A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 78: Poor boy

“What are you doing with my phone?” Penelope asked in terror. She wanted to move closer to Elena, but she raised her hand and made her stop.

“Why?” Elena mumbled.

Penelope clenched her jaws and stared at the phones in her hand. She could guess that Elena already knew her secret.

“Come here.” She hastily walked up to her and pulled her by the hand, into the room. She shut the door behind her and locked it.

“Why would you do that to your daughter, Mom?! Your daughter and granddaughter too?!” Elena exclaimed in disappointment.

“Will you at least listen to what I have to say first?”

“There’s nothing to justify what you have just done to my sister, Mom. This is too extreme. There should never be anything that would push you to do such a wicked thing to your own blood.”

“My blood? Yes! Truly she is my blood, but she has no pity for her own blood too! Elena, she sent your father to Jail!”

Elena’s mouth fell open in awe, and she scoffed afterwards.

“Because he was guilty of murder! He killed her guardians!...”

“Lower your voice! Someone could be listening!” Penelope whispered audibly, and Elena gulped hard and looked away.

“That better not be the reason why you are letting her, an innocent child and every other person suffer!”

“I don’t like the Parkers, okay? Sit and let me explain things to you.”

Elena stared at her for a few minutes as she was reluctant to sit.

“Sit, Elena. You want to know why, right? You should sit and listen attentively.”

Elena sat and kept her eyes off Penelope because she was so angry and disgusted to look her in the eyes.

“Fine. I’m listening.” Elena responded icily.

“Good. When the truth about the cause of Amelia’s parents was revealed, I felt so scared that she would want to avenge their death or even fight for their justice. I didn’t want to lose Hopper, so I went to Amelia to talk to her. I pleaded so hard for her mercy, I told her not to press charges.” She paused and lowered her head in sadness.

“Amelia said she was going to press charges no matter what. I understood her because she was hurting so badly, and I was also in no place to tell her that because I was part of it. So I went to James too. This time, it was Hopper and I. We went to plead with him to talk to his wife, but he said he could not. That justice should be served.”

“I felt so angry and helpless. We were already regretting what had happened and wished we could put them all behind us. After James paid little attention to us, we went to his parents. We knew after James, they were the next people she would always listen to…”

“I don’t get it, Mom. What were you expecting? A happy ever after? After killing two people?”

“Let me finish, okay? I talked to Helen, who was my best friend in high school. I wanted her to use her influence to speak to Amelia about not pressing charges. But what did my best friend do? She turned me down too. The same way Charles turned down Hopper.”

Tears streamed down her eyes, and she shut them pretty tight. She folded her palms on her knees and shook her legs nervously.

“And so you thought of punishing them for it?”

“Helen has always wanted what is mine! She has always taken what I love from me! First, she took all the attention and acted like the Angel and most intelligent girl in high school, then she stole my dream man from me, then the love of my kid and turned her back against me…”

“She didn’t turn Amelia’s back against you! Y’all got what you deserved! And his the f**k did she steal your dream man?”

“And now Hopper isn’t with me anymore! If only she had helped me out, maybe this wouldn’t have happened!”

“So you’re saying Dad is the dream man she stole from you?”

“No! Charles! She told Charles away from me? Okay?!” She smacked as she broke into tears.

Elena creased her brows and stared at her in great confusion. “Charles? She has been married to him for years! How did she steal him from you?”

“He was the one I bumped into at the shopping mall. I’ve told you that story several times.” Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Penelope shook her head and exhaled loudly. She stood up and moved away from the bed.

“But you never got the chance to talk to him. You didn’t even ask for his name. How did you expect her to know who your dream man was?”

“I told her every detail. How he looked, how his voice was so soothing to my ears.”

“Mom! You're speaking like a child! Who would keep such details for years?!”

“Why him? Why did she have to marry him?! Why is it always what she gets with ease, hun?!”

Elena went mute for a few minutes and watched Penelope sob.

“But how does this have to do with you abducting Alice and keeping Amelia there too?”

“I don’t want her to have anything to do with the Parkers anymore. I don’t want anything to bring us together. I want another man for my daughter.”

“The dead have been done! They are married and happy. Can’t you just let it slide? All these are just flimsy excuses to show the kind of person you are!”

