Chapter 37 The Deed
Stepping out of the taxi, I took a deep breath before walking into the gates. My phone vibrated in my hands. It was a message from an unknown number.
‘Incase you change your mind. Here’s the password to Aurick’s safe: 457890.’
I sighed, shaking my head nefore tucking my phone into my pocket. I don’t know what to believe anymore. Perhaps, I had heard Aurick speaking wrongly?
This was one of reasons why eavesdropping is considered illegal!
“Oh, there you are, Bree!” My mum chimed as soon as I stepped into the house.
Aurick was sitted close to her with a woman I felt a sudden recognition to. Who was she?
“I had asked the maids where you were when I didn’t see you in your room and I was told you went out.”
“Uh, yes, I went to see a friend,” I said with a small smile. I can’t tell her I went to see Cecilia. Especially not in front of Aurick.
“Oh, I see,” Aurick replied. “I’m glad you are beginning to make friends despite the incidence.”
I felt heat creep into my cheeks as I uncomfortably nodded my head. Lying was becoming easy to me. I glanced at the other person in the room with a raised brow and Aurick chuckled.
“Well, Yvonne, this is Celeste Monroe. You must have heard about her, right?”
My eyes widened with surprise. Celeste Monroe, the legendary dancer in our living room. The woman whose performances shut down half of New Jersey’s social calendar, and I’m literally looking at her right now. My heart was leaping with excitement!
My mom laughed. “Bree is so excited that she can’t speak. She is here because she was impressed by your dance performance at the last gala event and Aurick here invited her to see you. She has even offered to be your coach.”
“You’re joking!” I half yelled.
“No, dear,” This time around, Celeste was the one who spoke. “Your movements were extraordinary and I haven’t seen someone with such raw talent in ages. I wouldn’t want someone else to come here and steal you so I came over myself.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. Celeste Monroe was here, speaking to me and she wanted me to coach me as well? I have been following her on social media ever since I was a kid and she was more like a mentor to me until I lost interest in dancing.
I stared at my mum and then at Aurick. “You guys did this for me?”
Mum stood up and walked up to me, holding my both hands. “You deserve the best, honey. I was so caught up in my duties that I have seem to neglect you in a way, this is our way of saying sorry.”
She glanced at Aurick and he nodded in agreement. I couldn’t hold back myself as I drew her into a hug.
“Thank you, mum. Thank you!”
As I closed my eyes, being enveloped in my mother’s hug, all my doubts seemed to return instead of disappearing. Would my mum and Aurick really do something like that? Or was Cecilia accusing them wrongly?
Perhaps, I would have to check the safe to prove Cecilia wrong! My mum will never cheat on my dad.
My mum patted my back as she disengaged from the hug. I glanced down at Aurick with gratitude in my eyes. I had totally lost my zeal for dancing but these two didn’t want to give up on me.
“Thank you, Aurick.”
“You’re welcome, Yvonne. It’s the least I could do, your mother said it would help improve your mood.”
I smiled genuinely. “When do I start?”
“As soon as you are ready dear,” Celeste said. “Your mum said you haven’t practiced dancing for a while now so we should take things slowly for now.”
“Thank you so much. This is actually a childhood dream come true.”
…
It was already midnight and everywhere was silent except the hammering of my heart against my chest. I had never done something like this before so I was nervous, anxious, even.
I looked at my both sides before opening the door to Aurick’s study. I crept inside, half closing the door, trying not to make any sound. I walked in, using my phone as light source, careful not to trip over anything.
Walking further, the safe finally came into view. I took in a deep breath as I punched in the numbers. It opened with a soft click.
Bundles of money as well as documents came into view. My palms felt sweaty, my ears were literally straining to get any sound. My fingers trembled as I reached towards the documents in the safe.
One by one, I checked through them. None of them contained what I was searching for. Getting frustrated, I was about to drop the last file in my hand and leave, until I saw something that caught my eyes.
A document had my father’s name on it. Dropping the others on the table, I took it out. My breath got caught in my throat. In it were the same pictures Cecilia had shown to me. Written checks to my mother were also in it as well as a property deed in my father’s name.
I glanced at the slightly ajar door, my legs were about to give way, so I took a seat. Inhaling a sharp breath, I read through the deed and a gasp fell from my mouth.
My mother had sold our home to Aurick, but that wasn’t all. Because she had told me about that, she had told me Aurick wanted to renovate the place for us but she never told me the date she had sold it to him. The date on the document was two years before my father died.
My memory flashed to those two years and those were the times my father’s attitude towards us had began to change. I glanced at the pictures on the table, sweat broke out of my skin, drenching my clothes.
Those pictures…
The dates were written at the back of each. They were taken two years before my father’s death.
The truth slammed into me in an instant.
Cecilia was right! My mother had cheated on my father and he knew.