"Welcome home Mrs Victoria."
Victoria stormed into the big house as fast as she could, paying the maids that hurried to receive them at the door no mind. They knew better than to persist, they were no strangers to how extreme Victoria could get when she was upset.
She paused as soon as she got into the living room. She needed to breathe. She placed her hands on her hips, drawing deep breaths. It was really difficult bottling all that anger up in front of the press and now that she was away from them, her heart felt so heavy from all that anger.
"Sir Austin." The maids chorused Austin's name as he walked into the house, holding the little girl's hands gently, the butler closing the door behind them.
"Bisi," He turned to one of the maids, she answered "Please take Grace to her room and prepare her for bed." He instructed, letting go of the girl's hand.
"Of course sir," the maid slowly reached for the child's hand when another hand grabbed it and yanked the child close, her doll fell to the ground.
Everyone turned to Victoria.
She glared at the little child, fury evident in her eyes as she tightened her grip on her arm, her false nails almost digging in. The girl whimpered in pain
"Grandma," she said softly, staring at Victoria with fear and surprise written all over her face.
"What is it this time mother?" Austin exhaled, glaring at Victoria
"You," Victoria pushed Grace a little bit to the left so she could see her better, still clinging on as tight as she could to her tiny arm. "You saw that right?" She asked the little girl. "You saw how that useless, murderous mother of yours humiliated me in court today."
The girl sobbed
"Mother let her go." Austin took a step forward. "You're hurting her."
"You're hurting me grandmother." The girl whispered softly as tears welled up in her eyes, her voice was so tiny. She was so frightened. Victoria scoffed. She didn't care, she dug in deeper, intentionally making sure that she was hurting the little girl as much as she could.
"Grandmother?" She pulled the girl closer, almost twisting her arm to the other side. "Who the hell is your grandmother?" She widened her eyes just so the girl could look right in. "How can I be your grandmother? Isn't it obvious? Isn't it obvious I don't like you and I hate you even more because of what that stupid mother of yours did today?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Grace was so frightened, tears began to well up in her tiny bright eyes "You look so much like her and it's so annoying." She tightened her grip on her. "I just want to slap you so hard till my hands bleed."
"Grandmother," the little girl sobbed as her tears began to fall off her face.
"She wants you back?" Victoria scoffed again. "As if I'd ever let that happen. I'd rather die than see that happen, than see that woman happy, I'd rather die than reunite you with her. You are so annoying." She said jerking her and pulling the girl hard from side to side making sure her feet was barely touching the ground. "You're so so annoying."
The girl was crying harder, crying so loud that it was alerting everyone in the house. The maids all stood still with their heads bowed. They knew better than to try and interrupt.
"Mother let her go." Austin rushed towards them and quickly grabbed on to Grace, yanking her away from Victoria before she hurt her even more. Victoria screamed in frustration as Austin placed Grace behind him to protect her before he quickly turned to face her. She was sobbing so loudly now and wouldn't stop crying, her tears covered her entire face.
"Are you okay?" He pulled her arm gently from side to side so he could inspect if she had a bruise. Victoria's nails were close to digging a hole into her skin. Her fingernail marks were so visible that it made her entire arm red.
"Uncle Austin," she sobbed.
Austin exhaled
"It's okay." He told her, cleaning her eyes quickly, "Don't cry, it's okay." He rubbed her arm gently. "Grandma is just having a bad day. Why don't you go upstairs to your room and let grandma and uncle have a little chat. Can you do that?"
Grace sniffed.
She nodded her head slowly. She didn't have a choice, she was too frightened to be there anyway. He turned to the first maid that stood there. She looked at him and he nodded. She knew that was a signal to take Grace up to her room and she obeyed immediately.
"I'd be right upstairs okay," He told Grace as the maid reached for her hands and took her away quickly.
Victoria drew a deep breath just as Austin slowly turned to look at her
"What on earth is wrong with you?"
"Oh, don't even start Austin."
"She's just a child, mother."
Victoria scoffed
"All you've done since Grace was brought into this house from the police station six years ago is hurt her like you just did. I'm scared of leaving you two alone at home because I'm scared I might come back to find her dead one day. Why one earth do you hate her so much? She has done nothing wrong to you."
Victoria threw herself on the couch, she needed a breather.
"If she disgusts you so much then why did you bother to bring her here in the first place? She would have been better off."
"So what?" Victoria glared at him, sitting straight "What are you trying to say Austin? kini o nso? Are you saying my house is worse than prison? Is that it?"
"She's your granddaughter." Austin cut her off "Your only grandchild, the only legacy Andrew left behind-"
"You should have thought of that six years ago!" She snapped. The room was quiet for a while. Austin glared at her
"What?"
She exhaled and rolled her eyes, reaching for the bottle of wine on the table. She needed a drink. Austin watched her pour herself a glass and empty it quickly.
