A Rose Of Revenge

✴️ Chapter 28✴️: Digging into the past.

It was unfortunate that Nora didn't see much of the scene. All she saw was Duke Steven hitting his daughter which came as a surprise to her. She had always thought that the man valued his daughter so much, you dare not harm her. But now, it seems that all she knew or all she thought she knew about Annabelle were false. 

She waited for her uncle to drive off before walking up to her cousin who was sitting in the heavy rain, pouring like the highest medium of shower.

"Are you here to laugh at me?" Annabelle asked her cousin, who was standing beside her, shielding her from the rain with her umbrella.

"The past me would have been delighted to do so...but now, I just can't help but wonder why a father will hit his full grown daughter who's married and probably with kids".  Nora replied honestly, as she stared into the distance in which Duke Steven's car had disappeared into.

  Silence followed, as Annabelle tried her best not to be embarrassed that Nora had to see this. Nora on the other hand, sighed deeply before stretching out her hand towards Annabelle, saying   "Do you need a hand or the floor is comfortable for you?"

Annabelle turned her head and saw Nora's concerned face which had never happened since they've known each other.

"Did the moon rise in the day and the sun at night or are you actually being nice to me, Nora? This is Annabelle Steven, Nora". Annabelle reminded Nora, just to be sure Nora wasn't confused as to who she was trying to be nice to.

Embarrassed, her cheeks turning pink, Nora dropped the umbrella for Annabelle and turned to walk away.

"Wait! Please help me up. I accidentally twisted my leg as I fell". Annabelle admitted, stretching forth her hand towards Nora, who reluctantly took it and helped her up.

"Don't rest too much on me. I'm half your weight" Nora told Annabelle who smiled as they both walked towards the car where Lucas was waiting. 

"Remind me to write this down in my journal. The day my cousin was nice to me".  Annabelle said and Nora scoffed. "Enjoy it while it lasts, it won't be all the time". She replied but Annabelle knew her cousin was just bluffing.

Nora helped Annabelle into the car before turning to enter through the other door, closing the umbrella and throwing it into the booth.

"Where are we headed, boss?" Lucas asked Nora who turned to Annabelle for the answer.

"I can't go home like this. My husband will ask questions. So I'll follow you to your place. Besides...I believe we have a lot to talk about". Annabelle replied, hinting at Nora about their earlier discussion. 

"Drive us home". Nora ordered Lucas who nodded and roared the engine to life before zooming off.

The car was silent for a while before Nora asked the question bothering her badly.

"Do you mind sharing why your father hit you?" Nora asked her cousin, who looked offended at the question.

"If you want us to work together, you'll need to tell me what that was all about". Nora tried to convince Annabelle, who didn't give an immediate reply. After waiting for a while and there was no answer, Nora decided to give Annabelle some privacy.

"The only reason why my father allowed me to marry my husband was because of the ammunition my husband had access to by inheritance. My father needed those ammunition to give to someone who needed it in exchange for the person's cooperation. At first, I thought he had forgotten all about it. Until he asked today. Now that I think about it, I should have been expecting it since his backbone in politics has been removed. He needs to look for another backbone before he crumbles". Annabelle replied all of a sudden. She actually didn't want to say a word to Nora but if she needed to work with Nora, she had to be at least transparent.