They didn't see him again until about a month later.

But before then...

❤️❤️💎

"Why is granny not here yet?" Sandra whined for the umpteenth time. School was over for the day about an hour ago and their grandmother hadn't come to pick them yet. She had been picking them from school ever since she knew about them, though their mother did too occasionally. And their granny was never late. "I'm getting hungwy."

"She might be delayed Sandie," Samuel reasoned. "Granny is never late."

The children sat on the swing, swinging each other to pass the time as they patiently waited for their grandmother.

Some ten minutes later, they decided to move towards the gate to see if they'll meet their grandmother on the way.

"...She said my work was the best!" Sandra ranted excitedly to Samuel as they walked.

"Really? That makes the two of us!" Samuel grinned.

"Granny will be so pwoud! She's going to..."

Sandra sharply halted and was thrown off balance as she collided with a bigger person who angrily pushed her to the ground.

"Sandie!" Samuel quickly knelt to help his twin sister who had fallen on the ground. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "No."

They both turned to look up at the lady that had pushed Sandra down. She was pretty but looked bad and grumpy.

"Watch where you're going brat." The lady spat.

"You pushed my sister down and still blame her!" Samuel said angrily. The lady was bad. "Not fair!"

"Who gave you the right to talk to me like that you disrespectful little brat...?" The lady made to come close to them and the children flinched and inched backwards still sitting on the ground.

"Sammie! Sandie!"

They gasped in relief when they heard their granny's voice, sure that she would rescue them from the bad lady.

"Oh my God, what are you both doing on the floor?" She come over and helped them up, embracing them. "I'm so sorry I'm late my darlings, your granny's car had an issue on our way here but I'm here now okay?"

"Okay granny." They chorused.

Ingrid turned to look at the girl that stood staring down her nose at them, then turned back to the kids.

"Why were you both on the floor?" She asked seriously this time.

"Sandie walked into this woman by accident and she pushed Sandie down!" Samuel said angrily.

"What!?" Ingrid boomed and turned to the young woman. "Is that true?"

"Well tell your brat to watch where she's going next time." The girl said and made to walk past but Ingrid grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"Are you for real?" Ingrid snapped. "A child accidentally ran into you and all you could do was push her to the ground? How dare you lay your filthy hands on my granddaughter?"

"Lady Ingrid," The school Head, Mr Charlse came running to the scene. "Oh my God, what's happening here?"

"Mr Charlse, is this how the children are treated here?" Ingrid asked angrily.

"No! Never, Lady Ingrid, I assure you." Mr Charlse replied awkwardly and nervously. Ingrid was one of their biggest sponsors.

She rolled her eyes. "You don't even know what I'm talking about Charlse."

"Oh! Uh, right." He scratched his bald head. "I'm really..."

"Mum what happened?" Annabelle's voice rang and everyone turned to her. "I had a meeting close by so I decided to come pick the children up myself even though I wasn't sure I'd still meet them here." She halted. "What's going on here?"

A gasp had her turning to the girl that her mother and her kids were glaring at and she froze.

***

She didn't know how to react to whom she had just seen. The pain she had felt these past years and even from when she was still a child started to take a toll on her.

"What did you do to my children?" She asked snappishly after her kids explained what happened.

"Where have you been Annabelle!?" Lydia exclaimed in both shock and horror. "You're supposed to be..."

"What? Dead?" Annabelle asked with an angry smirk. "Well sorry to disappoint you and that mother of yours, I am still very much alive and breathing."

"And you look...you don't look bad..."

"As you both had expected I'd look. Well sorry to disappoint you again, I am doing very well." She snapped. "Now, what did you do to my kids?"

"They're your children?" Lydia asked with wide shocked eyes.

"You ask too much questions, young lady!" Ingrid snapped. "Answer the question will you?"

"And who the hell are you, you old hag?" Lydia lashed out.

The school Head gasped in horror and Annabelle scowled.

"Don't you dare talk to my mother like that!" She boomed.

"Your mother?" Lydia scoffed.

"Miss Thompson, please you need to watch what you say," Mr Charlse politely cut in. "This is Lady Ingrid Rowland, her daughter Miss Annabelle Rowland and her grandchildren."

Lydia's eyes widened. "Wait, Lady Ingrid Rowland? As in, the Lady Ingrid?"

The man nodded. "Yes yes, the very one."

"Oh my gosh!" Lydia exclaimed. "I didn't know! Wait," She turned to Annabelle. "Lady Ingrid is your mother? But that's impossible! Mum never mentioned that your mother was a rich and influential woman."

Annabelle frowned. "You knew your mother was never my real mother?"

"Ever since I was fifteen." Lydia said drily.

"And that's the reason why you both decided to treat me the way you did?" She asked, her voice slightly breaking.

"We did nothing!" She snapped without remorse. "And I do not believe that Lady Ingrid is your mother."

"Wait, she's Monalisa's daughter?" Ingrid asked and Annabelle nodded.

Ingrid raised her brow. "I can see that evilness runs in the blood." She looked menacingly at Lydia who flinched under that look. "Your mother and I have some scores to settle. When you get home, tell her Ingrid says hi." She paused for effect. "And if you ever lay those filthy fingers on my grandchildren or come anywhere close to them again, you'll regret the day you were born."

She turned to her daughter and grandkids. "Let's go, children."

And they left the school premises with Lydia, Mr Charlse and a few other teachers who had eavesdropped, gaping at them.

❤️❤️💎

"She has grown a lot since the last time we saw." Annabelle said. "She should be twenty five or six by now."

Ingrid nodded. "She does look a lot like Monalisa. And it's a pity that she also inherited her bad character too."

Annabelle sighed. "It wasn't easy growing up at all. I always wondered why she never showed me love. I always wondered whether I was her real daughter or just an adopted child. It was only after we met that I understood the reason why she had always treated me the way she had."

"You not being her real daughter was not a good enough reason for her to have maltreated you so." Ingrid said, anger and pain visible on her face. "And you weren't just an adopted child, you were her friend's child! After everything she did to me, the least she could have done was treat you like you were her own daughter to atone for her sins!"

Annabelle reached for her hand. "It's okay mum. It's all in the past now."

"Monalisa will surely reap the fruits of her wickedness." Ingrid said fiercely. "She will not go scot free."

❤️💎❤️

The company registered huge success and inflow of funds after the LV contract was accomplished.

It was a huge achievement for Annabelle and she couldn't be more proud of herself. She broke a record in the company's book of records and her mother and the staff were all elated and extremely proud of her.

But it had only been possible because of David.

***

She walked into her office on a fine Wednesday morning and immediately requested for a cup of coffee to start the day as she sort through some files.

She noticed an envelope laying neatly on one side of her table and she picked it up and saw that it was addressed to her then she carefully opened it.

A beautiful card was inside the envelope and she pulled it out, wondering who it was from and what it was about and scanned through

Then her blood froze.

Her hands started to shake and the room felt too hot all of a sudden. Her heart pounded loudly against her chest and a sick feeling settled at the pit of her stomach that caused her nausea.

She noticed a small paper inside the envelope then pulled it out with a shaky hand. It was a short note and she dreaded reading it but gathered the courage to.

'Yes, I'm not decent or homely, I don't cook or clean. But guess what? I still got the ring! And this time, it's together forever.

Chanel.'

With a painful cry, she tossed the card into the waste bin, glaring at the the front page of David and Chanel's wedding invitation as tears slid down her cheeks.