you isn’t happy that this happened.”Emilia didn’t know how to react because Chloe was right. “Well…”“It’s fine, big sis. I’m sort of glad too. It would’ve been very difficult to raise a child alone while the father that rejected it is balling with his psycho wife.”“Lillian isn’t a psycho, though. She’s just a little stuck up, that’s all.”Chloe snorted. “But not too stuck up to be a freak. Samuel thought she was cheating on him again.”“Then why is he renewing marriage vows with her?”“To spite me, of course. Why else? Such a petty bastard. I can’t believe I was ever in lo
“I’m so sorry, Emilia. I can’t even imagine how disappointed you must feel right now.”She blew her nose into a tissue and acknowledged Matt’s comment with a nod. She was too broken to even speak. She was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted.“Let’s just go back to the hotel, ok? You need to rest.”“Of course,” she sighed and leaned back on the chair.Matt drove them back and the ride was a silent one. At this point, Emilia was ready to give up the search permanently and finally accept the hard truth that she would never see Tiara again.When they arrived at the hotel, Matt took her to her room and asked her if she wanted anything.“Stay with me,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be alone.”“Are you scared?”“No. I think I’ll lose my mind if I have to stay here by myself all night.”“Ok.
“These aren’t even new photos. Has she been stalking us?”“Looks like it but she denied having anything to do with this.”“Please, don’t tell me you believe her, Matt. Who else has an axe to grind with you aside from Molly?”“But I wasn’t dating her when these photos were taken. These were from the time we used to go to Lake Victoria for picnics. Your grandmother was even alive then.”“Yes. That was about two years ago but don’t forget that Molly has had a crush on you since high school. She may have been stalking you the whole time.”“Come on, Emilia. Molly’s not that crazy. Besides, she’s too busy with her work as the supervisor of the farmer’s market for her to go trotting in the woods, stalking us.”“I know you think Molly is an angel, but I know she did this. This is her way of getting back at me for being with her man
“So, Miss Madison, are you saying that Mrs Beaumont was intimately involved with your ex-fiance while you two were still engaged?”“Yes.”“But are you sure she was aware of your relationship at all? Because according to reports, Mr Erikson and Mrs Beaumont were already acquainted with each other two years earlier.”“Trust me, Emilia knew I was engaged to Matt. I met her for the first time at her grandmother’s funeral. That was where Matt introduced us and I showed her my engagement ring. That didn’t stop her though.”The interviewer sighed sympathetically. “Please, tell us how you found out about the affair.”Molly straightened her skirt over her knee and then looked straight at one of the studio cameras. “It happened the day after the funeral. Matt had gone to fix Bertha’s leaking roof.”“Who’s Bertha?”“That’s Emil