“The deed has not been done! I’ll change that deed to what I want. She will get married to another person, a man from a rich and neutral home. That’s what I want?”

Elena shook her head and looked away from her. “I should have known that you are this evil. No wonder I am also evil. I won’t let you do this. Everyone would know the truth.”

Penelope cleaned her eyes with the bank of her palm and sprang to her feet. “You’ll say nothing to anyone, Elena! I am your mother!”

“No, you are not! I want a caring and matured mother. Not someone like you! Everyone has to know this.”

“Don’t you dare or else…”

“You’ll kill me too just like you killed her parents? Or lock me up just like you have done to Alice and Amelia? I won’t be so shocked if that happens. But, I won’t have a hand in this atrocity. I can’t keep this secret for you. Not when it has to do with my sister and my baby Alice.”

“So you’ll let them throw me into jail too?! You want to lose your both parents?!” She grabbed Elena’s arm as she spoke.

“You should have been thrown in there with dad. Now I understand why Amelia found it so hard to love you like her mother. If you go away, I still have good people to call my parents.”

“I am your mother, Elena!”

“And all this while you let James say those horrible things to your innocent daughter. You could take that! If you could take that, then you are not my mother. A mother would always protect her child, not endanger her! You have endangered both of your children for your selfish interest. We disown you as our mother! You’ll suffer for what you’ve done to my sister.”

Elena yanked her arm off Penelope’s grip and stormed out of the room before she could stop her.

“Elena!” Penelope called as she followed behind her. Elena took her heels and kept running until she got out of the house.

‘I need space from her.’ She thought as she shed tears.

“Elena!” Penelope called again and was about to open the door when James walked into the living room.

“What is happening, Mrs. Penelope? Why are you screaming her name this late at night?” He inquired.

She swallowed and shook her head uncomfortably. “We had a minor argument and she got so pissed. She just ran out of the house.”

James sighed and sipped the wine in his hand.

“She isn’t a baby. She’ll come back when she wants. You should go back to your room and rest. Maybe this is even the best for us. For her to be far away from here.”

He staggered to the couch and slammed into it. The glass of wine fell from his hand and scattered all over the place, causing a loud noise.

“James! Have you been drinking?!” Penelope asked in surprise. It was the first time she had seen him so drunk.

“Mind your business, woman. Go to bed. I’m fine.” He muttered and laid on the couch.

“Where are you, Amelia? When will you come to me?” He murmured as his eyes closed to take a rest.

Penelope scoffed and shook her head. ‘Poor boy.’

***

Elena got to a hotel and booked a room to stay the night. She sat on the bed and unlocked her phone.

She stared at the phone number she had copied from her mom’s phone and began to reminisce.

‘Should I call him? What if she has called him and he has gotten rid of this line? I need to act first.’

She sent a text message to someone else, a friend of hers who was a good tracker.

She texted him the number she had copied to him and texted; “Please I need you to help me track this person. He has my sister and her daughter.”

After texting, the message was delivered, and luckily in no time, her friend saw the message.

She waited for him to reply, and he replied with, “on it.”

“Thank you so much.” She texted again in excitement.

She exhaled loudly and raised her head to look at the ceiling.

“Who do I tell about this?! This is too much for me to bear alone. I can’t keep it to myself. But what if mom is sent to jail too? Must she be sent to jail? Can’t I just act like another detective of mine found her before everyone else?”

She started pacing around the room, placing her jaw between her two fingers.

“I can just act like I found her. I don’t have to mention Mom. But what if the man with them tries to say something? I would love us to punish him but won’t he mention Mom? Won’t that spoil the whole plan? Does that mean I have to forgive him too?”

“Arrrrggghh!…” She grabbed her head in frustration and fell on the bed.

“I need to think this through! I can’t let my two parents go to jail, and I would never let that kidnapper get away with this. He must have traumatized Amelia.” She muttered.

She shut her eyes tight and buried her face in the soft pillow.

‘Oh God! I need to sleep now. My head is going to explode!’

‘But how is Amelia? What is she doing right now? Does this man hurt her?’

She pulled the duvet over her aggressively and shut her eyes tight again, forcing herself to sleep.