A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 55: Private investigator

It was exactly a week Amelia last spoke to Freddie. They had no contact whatsoever since she found out the truth about her parents.

Freddie didn’t bother to call her, and she was still very mad at him, so she didn’t bother to contact him either. He believed she needed time just like Hopper had told him.

Amelia sat comfortably in the living room, her legs crossed on the couch, a bowl of popcorn on her legs, and in front of her was the large television with her favorite movie playing.

Since she found out the truth, she had been so sad and pretty depressed. She often woke up in the middle of the night, crying and staring at her parent’s portrait.

James thought of ways to cheer her up a bit, and started off with taking a one week break from the office with her to reduce pressure on her.

He began to stay in the kitchen and started learning how to cook which impressed Amelia a lot.

He searched online for beautiful ladies stuff to buy her, and even went ahead to look for interesting romance comedy movies to make her laugh.

James didn’t give her a chance to sit and think about what had happened for too long. Amelia saw how hard he tried to make her happy, and she tried to make sure he saw improvements.

She was busy watching her movie, waiting for James to return from the grocery store so that they could make dinner together, when she heard the doorbell ring.

“James?!” She called excitedly and ran to the door to get it. She opened the door with no hesitation and almost jumped on who was in front of her, before she realized it wasn’t James.

It was a beautiful woman, she looked like she was in her late forties.

‘Why does she look so much like me?’ Amelia thought as they both stared at each other.

“Hi.” The woman finally spoke.

“Hi.” Amelia responded in a low tone. She could guess who this woman was.

“Who are you?” She added before she could say any other words.

“I’m Penelope. I believe you know who I am now.” She responded, divulging a soft smile.

Amelia heaved a loud sigh and gulped hard. It was like this woman gave her heart a hard, mean knock.

“What are you doing here?”

“Won’t you at least let me in, baby?”

“Baby?! I’m not your baby.” Amelia responded. He let go of the door knob and walked back to the couch.

She didn’t lock the door, so Penelope took it as a permission to enter the house.

“Amelia, dear, I know you are mad at me and don’t want to have anything to do with me. But can you at least give me a chance to explain?”

Amelia turned abruptly to look at her and clenched her fist as she spoke.

“There’s nothing to explain, Ma’am! I have heard everything from Uncle Freddie and Mr. Hopper. Is there anything new you want to tell me?”

“Yes, Amelia. I want you to know I love you so much! The same way I love your sister!”

“I don’t have a sister.” Amelia mumbled and slammed into the couch. She picked the bowl of popcorn and threw some in her mouth, forcing them down her throat.

Penelope sighed loudly and threw her head backwards. “Can I at least sit, Amelia?” She asked very calmly.

Amelia exhaled and lowered her head. She slowly nodded, and Penelope smiled.

“Thank you.” She uttered and sat on the couch.

“Amelia, I never meant to leave you with Freddie,”

“But you did, didn’t you?”

“I know, and I’m sorry for doing that. After Clara and Stanley passed away, I wanted you back to me so bad. But, I couldn’t because your sister didn’t like the idea at that time.”

“Yes. So she decided to make her happy and then left me to live miserable?!”

“Live miserable? I made sure Freddie got enough to take care of you, Amelia.”

“Do you think it’s all about money? Everything isn’t money!! I wasn’t happy! My cousins made my life miserable! I never had one day of peace!” Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Penelope lowered her head as she got really teary, listening to Amelia.

“I’m so sorry.” She mumbled.

“You don’t have to be… Thanks to what they did to me, I have become the woman I am now.” Amelia responded, fighting back her tears.

“It would have been better if you were with us.”

“And I wouldn’t have met my husband if I was with you. I’m happy everything is like this. We can just pretend like nothing has changed.”

“No, Amelia. I don’t want to…” She moved closer to her and held her hands.

“I know you hate me, but let me prove myself to you. I want my daughters back to me! I want you to know your younger sister and love her.”

“My younger sister? You mean Elena, right?”

“Yes.”

“She alone makes it so difficult for me to accept you as my biological parents. I know Elena, and all she has ever done is hurt me. We hate each other! We can never be happy if we are together.”

Amelia started to shed tears, and Penelope couldn’t control hers either.

“Please give me a chance, Amelia.” Penelope wanted to hold her hand again, but Amelia smacked her hands off.

“Why do I have to be the unfortunate one all the time? Why do I have to be the one to understand?!” She wailed and sprang to her feet.

“I regret only one thing, and that is my parent’s death. If they were alive, I wouldn’t give a f**k about all of you! They loved me so much, they never wanted to see me get hurt, until those evil people decided to kill them….”

“Amelia, that is all in the past,”

“No! They will always be in my present. They were murdered. Why didn’t you all do something about it? Mother carried your babies for you, for months and she got killed and you never did

anything about it!”

“We tried our best, Amelia! They were involved in some shady things and we could get who did that to them.”

“Shady things? I would never believe that. You couldn’t do anything right? Now everything is like this. I would find out what happened before that awful night. They are the only parents I know.”

“A…” The sound of the door cut Penelope short and they both looked at the door to see James walk in with two bags of groceries in his hands.

“I’m back…” He said, and when he looked up, he realized Amelia wasn’t alone.

He was about to smile when he noticed the sad expression on her face. He rushed to where she stood and looked at her face closely, ignoring the woman that stood there with them too.

“Amelia, are you okay?” He dropped the bags on the floor and embraced her tightly.

As soon as James embraced her, she became more weak and broke into more tears in his arms. He patted her and looked at Penelope.

He could see the resemblance on her face and immediately, he guessed who she was correctly.

“Can you please leave, Ma’am. Amelia needs to be alone.” He uttered as calmly as possible. He hated her already for making Amelia cry.

Penelope nodded slowly and cleaned the tears in her eyes. She picked out a card from her bag and placed it on the center table.

“I would be so glad if you could contact me, Amelia. The address to our house is on this card. Please come to me. I love you.”

After she finished talking, Penelope ran out of the house, weeping profusely. James stood still, petting Amelia.

He didn’t beg her not to cry, but he was there to comfort her.

After a few minutes, Amelia raised her head and looked at James’ face with her teary eyes.

“It hurts so much.” She mumbled.

James sadly cleaned the tears on her face with his thumb and kissed her lips.

“I’m here, Amelia. I don’t know what to say right now, but everything will be fine.”

He embraced her again and she nodded against his chest.

“She wants me to love and accept Elena as my sister. How can I do that after all she has done to me?” Amelia muttered.

“Don’t put pressure on yourself, Amelia. Do whatever you want to do. I won’t tell you what to do. Follow your heart.”

***

They both sat on the couch, cuddling and they stared at the television blankly. The bags of groceries were still in the living room.

Amelia didn’t let go of James, so he couldn’t take the bags to the kitchen.

“James.” She called.

“Uhm.”

“I need your help.” She said, and he looked at her.

“Anything, my love. Talk to me.”

“I need a private investigator.”

“Private investigator? Why?”

“I want to investigate the death of my parents, James. I want to know what happened to them. She told me they were involved in some shady things. I want to know what.”

“But, Amelia. Do you think it’s a good idea to dig all that up now?”

“Yes, James. I never thought of doing anything about their death. But now, I have this instinct that I should. I want to know who muttered them. They didn’t deserve such.”

James nodded and exhaled.

“I’ll talk to one or two people. You can meet with them anytime you want.”

Amelia feebly smiled and looked at him. “Thank you, James.”

She cuddled him tighter and closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy the comfort she felt in his arms.