The Malevolence of a Woman Wronged (PREQUEL)

EPILOGUE

"Mrs Vandenburg, this is Dahlia Romano, my wife," He proudly introduced as I moved to stand up, shaking her hand.

"It's only fair for you to call me by my name if you ask me to call you by yours, so just Angelina is fine. It's lovely to meet you," I greeted her while Marcos took the opportunity to go and bother Lucian who was still talking away on his phone call.

"Likewise, I've heard a lot about you, so it's nice to finally meet you," She spoke in a polite tone of voice as I blushed at her flattering words.

"Please, you make me feel like I'm a celebrity," I waved her off.

"You might as well be, I think you already are, in the business world at least," She chuckled as I gestured for her to sit down on the blanket with me which she happily did. "Which ones yours?" She gestured to all the children that were spread out around the park with an amused laugh as I went to look for my said child.

"The blonde one that's drawing with chalk on the ground over there is my Aurora," I pointed out as she laughed, nodding her head along to my words.

"She's adorable," She laughed, looking at her.

"She's an adventurous little girl, doesn't know how to sit still for more than a minute. So, Lucian and I thought it would be best to use her energy towards something that could be more useful so we're planning to put her in some self-defence classes,"

"That's a great idea, maybe I should do that for my children,"

"As parents, we'll always be worrying for our children, so it'll at least calm the nerves a little to know that if they're ever put in an unfortunate situation, they'll at least be able to defend themselves," She nodded along, agreeing to my words.

"What about you? I know of Giovanni, but the last time I saw him was when he was five, and he was quite the child back then," I chuckled at the memory as she laughed.

"Yes, he's ten now, but still the same as ever, and he's always been wanting a little sibling, so Marcos and I have been trying for years. I've had quite a lot of miscarriages in those years, but I managed to successfully give birth to my Lilliana, she's three now and is in good health,"

"And what about you?" I asked as she sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"Giving birth isn't easy for anyone, and it's taken its toll on me," She sighed. "But I'm grateful, to my children for being healthy, and to my husband for being so supportive and caring," I couldn't help but smile at her words, I've not had a miscarriage before, but I couldn't begin to think of how damaging that would be to a parent.

"Mama, when are we going to go home?" Gio asked as he paused in front of us.

"We just got here, why don't you play with Lily a bit?" Dahlia replied, gesturing to a little girl that was quietly playing on the swings in the distant as Gio sighed, shaking his head in boredom before coming to sit opposite me.

"Is that Sherlock Holmes, the final problem? I love that book," He noticed the said book I had been reading sitting on the blanket as I picked it up, handing it to him. "Who's your favourite character?" He asked as I took a moment to think about it.

"Moriarty, he's on par with Sherlock when it comes to brains. What about you?"

"Lestrade, I like his character the best, but-"

"-Mummy, mummy, mummy, look at what I got?" We turned to see Aurora running toward us with her hands clasped shut, a large, excited grin on her face as she approached me.

"Oh, dear. Please tell me she hasn't captured another caterpillar," I quietly begged as she jumped to sit down between us all and undid her hands as a little butterfly sat on her palm, fluttering its wings before flying off.