70

70

Esmeralda POV

I sat on the patio, enjoying the cool afternoon air.

Nora and Noah were playing around the patio. While I sat and monitored their movements.

Well, it's more like got lost in my thoughts.

After the bug was found in Margaret's room, my emotions had taken a huge turn.

From shock. To fear and hurt.

The only thing that kept me sane was the hope that there was a perfect explanation for this, which was that she didn’t place the bug, but it was placed by someone else.

After all, she wouldn’t place the bug in her room, knowing it could implicate her if it were found.

There indeed was an explanation.

I tried calling her. To ask her about it. But I stopped realising that it would just make things complicated.

Plus, there wasn’t any need for it, seeing as Adrien already had Logan investigating her.

All I had to do was be patient and wait until I got the investigation results. And find out if she genuinely betrayed me or not.

I did wonder how far Logan had gone with the investigation. I had been scared to ask him cause I didn’t feel ready for the outcome.

And Adrien had to leave the house this morning to meet the elders.

So he couldn’t find out on my behalf.

“Mama Noah wouldn’t let me play with his horse.” Nora came complaining to me with a pout on her face.

I was too disturbed to handle their fights.

“Noah, play gentle with your sister.” It was the only reprimanding I could give to him.

Nora seemed to have realised my moodiness.

“Are you okay, Mommy? You look like you wanna cry.”

I forced a smile.

“I’m okay, sweetie, just keep playing nice.”

I ruffled her hair while she beamed. Then, she ran off to continue her play with her brother.

Leaving me with my unruly thoughts.

The pinging of my phone didn’t give me the satisfaction to return to my thoughts.

The caller ID was my mother.

And so I picked up the call.

“Hey, mom.”

“Hey, sweetie. How are you?”

“I’m good. And you?”

“I’m not good.”

“Why?”

“You have refused to come see me or bring the children with you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry, mum. I have just been busy.”

“But you just got out of the coma. And you can’t even come to say hi?”

Going to my mother’s place brought me PTSD of how I had been abducted. That was why I avoided there.

“I’m sorry, mum.”

She sighed. “Well, are you home now?”

“Yes, with the children.”

“Would you like to come over?”

I let out a deep sigh.

“You won’t come say hi to your mother?”

“It’s not that- I- why don’t you come here instead?”

I offered. Feeling guilt for not paying attention to her.

“Hm.”

“I can’t come 'cause I still get nightmares of the abduction. And coming over brings back the incident in the worst ways.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you say so before?”

“I thought you would already know.”

She sighed. “Alright then. I’m coming over.”

“See you here,” I said and hung up the call.

An hour later, the maid told me my mother was home.

I took the kids in, and we all said hello to her.

She was sitting in the living room. When she saw the kids, she rushed to them, hugged them, and showered them with kisses and hugs.

They were also delighted to see her.

She had brought them treaties and caught up on their lives.

They all looked so happy. And it almost elated my moodiness.

But the fact that danger was still lurking in the dark made me quite scared and uneasy.

My mother seemed to have noticed this.

She told the children to play in the playroom while conversing with me.

“You’ve been quite surly.”

“I just am under the weather.”

She didn’t seem to agree with my theory.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“No, Mom. I’m fine.” My tone didn’t sound fine.

“You know you can talk to me. I have you in the best interest.”

“I know, Mom. And I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” I didn’t wish to tell my mother what was going on. Majorly cause she wouldn’t understand. And we would end up fighting over the whole situation.

It's more like she would blame everything on my involvement with Adrien.

Her eyes travelled around the house.

“Where is Adrien? Has he finally decided to leave you like he did before?”

I scowled at her.

“He is in a meeting. He’s the Alpha, remember? Duty calls.”

“Hm.”

She gave me an intense stare that said she had more to say. But didn’t know how to say it.

“Have you finally accepted him?”

“What?”

“You know. Are you two back together?”

“Me and Adrien's relationship doesn’t concern you, mom.”

“It does when it’s causing you distress.”

“Adrien is not what is causing me distress.”

“So what is then.”

“Can you just stop, mama? This is why I don’t invite you. You always pry. And in the worst way ever!” I barked at her.

Causing her to jerk in surprise. She probably wouldn’t have expected that I could shout at her.

Seeing as I was always so calm and collected.

I guess the whole situation is getting to me the wrong way.

“If you think looking out for my daughter is prying. Then I’ll stop. But now, I wouldn’t come hoarding you when he leaves you for another woman. Or probably runs your company down like he almost did.”

I fisted my hands to control my rage. My mother refused to let go of Adrien's past mistakes. And for someone with so many mistakes, it sure pissed me off that she could be so judgmental.

“You know If you had put this effort into your marriage. Then maybe Dad would still be alive.”

Hurt flashed through her eyes. It seemed like I had struck a nerve.

I felt unapologetic about it. She should be able to handle whatever trouble she dished out to people.

“You know how much I worked to keep my marriage and your father's life intact. Yes, I made mistakes. And it’s the cause of those mistakes I make that I can spot when you are making one like them. I’m only trying to prevent you from causing greater harm to yourself.”

“But I’m not you, Mom. I’m me. The mistakes I make are not similar to yours. We have different lives. And different stories. Don’t compare me to yourself!”

She grew quiet. Then sighed.

“Alright. I’ll stop.” That was her way of apologising, as my mother had too much pride to say sorry words.

Since I knew her, I had learnt to adjust to her.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry for being rude with my words.” I apologised.

She nodded.

An awkward silence passed through us both.

Well, till she broke it.

“I believe I have seen everyone except for Margaret. She used to be so inseparable with the kids.”

I swallowed hard. The mention of her name brought back all those dark emotions.

“She is busy with work.”

“You shouldn’t load her with so much work. She should be given a raise or even a promotion. She has done so much for you and the kids. She’s such an angel.”

If only my mother knew that Margaret was a possible threat to me and the kids.

I forced a smile.

“You know she would always bring the kids to see me. To spend lots of time with me. And she still manages to do so much work in the office. I wonder how she balanced it.”

My mother praised her like she was a superhero.

Except it didn’t feel like she was.

“Adrien helped too. That’s how she could balance it.”

She nods her head. Though I could tell she disagreed. But she knew that line of argument wouldn’t help any of us. So she said nothing.

Just then, Adrien came into the room. When he saw my mother, he looked surprised. But he quickly masked it and greeted her.

“Good afternoon, Ms Montana.”

She forced a smile.

He knew she didn’t like him much. So he didn’t bother to stress much on her attitude.

He just bent down and kissed me on my lips.

“Hey.” His eyes gleamed.

“Hey.” His eyes shone a lot better than they did before. Suggesting that he was in a good mood.

“I guess the meeting went well. Seeing as you are all smiling.”

His smile deepened.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

I nodded.

“Ahem.” My mother made the sound. Trying to bring our focus back to her.

“I guess I’ll be on my way now. I’ll say goodbye to the kids and then leave.”

“Nonsense. Please stay for dinner. I insist.”

“Uhm. I have work as early as tomorrow. I’m sorry I can’t stay.”

I knew it was cause she couldn’t stand Adrien. She still hated him for what had happened in the past. It's funny how she hated him more than I did before. And she wasn’t even the one who was wronged.

Adrien opened his mouth to speak.

I held his hands.

“It’s okay. She doesn’t have to stay.”

Adrien looked like he wanted to say more. But I shook my head.

“It’s not worth it,” I said through the mind link.

He nodded.