Woke Up Married

70

Betrayal

"Now get out, I need to rest," Mrs Haward said and Mirenda left her room but instead of going into her room, she went out of the apartment.

"Ma'am, are you going somewhere?" asked one of the guards who met Mirenda at the entrance.

"Yes, but I don't need your help," Mirenda replied angrily and walked past him heading for the gate leaving the guard astonished.

Mrs Haward looks down on people below her level, and James cares about no one but himself, so Mirenda is the only one who is nice to people. Jason does not look down on anyone but he doesn't like women around him but he has a good heart. The guard was surprised by Mirenda's reaction as it didn't seem like her. He walked back into the house dismissing what just happened as her having a bad day.

"Since Jason left it looks like this family is falling apart gradually," the guard thought as he used the stairs to the guards' apartment.

At the gate, the security man saw Mirenda and realised she didn't look okay.

"Ms Haward, please, where are you going? Should I get one of the guards to take you?" the security man asked as it was unlike Mirenda to go out that late.

"No thanks, I will be fine," Mirenda replied in a dull voice.

"Are you alright?" asked the security man hearing her dull voice.

"I am fine," Mirenda replied trying to compose herself.

Mirenda was already feeling bad about her response to the guard earlier and was also unhappy with what her mum was doing. She was also unhappy about how her mum treated her. Her mother makes her feel just like Jason, perhaps she was also adopted. She dialled Henry's number and brought the phone to her ears.

"Hello, is it okay if I come over to your place?" Mirenda inquired almost on the verge of tears.

"Wait, I will come to get you," replied Henry wondering what was happening with her.

In less than half an hour a grey Royce Rolls Cullinan pulled over in front of the apartment. Henry got out of the car and Mirenda ran into his arms and broke down in tears.

"Hey, ssh, ssh, I am here now," Henry said hugging Mirenda. "What happened?" he directed his question to the security man.

"I don't know," the security man replied shrugging his shoulders.

Henry opened the car door for Mirenda to sit in the co-drivers seat. He went round the car and sat behind the wheel and drove out of the compound towards his apartment.

"Babe, what happened?" Henry inquired while starting the ignition.

"My mum happened. Please, let's not talk about that. It's stressing me up aside from hurting me," Mirenda replied wiping a tear with the back of her hand.

"Babe, I am here for you. Let's go somewhere more relaxing before we go home," Henry suggested and she nodded in agreement.

Henry drove to a nearby beach where some fireworks were going on. Mirenda's mood lit up as she loves fireworks.

"You like what you see?" Henry asked as he parked the car and Mirenda nodded with a smile.

Henry drew her closer and kissed her before they both got out of the car to watch the fireworks. Henry stood behind Mirenda wrapping his arms around her. They were there for almost two hours before they left for Henry's apartment. Henry had one of the guest rooms prepared for Mirenda as he had vowed not to touch her until they were married. He kissed her passionately before biding her goodnight. Lying in separate rooms in the same apartment they texted each other all night.

In the morning, Mrs Haward woke up excited about the day. She took a shower and put on something casual. In her hand, she was holding a brown envelope. She smiled and placed it on the table, stepped out of her room and had her breakfast alone. She was not bothered; Mirenda was not in the apartment. Mirenda was the least of her worries. She sat on the sofa and read a magazine waiting for James and Julia.

It was midday when the plane from Croydon landed in Florida. James had taken Julia out of the house at gunpoint and threatened to have someone kill both, Peter and Jason, if she did not quietly come with him. She was terrified all through the flight while James listened to music. They went through the checkpoint and a car with one of the guards was waiting to pick them up. They sat in and drove off to the apartment. Julia sat quietly in the car wondering what was going to happen to her. They soon arrived at the apartment, which was so familiar to Julia. She recalled the first time she had found herself in this apartment, it wasn't something pleasant and today she is back in the same apartment and again, it's not pleasant. Using the elevator, they went up to the 6th floor. James opened the door and pushed Julia inside. She stumbled but managed to find her feet so she didn't fall to the ground.

"Welcome Julia," said Mrs Haward with a smile as she welcomed Julia. "I hope he didn't bully you on the way here," she said with a smile but Julia knew she was only being sarcastic as she had never treated her nicely since they met.

Julia was surprised at how nice Mrs Haward was treating her now as she had never seen her act that nice. She always had something horrible to say to her or she will call her a pest.

