CHAPTER 39

She didn't sit around waiting for someone to assist her with the door. She opened the door and, thankfully, found them seated in the lounge, drinking green tea as if everything was fine.

"How can you be a heartless person? You sit here and drink tea I bought you as if everything is fine after dropping such a huge grenade in my face?"

"Violet!" yelled her father.

"Alright, alright, I can now hear your voice, Father. I can't remember what it sounded like. I assumed you were no longer speaking and a mute, but it turned out you were simply uninterested in speaking with me. Can you explain why you did this?"

"We're sick of people looking at us as if we're a freaky family," Mrs. Grant yelled at her.

"Did you just say freaks, Mother? All you see in front of you is a freak?"

"You don't have to blame us, Samantha; just look at you. You changed your name after that incident, you didn't even graduate from high school, and to make matters worse, you dared to accuse Martin of doing such unspeakable things to you."

"Does that mean I'm to blame?"

“I don't want to talk about this Samantha, we've decided to let you go for the sake
of this family's reputation. Whatever you do will be unimportant to us. Our family is now being scrutinized, and we don't want anything to jeopardize our relationship with the statehouse."

"And now that Suzy is married to Damon, I happen to be that something! I don't believe you, but I also don't blame you. I'll sign the forms because you despise me so much. I won't do what I'm thinking right now for the sake of our past relationship, but I don't want to see any of you ever again near anything that belongs to me.

If anything happens to you, don't come looking for me and sweeten the deal. I will give you back your name so that this freak never taints your family's name again," she yells at them, and Anne grabs her.

She was on the verge of collapsing because of her rage.

"This is the last time I set foot in this house; even if our paths cross, I will not acknowledge any of you, and you should not acknowledge me. I will also withdraw any assistance I was providing you, effective immediately, because your children are all grown up and working, and they will provide for you well," she said, looking at Anne.

"Give me the forms," she said, and Anne obliged.

She signed everything, took her own copies, and gave the rest to her mother.

"Take care of yourselves because I'm not going to do that anymore and tell Mike that the next time he gloats in front of me, I'm going to tear his mouth from ear to ear. And I'm not joking, mother. I mean every single word," she said as she turned around and began to walk away when Lucy arrived.

"Hey, big sis!"

"It was nice to see you, Cupcakes, but this will be our last time."

"Did you mean everything you just said?" Lucy inquired.

"Every word I say is true and we are no longer a family or a group of sisters. And I'm afraid that the longer I stay in this house, the more trouble I'll cause. Take care of yourself, cupcakes, and study hard to become a self-sufficient individual. Keep in mind that not everyone out there likes you," Violet said as she exited the house.

Lucy ran after her, but the guards stopped her; watching that child cry was even more painful than her heart being broken by people she called parents for more than three decades.

"Inform the bank managers to stop transferring the monthly allowances to my family, and remove any remaining guards keeping watch over them," she told Anne coldly.

"I'll do it, is there anything else I can do to help you?"

“Yes, it is now time for the congressman to pay his debt. Make an appointment with him for the following week. I'll see him when I return from Tawland."

"I'll notify him."

"All right and call the massage parlor. I need a full body massage as soon as I get back to the mansion or I'll kill something," she said as she closed her eyes.

Was this karma? It started with Dylan, and now it's her! She was going to make everyone pay, and she only had a week to do it. Now that they've brought up the fact that she's not their daughter, she's suddenly reminded of something that happened when she was a child.

NINETEEN YEARS AGO
Violet was discharged from the hospital when she discovered that her mother was already pregnant and that her due date was approaching. Despite what had happened to her, this was good news.

She was expecting a younger sister or brother. Her mother didn't last but went to deliver the baby just three weeks after she got discharged. It was a joyous occasion because her parents had not had children in over a decade.

Everyone could see how much Susan was loved. She was envious of Suzy's attention, but she reminded herself that Suzy was just a kid and that this was normal. When they go shopping for clothes, there will be more clothes for the baby and Mike, and less or no clothes for her.

She tried to understand the situation because they always talked about money.
Susan was about three years when she overheard them conversing. She wasn't supposed to be home at the time she heard things that shocked her, but she later dismissed them after thinking about it.

"Our baby looks exactly like you, my love," her father, or Mr. Grant, said as he pointed to the photos in the photo album.

"She does, she really does. I am overjoyed to finally have my own daughter."

"Don't let Samantha overhear you discussing this."

"She is not present. Things began to go wrong after we took her. It's as if she's a bad omen."