CHAPTER 16

While taking a tour she ended up in the library and began to browse through the books. She found an old book and began to flip through it when an old photo fell to the floor. She crouched down and picked it and stared at it.
Her heart began to thump loudly as she looked at the woman who was in the picture. The woman she was looking at was Lucian's deceased aunt, his mother's younger sister. She was also the woman who made her to infiltrate this family.
It was three years after her adopted parents died due to poisoning when she saw an old key among their things. It took her a month to find the safe for the key. When she opened it, she discovered that she wasn't her parent's child; something she had known for a while but the papers proved it.
There were some documents which showed the orphanage she was taken from and among those documents there was a picture of Lucian's aunt wearing the hairpin she once saw in her mother's possession.
She then had a ping and thought that maybe this woman was her birth mother. She began to investigate the issue and realized that she was dead and there was no record of her ever having another child. So, what else would she do to find out the truth behind her mother?
She decided to come to Mereen and get closer. Just a simple closure would do her good. Just knowing who she was if she was really her birth mother would suffice. Doing a DNA test would do but it was difficult to get a sample from a dead person but there was someone else who was a relative; if she gets closer to Lucian, she would definitely meet his mother and she can get a sample and get it done.
Mrs. Ladra was a difficult person to see. She was an indoor person and the only way to get closer to her was through Jewel. She really felt bad for using her but it was important. What she never expected was her feelings towards Lucian now?
At first it was all fun and lust but now she was afraid that she was falling for him. Last time she fell for someone, he died and she didn't want to experience that ever again. She looked at the picture and traced Lucian's aunt face with her finger. She was a beautiful woman; too bad she was dead.
She put the picture back into the book and returned the book onto the shelf. She continued looking through the books and found another interesting book. She was going to read it and keep herself busy while she thinks of some good ideas.
She left the library and went to the ground floor where she found the chief maid. She was a woman in her sixties and according to Jewel, she used to be Lucian's nanny. She was sweet and overprotective of the Ladra family. She could tell the woman didn't like her and she didn't care at all.
Aurora passed the woman and went to the kitchen. She was in no mood to fight with anyone. She picked a juice bottle and left. She went outside to the garden and sat in one of the garden chairs and began to read her novel.
She was done with ten pages when she received a call from her new phone. Lucian made sure she gets a new one to fit her new role as the wife of the great Lucian. She picked it up and it was him.
“What do you want?” she asked without greeting him.
“Is that how you answer your elders?”
“So, you acknowledge you are an old man?”
“Don't do that. I just called to tell you my mother will be arriving there any second. She wants to see you,” he told her.
“Okay, I am home and I will behave,” she said.
“Don't embarrass me then,” he said and hung up.
She loves teasing him, he was old but he didn't look that at all. She resumed with her book when this other maid came to where she was and announced that Mrs. Ladra was waiting for her.
She took her book with her and began to walk back to the mansion. Outside a white Mercedes was parked and she just guessed it belonged to her future mother-in-law or maybe aunt. She walked inside and found her seated in the sitting room.
She looked at herself and noticed she had worn shorts again. Will she attack her when she sees what she was wearing? She couldn't answer the question since the woman spotted her and she walked towards the sitting room.
The woman stood up and looked at her for thirty seconds before she said anything. Aurora stretched her hand towards the woman and said, “Hello, I'm Aurora and it's nice to meet you.”
She thought the woman wouldn't take her hand but she smiled and took it. She felt warm all of her sudden and felt her eyes sting.
“I'm glad to see you, please come and sit down next to me,” she said and Aurora followed.
Mrs. Ladra looked at her for a while the chief maid Alice brought a tray with some snacks and juice.
“You look beautiful,” she said touching Aurora’s face.
“Thank you,” Aurora answered shyly.
“Don't be shy when you are with me,” Mrs. Ladra urged her.
“I'm sorry, Mrs. Ladra,” Aurora said as she looked up.
“Oh please, forgo the formalities. You are one of us now. Just call me Joan,” she said feeling at ease with her.
“But…………………...”
“No buts,” Mrs. Ladra stopped her quickly.
“Okay, Joan,” Aurora bites the bullet and said her mother-in-law’s name.
“So, is he treating you well?” Joan asked her, the woman was probably worried that Lucian was bullying Aurora otherwise how did he end up with such a young and beautiful girl to marry in such a short notice.
“Yes, he is and I like them a lot,” Aurora didn’t mind lying, Joan’s son was a big bully and she wasn’t going to tell the mother that.