"You must be hungry," Mrs Haward said and immediately called the servants to get Julia some coffee and get lunch ready making Julia raise an eyebrow at her gesture. "You are surprised I am being nice to you?" she asked and Julia looked at her in silence.

"Yes, that is before I discovered the truth. Believe me, I thought you were a scammer who joined hands with evil Jason to destroy things," Mrs Haward explained. "James, please excuse us," she said to James who was also sitting in the living room.

"Sure," replied James before he got up and left the apartment entirely.

The servant brought two cups of coffee, served Julia and returned to the kitchen.

"Do you know you are a Haward?" Mrs Haward began and Julia frowned.

"I see you don't know. My husband met your mother in San Francisco while he was working on a project. Your mother was working in a restaurant by then. He took advantage of her and sexually abused her. He left the city after," Mrs Haward narrated and took a sip of her coffee.

Julia listened attentively as Mrs Haward narrated the story.

"Your mother got pregnant and told my husband about it and as he didn't want to take responsibility for you, he used his contacts and had your mother fired from the restaurant where she was working and earning some income. He also ensured that she never got any good job. He condemned your mother and you to death. All the struggles you had to go through were because of my husband. He abandoned you but went to adopt Jason, a stranger's son, and took care of him," Mrs Haward continued and placed an envelope on the table in front of Julia.

"Open it," Mrs Haward said and Julia took the envelope and opened it with shaking hands.

In the envelope was an image of her mother with a man having fun at a party. In another image was her mother with her friends at the restaurant where she used to work and there was a waitress of the year award given to her by the same restaurant. Next was her termination which was based on poor performance. Tears started flowing down Julia's face.

"How did you come by this information," Julia asked.

"From your beloved husband. I found it in his things after you two left," Mrs Haward replied.

"Jason knew?" Julia asked as tears streamed down her face.

"Yes. You see, if you are not a Haward, the only way you can be an heir to a Haward's inheritance is to marry a Haward. He could not go for Mirenda because he was pretending to be her brother, that makes you a perfect choice," Mrs Haward explained.

"So I am only a means to an end," Julia thought and more tears streamed down her face.

Julia was in love with Jason despite his coldness and thought even though he didn't say it, he cared about her too only to find out it was all a lie. He knew who she was and the only reason why he was with her was just to use her.

"You poor thing. Jason fooled you with his caring attitude right? Well, just like the man who raised him, you are a means to an end," Mrs Haward said as she finished her cup of coffee. "Look, when I found out about you, I felt guilty reason I sent James to come get you. I should have sent someone better. Forgive me. I brought you here because I want to help you start over in a better place," she said and placed a document before her.

"I am going to help you but first I need you to sign these documents," Mrs Haward said and handed Julia a pen. "Look, I can help you but I need you to sign these documents transferring ownership to me so Jason cannot use it against you," she said but Julia was too hurt to understand what she was saying.

Julia, in her sadness and heart broken into many pieces, signed the documents without even checking what was in them.

The side of Mrs Hawards's lips curved slightly as Julia signed the documents. Once Julia was done, Mrs Haward checked and put them back in the envelope.

"Look you don't have to go leave with Jason any more. The guards will take you to an apartment I got for you to apologize for how I treated you and to also help you start afresh," Mrs Haward said.

Julia just nodded and left with the guard to the location without taking lunch. She felt betrayed. Jason's stepfather betrayed her mother and now Jason is betraying her too. She sat silently at the back of the car holding her tears in. The car pulled over in front of a house. The guard gave her the keys and without waiting for her to even enter drove off. Julia opened the door and entered the place. It was a two-bedroom house. The only thing in the house was a single bed and a cooking area. She sat on the floor and started crying bitterly

Meanwhile, back in the apartment, Mrs Haward was so happy going through the signed documents that transferred ownership of Haward's property to her. Now she can decide to keep James as heir or move to manage things herself.

"That was easy, I thought I would have to point a gun at her head," Mrs Haward said to James who had returned to the apartment.

"So, everything is ours now?" James inquired.

"Yes, it is," replied Mrs Haward excitedly.

"So can I have her now?" James asked.

"Why do you want her? I don't understand your attraction towards her," Mrs Haward said frowning but James said nothing. "Well, I don't care what you do with her," she replied and went with the signed documents to her room.

At 6 pm, Jason's plane landed in Florida, meanwhile, Julia was lying on the bed, eyes wide open and wondering why Jason did that to her.