CHAPTER THREE

Mrs Belmont ignored him.

"It's lunch time, Sinora. Yet, I don't see you in the kitchen."

"I apologise for that Mrs Celeste, I will be going now." Sinora replied and hurried to the kitchen.

She had not gone ten minutes before the back door opened and Adrien, Charles' handsome younger brother by a year walked in, dressed in his trainers, he had just come back from a run.

His shoes tracked in dirt with him, and early that day, Sinora had cleaned and mopped the whole house.

"Could you please keep your shoes out? They are dirty. The in house shoes are just by the door." Sinora said to him in a polite tone. They were about the same age, so, she never really bothered with formalities, but she never disrespected him either.

He looked at her, pulled out his ear plugs, eyed the house shoes in the corner and ignored her. He trailed the dirt all the way to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk, opened it and spilled the contents on the floor and then used his muddied shoes to mix it in.

Sinora’s mouth was wide in disbelief. He was a psychopath.

The sound of her fiancé's maybach roared outside. It was easy to hear it from the kitchen.

Then, she heard their voices, her children, Anna and Louis. She looked at the time, it was almost twelve, school didn't close until one thirty.

She ignored the mess in the kitchen and hurried out to the front to welcome them, confusion etched to her face, but her children skidded past her excitedly, holding shopping bags and ice cream cups.

"Hey, Anna, Louis, what's going on?" Sinora stopped them.

Her son feigned ignorance, pretending not to hear her question.

"Dad and Madeley came by the school today and took us shopping!" Anna blurted out but her brother nudged her with his elbow.

Louis was six years old, so he was a bit more self aware than Anna, who was just three. They had grown away from their mother, and Louis especially had taken a favorite liking to his father and all his decisions, that included Madeley.

He was hell bent on making sure Anna tagged along with him. Severally, she had heard Charles threaten to sideline Anna if she didn't behave herself aroud Madeley.

Sinora frowned at this, why would they take her kids from school without her permission?

"Can we go now? Our precious ice creams are melting." Louis complained with a scowl.

"Oh, I see. Well, go on upstairs, lunch is almost ready." She replied, not interested in making herself the antagonist further in their eyes, and they ran up.

Immediately they left, Charles and Madeley walked in, holding hands and laughing at something they were obviously talking about.

It was evident to Sin that they had made up already after their last argument.

Madeley's expression slackened a bit upon seeing Sinora, but Charles had stopped smiling completely.

He regarded her coldly, and without saying a word to her, his tall, stoic frame retreated upstairs.

Madeley was dressed in a short red dress today, and her once black hair, now dyed red was left falling across her shoulder almost the exact same way as Sinora’s.

Her long legs were exposed, highlighted by the black pencil heels she wore. She was exactly Charles' type, but she hadn't always completely been his type.

In the past couple of years, Sinora had watched Madeley transform herself into Charles Belmont's exact type, all in an effort to make sure she won his affection.

While she, Sinora, who had once fitted that picture effortlessly had been reduced to an image of a scorned and repulsive woman. One he couldn't stand to be near, except when he was horny and needed immediate sexual attention.

"Oh Sinora, I hope you don't mind. I felt the kids needed a break from school and so, I had Charles drive us to pick them up and go have some lunch and shop. You know, I just got this gig and..."

"What? You had Charles pull them out of school? Why didn't you call me, Madeley? I'm their mother." Sinora's temper rose, yet she still managed to speak in a calm, yet firm tone.

"Mother? Hardly." Madeley scoffed with a smirk. "I mean, Sin, come on, they barely call you mom."

"I was just doing those kids a favour. The least you could say is thank you."

Sinora was left speechless at Madeley's statement. When she didn't respond, Madeley merely shook her head with a smile and then climbed up the stairs.

The hurt Sinora felt was irrepressible. No amount of justification could change the fact that what Madeley said was true. She had endured too much.

Even her own children despised her and wished to replace her with Madeley.

Once, she had even heard Charles ask Louis and Anna how they would feel if Madeley was their mom.

"I would be super happy, dad. Madeley is so cool, but mom is so lame. She doesn't even look good like aunt Madeley." Her son, Louis had replied.

To her surprise, Charles had not berated him for talking down on her, instead, he smiled and turned to Anna.

"And what about you, Princess? Do you like aunt Madeley?"

"She buys me princess dolls and takes me to the hair salon, I do like her." Anna's innocent response had come out.

"Great, then I will work towards making your dream come true." Charles had replied and kissed them goodnight.

Tears had filled Sinora’s eyes that night and her heart had broken into several pieces.

But that was months ago, and she assumed that perhaps, Charles had changed his mind.

Moments later, she was done with lunch and began serving the table.

But then she heard Charles' angry footfalls thump down the stairs.

His dark brown hair was ruffled and his shirt was opened by a few buttons, and his blue eyes were wild with anger as he appeared through the dining door. She doubled back, afraid he would hit her as he walked towards her.

She did not need magic to tell her what he had been up to. Madeley had gone up to his room moments ago.

"What did you say to Madeley to make her cry?" His deep voice asked threateningly as he entered the dining room.