9. The Substitute Woman

Orella stopped the car when her cell phone rang. She saw that the number calling her was her father. She immediately picked up the phone and listened to everything her father said.

"Okay. I'm going home now," Orella said to her father on the other end of the line, and then she disconnected the phone.

She got back into the car and turned around. It wasn't long before she arrived at her father's house. Orella went straight to her father, who was in his workspace.

"Dad, what's going on?" Orella asked her father after she entered the workspace.

"Sit down!" The father replied as he got up and walked to the sofa. Then he sat there.

Orella nodded and sat down on the sofa across from her father. She looked up at her father, trying to figure out what he wanted.

"What is it?" Orella asked her father again as he just looked at her without speaking.

"Are they giving you a hard time?" The father replied with another question to his daughter.

"I'm fine. I'm not a weak woman who is easily intimidated. Why are you still worried about me?" Orella replied.

Orella continued to stare at her father who was now silent again. It was obvious that her father had a lot on his mind. However, she still didn't know the problem her father was facing.

"Does this have anything to do with Ludovic's family?" Orella guessed what her father was thinking.

"No, it doesn't. It has nothing to do with your husband's family."

"Then what happened?" Orella asked again as her curiosity grew.

"There's someone I want to introduce you to," The father replied, looking at Orella.

Before Orella could ask her father any more questions, she looked at the door because someone had opened the door to her father's workspace. It wasn't long before a woman walked up to her father.

Orella continued to stare at the woman in front of her. She smiled at her and stuck out her hand as if to introduce herself.

"Who is she?" asked Orella without accepting the woman's handshake.

"You can call me Miranda," the woman replied as she sat down on the sofa.

"Do you want to take my mother's place?" Orella asked her father again.

Orella continued to stare at her father, who didn't answer her question. She occasionally looked at the woman who was now sitting next to her father.

Her father's silence showed that she had found a woman to replace her mother. Orella stood up and walked out of the room.

"Orella," The father called and stopped her right at the door.

"If that woman is already your choice. I'm speechless," Orella cut in and resumed her walk.

She quickened her pace and headed straight for her car. She drove the car out of her neighbourhood. Orella had no idea that her father had asked her to come back to introduce the woman.

Orella continued to drive her car at high speed. Her heart still couldn't believe her father's decision. Her mother had sacrificed so much for the Maldini family.

"I'm disappointed in you, Dad," Orella muttered with annoyance in her mind as she added speed to her car.

She looked back through the rearview mirror and saw a car following her. Orella increased the speed of her car again, doing so to confirm whether the car was indeed following her.

"It's the same car that followed me to the place, Silvia," Orella said after remembering the colour and type of car behind her.

The car behind her managed to overtake her and she also saw another car. Now, she was cornered because she couldn't overtake the car in front of her.

"Looks like they want to take me somewhere," Orella said again after she felt that the two cars were forcing her to follow the path they wanted.

She was forced to follow their orders. She wanted to know who had told them to look for trouble with her.

Orella stopped her car after the car in front of her stopped. She looked at the scene outside. Several men were coming out of the cars in front and behind her. She got out after a man knocked on the glass of her car door.

"Who wants to see me?" Orella asked the man in front of her.

"I thought you were a crazy woman after your brother's death a year ago," the person replied as the person walked closer to Orella.

Orella smiled as she looked at the person who had just answered her question. She didn't think that the woman in front of her could act this quickly after the incident this morning.

"I also didn't think that a spoiled miss like you would act this quickly," Orella continued calmly.

"Orella, I don't want to make enemies with you at all. So don't bother me," the woman continued.

"Gia Maria Nardo, have I disturbed you? It seems you've misunderstood me."

Orella saw Gia take one step forward so that the woman was very close to her. However, it didn't matter because she wasn't at all afraid of Gia, who she felt was just a spoiled woman who had always had all her wishes fulfilled by her parents.

"Mario is mine! I hope you don't go near him!" Gia again said in a pressing tone.

Orella laughed at Gia's words then she replied, "I'm not interested in him at all. How can you think I like him and will take him away from you?"

She reiterated to Gia that she didn't think anyone in the Ludovic family was important. However, she does not tell her about her true plan to get revenge on Dante for her brother Juan's death.

"Can I take you at your word?" Gia asked Orella.

"You love him that much? Are you sure he's a man who can love you back?" Orella replied with another question to the woman in front of her.

"I do not believe in his love. However, I ...."

Before Gia could continue her sentence, a bullet shot towards Orella, and that made everyone there startled and reflexively pulled out weapons.

"You want to finish me off, Gia?"