She exhaled
"Never mind." She tried to avoid eye contact with him. "I'm so upset Austin, I don't need you to nag me today, I don't need you taking their side. You should take my side for once like I always have. I'm your mother. I'm your only family"
She slowly turned to him
"Emi ko fẹran rẹ. I do not like that child. When I look at her, all I can see is that woman that murdered my son. It's not my fault that I can't stand her."
"Then let her go." Austin told her "Olivia is out of jail and she has the right to be with her daughter. Grace should be with her mother too. If her presence disgusts you so much then let her go-"
"Never!" Victoria got up quickly. "I'd never give that witch the chance to be ever happy in this life. I'm going to ruin her and take everything away from her just like she did to me-"
"Mum didn't you hear what the judge said? She wasn't the one. She isn't responsible for Andrew's death!"
"Don't tell me you believe that nonsense!" Victoria yelled back "if she didn't do it then who did? Tell me huh? Did I kill him? Did you kill him?"
Austin scoffed
"No tell me?" She asked him "Ever since she went to jail you've always hated me like it was my fault for wanting justice for what happened. If I can't blame her then who do I blame? Who do I need to destroy next huh? Tell me? Who would take blame for what happened!"
"You're delusional." Austin said as calmly as he could. "I'm honestly sick of it. I can't let you do this anymore Mum, I can't let you hurt Olivia or Grace anymore." He stared at her. "Hurt any of them again and I promise you, you're going to lose another son."
"How dare you?" Victoria glared at him. "How dare you Austin?"
"Good night mum." Austin turned quickly and walked away, leaving Victoria there all alone.
"How can you talk to your mother like this Austin?!" She yelled after him as he kept walking to the stairs. She followed him.
"You'd disrespect me like this because of those low lives? You'd regret this!"
She kept yelling as she watched him storm up the stairs. She stopped right in front of it. "You'd regret turning your back on me, mark my words."
Austin was barely listening. He hurried as fast as he could down the hallway till he was out of Victoria's sight.
She exhaled and then cleaned her smudged mascara away from her face. She scowled before she hurried back into the living room.
She needed another drink and she needed one fast
༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛
Olivia got up from the really soft bed the moment she heard a soft knock on the door. She was too embarrassed to let anyone see her getting too comfortable in the house already. She watched the old lady let herself in with the younger maid beside her holding a pile of clothes.
"Ms Olivia?"
The woman smiled walking closer to her. Olivia smiled a little bit the moment they got closer.
"Please, Just call me Olivia," Olivia told them calmly. They both looked at themselves quickly and then turned back to look at her.
"Really?" The younger maid asked her. Olivia nodded.
"It's been six years since I got to stop using that title. I'm more comfortable being called just Olivia now."
The older woman chuckled.
"Many women would kill to be called a Missus."
Olivia chuckled faintly.
"I've lived well enough to know there's nothing great about it." She said beneath gritted teeth and then clicked her tongue, pushing her gaze towards them.
"Are those change of clothes?"
She asked looking at the pile of clothes in Lucy's hands. Lucy nodded quickly dropping them on the bed.
"They are clothes from a long time ago." Benita added "I don't know if they'd fit but I guess you should be about the same size."
Olivia narrowed her gaze as she picked up the first dress from the pile. She placed it on her body to measure if it was. It looked like it fit.
"With who?" She asked, placing the dress on her arm.
"Madam Constan-"
Benita gave Lucy a tiny push on her arm just as she was about to complete her sentence. Olivia turned to Benita wondering what it was, wondering what she was trying to hide. Benita stood straight and smiled at Olivia.
"Please make yourself at home." She told her "If there is anything you need, let us know." She smiled warmly.
A tiny frown covered Olivia's face.
"The last person that ever said those words to me was the last person to testify against me in court today." She said almost in a whisper. Her mood completely off. "Weird fact is she was my Nanny too." She whispered like they couldn't hear her.
Just what was she thinking about? They wondered.
Olivia brightened up quickly.
"Thank you very much for the clothes." She smiled at them. "I was getting really tired of this smelly jumpsuit anyway."
Benita exhaled and then nodded.
There was silence in the room for a few seconds.
No one said a word.
Lucy had her eyes glued to the ground while her arms were folded behind her. Olivia tried to avoid all eye contact with Benita even though her eyes were stuck on her like glue.
The silence was getting really awkward.
"You can change into any of that and join Mr Rafael for dinner downstairs when you're done." Lucy had to break the silence
Olivia faked a smile.
She heard them perfectly.
She watched as they both turned and then headed towards the door. Lucy opened it and then walked outside and Benita followed quickly.
Olivia waited till the door closed.
She exhaled in relief. She almost said the grace in her head twice. She quickly walked to the bed and threw herself on it.
She gulped hard.
Why did everyone and everything seem so weird?
Try to act at least normal Olivia, you can do this. You can get through this, just for a few more days.
She told herself.
She hoped she could.